Re: Hankerin'

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I think it's intriguing that you can now load at either the side gate or the muzzle end. I have a Marlin and the ONLY complaint I could make about it is that the side gate is very stiff and a bit difficult to load, where Henry's muzzle load looks deceptively easy.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Hankerin'

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Looks like something you really need to protect your 40 acres. With that many acres, can you set up a range? And a 410 bore would be handy too.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Hankerin'

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highdesert wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 12:18 pm Looks like something you really need to protect your 40 acres. With that many acres, can you set up a range? And a 410 bore would be handy too.
Yes, will have a range of some sort. Got to get good enough to put the fear of God into the broad side of barns. The guy who lives there currently just shoots out the (open) living room window. Ah, country livin... :hmmm:

Rattlesnakes are a real issue up there. I'll leave them to their own devices anywhere they won't be a threat to the wife, kid or dog, but can't do so near the house (usually a dozen or so reported every summer just around the house). 410 would work just fine. My father in law's dog got bit a few years ago. Thousands of dollars and a month at UC Davis vet center later, the dog did survived but still limps (he really loves that dog). The bite resulted in most of the chest skin sloughing off and required skin grafts. Nasty, nasty wound.

And Cooper, you aren't helping. My longer range plans are to have some goats and sheep for brush control and (possibly) eating. Coyote control will be an issue. Never have I ever thought I'd engage in predator control, but if you've got a flock, sometimes you've got to be the fucking shepherd.

Re: Hankerin'

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Featureless, that's a great plan you've got going! We moved to an 80 acre parcel in the rural SW Wisconsin a few years ago. We've got sheep and goats. Place is crazy woth coyotes but we haven't lost any animals to predation. Good fences and 2 guard llamas. We've made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot. Always happy to share my experience when the time comes. Course you probably know what you're doing better than I did. Good luck!

Re: Hankerin'

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cooper wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 1:28 pm Featureless, that's a great plan you've got going! We moved to an 80 acre parcel in the rural SW Wisconsin a few years ago. We've got sheep and goats. Place is crazy woth coyotes but we haven't lost any animals to predation. Good fences and 2 guard llamas. We've made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot. Always happy to share my experience when the time comes. Course you probably know what you're doing better than I did. Good luck!
I don't know the first thing about farming. But my father in law does--been growing walnuts and grapes for ever. About half of the property we'd be moving on to is still in walnuts and will continue to be farmed by him, however he sees fit.

You'll need to tell me more about these guard lamas and convey any nuggets on the sheep/goat things. All I know is goats stink but will eat anything, including poison oak and house trim and that sheep are tasty and wool stinks less than polypropylene when I'm camping. I'm like a blank canvas. Give me what you've got. :)

Re: Hankerin'

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YankeeTarheel wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 11:48 am I think it's intriguing that you can now load at either the side gate or the muzzle end. I have a Marlin and the ONLY complaint I could make about it is that the side gate is very stiff and a bit difficult to load, where Henry's muzzle load looks deceptively easy.
YT, I love some of the Marlins but they are pretty much unobtanium lately. I believe Ruger bought them and haven't really ramped up production. Never considered the Henry until they introduced the loading gate.

Re: Hankerin'

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Oh, yes, I struck that hook a decade or so ago with a lever .357. But I also shoot a GP100 .357 one handed, so that rifle felt like a mouse gun. Sold it. Got the 336 in .30-30. Emu egg for scale.

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I mean, a .357 out a rifle when you shoot it out a hand gun is just pishpishpish. Not so the .30-30. Shoots like a rifle. But that's just me. If I hadn't've run out of safe space I would have kept the Win in .357 also. Fun gun. I had to choose between digging out my basement for a gun room and selling one to get another. First world problems, I know.

