22 lbs 9 inch beard.

[Grandpa Ron]

Finally with two days left in the season, this fellow came in.

He was 22 1/2 lbs. with a 9 inch beard and a bit over 3/8inch spurs. Head shot over decoys at 14 yards.

The particulars were; Twenty ga. Flintlock trade gun, 65 grains of 2F Goex, 1/8” card wad, ¼” cushion wad. 1 1/4oz of a mixture of 6’s and 7 ½’s, .030” over shot wad.

To be honest, with two days left, I thought I was going to be skunked this year. I was looking for anything with a beard and he came by about 6:30 in the evening.

Sometimes the Turkey gods smile.

Now let's see if the picture posts. :grin:

 

[Skychief]

Yippee Grandpa!!!!

Way to hang in there. Love the picture....Nice gun and a great Tom. :thumbsup:

Congrats, Skychief.

 

[buzz]

Agreed nice

 

[TinStar]

Well done!!

TinStar
Soli Deo Gloria!

 

[wattlebuster]

Congrats to ya. Fine bird an gun :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[Dausener]

Very nice,...Both, bird and gun. Who made your trade gun?:hatsoff:

 

[ny griz]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :applause: congrats.Griz

 

[Paul_R]

Nice bird, congrats!

I have to admit this is not what I expected to see when I clicked on this thread.... :haha:

 

[Renegade Dan]

Awesome! Congrats. :thumbsup: Nice lookin gun too.

 

[roundball]

Good deal for you GR, congratulations !
:thumbsup:

 

[Alden]

Cool. Could you Photoshop out the blood? LOL

 

[Tommy Bruce]

Great bird, awsome gun. Tell us more about the smoothie.

 

[Tony Logan]

Great looking bird :hatsoff: nice looking gun

 

[Grandpa Ron]

The trade gun is one a built several years ago.
The barrel maker is unknown; I bought it in the 1980’s. It is a 20 ga. measures .620” and 1 1/8” at the breach. At 38 inches long it gives the gun a nice feel.

The lock is from L&R. I made the butt plate and trigger guard from sheet brass. The ram rod pipes came from Track of the Wolf.

The stock started out as a chunk of walnut and originally was a duplicate of one of my modern shot gun stocks stuck on the back of a trade gun. :shocked2: To no one’s surprise, “It looked horrible”. Though I will admit, it did not seem like such a stupid idea at the time. :wink:

So, I cut, rasped, spliced and heat bent, the stock until it looked like an English trade gun. The tacked cross was added to cover the splice line of the butt joint, the rest of the tacks are for decoration.

I was a long way to go, but Education Costs and in this case it was a lot of extra time. I did learn a lot about working and reworking wood.

This is the second turkey I have taken with it and since it is a cylinder bore, I keep my shots under 20 yards.

 

[PJC]

Once again, it proves that being stubborn can be a good thing.
It also proves once again, that there are more turkeys in the woods than in your living room. Many times I have tasted success because I was too stubborn to quit or too stubborn to go home.

Congratulations for sticking with it and reaping the rewards for being too stubborn too quit.

The reward is a great meal or two and a fantastic memory of a tough long hunting season that ended with a great hunt.

Pat Cameron

 

[dbutch]

That's Great! Nice looking bird Too! :thumbsup: Like the boom stick!

 

[George T.]

That is a great picture of a fine bird and a very nice rifle as well. The blood looks OK to me. Posing with your rifle is a dead give away that he did not have a heart attack! Geo. T.

 

[hawk]

:hatsoff:

 

[Bob J]

Very nice bird, and one sweet-lookin' trade gun :thumbsup: :thumbsup: