234 Wildcat Family....ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

YOU..........talking to my hunnie?.......................OH GREAT..............I wondered what she has been so testy about on the phone for the past few days...........now I understand...........
 
Gonna start another thread on the hunting forum and will show some pics on there...............Matrix 9.3 bullets are absolutely amazing..........270 gn 9.3 at roughly 3050 fps impacted my grizzly at less than 30 mtrs and I recovered 258 gns expanded to over an inch.......very, very impressive performance............very dead bear. That's 100% energy transfer to the animal with 95% weight retention at virtually point blank range and a muzzle/impact velocity over 3000 fps...........one cannot ask more from a hunting bullet!!!!

Maybe you should switch horse, put your resource on 9.3-300wm instead of 234.
 
Well guys, I'm back at my place in BC for a bit and will be taking up the 23 crusade again in a few days after I rest up and put out some immediate fires with the new additions.

Stay tuned......................
 
What about the .375 Ruger experiment (Hornady brass vs. ironed out belted mag brass)? Instead of building a trophy room you should have built yourself an indoor range. There isn't enough hours in a day for all your projects!
 
What about the .375 Ruger experiment (Hornady brass vs. ironed out belted mag brass)? Instead of building a trophy room you should have built yourself an indoor range. There isn't enough hours in a day for all your projects![/QUOTE]

Tell me all about it, Steve..........I did build an outdoor range (100 mtr only) and will be progressing with the 375 Ruger project this fall as well as the 23 cal, I have to have 4 or 5 rifles to shoot when doing test loads, so I have time to allow barrels to cool.........If I don't have enough rifles to test and have to wait while barrels cool I get side tracked and wander off in the middle of a test session.........I think it's called A.D.D. or maybe just OA (old age) syndrome.
Hunting has also caused a month long delay, however I refuse to apologize for that delay.............it takes priority over all gun testing in my life........so far!!!
Have a WT draw in Sask for the last week of Nov too...........only terminal ballistics testing that week.
As far as indoor range vs trophy room well it was a bit of a toss up but some of my boys have been waiting for a home for years and besides the wife had some say in those priorities...........home additions vs range, you guess which held the highest priorities for her...........I couldn't let her get a new living room and kitchen and not get my trophy room.............
 

I know, I know............just having to deal with other priorities at the moment..........had to put a new floor in the hay barn, then yesterday had to get 100 bales of hay for the nags for the winter. Had to build a new locking door on it as well to keep the neighbors from borrowing my hay..........pretty sad I know but it happened last winter........it's the "Doug has so much, he'll never notice, he can afford it" syndrome. I have also purchased a trail cam and am going to mount it inside the locked door, taking photos out through a hole..........should get pics of who ever is helping themselves to my hay..........I already know who it is, but need the evidence to act on it.
I have a bunch of test loads for the 230 Douglas, just have to get the time and weather to run them...........Sorry for the delays but seasonal priorities have to be dealt with..........I also have a long action Ruger 77 tang safety supplied by Doug to make a 234 Penguin on.........no end of jobs here, I need a hired man to do the mundane maintenance and upkeep so I could concentrate on my 'smithing projects and load development.........any offers? House, vehicle, fuel and utilities supplied, plus a grand a month, a large garden plot and all the deer you can eat...........
 
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HNL......The 234 Penguin would certainly benefit from a long action......The 55mm case is a bit of a squeak in a short 700 action for sure. I know Rem does it's 6mm on a short action but bullet protrusion is very limited with the 57mm case........I found the Ruger short action to be a tad longer than a short 700 in factory mode but the 700 can be lengthened a full 1/4" very easily, thus making it more suitable. Using a long action is just easier..........
 
Sounds like a good offer Doug. If I didn't have other commitments I'd probably take you up on it!

Meantime I will sit patiently on the sidelines until things progess. Recently purchased a rifle that I have been wanting for a long time so will keep myself amused playing with it. I am also trying to buy a used 22-250 at a less than new plus 20% plus S&H prices....without any luck so far.

As far as your missing hay....it would be funny to print off some pages that say "Your picture has been taken by my hidden camera(s). Go turn yourself in to the police." Then laminate a few copies and push them inside a dozen hay bales on the front of the stack and leave your barn door open.

OR...one person told me they put a note on the front of their hay stall in a shared horse barn that said "We are tired of you stealing our hay so have added crushed glass to a bunch of bales. We know where they are. Do you?" She claimed the thefts stopped immediately. She didn't actually do it of course.

My uncle in Saskatchewan said he used grain marking confetti to stop hay thefts on his place. His hay stack yard was a distance away from his home so he could not monitor it very well. He just opened the bag and tossed handfuls of confetti on the round bales. Trouble with that is the thieves have to know what grain confetti actually is for it to work. Although, if you know who they thief is, it would be fun to stand in their yard and casually ask them why they have confetti all over the place and watch their face. lol

Take care and don't forget to enjoy life. It's a short ride.
Regards,
Dave​
 
Well the hay is in, the door is on and locked and the barn is wired for lights...........now if it would just quit raining............Of course I'm up north right now dealing with some things and fetching my truck, camper and trailer. Should be home in a week or so and then off to Sask for WT. Might get a day in between to do some load testing and chronographing.............and shoot my new 378............
I'm seriously pondering the 230 Douglas for WT...........100 gn bullet............HHHHMMMMMMMM, take the 7 RUM for back up..........or 9.3X300.......or 378 Wby.........so many rifles how does one decide? OK the 9.3 and 378 might be a bit excessive, even for them big Sask whitetails.........
 
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Do it Do it, those bonded 105gn can be in the mail tomorrow!!

Marshal.........not sure I'd have time to work a load with them, but you get 'em shipped and I'll give 'er a go........Now I have decided to use the 230 for my WT...........a 105 gner @ 3500 or so fps should work OK.........What's the SD on that bullet? I don't have my books to get the formula, and we all know I'm too computer illiterate to look it up there !!
Well I'm certainly going to take the 230 Douglas, and if the right opportunity presents I will try it out...........if it ends up being a running shot on a big buck, I think I would opt for the 7 RUM, though. 160 AB @ 3500 fps is a little more of a sure thing............
 
After some reflection on this topic and comparing the 230 Douglas to what I have done with a 6mm-284, I think the Dougie should work just fine. I shot several caribou with the 6-284 using 95 gn Nos BT @ 3500 or so fps and it was absolutely devastating on them. One day ended up shooting one at about 250 mtrs in a screaming hurricane, at least 40 kt winds and he took 2 in the guts due to a lack of doping the wind enough, and he packed it in right there......no wandering around or running just dumped on the second hit. The others were all 1 shot dead on the spot, kills. At 3500 fps, the 95 BT even penetrated the shoulder and souped everything ahead of the diaphragm on one bull.
Another good comparison would be my 257 Wby using 110 Nos ABs at over 3500 fps..........and I doubt anyone would say that the Roy isn't deadly WT medicine, with that load.
Logic tells me the performance of a bonded 23 cal 105 gn bullet should be significantly better than the 95 BT at the same velocity, in roughly the same diameter, or relatively equal to the Roy, given the diameter and weight of bullet.

Any opinions concurring or differing?
 
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