The only thing that would have made that pic prettier is if they would have been gun clubs.. Truth be known they prolly never thought twice about it in Texas.. Here you jwould have had a visit from ATF,,,, And where Shane is from they would just kill you,,,,,,,,,,
Very nice looking payload there TM. My favored brand for crows as well. Federal makes some pretty good shotgun ammo IMO. On another forum I read a short time ago where a guy had chronographed a series of five Top Gun 3 dram loads. His results were 1197, 1197, 1200, 1203 and 1198fps which is incredible.
Ted
-- Edited by M12Shooter on Saturday 22nd of October 2011 09:01:38 PM
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Matt found these at Rogers Sporting Goods in Arkansas at $59/case to his door. That is a good price. Previously, I was ordering from Cheaper Than Dirt and their price delivered at $75/case on these Federal sub-sonic loads (TGM123) to feed our units various "Metro Guns". Note CTD had to charge us tax in Texas, too.
Bob your estimate was close, the total was $900 for the 15 cases.
The TCP is in the process of obsoleting our previous standard "ball cartridge", the Winchester AA "Featherlite" 8's at 980FPS for the improved crow knockdown of this Federal load with 1 and 1/8 ounces of 7.5's at 900FPS. Be aware that it appears Wal-Mart stopped carrying that AA load, too. We are in a shooting war this these Texas crows now and we refuse to give any quarter!
I have shot federal ammo at waterfowl since the libs forced steel on us in 89. I can buy it cheaper for crows but refuse to shoot it. I wish they would put just a tad bit more TLC in the wad they use. It just don't cut it for me. Im not far from the world shooting complex in Sparta. When they compete they use the gun club loads. I believe in consistancy. That remington power piston is unbeatable quality, dependability , and precision unmatched. I will admit that is a fantastic and unbelievable price wow!!!
How much was your bill?? and where do you buy from? if you don't mind me asking
As Gadget Bob mentioned, these came from Roger's Sporting goods, and were $884.55. Thats $49.99 a case, plus about $9 per case shipping. These subsonics are somewhat difficult to find, so we were pretty excited about the price.
Bob, that photo of yours is very heart warming as well.
Chip, You're right, the UPS man wasn't concerned at all. While we were unloading it, he told me a story about quail hunting with his grandpa when he was a chid, and then started telling me where he had seen large numbers of crows. Now thats service!!
-- Edited by TexasMatt on Sunday 23rd of October 2011 08:38:49 PM
That truck load of Matt's represents a lot of work, mind you all.
Each case has to be hauled around some and we don't have the use of two-wheeled dollies. The cases have to be ripped open, sometimes while bandits are in the air and the guns are coughing!
Many of the boxes are ripped open to access the shells in a hurry and the content of most boxes have to be transferred to pouches - an annoying material-handling exercise that usually is conducted by feel alone. By now, we're about half done with the process.
Next each individual shell has to be loaded into a gun. Oddly, the TCP has not suffered any casualties to repetitive stress injuries to that logistical phase of "thumbing" the shells into the gun magazines. Perhaps that's because this part is the most fun!
Of course, Texas Matt and Gadget Bob use those new-fangled autos but there is at least one who won't give up his pump guns - even more work!
After the shooting is done, we have to find every hull and collect them for later recycling. That means lots of walking around and bending down.
Yes sir, that stack of shell cases represents a lot of hard work.
There is a sad end to this ammo dump tale and no one is more upset than me over this situation. Matt brought the lion's share of this ammo over to my house way back on Friday for pick-up by Lone Star Phil and some of our part time honorary members. Well, no one picked put their ammo yet and storage costs have now far exceeded the value of these shells. They had to be confiscated for non-payment of storage under Texas law. A bright spot is that I will be able to waive the excess storage charges beyond the value of these shells on a one-time basis. That should put a smile of everyone's face.
Good luck with your new Metro Maxus, there are going be a lot of crows meet their demise to that deadly combo.
BTW, we are at 499 crows for October after our 77 bird shoot yesterday. Texas Matt's cousin Elliot and I did that damage in an all day effort. Left the house at 5:00AM and returned at 8:30PM. A long day of crow shooting fun!
Lone Star Phil, your description of tearing open ammunition cases and individual boxes during the heat of a crow shoot reminds me of the British Zulu wars in Africa. The Brits were very efficient and encased their ammunition in steel cans, further packing these in wooden cases for safe transport.
If I have the history right did not once the British Army get overrun and annihilated as a result of this packaging as they could not get at their ammuniton fast enough to fend off waves of spear carrying Zulu warriors.
A guy knows he's into a good crow shoot when shotgun shell box flaps must be torn free in haste to keep a shotgun fed!
Ted
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Life's tough... It's even tougher if you're stupid. John Wayne
I hunted in South Africa very close to Rorke's Drift where 150 Brittish soldiers (mainly Welch troops) stood off 3 to 4 thousand Zulu warriors back in 1879.
They were not so lucky at Isandlwana where all the troops were slaughtered down to the last man. They lost track of the "band breakers" in the heat of battle and could not open the ammo up fast enough which was there down fall.
The Zulu's are very nice people and they all speak english in South Africa.
Bob A.
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South Africa! You certainly get around, don't you! I hope you were able to visit those battlefields.
Ted:
You should check out "Zulu!" starring Michael Caine. It was filmed in the early sixties and is supposedly an accurate depiction of the fight at Rorke's Drift that Bob mentioned. Rorkes Drift occured a day after Isandlwana.
I've sometimes use the term "Zulu" to describe a departure from the battery to run down a hopper, as in, "Bob, I'm going Zulu after that hopper," meaning lightly armed, no extra ammo or gear and moving fast.
You already know how much fun the metro guns are - I can't wait to hear about your results with it. I believe you'll also enjoy the Maxus. I've tried Bob's and Matt's and they are fine shotguns. I haven't put them on a scale but I would venture to say that a Maxus with a metro barrel extension weighs less than my BPS without the barrel extension.
Have you any experience with Rio's sub-sonic round?
Will they cycle in the maxus?
thanks!
Mike
Hi Mike,
We have not tried Rio's subsonic loads, but I am interested in doing so. The Federal shells have 1 1/8 oz of shot, with MV of 900fps. The Rio's are only 1 oz loads, but the MV is 1050fps, so muzzle energy is about 21% higher with the Rio's, so I would expect them to cycle just fine.
The only drawback is that the MV is fairly close to breaking the sound barrier, and could do so on a very cold day, or if the manufacturer dropped a couple extra flakes of powder. You would then have a much noisier firearm.