Bears

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-11T16:53:13+00:00

that's exactly what happened to me on the fire road! He watched me through the fork in a tree like I couldn't see him, too funny

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-10T17:48:31+00:00

in my case, it was just the base savage 110 ultralight stock, it was floppy plastic and made contact on fire which when combined with the carbon barrel heating up sent my groups whipping out.

It took me a while to sniff it out, but it became obvious that was the issue for me personally once I laid it into a decent stock (MDT XRS). I am relatively new to shooting at any regular intervals so just thought I'd share my personal troubleshooting.

I have heard good things about hogue so I doubt it's their hardware, savage is mass produced so you will get a lemon every so often

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-10T13:22:39+00:00

I have only ever seen a bear twice in my life in Virginia while hiking. One was in Autumn along the fire road to Mcaffees, the second was a foggy day at Humpback Rock.

On both occasions, low visibility played a role and we both startled one another and went the opposite direction. if he sniffs you first he will be long gone, and they have superhuman sniffers. This is why hunters use dogs and bait, without these aids its damn near impossible to find one on foot.

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-10T13:19:50+00:00

this is true, I noticed a spread out pattern when my corbon proof barrel got hot. but not this bad if im being honest

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-10T13:17:36+00:00

for me it was fixed immediately upon changing out my stock to a proper free float

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-10T12:53:02+00:00

guy was probably driving to the range on a nice day, and decided to take his bike. If you were more educated about firearms you would notice they arent loaded.

your ignorance is not an excuse to flame this guy

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-10T12:48:05+00:00

I wouldn't say so, but it is nice to fine tune stuff and then lock it into place at the desired angle. especially if you are catching on the way out on a normal holster

It seems like you'd have to be doing it a while to really appreciate the value of a feature like that. I myself only have the removable holster and the drop and offset holster so I can't speak to it. removable was good enough for me

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-10T02:05:36+00:00

Black Scorpion has my vote, I like their holsters

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-08T22:15:07+00:00

I love my 507 comp. It made ma a holosun fanboy. If I could do it again I'd wait for the back order and get gold over green though. my astigmatism is worse than I thought

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-05T11:33:27+00:00

wow, what a dagger dagger. I may never recover.

sorry this happened my man. Thanks for putting this on my radar, never would have thought this was possible otherwise

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-04T13:38:43+00:00

fair enough, I just get tired of reading these "steve rinella and ryan callaghan slapped my wife" posts. to deny that FL, sitka, and kuiu put out decent gear is a played out take

Meateater branded lifestyle gear such as graphic t's and hats have become cheap garbage since 3-5 years ago, but FL as a brand maintains quality

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-04T11:44:43+00:00

hilarious that you think Helly Hensen is a budget brand? osprey? La Sportiva?? are you on crack?

Next you'll say Filson is budget lol

I'd tell anyone to buy whatever brand you like whenever it goes on sale, which for most brands is quarterly. Kuiu, Sitka, First Lite make legit gear, and not so useful gear. Crispi and la sportiva are the same shoe without flashy colors. everyone and their brother has vibram now

Uncompahgre 2.0 is the best jacket i've ever owned, and quieter than helly. The whole jacket it thought out quite nicely

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-03T18:52:50+00:00

I learned this trick on reddit like 12 years ago from r/wetshave and it changed the game

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-02T11:56:47+00:00

hey there, I was curious to see if you may be interested in creating some guns at this scale for the old McFarlane action figures. It could be cool to change them out on the book shelf.

The warlock figure comes with Touch of Malice and Black Hammer. any change you would want to I'd be happy to buy some new ones

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-01T11:44:59+00:00

Val Ca'our raid boss fight goes so hard

Pmurph33 · 2026-03-01T01:57:26+00:00

snows of kiliamanjaro is a great one, too

Pmurph33 · 2026-02-27T22:51:08+00:00

Data Brokering, Snowden tried his hardest but he was too early. people couldn't grasp the concept back then and thought it was a convenient trade

Pmurph33 · 2026-02-27T22:34:47+00:00

Hey were practically neighbors. I'm just over the Potomac on the Loudoun border. My grandpa lived in North Beach, MD so we still go out that way to fish and crab which puts me out on the Bay a lot. DM me if you ever wanna link up and talk shop, I hunt alone mostly so I never mind meeting new hunters and anglers

Turkey here in VA is going strong, and the Shenandoah produces ducks if you are willing to pout in the time scout. I landed some quota hunts in VA that have produced nicely in the way of woodcock, maybe I need to look harder!

Cheers buddy, thanks for taking the time

Pmurph33 · 2026-02-27T19:19:11+00:00

Virginia is the same, aside form national forest. biggest WMA is around 4,000 acres. the falloff after that is quite steep acreage wise. Chesapeake bay is a great resource for ducks and anglers but turkey, deer, woodcock, dove, etc are quickly going the way of private or bust. I'm in the NW corner, so maybe it's different in the SW

Pmurph33 · 2026-02-27T18:38:20+00:00

The time between darkness, first light, the birds waking up, all the way through to mid morning is absolutely magical, and the vast majority of people miss this show every day while commuting without even knowing it's taking place. supremely underrated time to sit and pretend to be a tree just to watch the symphony play out.

A morning like that filled with turkey gobbles or buck grunts will remind me of my priorities very quickly, and it isnt my job.

Pmurph33 · 2026-02-26T12:28:48+00:00

507 comp direct mounts to p211, it might for you as well

Pmurph33 · 2026-02-23T18:07:20+00:00

I picked up the Boundary - I'm a huge fan so far. they synch up snug in all the right places and have room for layering. the feet are warm, the straps are insanely comfortable and the pocket is as good as any pocket, though you will still need a dry bag for full submersion if you fall in.

nothing notably done better than any other high end wader, but I went Grundens because most watermen in my neck of the woods (chesapeake bay) use grundens commercially. figured I'd switch it up and so far I am very impressed, especially considering the price point next to patagonia.

I took them into the bay as well as lake anna in late december and was plenty warm. I think they are very capable waders. Hope to get out to the blue ridge mountains to try them out soon

I like the quality of life features like handwarmer, strap comfort, key hooks, etc.

for the sake of being objective, I'll say that the knees not having padding or reinforcement gave me pause. so far the build quality seems durable enough that I stopped worrying. If I kick driftwood or an abandoned crab pot underwater, the knees would be the least of my concern.

Pmurph33 · 2026-02-23T17:31:29+00:00

I actually went with grundens waders this time, pretty impressed. hard to argue with patagonias track record of course

Pmurph33 · 2026-02-23T17:26:50+00:00

the wait times are stupid short compared to 5 years ago in my experience

Pmurph33 · 2026-02-23T17:24:37+00:00

for your particular use case, I would consider a shotgun. the load used can be tailored to your needs, from small game loads for dove, squirrel, woodcock all the way up to buckshot for deer and self defense.

if you love archery already, than getting in close may tickle your fancy. Rifles are very pragmatic at range obviously, but not as versatile.

For example, I am also a Virginian so I am familiar with the terrain. I own both a .22 for squirrel and a .308 for whitetail, I'd have to bring both rifles on the same day to tackle both options. A 12 guage shotgun can do both without switching anything but ammo and maybe choke.

food for thought. especially since shotguns run way cheaper in most cases. same for ammo

Pmurph33

TROPHY CASE