MtnMike

Merry Christmas fellas!

@Rsquared I probably enjoyed that more than I should have 🙉

Wondered if any other fellas had adopted this practice. Almost every year, I wrap one or more toy under the Christmas tree as a gift from my wife to myself. Seems to go over better than just walking into the house with it to face the inevitable ?s - "how much did that cost?" - "What happened to watching our spending?" Anyway, for me, this year its a CVA Optima muzzle-loader and a Leupold VX-6-HD 2x12-42 Firedot. (Both were amazing bargains by the way! 🤑

My son-in-law, who is in LE, got me hooked on Fenix products. He has to use his light all the time to find evidence in the weeds at night. He made the mistake of leaving his EDC flashlight at the house one day, and my wife (and I) quickly developed flashlight envy. They sell a variety of very high quality lights. I currently use the PD-36 3000 lumen one, which doubles as a gun light using a simple rail mount. I like it enough that I got the wife a PD 40 for Xmas.From my personal experience, the PD36 is plenty bright to easily use with a decent scope (2 Leupolds and a Vortex) out past 75 yards. I don't like coyotes creeping around my lake cabin. PD 36 is about $100 rail mount is $20

Curious has to how you like the feel, balance and the minimalist stock. I know when I added a couple of more ounces to the end of my 16" barrel, it felt a lot different. So I'm switching to a lighter brake, and maybe a lighter scope after hunting season.

Good job my friend. No kidding about the price of meat. I've got 2 in the freezer and I'm currently processing a 3rd. Planning on making jerky out of the hams on this one so I still have room in the freezer for more. Plan to get back into the woods the day after Thanksgiving. With the way the current technocrats are f-ing up the food and other supply chains, self-sufficiency is a helluva more valuable than cryptocurrency.

@unforgivenLove my Spotify as well. If you like rock/blues guitar, Samantha Fish and Larry McCray are a couple of my latest favorites.

I have the Aliengear Shapeshifter IWB for a Springfield Hellcat that was my EDC for awhile. Not sure what generation of the Holster, probably purchased 5 years ago. Worked just fine and no complaints. Recall it being designed to be fairly easily adjustable for cant and waistline height. The neoprene backing could get a little slimey if you were having a sweaty day - but all-in-all a good rig. Do make sure all your hardware is screwed down and tightened on a regular basis. They can work themselves loose. Nowadays, I carry a Sig 365xl in a leather Vedder IWB with a kydex shell to accommodate the Holosun red dot optic. Seems slimmer and more comfortable to me. Sometimes I forget I am wearing it until I take my jacket off and someone comments about the gun ....

Windham has an interesting history. Without fact checking (which means relying on my memory) my recollection is that they were the original Bushmaster folks. Founders sold the Bushmaster name and company to Remington and had a non-compete agreement for 5 years or so. After Remington more or less ran Bushmaster into the ground, Windham restarted the old company, re-hiring the best employees and starting with a clean slate and a lot of know how. Make a very good gun for the money IMHO. Very helpful folks if you ever have any questions or concerns regarding their products.

pulled out the Windham, and I was mistaken. While the receiver exterior is milled at an angle and somewhat resembles an AR10 pattern. It’s actually rounded-so DPMS.

I believe some (if not all) of Windham Weaponry’s .308s are of the AR10 pattern. You can always ask them. Their Customer Service is golden.

Apple wood smoked pork shoulder.

Learned something new today. Never knew there was a Continental marines before the US Marines. Always a pleasure at my age. Thanks! @unforgiven

While I do own a couple of Vortex scopes, I'm a Leupold fan for larger caliber rifles, like the .308. Excellent clarity,tough as nails, and usually better eye relief at a lower weight than the competition. Also made in the US and excellent warranty and customer service in the unlikely event you need it.

Nice!

@JMJ I like the VX-Freedom 3-9x50 a lot. Very good scope for the price and weight. I also have an older VXii 3-9x40 on a Rem 700BDL (which was my primary deer rifle for ages) and I think the Freedom is a bit brighter. Not sure if that is due to the increased objective size or updated materials. My plan is to move the Freedom to a new muzzle-loader for next season.

Looks like you are on a similar path that I walked down when putting together my Windham Weaponry hunting AR10. I remember the Saint was in my final 3 for a per-assembled, reliable, reasonably priced not too heavy rifle. Let us know how you like that stock. Also curious as to how much that stock weighs? I ended up going with a Daniel Defense collapsible stock that weighed 7.65 oz on my scales, which I like a lot. Also, being collapsible is good for climbing into tree stands. I do have a couple of things planned after this deer season to lighten that package up a few more ounces in the off season. Trying to get it back under 9 lbs with an unloaded magazine. I found, a lighter titanium muzzle brake on sale for $35, which is a couple oz. lighter than the Precision Armament M4-72 I currently use. Also leaning towards a Leupold VX3HD 3.5-10x40 which is listed at 13.1 oz, which is couple oz. lighter than the Leupold VX Freedom 3-9x50 I currently use.

Welcome from Western NC. 600 yds with a “pig” gun is solid!

Welcome from the mountains of NC!

Welcome from WNC!

My first gun was also a shotgun. 20 ga., single shot Harrington & Richardson junior model. I believe I was 9 or 10, when my dad got me that. That gun brought many a squirrel to the dinner table in my youth. Still have it. Loaded with #3 buckshot as one of multiple home defense guns strategically placed about the homestead. Hard to believe its pushing 50 y.o.

Now lets go get some whitetails! (but first muzzle loader season here)

@DustBuster I confess, after reading your post yesterday, I ordered one of those $35 a2 titanium brakes. I remember thinking the gun felt a tad front heavy when I first added the PA-M4-72 on it. Though I quickly got used to it. But, I'm not going to mess with it until after deer season. Everything is dialed in, and season is right around the corner in SC where I'll be primarily hunting this year. Getting 1" groups @ 100yds with plain vanilla 150g Fed Powershok. I do plan to try to reduce the weight by 6 to 8 oz. for next season. Just to do it. Figure the brake is 1.5 oz. Can probably cut the rest of the weight by switching mounts and backing from 50mm to 40 mm scope. I like Leupold scopes because they are made in the US and pretty light. According to Leupold's website, the 50mm VX-Freedom 3-9 I have on there now is 14.6 oz. Might swap with a 40mm VX-Freedom 4-12x40; it's listed at 13.1 oz. My current mount is 6oz as I recall. Should be room for some improvement there as well.