Hey Tim, an up date on my previous post. I stopped by the Wal-Mart where my friend bought his H&R 45-70. I was checking to see if they had another 45-70 at the same price ($224). They were sold out (Bummer). Anyway, the young man behind the counter was very knowledgeable about firearms and we got into a discussion about the impact of Mississippi’s ruling on the use of H&R firearms during primitive weapons season. For those unfamiliar with this ruling It goes something like this; Any single shot center fire rifle 38 caliber or above that has an exposed hammer and was designed or built before 1900 is legal during Mississippi’s primitive weapons season.
According him, this ruling has had a huge impact on sales of H&R rifles in this area. To prove his point he pulled up a master list of local region Wal-Mart gun sales in the last year. The list showed over 300 H&R rifles had been sold. He claimed to have personal knowledge of people he knew (customers) abandoning the use 30-06, 308, 7mm-08, etc, etc in favor of the H&R big bore rifles for all their deer hunting (regular and primitive weapons seasons).
Now, I would call that a marked turn around from the norm for this area. When I first started hunting all you saw in the woods was 30-30 Winchesters. A few years later it was high-powered bolt actions. Now it seems people have rediscovered again the value of moderate speed big bore rifles. Funny how over time things always seem to gravitate back to basics.
BTW… He offered me a great deal on one of the high powered 300mag Vanguards he had left on the shelf. Told him I would have to pass.
