Southern Mountain Hunting Rifle

[Carper]

Here is a southern style hunting rifle. Made the furniture and rifled the barrel. Kind of a different hinge on the box. This rifle has taken many whitetails using both round ball and the old Hornady Great Plains bullet in 45 Cal. which it shoots very well. The recoil of these heavy conicals is prohibitive in such a light rifle with considerable drop to the heel.

[Daryl]

Cool rifle, Carper - great design, nicely finished - what loads do you use?

[hanshi]

I like that rifle; and it is, yes, cool.

[Carper]

Thanks for the compliments.  I use 60 gr FFF , a hunk of hornet nest lightly packed into a wad, 15 pillow ticking, a lube of beeswax and crisco, .445 rb for targets .  Bump it up to 75 gr for deer or 70 gr behind a 325 gr Great Plains bullet for deer. Although the bullets hit like a freight train my 1:50 twist with narrow deep cut grooves does a good enough job to get sub 2” groups at 100 yards it doesn’t quite give the stability necessary to hold the path true if a bone is encountered. I have actually hit the shoulder and recovered the bullet near a rear hip! The bullet if it hits the rib cage will usually shoot through a big deer leaving a very easy to track blood trail. The ball in the same location will usually be found just under the hide on the off side feeling like a giant pimple.While just as deadly it can be much more difficult to trail for the 100 or yards they often run especially in heavy mountain laurel cover .

[Carper]

Sorry not the same rifle. Still a southern rifle just not the same one. Here is the first rifle in action.

[hanshi]

Great rifles and major bucks you took with them. 

[Daryl]

GOOD STUFF Carper!

[Leatherbark]

Trust me he's a shooter too!  Plus I have to compete against his rifles and they give me fits. I'll get around to using Carper's rifling machine someday and make me one.  We all miss you Johnny!

Bob

[Marcruger]

You make a fine rifle sir.  Best wishes and God Bless,   Marc

[smylee grouch]

Good job Carper but a 45 cal. just seems too small if your going to wandering around Kodiak Island.    Flintlocks Forever

[Carper]

The funny thing is I can’t hunt with any muzzleloader. You have to take a class to be certified to hunt during the season.  I keep thinking I will but have yet to. You are right about the caliber. I have a 54 caplock southern style rifle here too. About the last thing I want to do is track a wounded deer in the endless alder thickets here. I have heard these bears actually have learned to come to the sound of gun fire knowing a snack is waiting. Sounds like a wives tale does it not.

[stubshaft]

I don't know about old wives tales.  I have had a lot of wild hogs come running to the sound of an empty feeder though.

[Daryl]

Bears in BC and Montana will come to a rifle shot, at times, expecting to 'take over' the kill.   Oft times around here, those bears are removed from the gene pool.

I think this happens more with grizzlies, than with black bears.

A bow hunter up here have been followed by a grizzly sow with cubs when he and his son were hunting up Dunlevy Creek for elk.  After the second day of being 'dogged'

by the bears,  they packed up and left, never going back to that area.

A write up in the Bozeman paper (posted on another forum) I think it was, had a couple hunters call in a pack of wolves when calling elk. This was about 3 years ago.

2 friends of Taylor and I called 5 grizzlies while calling elk.  They were sitting on their tree stands attached low on pine trees, their feet on the ground, & they separated by some bush.

Len didn't know the bears had come in- he heard the foot falls and though it was a bull with some cows. LOL  They didn't think it was funny, one stood up only a few yards from Dave,

woofed at him, then they all took off running right past Len. Len noted he could have touched a couple with his bow tip as they ran past him. They were hunting with long bows - last time.

[Iktomi]

You make a fine rifle sir.  Best wishes and God Bless,   Marc

 I'll second that. Very good looking guns.