Well, I am having to make a slight change in plans for my Antelope hunting, at least the early part anyways. You see I recently pulled out my 444 marlin and to my dismay, my folding buckhorn rear sight was laying in pieces in my soft gun case.
I tried to come up with a quick remedy, but Butte's only active gunsmith apparently has an issue with Marlin and he didnt want to deal with it. Hmmm... Other calls yielded similar results including alot of misinformation. A gentleman (a truly class act of a man) from Wise River is taking care of it for me, but it probably wont be ready for, maybe, two weeks.
Boy, am I glad that I have more than one rifle. I dont own much in this world, but I gotta have at least two rifles. So, I took my Marlin XL7 in 30-06 out for some target shooting as it is my second stringer coming off the bench for early Antelope. I took a table that I bought at Butte Shelter Workshop's second hand store for $2.99 and folding chair $5.99 and carried them down the hill from the house. I then measured off a 300 yard range across the gully and set up my target. I fired about 40 rounds all together and had some decent groups, about 2" for three shots, but the winds made consistant groupings hard to achieve.
One thing that is tough, is that there are some big Antelope bucks right outside my door, but my tag is for hd 318 which starts about 30 miles from here. Its all good though. My first Antelope hunt and I am realy excited.
You all enjoy the nice weather today.
