Parker

True, but Stag Hill on the other side of RSP is Ground Zero for the Forbidden Zone.

1) Both manuals are safe to use. You will find load data in manuals from SPEER, Nosler, Lyman, Hornady, Hodgdon, Alliant, Sierra, etc. all vary slightly, but they're all safe. Load data in manuals that are five decades old may be different but are still pretty close to today’s useful data because powder burn rates remain the same for specific types. If you read the works of writers/shooters/reloaders like Keith, Page, Mashburn, Hagel, Nonte, Skelton, Harris, Clapp, Milek or Jurris; you will find load data they’ve worked up that’s “safe in their guns” but clearly exceeding published load data from any bullet or powder manufacturer. 2) As for the load data, start with the recomended minimum and work up from there. As for OAL, you’ll seat that particular bullet to the listed COAL (cartridge overall length.) The OAL is a balance of proper depth for reliable feeding, proper case grip of the bullet and proper depth so as not to induce unwanted pressures. (Seat a bullet too deep and you intrude on your powder space and you could increase pressures.) Your seating die should come with different seating stems for bullet type. Bullet noses vary from HP (like the XTP) to flat point to round nose. Different seating stems are used for specific bullet types so as to not damage the bullet’s nose. Bullet construction and measurements of the bullet’s various parts vary with bullet type. For example, your RN-FMJ may have a different ogive and bearing surface length than your XTP HP with its flatter tip.

Therein why it's called "hunting." The consummate hunter combines the skills of tracking, a bit of mystery understanding game movements, accurate shooting (bow or firearm) for a humane kill, the knowledge of an animal's reaction at the shot, more tracking for game retrieval, field dressing for proper care of the meat and maybe butchering if you're a DIY person.

The bang-flop-silence scenario on big game is rare. Oftentimes it can occur, but rarely.

I doubt any upland or deer hunter in the state of New Jersey has ever followed this guideline in the last century.

I suspect the range orientation is erring on the side of caution. I do know that since 2013, New York re-wrote Penal Law 265's definition of a "loaded firearm" and the mere presence of ammunition in conjunction with a "firearm" is considered a "loaded firearm." Guess we'll have to wait until a New Jersey SAFE Act to where we have something similar etched in stone.

For most presses you can buy die kits to convert to other gauges. Although, I'll admit it is easier if you have a press dedicated for each gauge you reload for, saves time and energy setting up the press each time for the crimp stage. My Dad's old 250 had kits for 12, 16 & 20 ga. that we learned on. He still has it today.

Started reloading shotshells with my Dad in the 60's. Learned on paper hulls stuffed with fiber and cardboard wads and "cutting edge" Alcan over-powder plastic gas seal shot cups before true one-piece shot cups changed the game. Been rolling my own loads for upland game as well as for target ever since. Just picked up a 5th MEC. I'm going to set it up exclusively for loading 12 ga. 2 1/2" shells. I reload for 12, 16 & 20 gauges.

Sounds like the owner of that SS Henry.

Agreed. The Hollywood of today and the liberals it breeds does not match the halycon days of Hollywood of years ago. That culture has faded fast.

Hopefully, the 55,000 hunters in New Jersey (last year's rough total) will wake up. Hunter numbers have dropped in the state each year for the last eight years. Soon, these Fudd's won't be an entity to blame. The group that's silent and are suspiciously absent from the polls on election days are the "1 million gun owners" in New Jersey who purportedly has amassed a registration count of 8 million handguns. And if they all did show up at the polls for the Kim/Phil race, less than the million cast their vote for Kim, while Phil garnered significantly more, winning less towns overall but getting significantly more votes. BTW - 12 million+ hunters on a national level, yet there are supposedly 90 million gun owners in America. A small percentage hunt in this nation. Out of that 90 million, how many are NRA members? I see apathy and ambivalence, and it's everywhere.

By 2020 he'll be dictating what you can and cannot inherit.

A squib is defined as an underpowered or no-powder load. Be it just the primer, or an underpowered powder charge that pushes the bullet or a shotshell wad part of the way down the barrel without exiting the muzzle. This scenario sets up the perfect opportunity for the next round's detonation to prove interesting for the obstruction that lies ahead. The internet calls the resulting anomaly a kaboom.

Here's the results of a squib in a Sig P220, shooting factory PMC 230 gr. hardball ammo. Note the bulged barrel. Shooter became evident of the problem when the slide locked back on the bulged barrel but he didn't recall the squib. The bullet lodged in the barrel from the squib was then pushed out by the next very capable fired round which resulted in the bulge. The barrel could have burst but it didn't.

