ChasMike

Send them to me if you dont mind Dale. I'd like a good count before I turn them over to Rod. Thanks, Mike

Well I have waited for responses from the members and the ones that have responded seem to be fine with giving it to Rod, so thats what we will do. I am in the process now of trying to round up some reamers and gages that have not made it back in yet. I will contact the people that seem to have been the last one to use them and when I am finished I will post anything else that hasn't came in yet. I'd like to send the complete inventory to Rod so he can start fresh. In the end if I can't gather them all up I will replace anything that has gone missing. If you have anything that belongs to the co-op inventory please let me know. I will keep the membership up to date. Mike

Pacrat, I appreciate your opinion and appreciate the opinions of the members but I was given responsiblity for caring for the tools of 40 members and I have only heard from a handful. I am responsible for all these tools and I would not feel right handing them over to another member without the go ahead of at least a large majority of the members. I will encourage the members to regroup and I will send my reamer to whomever is chosen as the new coordinator to insure my membership in the new group. The reamers and tools will begin going back to rightful owners right away and as I said I will contact each member by e-mail to verify your shipping address. Members need not worry if they haven't heard from me yet. I will be doing this over the course of several weeks and each member will be contacted before I ship their tools. I have a couple of reamers out being used right now but rest assured you will receive your reamer and or gages back. I will report back here after a couple of weeks to let everyone know how it is going. Thanks, Mike

I believe the best way to handle the co-op is to ship each members items back to them and then the members can regroup as they see fit. In the next few weeks I will be contacting each member per e-mail to verify their address and I will ship their back to them. Thanks, Mike

Hey Guys it's good to talk to all here on the co-op board. It's been so long since I've been on the site I had to dig around to find my login. If I have missed a few posts directed at me here I apologize. Co-op members always contact me either at my personal e-mail or thru the yahoo reamer group page so I haven't been very good at checking back here to see whats going on. I have to thank Tony and the guys with the knowledge of sporterizing and gunsmithing and the willingness to share that wisdom. It helped me create a few rifles that make my hunting experience even more rewarding. Haven't built a rifle in 3 or 4 years and I've just continued to manage the reamer co-op because I made a commitment to do so. Me handing off the management to someone else is my way of linking the co-op to someone who is active on the sporterizing site and active in the reamer co-op. I thank everyone for the kind words. I really can't remember how long I have been doing this (Tony may be able to look back and see). For the most part all the guys in the co-op are stand up guys and it has been my pleasure to deal with them and help them out. I feel sure that i know who the complaint came from and it was expected. I can either send all the tools back to the original owners (at my expense) or the members can come to some sort of consensus on who I should hand it off to. The co-op has had a good long run and has helped a lot of guys and I would hope we could keep it going. I asked for volunteers to respond to my personal e-mail and Jonathan Wilson (rustviper) was the first to do so. He has been a good member and I take him at his word that he will not be using co-op reamers to benefit his gunsmithing business. The members of course have the final say so on this decision and I will abide by whatever they decide. Thanks guys, Mike

I have an extra set of 257 Roberts dies and an extra set of 6.5X55 dies and I need a set of 22 hornet dies. I will trade the Roberts dies or the Swede dies for your 22 hornet dies. I know this is not a trade forum but if anyone is interested just send me an e-mail. Later, Mike chasmike@yahoo.com

Rob, Time in the deer blind is never wasted. Man me and my wife both just love being in the woods. I know what your saying thou, makes for a lot better day when you are seeing deer. Later, Mike

Jerry, I was wondering when you were gonna show up. Yeap I told them if gas got up over $4.oo a gallon I was gonna have to give it up. When I payed $4.11 a gallon one day last summer I called the landowners (who have become like part of our family) and they were very understanding about it. I called the other 3 guys on the lease and they were fine as a matter of fact they just split my part between the 3 and kept just the 3 on there. The landowners invited us down in feb or march to visit and said that we could go to their other property and see if we could get us an Axis. I was very fortunate in that I met a new family that had just moved into town here, once I got to know the guy I found out that he is an ex game warden with a good lease on the Red River and needed one more guy. What a deal. Great lease and 40 miles away from home and the same price. Been hunting here by the house for years and shot a few deer but this guy came outta nowhere. I had been watching a nice 10 on the game cam and thats the one I was looking for. I'll take a huge 13 point instead any day. Got a great big doe and a nice big sow at the new lease and passed on a big 9 point. Been a lot of good eatin goin on around here I'll tell you. Later, Mike

Thanks guys, I have hunted all my life and all my sporterized mausers have taken deer, but nothing like this guy. He is going on the wall. There really is something special about harvesting any animal with a weapon that you have built, especially using ammo that you loaded. My wife and I are pretty much meat hunters. We process our own deer and pigs and make a lot of sausage and such. We raise a big garden and freeze or can a lot of veggies and make a lot of jelly and pickles and such. I even built us a small building out behind the house for canning and processing. I have never cared whether they had big antlers or not. They were just meat. I said all that to say this. Bring on them Big Bucks !!!

