LOADED FOR BEAR

     One of the reasons I feel sorry for anti-hunters is that they don’t get to read Terry Wieland. Wieland’s latest book, Dangerous Game Rifles (Countrysport Press, Camden, Maine, 2006, www.countrysportpress.com), is an informational feast for anybody interested in rifles, but should be of particular interest to those who ranch in grizzly country, where the caliber of your rifle might make the difference between life and death in the event of a surprise encounter with a bear that’s not having a nice day.
     Even if you don’t have to worry about grizzlies where you live, and have no interest in hunting the really big stuff, the book is extremely useful to any anyone who hunts with a rifle, as it deals extensively with the basics of bullet construction and how that relates to what Wieland, somewhat pithily, calls “the cult of velocity.”. Along with a lot of interesting talk about British bespoke doubles that cost as much as a new truck, Wieland’s commentary on different big caliber bolt-action guns takes his discussion into the province of the ordinary hunter, the realm where the big calibers overlap with the magnums of  the medium calibers that anyone who has ever hunted elk or bear is familiar with. Wieland even admits to “being in love with the .257 Weatherby.”
     Jack O’Conner is quoted as scripture, as he should be: “To me the rifle has always been the most romantic of all weapons.” It’s enough to say that a deep feeling for firearms and how they fit into the big picture of things, permeates everything in this book, especially Wieland’s account of how and why the cutting edge of sport rifle ammunition development remains with small firms rather than with big corporations, same as the cutting edge of the beef business is always on the family-owned ranch. There’s a fine account of Wieland’s friendship with Jack Carter, the inventor of the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw bullet. There’s a deeply human aspect to the world of sporting firearms, and Terry Wieland is spot on it.  He speaks for all rifles, factory-made or custom, when he writes: “I, for one, believe a rifle has a soul that is compounded of equal parts that include the skill of the maker, the love of its owner, and its tally on animals it has faced. Such a rifle carries its soul with it, from owner to owner, outliving many, outlasting them all.”

                                                                                        - Max H. Peters

ONE GUN WHITETAILS TO GRIZZLY

First off, let me be clear that the following is editorial, not advertorial. At some point down the road we would love to have Remington as an advertiser on this site; they’re not an advertiser now. Our policy will always be to bring the best new guns and ammo to your attention, regardless of whether the manufacturer advertises with us or not.

   The company founded by Eliphalet Remington one hundred and ninety years ago was recently acquired by the Wall Street investment banking partnership called Cerebus, the same folks who just bought Chrysler. Remington has experienced  a number of ownership changes since 1816, always remaining in a class by itself when it comes to innovation in firearms technology and design.

   Remington is in the first year of a three year roll-out of their Power Level  ammo project. The basic deal is that if you buy a Model 700 Remington rifle in .300 Ultra Mag you have the choice of cartridges loaded to three levels of power: one gun good for everything from whitetails to grizzly. Power Level III gives you the full-power loading of the hard-hitting .300 Ultra Mag, with four bullet options. Power Level II is the .300 Ultra Mag down-loaded to approximate the performance of the .300 Win. Mag. and .300 WSM,  with two 180-grain bullet options.  Power Level I offers .30-06 performance with two 150-grain options.

    Remington claims that the point of impact between Power Loads stays within 2” out to 200 yards, so you have little to no scope adjustment when changing Power Levels. A simple marking system helps to avoid cartridge mix-ups. You pay a premium, about 20%, for the two lighter-loaded cartridges over the price of standard ammunition; this may change if Power Level catches on.

  Ramblings of a Mountain Man
by DEAN A. HAZUKA

Allow me to introduce Montana Americana knives. These are hard working knives for hard working folks. I grew up in Minnesota. Both folks' families were small dairy farmers. I grew up hiking, hunting and fishing the north woods. For the past 20 years I have lived in Montana and been a student of history and a re-enactor. Mostly the fur trade era, tipi camps and living history presentations, cooking at the rendezvous and for backcountry hunting camps.

Hunting and fishing this great land, I always processed my own game and in doing so I developed definite ideas about what a knife should do.

Seven years ago I got road weary and started making knife sheaths for other knife makers so I could stay home more.

I soon saw how big the market was for a good knife at an affordable price. I put my experience to work and stared putting my own designs into production; incorporating some of the tried and true concepts of the old proven patterns dating back to the 1600's. That's when a man's life really depended on the design and quality of his knife. I now do about 50 different sizes and styles of knives and wanted to show you just a couple of them to start with.

