Snow Peak GigaPower Plate Burner Li (Baja Burner)

Known as the Baja Burner here stateside and GigaPower Burner Li in Japan, this Snow Peak stove is another great piece of gear coming from this outdoor gear company.  Made mostly of stainless steel, this stove weighs 6.2 pounds.  The legs and gas hose fold out and tuck away for easy storage.

 A heavy nylon carrying bag with a drawstring is included.

 The GigaPower uses backpacking gas cans that can be held inverted for maximum gas flow or

stood up as normal.  With an aftermarket adapter, the stove can take other fuel cans such as Coleman or cheap Asian market butane fuel cans. 

Unlike my house stove or my multi burner Century camp stove this GigaPower has plenty of room for use with large diameter pans like this paella pan. 

My experiences with stoves with built in ignition sources usually leave me abandoning them in favor of a lighter but this burner (as with my Snow Peak backpacking stove) lights consistently with only one push of the button. 

This Snow Peak, like it's backpacking stoves, is made in Korea and looks like another solid piece of gear from this outdoor company.

It Can't Be, Quality Televison On Discovery Channel?

I just finished watching Kodiak and I can say after it's the best show on Discovery Channel I've seen in sometime.  With a channel that's lost all credibility and known for producing turds like Bear Grylls and Amish Mafia , it's nice to see some decent television for once.   I stumbled on this show tonight and was intrigued about the Grizzly hunting it portrayed in it's promo.  When the end credit ran I noticed Chris Dorsey as an Executive Producer and Orion Entertainment.  No wonder the show is good they have someone competent running the production.  Chris Dorsey, once the editor of Petersen's Hunting, has produced some of my favorite outdoor (mostly hunting) shows on television including but no limited to Dangerous Game (by far the best on TV), World of Beretta, Bird Hunter's Journal, A Dog's Life and a few others I don't recall the name of as of this moment.  I'm hoping the rest of the four part series is good and the lame ass Discovery Channel producers don't muck it up with fake drama and gimmicky shit like making them hunt naked.  What do you think?  Did you watch it?

Make Room On Your Bookshelf

Time to pay a visit to your local Barnes and Noble as they (at least my local store) have a true gem in the bargain aisle.  Treasures of the NRA National Firearms Museum by Jim Supica, Doug Wicklund and Phillip Schreir is a coffee table book that showcases all the jewels of the NRA collection. 

Considering my latest posts were all regarding airguns I thought it is appropriate to show some of the airguns in the NRA collection.  The most interesting is the Girardoni (often misspelled Girandoni) repeating air rifle, as carried by Lewis and Clark.  Google or youtube this airgun and you'll be impressed with it's ingenuity and history.

Other airguns include President H.W. Bush's Crosman Air rifle.  I recall reading about this gun in one of my father's airgun magazines.  Also contained in the collection is Prince Charles' Omega air rifle.

Theodore Roosevelt's gun collection is well represented including his .405 1895.  There are several other presidental guns from Eisenhower and Kennedy.

The book includes many of publisher Robert E. Petersen's collection which include the last Purdey .600NE ever produced. 

Among the 425 guns donated by the Petersen family is some fascinating odd ball guns like the Hoenig over-under double rifle with a twist action in equally odd .225 caliber round.

As a fan of Teutonic guns, there are several Nazi guns including one of my dream guns, a Luftwaffe survival drilling, a belt buckle gun and Hermann Goering's Merkel.

Obviously this is just a sampling of, the book and museum there are many guns of different eras and styles.  The NRA collection is so diverse and likely to please just about any gun nut, from those interested in ancient guns carried by pilgrims from the Mayflower to modern military guns to everything in between. If you consider yourself a gun enthusiast buy this book or better yet go visit the museums (one in Virgina at the NRA headquarters and the other in Missouri at the Bass Pro flagship store) in person.  I need check out these works of art.  Several of these guns shown on this post and many others can be seen and discussed on NRA museum's youtube page.