Well I have a good lease about 40 miles from my house now, but I decided to hunt here by the house on opening day and then go to the lease the next weekend. That was a very good decision on my part. Saw a nice 7 point on opening morning but I passed on him since I had seen a bigger buck on my camera. Went back that evening and crawled into my blind and was unloading my pack when I looked up and this big boy was broadside at about 100 yards. Grabbed my gun and then realized I had not put a round in the chamber yet. I jacked a round in and as soon as I settled the scope on the lung area I let her fly. He ran about 20 or 30 yards into the brush and I gave him about 20 minutes and went in looking for him, he was laying down there but wasn't dead yet and he got up and took about 3 steps and jumped into the river. The river is pretty shallow there maybe waist deep so he ran and thrashed his way out to the middle of the river and layed down and died. Took me and a friend and a long rope and a pickup several hours to drag him out of the river and up a steep bank and over a fence and then thru the briars and brambles and to the truck. The two of us could not load him in the truck so I borrowed my neighbors loader and picked him up and loaded him into the truck. I don't know what he weighed but he was huge. By the way I shot him with a 6.5 swede carbine barrel on a turk action that I built a couple years ago, the bullet was a 130 grain TSX ahead of a stiff load of RL19. Also shot a real nice big doe at my new lease and the last day of deer season I took an offhand shot at a 125 lb sow running at about 100yards and I hit her right behind the ear with my 6mm turk that Sonic and I built a couple years ago. My wife was with me and she said "man that was a great shot" and I said "my dear that was not a great shot, that was a lucky shot." Later, Mike

Tony, The mauser reamer sharing co-op is as viable as ever. I build very few rifles anymore, so I frequent the forum much less than in the past. All the members have my e-mail address and I am either contacted directly or thru our Yahoo group. A sticky works fine for me and you wouldn't need to show a list of the reamers and gauges in inventory, just show how the co-op works and include my e-mail address if you would. If anyone is interested I will send them a current list of our inventory. Tony if you or anyone else has any questions please feel free to e-mail me at chasmike@yahoo.com Thanks, Mike

Yeah Jerry I'm gonna go back down right after Thanksgiving dinner and stay for 8 or 10 days. Hope to shot two or three more and process them down there and bring them back already done. The land owner has a cooler and a place we can process our deer. Might even get lucky and get another Axis. As far as hunting a feeder, I don't give a flying flip what anybody thinks. We feed year round and make three or four (800 mile) round trips each year in the off season and fill the large feeders we have set up. We probably feed 100 or more deer year round between the 5 or 6 feeders we have on the place and we only harvest maybe 12-15 deer a year. The people that had the lease before us took there feeders down as soon as season was over and the land owner said that the deer starved to death by the dozens come January and February when it got really cold and there was nothing to eat. That country down there can not support the amount of deer that it has. There is just not enough native food for them. I love the spot and stalk style of hunting but that is not much of an option in most of the Texas hill country. The guys down there that build the high fence hunting preserves have to bulldozer down all the cedars so the hunters can see those high dollar animals that they are paying to shoot. Later, Mike

Jerry, I got a nice 8 point (by Hill country standards) on opening morning. I shot him with the 22-250 that Sonic and I just put together a while back. I'm pretty much a meat hunter so I prefer neck or head shots so as not to mess up much meat. Well I shot this one in the lungs hoping he would run a ways so that I could work my Blue Lacy tracking dog. Instead he dropped like sack of taters and didn't move a muscle. That 22-250 with 60 grain partitions did the trick. I let him chill in the cooler a couple days and then made chili meat out of him. The land owner had trapped a couple 50-60 # pigs and had been feeding them corn for 3 or 4 weeks and he gave them to us so I butchered mine while we were down there and iced it down and brought it home. Saturday I got out the grinder and stuffer and some hog casings and made 25 lbs of german sausage using a package of german sausage spices that I picked up down at Fischers. Man we had ribs and sausage on the grill yesterday and I must say it was outstanding. Now tell me about this lease you got down by Saint Jo. Did you get to go opening weekend?

