BOG – DeathGrip Tripod News Release

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kyle Smith (573) 777-7662 Email: ksmith@btibrands.com     BOG™ Introduces New Deathgrip™ Shooting Tripod   BOG™ DeathGrip Clamping Tripod Introducing the all-new DeathGrip™ from BOG™. The DeathGrip™ has been engineered to be the most stable shooting tripod on the market. Keeping true to its name this tripod is designed for unmatched durability and stability giving the hunter an accurate shot every time. Its patented clamp secures any weapon providing a 360-degree swivel and tilt for maximum adjustability. The DeathGrip™ lets the hunter be hands-free to glass or call on the hunt with ease. The ergonomic design was built to feature strength and durability to ensure it will be ready for many hunts to come.    Patented DeathGrip™ Lock quickly clamps weapons into a secure position. The non-marring over molded rubber prevents damage to weapons.  Available in carbon fiber and aluminum tripod Leg angle adjustment for three preset angles 20° – Standing Position45° – Sitting Position85° – Prone PositionFeet are adjusted for use on hard or soft terrain. Ability to expose spiked feet for soft terrain for ultimate stability.Level is included to give the most stable shooting position   About Battenfeld Technologies, Inc. Battenfeld Technologies, Inc.® is the industry leading manufacturer of shooting, reloading, gunsmithing, gun cleaning supplies, specialty tools and cutlery. We produce innovative, top quality products under Caldwell® Shooting Supplies; Wheeler® Engineering; Tipton® Gun Cleaning Supplies; Frankford Arsenal® Reloading Tools; Lockdown® Vault Accessories; Hooyman® Premium Tree Saws; Smith & Wesson® Accessories; M&P® Accessories; Thompson/Center Arms® Accessories; Schrade®, Old Timer®, and Uncle Henry® knives and specialty tools; and Imperial® knives. For more information about Battenfeld Technologies, Inc. products, visit www.BTIbrands.com 

Thompson Center Arms Introduces IMPACT!SB Muzzleloader

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Contact: Matt Spafford, Smith & Wesson Corp. 1-844-772-5159 media@smith-wesson.com

Thompson/Center ArmsIntroduces IMPACT!SB™ Muzzleloader

New muzzleloaders feature hand removable breech plug and Power Rod®

Hand Removable Breech Plug

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (January 18, 2019) – Thompson/Center Arms today announced the launch of its new entry-level IMPACT!SB line of .50 caliber break-open muzzleloaders, featuring a new, hand-removable triple lead thread breech plug and a Power Rod aluminum ramrod for easy loading.  The Thompson/Center IMPACT!SB muzzleloaders are available in a variety of patterns and finishes, including the latest Realtree® and Mossy Oak® camouflage patterns.

Danielle Sanville, Brand Manager for Thompson/Center Arms, said, “The new Thompson/Center IMPACT!SB muzzleloader incorporates some of Thompson/Center’s most innovative features at an entry-level price point, including fiber optic sights, a hand removable triple lead thread breech plug, Power Rod, and Quick Load Accurizor® (QLA) for trouble-free loading.  The new T/C IMPACT!SB provides an excellent value – whether you’re a seasoned hunter looking to expand into muzzleloading, or a first-time hunter searching for a feature-rich muzzleloader at a great price.”

Available in multiple patterns and finishes, the T/C IMPACT!SB muzzleloaders are offered in both a Blued and Weather Shield® corrosion-resistant finish to protect against the elements. The new T/C IMPACT!SB also includes a 1” removable buttstock spacer, allowing the user to adjust the length of pull to best suit clothing choice and weather conditions in the field, as well as increased versatility and better fit for smaller-statured hunters.  The T/C IMPACT!SB is offered at an MSRP starting at $263.