Oh, and yes, to shoot with the egg on there is instinct shooting. Not recommended unless you have lots of ammo.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Hankerin'

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wooglin wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 4:22 pm My wallet will rue the day a lever gun in 327 Federal Magnum shows up at my LGS. 357 will be (just barely) more resistable.
You are aware that Henry makes a 327, yes? Maybe not at your LGS, but out there somewhere with your name on it.

Re: Hankerin'

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featureless wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 12:37 pm
highdesert wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 12:18 pm Looks like something you really need to protect your 40 acres. With that many acres, can you set up a range? And a 410 bore would be handy too.
Yes, will have a range of some sort. Got to get good enough to put the fear of God into the broad side of barns. The guy who lives there currently just shoots out the (open) living room window. Ah, country livin... :hmmm:

Rattlesnakes are a real issue up there. I'll leave them to their own devices anywhere they won't be a threat to the wife, kid or dog, but can't do so near the house (usually a dozen or so reported every summer just around the house). 410 would work just fine. My father in law's dog got bit a few years ago. Thousands of dollars and a month at UC Davis vet center later, the dog did survived but still limps (he really loves that dog). The bite resulted in most of the chest skin sloughing off and required skin grafts. Nasty, nasty wound.

And Cooper, you aren't helping. My longer range plans are to have some goats and sheep for brush control and (possibly) eating. Coyote control will be an issue. Never have I ever thought I'd engage in predator control, but if you've got a flock, sometimes you've got to be the fucking shepherd.

I mentioned it before but a former co-worker lived in a rural area with her family and they had a lot of rattlesnakes. Her husband got her a Beretta 21A (22lr) and she kept it in her pocket loaded with CCI shotshells. She said she dispatched quite a snakes with her little Beretta.. They also make shot shells in 38 Spl, 9 mm, 40 S&W and 45 ACP.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Hankerin'

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I've got a Ruger Mark II that would be perfect for snake shot. I really don't want to kill 'em, but... There are too many around to relocate and I can't have my dog get eaten. She will absolutely screw with snakes. One of her favorite pastimes in the yard is hunting lizards.

Re: Hankerin'

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featureless wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 5:47 pm I've got a Ruger Mark II that would be perfect for snake shot. I really don't want to kill 'em, but... There are too many around to relocate and I can't have my dog get eaten. She will absolutely screw with snakes. One of her favorite pastimes in the yard is hunting lizards.

Never tried them in my Ruger Mark but I have used them in my Ruger SR22 and they cycled ok. If I lived in a very rural area I'd load shot shells in my 38 revolver and carry it.

Rattlers are part of the eco system, but safety first.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Hankerin'

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featureless wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 5:47 pm I've got a Ruger Mark II that would be perfect for snake shot. I really don't want to kill 'em, but... There are too many around to relocate and I can't have my dog get eaten. She will absolutely screw with snakes. One of her favorite pastimes in the yard is hunting lizards.
Dang, what kind of snakes y’all got that can eat a dog?!
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Hankerin'

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sikacz wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 6:24 pm
featureless wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 5:47 pm I've got a Ruger Mark II that would be perfect for snake shot. I really don't want to kill 'em, but... There are too many around to relocate and I can't have my dog get eaten. She will absolutely screw with snakes. One of her favorite pastimes in the yard is hunting lizards.
Dang, what kind of snakes y’all got that can eat a dog?!
Another reason to go for a .30-30. ;-)

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Hankerin'

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Henrys are about the only leverguns my LGS has in stock, which is a pity because I still can't get past their open Trump support last year. I'm sure most of the rest of the industry donated money, but they weren't slapping his name on the damn things. Used, might be a different game. But with Marlin out for the foreseeable, and Winchesters unobtanium and expensive, options look like Rossi or Italian guns.

I have been seriously considering whether the objective merits of .357 as a caliber really justify going that way. I look at real world fps numbers, and the barrel length generalizations don't seem to make as much of a difference as cylinder gaps in revolvers. Also been looking at .44s. OTOH, I am already invested in .45 Colt. The 92s are supposed to be strong enough to handle the mythical +Ps - then again, so is my Blackhawk. But factory loads can stay subsonic out of a 16" barrel. Not true for Magnums.

