Anyone else running behind????

[Sand Man]

I'm in the process of building two 20ga's for friends.  I started this process after last spring when they saw my guns.  I keep telling myself I had plenty of time, but season opens in MS/Bama next Friday and I have two unassembled half painted 20ga turkey guns hanging in my shop.   

I did load 50 TSS 1 5/8oz #9 loads last night.............28 more and at least I have their ammo knocked out.

Really hope I can have the guns finished with paint, assembled, and headed to the pattern board by this weekend.

Anyone else running behind?   

[FullChoke]

It looks like I am setting on "G" and waiting for "O"! Saturday will be the preliminaries for me. Still hope that we can find a spunky 2 YO wanting to commit suicide in front of this chap I'm taking. I may run the batteries completely down and top out the memory card on the camera if we can connect! Weather looks like it will be perfect for our soft opening day!

FC

[Sand Man]

Best of luck.  Hope y'all get one on the ground.  Hopefully I can pull a MS or Bama hunt next weekend if work will calm down a little.

Getting closer to having these guns done.  50 TSS reloads are done.

A little taste of the painting:

-primed and ready for paint

-base layer

-webbing

-stencil

have since based over the stencils.  All that's left is laying down the tree bark colors, clear coat, and reassembly.  Then off to the pattern board to dial in the FF II's


EDIT..........pics are way too large. need to resize.

[Eric Gregg]

I am ready to go! Youth weekend is this weekend so I hope to hear some good things from the fields about the gobblers. Weather warmed slightly yesterday but is overcast today.
In my neck of the woods they don't get fired up gobbling till mid way through the season.
Usually right befor the dog woods bloom out.
I will have to work opening day but the next week I will probably be off during the middle of the week.
That will mean that the spring break teenage bush wackers will be back in school and I will have the woods to myself.

Can't wait

[surehuntsalot]

4 days and a wake up,I'll be in the woods friday morning

[Sand Man]

Well guns got 3 coats of clear yesterday.  I'll take off all the masking tape and reassemble tonight.  Maybe with the time change I can go pattern and dial in the FF II's.  Ready to hit the turkey woods!   

[Sand Man]

I finally got two 20's I'm putting together for friends assembled last night.  Off to the patterning boards today to dial in the red dots and see how they perform.  Not the best pics with the cell phone, but here they are:















Not 100% happy with them, but at least they aren't solid black now.  Learned a few more lessons this go around with one being to base layer the tracks black where they'll pop.  You really have to know what you are looking at to notice them on the gun.

[FullChoke]

Nice work on those two.     Glad you could get them done before season.

FC

[Sand Man]

Thanks.  They look to be killers!       Both were 40 yard shots, with Remington Super Full Chokes, and 1 5/8oz TSS #9 reloads.

First 309 in the 10" and 226 in the 20" for 535 total.

 

Second 218 in the 10" and 289 in the 20" for 507 total.

   

[FullChoke]

Beautiful AND Deadly!

[Sand Man]

Thanks.  The top pattern is WAY too tight for those two boys that's going to use that gun.  We are going to have to figure out a Hevi-shot combo for that gun.  I've got some 2 3/4" Remington HD 6's I'm thinking about trying with a more open choke.  I figure that TSS at 20 yards will be about the size of a baseball and not very forgiving for a kid trying to kill his first bird.

The bottom pattern is for my old college roommate in Alabama.  He hunts a lot more woods than we do out here in TX.  Stangely both guns used the same choke, but his is more open which I think will actually suit him best hunting woods.  I put a micrometer on the chokes and both mic within .001 to .002 of each other.  I'm thinking one barrel just polished better than the other.

I could do a little more work, but at this point I think I'm done.   

[gophert]

  I figure that TSS at 20 yards will be about the size of a baseball and not very forgiving for a kid trying to kill his first bird.

Actually TSS gives you much more wiggle room at 20 than most other loads.  That's what's so great about it.  At 20 yards you still have about 10" wiggle room.

[Sand Man]

Interesting and thanks for the pic Tim.  Guess I need to stop assuming and pattern one at 20 yards.

I know my buddy was more than estatic about the gun when I dropped it off to him on Friday.  He let his boy run several 7.5 dove loads thru the gun at 21 yards to get him used to the red dot.  He said the boy was very confident with the gun before it was over.  Hopefully we can get his first turkey in front of him this up-coming weekend.