These are my drop points. The medium has a 3 3/4" blade with a 3 3/4" handle designed to fill the palm of your hand. It is a light weight handy size and easy to pack around. So many guys have big hands so I really beefed up the handle on my large drop point. The blade is only 3/4 of an inch longer but this handle will fill up even the largest of hands. It gives you a lot of control and it is comfortable to use all day.

I even find a few gals using this one in the kitchen as a small chefs knife.

Both blades are made of 1095 carbon spring steel. There are a lot of fancy hi-tec steels out there but this one has been around since the buggy days and it is tried and true.

I heat treat these in a coal forge and temper them to a Rockwell 57. It will hold a great edge but is still easy to sharpen. They will rust if not dried properly but nothing holds an edge like carbon steel. I put a long thin taper on the blades and hand strop each edge to hair shaving sharpness. You won't be able to drive them through a bolt but these knives do slice. Each knife comes with a beautiful hand crafted sheath made by my wife Heidi. These are a deep pouch style sheath. They are constructed of vegetable tanned cowhide leather, dyed with a professional saddle maker's oil based dye and saturated with pure neatsfoot oil.

I also sell the Ultimate Edge diamond hones to keep them in top shape. Please check out the rest of my line at MontanaAmericana.com or feel free to give me a call and discuss any special needs. My goal is to build quality useful knives that the working man and woman can appreciate, use and afford.

I look forward to working with you and I am proud to be a part of Ranchguns.com

     Previous "Ramblings of a Mountain Man" available in Ranch Guns Archives.

Sharp Dreams of a Frustrated Warrior

   by Ed Fowler

   THE MERE THOUGHT OF KNIVES OFFERS THE AUTHOR RELIEF FROM TODAY'S "CIVILIZED BATTLES"

     Man fights many "civilized" battles, from those of his youth, to the streets of the city, to the riots involving thousands of people, including the personal tragedies of individuals ravaged by alcohol and drugs. When occurring on a large scale, such conflicts may be observed in the daily papers, though most are noted by only the few involved. Some of the battles challenge certain individuals, and heroes are born.

     Events that afford man the opportunity to place himself in situations where his well being is at stake-and quite possibly his life or that of another-cause the adrenaline to flow. There have been many attracted to these events simply for the sake of the challenge and the experience of the dynamics themselves. Others meet the challenge simply because they must. The parallel drawn between the lives of Crazy Horse and Gen. George Armstrong Custer by author Steven Ambrose is but one example.

     For the serious battles, the high-performance tools of man totally dedicated to function know a home and may spell the difference between an event that makes headlines or simply results in a moment's excitement and failure.
There are those who live with nature close up and personal who witness flood, drought, angry, sick or hurt animals, mud, snow, freezing temperatures, and desert heat. Much of the time they're alone and must depend on their equipment to get them through the task at hand. Again, the call is issued for superior tools of man that must meet the challenge of the moment, for quality may make a difference.

     There's another much greater battlefield, dignified by Henry David Thoreau as that of men who "live lives of quiet desperation," which affects many more people. On it occur the everyday events that require extreme bravery and perseverance that are rarely dignified by glory or require any technological support. These are the routine, civilized battles where an incompetent or unscrupulous lawyer, boss, co-worker or civil servant, with the stroke of a pen or unjust shake of his head, can start a cascade of events that may well jeopardize all a man or a family has spent a lifetime building. These are the daily battles of civilization where the heroes are unsung. They won't make the papers or the daily news but the participants are heroes all the same. They fight the creditors when they are swindled and cannot pay their debts. They fight the insurance companies, the traffic jams, the crowded supermarkets, the battle of the bulging waistline, and the all-night barking of the neighbor's dog.

CONFLICT OF LITTLE CONSEQUENCE

     Today, I fight one of those obscure battles of little consequence and seek comfort. The new-age computer that I'm told is logical and used with great proficiency by my neighbor's daughter who, with pacifier in mouth, sits before it and negotiates through complex programs, is a mystery to me. At least my computer doesn't make sense to me and I don't know enough about what I don't know to be able to ask meaningful questions. Where there once were words in my DOS program, now there are pictures of something much too small to be consequential or recognizable that purport to do something. When I move the mouse to one of the pictures and click the button, the computer may simply do nothing or send what I was working on somewhere else.

     I would rather fight nose-to-nose to the death with an enraged grizzly than know the absolute frustration and failure I face when trying to negotiate through Windows 98. My old DOS word-processing program worked just fine. My 386 computer was my friend. I liked it. But soon, I'm told, even my latest computer won't be able to communicate with "the new stuff." I can't receive pictures on it and have to rely on others to keep me informed of what sometimes may be matters of true consequence.