To stay up-to-date on the latest news from Thompson/Center, be sure to follow Thompson/Center Arms on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

About Smith & Wesson® Smith & Wesson Corp. is a provider of quality firearms for personal protection, target shooting and hunting in the global consumer and professional markets. Smith & Wesson is world famous for its handguns and long guns sold under the Smith & Wesson®, Performance Center®, M&P®, Thompson/Center Arms™, and Gemtech® brands.  Through its Manufacturing Services Division, Smith & Wesson Corp. also provides forging, machining, and precision plastic injection molding services to a wide variety of consumer goods companies. For more information on Smith & Wesson, call (800) 331-0852 or log on to www.smith-wesson.com

Adventure Planning – A Newfoundland Moose Hunt

Adventure awaits! I am planning a Moose Hunt in Newfoundland!

https://www.huntingnewfoundlandlabrador.com/

Moose are the largest deer in North America. Most sportsmen and women hunt moose for several reasons. First and foremost is that , in my case, moose hunting is an Adventure in the Wilds of Canada! And moose meat is absolutely delicious. An adult moose can provide more than 300 lbs of boned venison for your family. A bull moose with its great antlers is a spectacle that deserves taxidermy and display perhaps over your fireplace or in your game room in remembrance of the hunt. As for me, I can afford a bucket list Newfoundland Moose Hunt in the $6000 to $7000 range and get a great representative “wallhanger” of the species too.

Newfoundland Moose (Alces alces americana) are plentiful, there are over 130,000 just in Newfoundland alone. Being such large adult animal in the 850 to 1200 pound require lots of delivered bullet energy for penetration in the sizable heart/lungs area (the size of a 10 inch paper plate) with the right bullet construction at the right angle to cleanly harvest them.

The most critical component of all is shot placement! No caliber, cartridge or energy can substitute for correct shot placement. Period!

Whatever you ultimately decide to hunt moose with, you have to be comfortable and accurate with it under field hunting circumstances, no red spot target to aim at here, and the hunter is filled with adrenaline, and heavy breathing making your scope crosshairs wiggle like a worm. A monopod, bipod or tripod rest will aid greatly here.

I have said before in a recent article, that you can kill a moose with your deer rifle given some understanding of delivered energy at a given distance and shot angle such as broadside or slight angled away. Some Fish and Game officials ascribe to 2500 ft-lbs of energy as a guideline for the a full grown largest adult Bull Moose who may tip the scales at 1200 plus pound live weight category. Using the .270 Winchester, 30-06 Springfield and 6.5 and 7mm calibers will work with good shot placement but not at the recommended energy. If you have a larger caliber you shoot well then I recommend you use it. Put them down faster with larger calibers. I highly recommend a 180 grain bullet or higher from a 30 plus caliber rifle, if you shoot them accurately, such as the 30-06 Springfield, 300 Magnums, .338 Win Mag and 375’s. The 7mm Rem Mag in 175 grain works fine but personally, I’d rather a larger cartridge-caliber as I can handle the recoil. These bullets have higher sectional densities above 0.25 for maximum penetration. A great article to read is from Chuck Hawkes. https://www.chuckhawks.com/sd.htm

Below cartridges I handload, among many others are the .375 Ruger, 30-06 Springfield, and the 6.5 Creedmoor. I like the .375 Ruger over the 30-06 for moose because I can handle the recoil and shoot it very well. A Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad cuts felt recoil in half.

.375 Ruger, 30-06 Springfield, 6.5 Creedmoor

Try to stay under 200 yards. I will likely use my Ruger African M77 in .375 Ruger. I shoot it very well, and it does perform, delivering a 260 grain Nosler AccuBond with 2800 ft-lbs of energy at 200 yards. If I had to reach further with a good rest, it can. Still got to wait for the right shot though, and great shot placement! See Lungs and heart outline below with red dot shot placement.

Shot placement is the real hero here.

I believe, on average, there are many more moose in the 850 pound class than the 1200 lb class. At 2500 ft lbs of energy your .270 Winchester also has a muzzle energy of 2500 ft-lbs so you need your moose at the muzzle? I don’t think so but an 850 lb moose you need around 1800 ft-lbs and that gets you out to 200 yards.

You can’t put a moose on a weight scale before you shoot’em.

I arrived at the 1800 ft-lb at 200 yards using the ratio of bullet energy to harvest over the animal weight. Example: It takes 1500 ft-lbs to cleanly kill elk. Bull Elk on the hoof weigh in at 600 to700 lbs. I used this ratio to solve for energy needed with a ballistic calculator for a 140 grain .270 bullet at 2800 fps.

I cannot stress the use of a rest of some kind enough. Like a Bog Pod or Primos Trigger Stick. They are worth every penny!

