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Canoes and guns...

I have a couple of bolt action big game rifles with full stock (Mannlicher-Schonauer style), one is a CZ 550 in 9.2 X 62 and a Husqvarna Model 456 in 30-06. Neither gets used much anymore as most of my hunting days are behind me. I still take one or the other for a walk in the woods now and then, also on berry picking expeditions, fishing trips to salmon spawning streams. I take my firearms to a rifle range on a regular basis to make sure they and I can hit what we are aiming at. On canoe trips up here I take a Valmet 412 Combination gun made in Finland, 12 gauge over 30-06. For my trips to Minnesota land of my birth, I take my Savage 24C .22 over 20 gauge or a Marbles 1921 Game Getter in .22 over .410, for potting grouse.
https://www.chuckhawks.com/cz_550FS.htm has info on the 9.3 X 62.
 
I've thought about rebarreling my 98 Mauser (8x57) to 35 Whelen, but the danged thing shoots too well (5/8" at 100 yds), and everything it hits falls dead. An old friend had a German (maker unknown) drilling, in 16 gauge double over a 9.3x72R. Gorgeous gun.
 
I have a couple of bolt action big game rifles with full stock (Mannlicher-Schonauer style), one is a CZ 550 in 9.2 X 62 and a Husqvarna Model 456 in 30-06. Neither gets used much anymore as most of my hunting days are behind me. I still take one or the other for a walk in the woods now and then, also on berry picking expeditions, fishing trips to salmon spawning streams. I take my firearms to a rifle range on a regular basis to make sure they and I can hit what we are aiming at. On canoe trips up here I take a Valmet 412 Combination gun made in Finland, 12 gauge over 30-06. For my trips to Minnesota land of my birth, I take my Savage 24C .22 over 20 gauge or a Marbles 1921 Game Getter in .22 over .410, for potting grouse.
https://www.chuckhawks.com/cz_550FS.htm has info on the 9.3 X 62.

I would love to have a good combination gun like your Valmet, it would make for the best of both world!! Maybe I can find one one day!!
 
I've thought about rebarreling my 98 Mauser (8x57) to 35 Whelen, but the danged thing shoots too well (5/8" at 100 yds), and everything it hits falls dead. An old friend had a German (maker unknown) drilling, in 16 gauge double over a 9.3x72R. Gorgeous gun.

Don’t fix what’s not broken!! As for the drilling I find them a bit heavy and not pleasant to carry!! The best carry everywhere most comfortable in the hand is a Winchester 94 nothing really beats the handiness of a 94 IMO!!
 
"Them white critters" are a whole nother deal.
I like levers in the bush, with no scopes so you can see at close range and in the rain.
I have carried a Marlin .444 a lot, but then got a Model 71 Winchester in .348 from my great uncle. He also gave me a Model 1895 Winchester in .405 Win.
Now I would probably take the Marlin Guide gun in .45/70 in stainless with lam stock.
 
Those are three nice lever guns. The only problem I have with the M95 is that they are kind of clunky to work if not really well worn in. You have to have big heavy rifles in those calibers or they hurt when you shoot them.
 
You have to have big heavy rifles in those calibers or they hurt when you shoot them.

They still hurt (e.g. with 440 gr. bullets). And to think I used to lust for a Ruger No. 3 in 45-70--all six pounds of it. I'm smarter now.
 
For range practice, it helps to use a recoil pad on your shoulder. Most of the modern guns have one on the butt of the stock.
The .405 Winchester is the most punishing rifle to shoot I have ever seen. The gun weighs 7 pounds with a straight stock and a curved butt plate. It is terrible.
I like the big bore levers and have learned to shoulder them differently. Instead of putting the butt in my shoulder joint, I move it inboard a little into the pectoral muscle with some fat on it. Then I don't get black and blue at all.
When you are in the territory of the big coastal browns or the white critters you will forget all about recoil.
 
I don’t like the marlin at all, to fat and not well balance like the 94 IMO...
 
I don’t like the marlin at all, to fat and not well balance like the 94 IMO...

In defense of the Marlin, it is much easier to put a good trigger job on one. They lock up very tight and are usually capable of much finer accuracy than a Winnie. I have a couple of JM Marlins in 30-30, but my favorite is a 336 in 35 Remington. That one has a 16 inch barrel, straight stock shortened 5/8th inch, aperture sights and a Wild West trigger. No rifle is faster to shoulder than that little carbine.
 
My favorite big game rifle with the same sight in thick woods as well. The rounds are getting harder to find though. Thankfully I usually only use one or two a year.

Bob
 
I have never fired a rifle from a canoe. I have hunted squirrels from a canoe with pretty good success. A buddy had a dog that would retrieve them. Normally I'd use a 22 on squirrels but from the canoe I used a single shot 12 ga.
 
Dad told he could float along the shore of a farm pond with a bright spot light and a 22 rifle, shooting frogs at the waters edge in such a way as to make them flip backwards on the bank and not in the water. I went out on a frog hunt with him once when I was about 6 years old. He stood in the jon boat and used a frog gig as I shown the light on the frogs. Pretty big frogs too in Oklahoma. Next day grandma fried some of those frog legs and called me over to watch them kick around in the skillet. That was it, I wouldn't touch those things with a ten foot pole.
 
I solo canoe on a creek with lotsa squirrels. I love squirrell hunting, so I took my .22 and launched there. I found out that even the straightest tracking solo canoe spins like crazy as soon as you try to aim at something! kinda like when you try to take a picture from one. I decided that the bow of a tandem would be much better.
 
I solo canoe on a creek with lotsa squirrels. I love squirrell hunting, so I took my .22 and launched there. I found out that even the straightest tracking solo canoe spins like crazy as soon as you try to aim at something! kinda like when you try to take a picture from one. I decided that the bow of a tandem would be much better.

I can't imagine trying to hunt squirrels with a 22 from a canoe paddled solo. Maybe from a tandem boat. We had good luck with a shotgun taking turns with both the bow and stern paddler shooting. Who ever saw the squirrel first got to shoot it. That was usually me in the stern. I had great eyesight in those days and was well practiced at spotting squirrels. I still do okay, but my eyesight isn't what it once was.

The first time we went out my buddy bragged how his dog would spot every squirrel so we wouldn't miss any. It turns out that his dog was pretty bad at it, but he was worse. I am not sure either of them saw a live squirrel that day, but his dog was pretty good at fetching them when directed to them if she didn't see them fall.

That dog was a great bird dog though. I remember shooting pheasants over that dog. If they were far enough out, I had a habit of busting them with a quick snap shot when they first rose up and hesitated for a second before heading off. I used the improved cylinder barrel on my old double barrel Sterlingworth. (I wish I still had that gun. It was IC and mod. with double triggers). The dog's owner got hurt feelings though when the dog decided I was the one who shot most of the birds so she brought them to me instead of him.

We have so many squirrels here in Tallahassee that it would be easy to keep the freezer full, and I love squirrels hunting, but my wife refuses to eat them these days. I guess we ate too many when we were poor.
 
I gotta ask, and don't say chicken. What kind of squirrels are you shooting, and what do they taste like. I tried to eat one of the little red squirrels we have up here, and it tasted like a dog's arse.
 
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