I have no real use for one. Ultimately, I can wait to see how the market improves, and what happens when Ruger gets Marlin back into action.

Re: Hankerin'

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featureless wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 1:44 pm
cooper wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 1:28 pm Featureless, that's a great plan you've got going! We moved to an 80 acre parcel in the rural SW Wisconsin a few years ago. We've got sheep and goats. Place is crazy woth coyotes but we haven't lost any animals to predation. Good fences and 2 guard llamas. We've made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot. Always happy to share my experience when the time comes. Course you probably know what you're doing better than I did. Good luck!
I don't know the first thing about farming. But my father in law does--been growing walnuts and grapes for ever. About half of the property we'd be moving on to is still in walnuts and will continue to be farmed by him, however he sees fit.

You'll need to tell me more about these guard lamas and convey any nuggets on the sheep/goat things. All I know is goats stink but will eat anything, including poison oak and house trim and that sheep are tasty and wool stinks less than polypropylene when I'm camping. I'm like a blank canvas. Give me what you've got. :)
Funny, it never occurred to me how much I needed animals to graze and keep things down until I moved out here. We lease out 70 of our 80 acres to a neighbor for grazing beef cattle. The rest of it we actively manage with sheep, goats, and llamas. Currently have 2 guard llamas, 3 goats, and 7 sheep (6 breeding ewes and 1 wether). We also have a horse (about to sell--thank god) and 2 donkeys (super fun). Together, these keep things eaten down, with a little help from me brush hogging. We had more sheep last year and were planning to increase a little every year, but last year was 2020 crazy, so we culled the flock and will build it back up again this year. Would like to have maybe a dozen breeding ewes, especially when the horse is gone.

We have katahdin sheep. They are hair sheep and so don't need shearing. Not as big and fast growing as some breeds, but very easy keepers. Their meat is lean, very tender, and good flavor. The katahdin ewes lamb easy and are attentive mothers--that saves a lot of work. The goal is to average 2 lambs per ewe each year. Lamb in the spring sell or butcher in the fall so we don't have to keep a lot of animals during the winter. We sell some and put the rest in our freezer. We have a deal with another farmer to borrow one of his rams for breeding every year, which helps because keeping intact males is a hassle.

The goats are nubians. They are standard size (not miniatures) and are quite big--I estimate our largest one is about 200 pounds. Nubians are known for being complete sweet hearts, and ours definitely are. They will come out to greet you and want to hang out with you. Look up some pictures--they have long pendulous ears and are adorable. They are dairy goats, so if you find a good dairy breeder, you can get the boys VERY cheap because with the exception of a couple of breeding rams, the bucklings (baby male goats) are worthless to a dairy operation. I think we paid like $10 a piece for them already neutered and dehorned. They were bottle babies and were a ton of work for a couple of months, but because of it they are the sweetest animals and a complete joy. We tried keeping an intact male goat (buck) on the farm, but they are the ones that stink (no bad smell with the females and wethers) and act crazy. Sold him for breeding to an actual farmer. General rule on our farm is no intact males of any species--too much work.

Oh yeah, goats are anarchists. They will graze / browse down any area you put them to, but they bring chaos everywhere. They are super cute, but you've been warned! LOL.

Llamas are naturally protective against wild dogs, wolves, coyotes. They are easy keepers and bond well with the sheep. They pace the fences when they hear something in the woods. They are funky looking.

The llamas are the only ones that need shearing, but they all need their hooves trimmed and vaccines need to be given. You can do the hoof trimming and buy vaccines and administer yourself.

This is a hobby farm for us, but estimate the time and money you think it will take and double it. If you don't want te hassle, you can lease out the land for someone else to graze--we do that with the majority of our land. We trade him for some hay, don't charge him much really, but he maintains the fences, which can be another endless task.

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