JSB Diabolo Exact .20

The .20 caliber pellet is becoming less available and pellet manufactures are dropping them.  Without someone like Robert Beeman pushing the caliber and influencing manufactures to  add them in their line, I'm afraid the caliber may go the way of the dodo.  Since my over decade long hiatus from airgun shooting, my favorite .20 caliber pellet, the Crosman Premier, has been discontinued.  I have have a few boxes left but I was concerned what I'd do when my stockpile ran out.  My RX is very pellet sensitive and I've tried just about every .20 cal available at the time I bought it.  None grouped as well as the Premier.  So when I read just a couple weeks ago that the .20 Premiers were no longer available, I started looking online for a source for them.  I couldn't find any so I looked of an alternative.  After some researching I looked into these Czech made JSB pellets. 

JSB to my recollection were not available in the US when I was active in the scene.  I believe these Diabolo Exacts are a fairly new pellet.  From what I have read they are consistent and of good quality.  Coming in 500 count, the tins are lined with foam to help prevent deformation. 

Listed at 13.73 gr, they are lighter than the 14.3 gr Premiers my RX favors.  The pellet itself looks similar to the Crosmans.  So I hoped they would make a good alternative.  I bought one tin to test how the RX like them. 

High winds blew most of last week and I could only test them in the wind.  This was the best I could do with a five shot group at 25 yards with a left to right wind.  I think I can tighten these groups up in calmer conditions.  So I think I've found my substitute and intend on buying more. 

Not With A Bang But A Whimper

General season for turkey ends this weekend so this was my last chance until fall for my first gobbler.  We arrived Friday afternoon in the hopes of climbing the ridge and glassing the meadows to scout the birds going to roost for the night.  As with most of our plans, we managed to muck that up by driving around endlessly trying to find an easier way into one of the meadows.

After unknowingly driving past our destination, we made it to a section of road where according to my maps would take us to the meadow.  After bumbling around we realized this way in was not going to happen so we continued to drive on this loop to get us back to where we needed to go.

That was the plan at least.  With only about a quarter of the loop left to drive, we were stopped in our tracks.  High winds blew earlier this week and while we drove into the mountain we only saw small signs of it we finally drove upon evidence of it.  A fallen tree blocked our way and we had to backtrack costing us more time.

After backtracking we decided to quit wasting time trying to find a way into a new meadow and go enter in the area we were familiar.  We had about an hour of light left when we dropped our packs and started to look for signs of birds.  We found a highway of tracks and headed to the new meadow.  In the darkness of night we set up our decoys among the highway of tracks and left them there so we wouldn't have to bother in the morning.

To our surprise when we awoke at 5:20 am it was already starting to light up.  That was a mistake.  We raced to our decoys and setup into the woods to hide ourselves.  We waited patiently, calling sporadically. Given all the tracks, we figured this was a good spot but it proved unfruitful.  We moved on looking at other meadows without any sign of birds.

Eventually after glassing, Chul with eagle like eyes spotted two turkeys on the far end of the meadow. Having an additional 2X power with my 10X binoculars I checked to see if I see any beards on them.  Once they gave us a profile view of them I noticed thy were both hens.  Though we weren't able to take these birds this season we decided to test our fieldcraft and see how close we could get to them.  We would try and flank them to the left using the taller vegetation to hide our movements.

On our way to them we would flush valley quail and cottontails.  Too bad its not season for them.  It's been years since I've seen so many rabbits.  One rabbit (not the one pictured above) I initially thought was a jackrabbit given its size but I doubt it as I believe jacks don't live in this habitat.  It was a beast of a cottontail. We managed to get less than 100 yards to the birds.  There we sat glassing them for about twenty minutes until we decided to see if the we could get closer.

We backtracked and would try to flank them again.  We managed to get to about 50 yards of them only  to be spooked by two numbnuts that decided to blast through the meadow.

With that we thought it wise to end this hunt and head back to camp.  After packing up we decided to check out some other areas.

One area was an archery only section so I left my airgun in the truck and act as spotter.  By this time it was getting hot and the meadow was busy with hikers so we knew hunting would be pointless.  So we called it a day and headed out for lunch.  So our turkey season ends without a bird, we'll have to wait until fall to try again.