Caught this guy on my game camera that is set up on my land near my house. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/chasmike/SUNP0039.jpg

Mark you have some very fortunate brothers. Land in Leakey and Utopia. I'd move down to that country in a heartbeat if I could. My wife loves it down there too. Jerry you are right, we go thru London on our way down and back to the lease every time. I don't bowhunt any more I have too many back and neck problems so we will go down to the lease in a couple weeks and make sure everything is up to par and ready for gun season. I'm seeing some deer activity at my feeders up here at home but man the weeds are so high and thick the deer have to be at the feeder to see them. Have a feeling early hunting is gonna be tough up here. Gonna need an ice storm to knock all these weeds down. Jerry you going back to West Texas this year? Later, Mike

Jerry you been inhaling too many fumes from those Peterbilt trucks you been buildin. My lease in near Utopia, just a hop skip and a jump from Leakey. If you turn back east in Leakey and go over the mountains your first stop is Vanderpool and your next stop is Utopia. We've been on that lease for about 6 years now and wouldn't give it up for the world. The owners are kinda like family now. We do have the exotics passin thru there every now and then. Our lease is all low fence except for some areas that have no fence at all. We've seen Fallow Deer, Axis, Aoudad, Mouflon, Red Stag and the owner said he saw an Elk pass thru last season. One thing for sure its never boring. You never know what you might see next. Later, Mike

Hunting season is just around the corner here in Texas and my neck is starting to swell. I hung a game camera down at the lease and I'm getting lots of pictures ( deer, pigs, turkeys, and even a few exotics passing by my deer stand). Last year I took 4 whitetail off this lease and the year before I took 3 whitetails and two nice Axis bucks. Man you talk about good eating those Axis deer are good. My wife and I eat a lot of venison, we substitute it for hamburger in a lot of dishes. You wouldn't think two people could eat five deer a year but we do. We very seldom buy meat. We have a couple of get togethers a year at the house and I make a great big pot of deer chili and feed the whole gang (usually 50 or so). I love hunting with my sporters. It adds another dimension when you hunt with a rifle that you built. My only problem is which one to take hunting each time I go. I have a 6.5 that I built on a turk action with a 94 Swede barrel that I would not take money for, it will shoot clover leafs with the 130 grain TSX all day. It will be my gun for around home. Not as many deer around here but they are a lot bigger than those hill country deer. Just built a 22-250 on a Yugo 24/47 action with a mid-weight ER Shaw barrel, it likes the 60 grain Nosler partitions and should be perfect for those smaller Texas hill country deer. I ordered this barrel long chambered and Sonic1 mounted it for me. (He lives just across the Red River from me) Well I've rambled long enough. I think you get the point. I'm ready to go hunting! Later, Mike

I don't get on the site as often as I should and when I do I very seldom post anything, but I am still around and the co-op is still working fine. If you have any questions or you are interested in joining just e-mail me. chasmike@yahoo.com Later, Mike

Hey thanks Dale. If you don't mind I'll post this over on the Yahoo group page so everyone in the co-op will see it. Later, Mike

The reamer sharing co-op is indeed alive and well. Thanks gentlemen for your kind words. You guys in the co-op are top notch. Milsurpcollector, You have mail! Later, Mike

It has been over 100 degrees for like 60 days in a row here, but hunting season is just around the corner and you guys know that I love to hunt so I am getting ready. As a matter of fact I reloading some ammo yesterday and went over to the 100 yard range that I have on my land across from my house. I have a bench and one of those metal folding chairs to set in. I don't wear shorts very often but I had on shorts yesterday and I was stupid enough to sit down in that metal chair before it dawned on me that I could fry an egg on that thing. To say the least I didn't do any shooting although I did shoot right back over to the house and try to get my wife to rub something on my burning butt. When I pulled my shorts down to show her she started laughing so hard I had to tend my cherry red checks and legs all by myself. I don't know what it is but she seems to find it hilarious when I stump my toe, or trip and fall down. Anyway I don't care, let her laugh, its nearly hunting season and she is the best hunting buddy I every had. Later, Mike

Most everyone e-mails me directly when they want something, so don't be fooled by the lack of posting on this forum. The reamer sharing co-op is alive and well. Later, Mike chasmike@yahoo.com

Well I went back down fishing in the river this evening. No more bobcats but caught a couple nice catfish. One weighed 10lbs and the other 5lb. Cleaned and filleted em both and put one bag in the icebox for tomorrow night and two bags in the freezer for later. Looks like I drug them down a dirt road but its a pretty steep climb up the bank of the river so they hit the ground a couple times.

Well the catfish are just starting to bite. We only caught one that day but it was a 5 or 6 lb blue cat and I took it up to the house and cleaned it and filleted it and we ate it right away. It is hard to beat em right out of the river. That bobcat was lucky that he was on the other side of the river. I had my 6mm with me and if I could have got over to him I would have been pointing something other than a camera at him. I figured I'd let him go and catch him on my side of the river so I could retreive him and tan his hide. Later, Mike

My wife and I decided to ease down to the river and see if the catfish were biting yet and had a surprise visitor come walking by on the other bank of the river. My wife just happened to bring the camera with her and I took a couple of pictures.