I had great luck with the Firestone Destination LE's (Gen 1 & Gen 2) on my last two vehicles. Two sets on an RX300 and a set on the last of the solid-axle, AWD Grand Cherokee's left me with a positive impression. Great road tire, great in rain, quiet and a high-mileage tire. Because both vehicles had AWD I never had issues in any snow situation. If you're driving the roads on NJ they're all you need. I also recommend the Michelin LTX M&S. (Original tires on the Grand Cherokee, also used these on my Suburban and an Explorer back in the 90's.) Both vehicles were on and off-road throughout their lifetime. My old, smaller Cherokee never performed well off-road until I put a set of Bridgestone Dueler A/T's on it. With these I went everywhere reasonable. It was an 'okay' road tire, but better in the slop.

Caught this follow-up story on my MeatEater newsletter on the squirrel hunt: https://www.themeateater.com/conservation/animal-rights/anti-hunting-protestors-crash-family-squirrel-hunt BTW - He publishes some great game recipes and has a FB page if you want to check it out. .

Bore obstruction here, thanks to a squib. Barrel burst at the weakest point; the dovetail cut. I saw a Henry .357 in carbon steel that had three bullets just south of the muzzle. The barrel was just bulged.

I believe it's already banned in most states, including the creation of a website and app. to do such in many states. This came and fizzled pretty quick. If there isn't a specific law restricting it then the state's game code laws dictate the proper manner of fair chase. If it's not banned there are still fines associated with that manner of taking.

Fewer American's hunt every year: https://www.npr.org/2018/03/20/593001800/decline-in-hunters-threatens-how-u-s-pays-for-conservation It will be interesting to see how New Jersey substitutes their pheasant-rearing program with an outsourced solution now that the Rockport facility closed in 2018: https://thebirdhuntingsociety.weebly.com/what-happened-so-whats-next.html

As an 8th grade kid, armed with little knowledge back in 1969, I used to think bigger was better. I'd stuff a heavy classic pheasant load of Rem. Express 1 1/8 oz. of # 7 1/2's in the MOD barrel and a Federal 1 1/4 oz. of # 6's in the FULL barrel of my 16 ga. double. I used that same combo all through my years in high school. Recoil was stiff in that light gun, the loads were far killers, however anything hit up close on the button was murdelized. The tight chokes of that old double-gun were a hinderance and a blessing depending on how I deployed them. Fifty years later I'd like to think I'm a little wiser when it comes to choke & ammo selection. Gauge doesn't matter, but if there is a perfect shot size for pheasants under ALL conditions it would be #5's with #6's as a close second. JMO Over a pointing dog that can hold birds close the loads I'll use now are with a max. of 1 1/8 oz. in the 16's & 12's, mostly 7/8 oz. or 1 oz. in the 20's all with open chokes, no more than MODIFIED. I use light shotguns so I like to use light loads and I have been using tailored handloads for decades. Agreed.

A lot would depend on terrain and style of hunting for pheasant. Are these pen-raised birds on a game farm or wild pheasants in the Dakota's? There is a difference. For pheasant over a pointing dog here in NJ during the semi-wild preserve season, you can use SKT/MOD in your O/U. IC/MOD is also fine. Under barrel should be used first with the more open choke. (Lower bore axis drives recoil straight back for quick recovery of second shot.) The bottom barrel is designed to fire first in an O/U. Find an O/U with a non-selective single trigger; the bottom barrel always fires first. BTW - Everyone should pattern their shotguns, especially double-barreled ones with their hunting & target loads. Hundreds of thousands of pheasant hunters go afield each year and just use a MOD choke and #7 1/2"s, #6's, #5's or #4's and bring home game without giving the issue or preparation too much thought. With a 12 ga. and the right loads, you'd be surprised at how you can take game cleanly under 40 yds. with just an Improved Cylinder choke.

Trapshooters & Shotgunworld forum comments haven't been too kind to Turkish guns for a number of years now. They seem hit or miss and a shooter who is going to put a lot of trigger time behind an O/U shotgun should invest in a good one. Parts & service can sometimes be a problem with Turkish guns. When American, Belgium, English & Italian shotguns set the standards decades and centuries ago for quality and durability, double owners even then learned to be suspicious of early Spanish guns that were being imported at low prices for they sometimes exhibited inferior and soft metals. (There weren't many online gun forums back in the 60's & 70's to learn this either. Just word of mouth at the time.) However, Spanish guns have come a long way, and many are high grade works of art that work well. Anything mechanical can fail. I've learned that over time. One can hope that the Turkish guns get better.

My pick would be an early JM Marlin (pre-safety preferable) or an early Win. 94.

No private sales in NJ since 10/1/18 is only going to affect those who own guns and want to trade-up or sell them in a lawful manner. The FFL intervention becomes a PITA with another added fee. Change is often difficult to accept. This was yet another tragedy for all law-abiding folks.

Proper field dressing is key, be it small game to large game. If everyone who hunted did so responsibly I doubt this would be an issue. Un-retrieved game is obviously not a good thing. I've been eating game I've taken all my life, same with my dad who's very healthy at 93.