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DONATIONS WANTED .22LR ammo & rifles for Elbert County 4H Contact:

Bill Howard (719 481 3587)

Colorado Gun Collectors

President John Kelley 12990 N 6Th St Parker, CO 80134 303 840 2372

Gun Show Chairman Les Palmer 3490 E. Orchard Road Littleton, CO 80121 720-482-0167 CGCAShow@MSN.com

Secretary/Treasurer Newsletter Editor Bill Pittman 8075 S. Harrison Way Littleton, CO 80122 303-773-0238 SecTreas@CGCA.com

Monthly Meeting Schedule

Monthly Meetings are on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, except for the December meeting. In December we have Christmas Dinner on the first Saturday. Meetings start promptly at 7:00 P.M. They are held in the American Legion Hall at I-25 and Yale Ave., Exit #202 from I-25, East on Yale and take the 1st right.

New Members

Larry B. Funk Northfield, IL Dana A. Hackney Naples, ID

Clarence L. Norton Aurora, CO

Buying Guns online? $30 transfer Fee for CGCA Members

Call Dave 303-733-4200

Buying Guns online? $30 transfer Fee for CGCA Members

Call Don 303-877-4831

CGCA Hats $12 CGCA Runners, Burgundy or Green $50 Call Les Palmer 720 482 0167

Colorado Gun Collectors Association 50th Annual Gun Show Denver, CO May 2015

Setup: Thursday May 14, 3:00 PM to 8;00 PM Friday May 15, 10:00 AM to 7:00PM Show open to the Public May 16th 9:am to 5:00 pm & 17th 9:00m to 3:00 pm

Show Chairman: Les Palmer, 720-482-0167

April 21, 2015 May 19, 2015 June 16, 2015 July 21, 2015

August 18, 2015 September 15, 2015 October 20, 2015 November 17,2015

December 5, 2015 January 19, 2016 February 16, 2016 March 15, 2016

GUN SHOWS 2015 Dates change and Shows are cancelled, so check before you travel

Apr. 18-19, Pueblo, CO State Fairgrounds Tanner Gun Show 720-514-0114 Apr. 19, Golden, CO, Jefferson County Fairgrounds Colorado Militaria Show 719-593-2171 Apr. 25-26, Denver, CO Merchandise Mart Tanner Gun Show 720-514-0114 May 1-3, Butte, MT Civic Center Arena Weapons Collectors Society of Montana 406-633-9333 May`2-3, Colorado Springs, CO Event Center at Rustic Hills Prospectors Sertoma Gun Show 719-630-3976 May 23-24, Riverton, WY Freemont County Fairgrounds Wyoming Weapons Collectors 307-742-4630 Jun. 12-14, Cheyenne, WY Fairgrounds Wyoming Sportsman Gun Shows 307-742-5943 Jun. 12-14, Twin Bridges, MT Fairgrounds Weapons Collectors Society of Montana 406-633-9333 Jun. 13-14, Dallas, TX Dallas Market Hall Dallas Arms Collectors Association 972-369-6062 Jul. 11-12, Cody, WY Riley Arena WACA 605-430 0889 Jul. 11, Golden, CO, Jefferson County Fairgrounds Colorado Militaria Show 719-593-2171 Jul. 11-12, Colorado Springs, CO Event Center at Rustic Hills Prospectors Sertoma Gun Show 719-630-3976 Jul. 24-26, Kansas City, MO K.C.I. Expo Center MVACA 913-220 7383 Aug. 8-9, Colorado Springs, CO Event Center at Rustic Hills Prospectors Sertoma Gun Show 719-630-3976 Sep. 12-13, Colorado Springs, CO Event Center at Rustic Hills Prospectors Sertoma Gun Show 719-630-3976 Oct. 24-25, Colorado Springs, CO Event Center at Rustic Hills Prospectors Sertoma Gun Show 719-630-3976 Nov. 14-15, Tulsa, OK Expo Square Wanenmacher Gun Show 918-492 0401 Nov. 27-28, Colorado Springs, CO Event Center at Rustic Hills Prospectors Sertoma Gun Show 719-630-3976