In the Newfoundland bogs you are often in brush that may block your shot here and there. Patience is a virtue! Just like deer hunting!

Bullet Construction – for heavy game should be rugged and hold its weight while penetrating. Bonded, Fail Safe, and Partition or Specialty Copper bullets do a great job at maintaining weight as they mushroom and penetrate. I am a Nosler Partition and AccuBond fan though there is a new .375 caliber 260 grain solid Gilding Copper E-Tip(TM) I will test. Both have served me well on Wild Boar, Moose and Bison already.

Alaska Outdoors Supersite has a great Moose Hunt website. Check it out! It is full of great tips. http://www.alaskaoutdoorssupersite.com/activities/hunting/shot-placement

Good Hunting!

Copyright 2019

Winter – A Great Time To Handload Your Ammo

If you aren’t snowshoeing, skidooing, skiing or out in the snow, it is a great time to handload. For me it is quiet time with a good reloading manual, your favorite powders, a reloading press and endless bullet sizes, weights, and construction for target or hunting.

I have a simple RCBS Rockchucker Reloading Press that I purchased 30 years ago and loaded many thousands of rounds for my rifles and pistols. Most all the game I have hunted with rifle were taken with my own handloads, even my African Plains Game Rifle, a 338 Winchester Magnum was handloaded with 250 grain Nosler Partitions. The level of satisfaction for me was monumental to create my very own custom ammo. Accuracy was so much better too.

If you are thinking about getting into reloading your own ammunition and you like to tinker with tools as I do, it was a lifelong love affair to be the creator of my own custom ammo. There are many video’s on the market today to teach you the basics.

I promise that with some patience you can do that too! How great would it be to harvest your game with a cartridge you created yourself!

I came by the handloading because I am a natural do-it-yourselfer.  As a bowhunter, I built my own arrows from scratch our of aluminum or Port Orford Cedar, and cut my own turkey feathers. Below at my bow bench. Above the bench are a few archery trophies I have earned over the years.

Good Hunting!

© 2019

2018 Banner Year – Thank You – New Hampshire Rifleman Magazine

Thank you to my 60,000 + World Wide Viewers !!

We have exceeded our goal of 60,000 Views this year. The largest viewership goes to the USA with Canada as second largest but we have seen viewers from Africa, Australia/ New Zealand, Britain, Europe, Japan and South America.

On Cartridges we wrote about the 6.5 Creedmoor this year and sang its praises as a fine hunting cartridge and the bullets fabulous Sectional Density and compared it favorably with the .270 Winchester.

We tested the Weatherby Vanguard Weatherguard in 6.5 Creedmoor and harvested deer with it using Nosler 129 grain LRAB’s at 100 yards. When hit in the vitals the deer dropped in just a few feet with complete pass thru’s.

I wrote extensively about the Leupold VX-6 Scope and highly recommend it for long range shooting. It is larger and more powerful than necessary for hunting New England but for a well traveled hunter it is perfect. Just be careful to not zoom so close, at say 100 yards, that you lose field of view and becomes subject to unsteady crosshairs, especially when you don’t have a solid rest at high power above 10x,  I learned that lesson!

We talked about Scent Control and the new Ozone producing products. Love them!

We worked with Sig Sauer Academy and tested the P320 and took one of their courses. I like the P320 very much. Their Intermediate Handgun skills course was excellent!!

I also tested the SIG Echo 1 Thermal Reflex sight and found that it worked well if you have lots of pigs/wild boar and night-hunting.

I joined QDMA this year and very pleased so far. They spent lots of effort on CWD education this year. Use their education to age whitetail bucks and harvested a mature 4.5 year old 11 point 144 3/8 Boone and Crockett buck in Texas  at  Wildlife Systems Rocky Creek Ranch with my TC Encore 50 Cal. Muzzleloader. And spent time with my friend Larry Weishuhn there.

We tested and purchased Lab Radar for Doppler bullet Chronographs. Expensive but life long use justified the price.

We are testing the PSE Thrive 400 Crossbow ( see the December article) at this time and should have more on it soon.

In total we wrote nearly 100 articles in 2018 and looking for more fun and Product Testing n 2019.

And more on the ATV ARGO for remote hunting big game in Canada….

Good Hunting and Shooting!

Ed Hale – Editor-In-Chief

© 2019