KNIVES TO THE RESCUE!

     Many times I've criticized the numerous factory bowies of the 1800s and the Rambo stuff of today as trinkets, feeling they served no purpose other than the dreams of man hopelessly trapped in civilization. Today I must change my opinion, for simply looking at photos of these historical trinkets allows me to experience a few moments of tranquility as I seek to escape from the frustration of the new computer. Now I can fathom why the unsung heroes of yesterday, trapped in civilization, loved those knives. The battles they had to fight didn't require knives that cut, flexed, pried or even felt good in the hand. All those knives had to do was provide moral support and enhance the dreams of the frustrated warrior on the battlefields of legend where heroes reigned.

CIVILIZED BATTLE OF STEEL

     One of the "civilized" battles that affects knifemakers is the scale that forms on blades when it's necessary to heat them above scale temperature. I've experienced a few personal battles wrapping blades in foil to prevent carbon loss at high temperatures. Paragon Industries has introduced an argon induction unit for its ovens. It's an affordable installation that hooks up to an existing unit or can be included when ordering a new oven. It's simple to use, easy to hook up, and inexpensive to operate. The presence of an argon atmosphere assures a friendly atmosphere for blade steels at high temperatures, which sometimes is necessary when heat treating or just plain experimenting. Read the instructions and use the induction unit in a well-ventilated area. Thanks, Paragon!

Paragon's address:
2011 South Town East, Dept. BU, Mesquite, TX 75149-1122
Phone: (800) 876-4328.

Ed Fowler is a Field Editor for BLADE magazine. This article is an excerpt from his book KNIFE TALK II , available for $19.95 plus $3 s&h at Willow Box Ranch, P.O. Box 1519, Riverton, WY 82501.

By Allen Pierleoni

     Knives are one of the world's most collectible of collectibles, and the niches that fascinate collectors are seemingly endless - antique Bowies, Egyptian daggers, Damascus fighters, Strider tacticals, San Francisco gentlemen's, Khukuri Ghurkas and full-fantasy (think "Lord of the Rings"), just to touch the tip of the iceberg.
     Michael Silvey knows a lot about knives. His vast collection includes 400 military folding knives made between 1810 and the mid-1940s.
     "They're one of a kind and fairly rare," he says.
     Silvey, who lives near Sacramento, has written five books on military knives. The three self-published volumes still in print are "Pocket Knives of the United States Military," "Knives of the United States Military in WW II" and "Knives of the United States Military in Vietnam."
     How did all this happen?
     "As a kid, I loved knives, and never lost that feeling. As an adult, I had time to devote to
hobbies when my children had grown up a bit, so I hit a couple of knife-and-gun shows. I bought a U.S. Navy knife and the guy who sold it to me said, `They made 36 different kinds of these; you ought to try to get them.' I did, and that started things."
     In his office, Silvey removes two dozen military folders from the drawers of a cabinet and shows them to a visitor.
     "They're all very similar in appearance - stag handle, very heavy back spring, squarepointed blade, high-carbon steel, all made in Sheffield, England," he says.
     "One of the reasons given for the square-pointed blade is that sailors sometimes got quarrelsome after being at sea for months and got into scuffles. They were petty good at stitching themselves up (when they got cut), but if they were to penetrate another sailor's internal organ with a sharp-pointed blade, he probably wouldn't survive."
     Silvey shows a knife with "Don't give up the ship" inscribed on the blade. "Those were the dying words of a captain (James Lawrence) of a ship (the Chesapeake) in the War of 1812. It became a popular slogan of the times, and that's how it ended up on this Navy knife."
     Next, he opens a knife inscribed with "USS Galena" on the blade. "The Galena was the second ironclad warship in the U.S. Navy, commissioned in 1862," he said. "This knife served on that ship."
Another knife: "This is one given to World War I servicemen by the Red Cross. It has a blade and a spoon, so you could eat supper with it."
     And one more: "This one was made by George Wolstenholme of Sheffield. As hard as it's been used, it still cuts and the blade still snaps shut. In knife parlance, when the knife will move to close itself, that means it `walks.' And when you hear it click, that means it `talks.' This knife is from the 1820s, and it still walks and talks."
     Where does Silvey get his knives?
     "I'm actively looking all the time, both on the Internet and at flea markets, knife and gun shows, and the like, but the greatest source is other collectors," he said. "When I find one I don't have, it's really a nice reward. I'm collecting little bits of history."

This article originally appeared in the Sacramento Bee. The article doesn't mention that in addition to collecting and writing about knives, Mike Silvey crafts some of the finest hand-made folders in the world today.