COLORADO GUN COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION Spokesman Volume 50

Number 4 April 2015

APRIL PROGRAM Joe Leiper

Audio Visual Presentation Russian Revolvers

← February Program

John Porter On

Transitional Military Ignition Systems

Hunting with Collectable Savage 99 Rifles, Continued

By David Royal Antelope season was in full swing when my wife and I got back to Wyoming. Dave Harper and I got together on a Saturday a week or so later to go antelope hunting. This time I took a 1955 vintage Savage 99F in 250-3000 Savage. It’s equipped with a Weaver K4 scope that is about the same vintage as the rifle. We saw quite a few antelope but weren’t able to get close enough for a shot. Dave said, “This is so much fun I don’t even care if I shoot one today so we can go out again.” It wasn’t much later when we saw two doe antelope about 120 yards away. Dave looked at me like “Wellll…”. I said, “You know I really need to get back to work on my book.” My deadline with the publisher was only a little over two months away. Anyway, it was the same routine as with the elk the year before. I got out of the truck and got into a kneeling shooting position a few yards away. It’s our standing agreement in these situations that we will each take an animal in accordance with our respective locations to avoid both of us shooting the same animal. In this case I was to the right and took the rightmost antelope. Mine dropped in its tracks. I shot it in the neck. Dave’s was hit hard behind the shoulder but ran off. We had to follow it a ways in his truck. He’s chased antelope numerous times in his wheel chair but wasn’t up to that this year. He finished it off about a half mile

away. He was shooting a Ruger Model 77 in 243. I’m not going to say that the 250-3000 Savage is superior to the 243 but my antelope went down immediately and his didn’t.

This is a doe and has the second largest horns I’ve seen on a doe antelope.

VOLUNTEERS WANTED

50th Anniversary Gun Show

Call Joe Leiper on

303-507-4012

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Dave and I still had elk tags but the weather didn’t cooperate for the next few weeks. It needs to snow quite a bit in the high country to push the elk down to where we can get to them. This gave me the opportunity to work diligently on my book “A Collector’s Guide to the Savage 99 Rifle”. Dave has been in a wheelchair for 46 years due to an automobile accident when he was in his mid-teens. It finally got the best of him and he had to pass up elk hunting and give his shoulders a rest. He’s on physical therapy now and doing better so hopefully he’ll be able to hunt next year. I went out several times either with other people or alone. I had decided to use a Savage 99DL in 284 Winchester for elk this year. It was produced in 1966 and is equipped with an older Leupold M8 4X scope. I didn’t have any luck on the ranch Dave and I usually hunt. The snow had pushed them down a few days before the season ended for this area but they were extremely skittish. I couldn’t get any closer than 500 yards. I had a reduced price cow/calf elk license for another area so I switched over to that area after the season ended for my primary license. I would usually see elk 800 yards to a mile away when I went out. Due to the depth of the snow and the rough terrain they were beyond reasonable stalking range. One morning at daylight there was a lot of yapping and barking over to my right. The elk were moving along a ridge about a thousand yards away. I had watched them quite a while when a large black wolf started moving along below the elk. He had come from the direction of the yapping and barking. I realized then that what I had been hearing were wolves rather than coyotes as I had originally assumed. The elk turned and headed away from me. I gave up any thought of trying to hunt at that point and started back to my pickup. After I’d gone about half a mile I realized the barking had gotten steadily louder while the direction hadn’t changed which indicated they were following me. I had gone over a ridge a little way back, so I turned around and started back hoping to see the wolves. They stopped barking shortly after I turned back towards them. I went over the ridge and didn’t see them. A few minutes later I started back to the pickup. They resumed barking and sounded like they were getting a little closer as I moved towards the pickup. I watched my back trail carefully.