Having not eaten other than a handful of nuts, we were starving and BBQ was in order.  We both chose pulled pork sandwiches.

Chul has been raving about these apple pies ever since we started hunting the surrounding area.  With our stomachs full, we ordered our apple pies to go.

Getting It Ready, The BSA Supersport Magnum .22

The Supersport now all dressed up

Back while in college I bought my first airgun, a Beeman RX.  I kept it at home though as the community I lived in was a little sketchy, not with crime so much but rather with drunken fools.  But while away from home I missed shooting it so I bought a "lesser" gun that I could get my shooting fix.  Since it was meant to be somewhat replaceable, I wouldn't care as much if it were stolen or abused to some degree. 

The gun as it was for years

I bought a BSA Supersport Magnum in .22 left it with open sights.  I would practice in our apartment shooting into a duct taped phone book at about 10 feet. On weekends my roommate and neighbors would head out to the mountains of Santa Barbara and go shooting.  The neighbors, who were Marines, would be shooting my airgun and piece of shit .22 rimfire AR-7 while I'd be shooting their AR15 and Glock pistols.

When I left college and returned home I for the most part put away my airguns and my interest in them waned.  Years later I pulled out my two pellet rifles, the RX still pristine as the day I bought it but the BSA on the other hand was a mess.  Rust had now formed all over the barrel.  I cleaned it off but it only came back.  I eventually cleaned the rust and stripped the blueing off and reblued it with Birthwood Casey Perma Blue Gun Paste.  It did not look professional at all.  The gun would return back in the closet not to be touch for years later.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I pulled the Supersport out once again as I wanted to perhaps use it on my next turkey hunt if I had to trek back into the steep mountains with my backpack.  I wanted to carry a lighter gun.  Unfortunately the rust returned but not as bad but bad enough.  So pulled out the ultra fine steel wool and started removing oxidation.

I'm debating whether to send this gun in to get properly reblued but I'm not sure if it is worth it.  The gun was always meant to be a field beater. Also the replacement cost of this gun (albeit the new version is a bit different) is about $300.  The cost to have Dave Slade of Airgunwerks to reblue is $155. 

After backpacking a 30 plus pound pack into one of our valleys with a roughly 11 pound Beeman RX, it became evident that a lighter gun would be nice for steep climbs.  I believe the Supersport weighs roughly seven pounds and after adding the mount, scope and slings the gun probably weighs just about eight.  For a mountain hunting gun, I'll definitely want to sling it. Humping a gun that heavy for long distances is a pain.  Back in the day Uncle Mike's used to make sling sets for break barrel airguns, I believe this was in most part from the urging of Bob Beeman who rebadged them and sold them under his name.  Now that Beeman, (the man not the company) is no longer active in the scene, it looks like Uncle Mike's has discontinued the item.

I don't think many airgunners sling their airguns anyways so it made sense for Uncle Mike's to stop producing the set.  But unfortunately for those that wish to use them, finding these barrel band sets is now quite a task. After some internet searching I did manage to find a source who still carried a few.   

Instructions for these sets are good but one aspect they fail to address is how to find the center of the bottom of the stock.  I searched youtube to no avail.  There are plenty of videos on how to install sling swivels but none go into detail how to find the center of the bottom of the stock.  After contacting blog reader Brad, he let me know, this step is easily overlooked and easily screwed up.  I emailed  him as I knew he has skills with steel and wood as evident by his latest rifle build seen here.   After his instruction I think I found the center or at least center enough (though the picture is somewhat deceiving).

The BSA is a nice mid level airgun but it's iron sights are absolute garbage.  To harness the true potential of the rifle it needs to be scoped.  And for hunting purposes, it's mandatory particularly with turkey.  I have no experience with Hawke Optics but I decided to buy the HD IR Series 2-7x32 AO Rifle Scope.  We'll see if this scope is truly airgun rated and how it holds up.  This scope has a luminated Mil-Dot reticle in both red and green.  I think for this gun it was the right choice.  One thing I did not like about the scope is that my one piece Beeman scope mount did not fit.  Luckily my old man had a old pair of Beeman two piece mounts that he took off his R10 years ago.  So I commandeered it as it did no good sitting in a gun closet.  It did save me a trip to Air Venture though I wouldn't have minded a visit.