I didn’t hunt for the next few weeks. During that time I finished my manuscript and sent it to the publisher. I also had a minor surgical procedure. On December 17th I decided to go out again. I usually carry about twenty rounds of ammo when I’m hunting but haven’t needed more than one to three rounds to take an animal in the last few years. Due to the shortage of reloading components I only had twelve rounds of 284 ammo. When I zeroed the scope I got a 15/16” group followed by 5/8” group with Nosler 140 grain Accubond bullets. I figured that twelve rounds were more than enough. When I got to the place I had seen the wolf and the herd of elk on my last hunt there were several small groups of elk five to six hundred yards away. They were moving to my right and angling slightly towards me. When those elk got out of sight I moved in the direction they’d gone. This put me in some trees in a stream bed. A few minutes later I looked back to my left and saw four more elk coming across the ridge about 250 yards away. That was a little further than I wanted to shoot so I hunkered down and watched them. They slowly meandered along the ridge and downhill slightly until they were about 180 yards away. They looked like they might turn and go up across the ridge so I decided to shoot. My first couple of shots seemed to have no effect. I was surrounded on all sides by steep hills and the boom of the 284 was echoing all over the place. The elk weren’t sure which way to go but kept moving up and down and back and forth on the ridge. The one I kept shooting at finally started looking sort of droopy. This was after about six shots. I decided to see if he would lie down. I was sure I had hit him several times. After a couple of minutes he did lie down. He put his head down so I figured he was hit hard. I waited what seemed like about 20 minutes. I then started towards the elk. After I’d gone about 40 yards he got up and started moving again. He was quartering away from me slightly up hill. I didn’t want to risk hitting him in the rump so I aimed at his head. Five shots later he was still going. I realized at that point that I only had one bullet left. Unbelievable. I have never come close to running out of ammo before. I decided to let him go until I could get closer. He disappeared into a thickly wooded stream bed. I figured he would go down hill so I moved in close to the stream bed hoping he’d come to me. He didn’t. I worked up the stream bed until I saw him maybe fifty yards away. There was thick brush between him and me and I sure wasn’t going to use my last bullet since the brush might deflect the bullet and miss the elk. He left the stream bed and headed slowly away. There was a lot of thick brush between me and him. This time I decided to give him a full twenty minutes by

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my watch before I went after him. I sat down and got my cell phone out. Surprisingly I had a signal. I called my buddy who manages the ranch I was hunting on and explained the situation to him. I asked him to bring his rifle since I only had one round left. I waited a full twenty minutes this time. I got up and started following the blood trail. I went about 400 yards before I came up on my elk again. This time he didn’t get up until I was about forty yards away. He was in some thin brush but was headed into some heavy stuff that would be really tough going in the deep snow. I fired my final round and took him behind the shoulder. That finished him. The only other wound I could find on him was a front leg broken just below the shoulder. The blood trail indicated that a bullet had gone through him since there was blood on both sides of his tracks. I think one of my shots had failed to hit anything vital in the chest cavity and the final shot hit in pretty much the same place. But the shock at forty yards did him in as the last shot didn’t hit anything vital either. The ranch manager showed up a few minutes later. Fortunately, I didn’t need his rifle.

The author and a calf elk taken near Pinedale, Wyoming, December 17, 2014. The rifle is a 1966 vintage 99DL in 284 Winchester caliber. I didn’t have my camera with me so my wife photographed him in the back of my truck after I got home. It turned out it was a bull calf. Next year I plan to hunt antelope with a Savage 22 Hi-Power and elk with a 303 Savage saddle ring carbine. These will have to be really close shots. Hopefully I’ll have another hunting story for the newsletter this time next year. David Royal ARTICLES NEEDED FOR OUR NEWSLETTER Call Bill Pittman on 303 773 0352 if you have one. We can scan and convert to text any printed copy you may have

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