This was the best I could do with the rifle today with 22 mph winds blowing.  This is a five shot group at 25 yards using an 80's era tin of H&N Field Target pellets.  Once these winds pass these groups should tighten up even more.

Scouting For The End Of The Season

Word has it that this area was a great go-to spots for turkey so we decided to investigate.  We only had this morning to check it out so we woke up early and headed south.  When we arrived we overshot our destination, and after some backtracking we managed to find the trail.  It quickly lead us to a small meadow but not the meadow we were looking for.  After some serious bushwhacking we managed climb over a hill to give us a look of our destination.  Without any game trails in sight nor any easy way to the field we decided to forgo more bushwhacking and look for another meadow.  Other than some old scat we found no signs of turkey despite the overall birdiness of this place.  Though this may be due to the fact that the recent rains most likely washed away any sign.    Next weekend is my last shot to try and bag one of these birds this season, so we have some decisions to make on where we want to hunt.

The Beeman RX is running out of time for a her first Turkey.  After this year she will unlikely be used as nontox .20 cal is almost nonexistent.   Even if it did exist this gun is very pellet sensitive so there is little chance of it shooting it well.

One of many fresh deer tracks of the day.

Looks like a predator kill.  Most likely a turkey that met its fate.

More deer tracks.

A flower, the name escapes me now, with medicinal properties. *EDIT* The plant is Yarrow

A Red Tail giving us an aerial display. 

Lunch at Roberto's.  California Burrito...

and a cheese quesadilla.

Last Day. Strutting Their Stuff On Private Property

With the valley now all to ourselves, Chul and I awoke early and made our way to the meadow we heard the Tom.  Unlike the previous night I actually had a great night's sleep.  Thankfully as we had quite a hike ahead of us to get out of here.  We slept in our hunting clothes so we were ready to go and geared up light.  Bypassing breakfast we headed to the meadow as quietly as possible.

 

When we arrived to our decoys we hid behind our natural blinds, I set up my shooting monopod and laid my Beeman RX on it as Chul made calls.  But this time the calls though went unreciprocated.  Waiting we eventually gave up and started to head toward another meadow.  Dead leaves litter this area and there was absolutely no way of making a quiet stalk.  We hid in the outer edges of the meadow behind several oak trees and random brush.  Only a few lanes gave us a view to the field any attempt to come closer would likely spook anything in that meadow.  Chul had a greater field of view from his spot.  My view was obstructed so I could not see the buck and a doe feeding on grass.  Since I was the one with the binoculars Chul could only tell me it was a "pretty big" buck.  It eventually passed his viewing lane and disappeared.  At this point we decided it was time to get out of this canyon before the heat arrived. 

It was going to be hot so we wanted to be backpacking in tolerable weather.  We managed to breakdown camp and head out by 7:30ish.  Chul estimated a 2 hour hike out and we still needed to find my torn up Lowa boots we cached on Friday.

A stronger hiker than I, Chul managed to be about ten minutes ahead of me and found my boots strapped on his pack and waited until I caught up.  On the way out we ran into this snake which I believe is a California Striped Racer (Chaparral Whipsnake) on the trail trying to sun himself.  By 7:20 we were by the truck, ten minutes earlier than his estimation and just before the temperature began to rise considerably.

On the way home, since we did not see any turkeys on this trip, we decided to drive by the lake to get some food and check out them out on private property.  In on field we saw two hens, in another a lone Jake strutting his stuff.  The field next to the diner had at least seven birds we glassed.  One of them was a monster Tom with a beard that was dragging the ground.

We sat in the enclosed patio area so I could glass the birds while we waited for out food.  I had the heart attack special- country fried steak, scrambled eggs and taters.  I'm sure any calories I used up on the hike was now going to be replenished and some.  For me a gun hunter I only have two weekends left to take Tom this spring season.  I'll see if I can make it back before it closes on me.  As a bow hunter Chul has an additional two weeks.  Hopefully one of us can bag one of these prehistoric looking animals.