Reeder Custom Guns - Been really busy but a weekend shoot.

Doug is going to Africa soon and is getting excited. He is taking an old veteran with him too. A couple Misfits have traded it around but Gary's old African .378 GNR might be headed back. It's got some good upgraded glass on it. The old gal still has it. I hear it's taken a pile of critters in it's day. It won't leave our circle for sure, a treasured prize!

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This is the rest of the African battery. The Blaser is a no-nonsense matte/synthetic model in 9.3x62 Mauser. It has plenty of beans. The action is strange, a collet bolt head and straight pull action. Boy does it shoot, it works!

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The CZ is actually a BRNO 602 in .375. They are a little different from the CZ550. A little bit more refined and quite prized. This one has nice blonde Turkish walnut with perfect grain for the task. The main thing in shooting is you notice the safety is "backwards" from what is now norm. You pull back like cocking a hammer to switch it to fire. You get used to it.

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To break things up the ladies came out to shoot a little. My little girl is not so little anymore. I wanted her to shoot her SXS custom Stevens 19" 20 double. She struggles a little with cocking the breach, opening it, and extracting the shells sometimes. Maybe another action would be more suitable for her, she likes the pump guns.

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Her favorite gun of all is her Rossi M92 Trapper in .357. One could certainly do worse. I think it would work for Arkansas Whitetail in the thick cover, up close.

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A rare pic of Mom getting in on the action. She liked the short 870 in 20 ga. Usually she prefaces her short barreled shotgun shooting with sub-titles. "Hey, what are you doing in my house" - BANG! "You better GIT!" - BANG! It's pretty frightening to witness actually. lol We shot a little that day, not a single shot was "wasted" we savored them.

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Blake has played with the 9.3 a bunch. It's basically the same as the .378, just a .366 bullet which has been refined over decades of hunting use. Puffy really was intrigued with the .350 GNR which is as American as apple pie. Basically America's answer to the 9.3's. I liked the .338 GNR myself which begins to gain a couple hundred fps with the lighter bullet and fantastic ballistic coefficient. The .338 is a very popular African caliber for rifles I understand, only second to the .300 Magnums (which recoil notably less) for many. I figure a handgun set up right would do just as well. Most .338 bullets however are very heavy constructed and would sail right through deer and such with less deformation.

That is where the .378 shines. It's big enough to start with, shoots flat, and most bullets are designed to perform well within the potential velocity range. It's just hard to go wrong with it. Gary's old friend JD had enormous success with his version (.375 JDJ) which was on a very good smaller case and very efficient. It's about all I could handle comfortably with the old Contenders. The .378 GNR allows a bit more at the same pressures in the old guns. But in the Encore it truly shines it's full potential. It's only about 100 yds. behind the full on .375 H&H rifle. In the 1.5 lb. heavier, stronger, Encore platform the recoil is even more manageable. Anyone can shoot it.

Gary's .378 GNR is just great, that's a proven fact.

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year after year. In the other 3 top 5 are the 410 GNR, the 338 GNR, and 429 GNR. Rounding out the top 10 are the 310 GNR, 7 GNR, 30 GNR, 416 GNR and 510 GNR. Some of the new calibers are doing well too but not enough orders on them yet to do the figures.
If all goes well I hope to use the 450 GNR, and the 310 GNR in single shot handguns and a revolver that I haven't decided on yet, probably a smaller caliber for plains game.

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378 GNR and at 50 yards it is only 100 fps under what the 9.3 X 62 shows in the ballistic sheet and does it with a slightly heavier bullet. I was on several safaris with that gun and it was one shot per animal and animals up to Eland. Tell Doug he is going to have to do his part as the gun is capable. And by the way, glad to see it has come to a good home.

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I just got my new G2 378 built barrel delivered a couple days ago, installed the scope, bore sighted, then swapped in a spare scope and bore sighted it. Once the snow stops, I’ll sight it in perfectly. This one is going to Africa in a few months too [image] [image]

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going to Africa to do. Sight your gun in with one scope and then mark with a Sharpie where it was in the rings, and take it off. Put your second back up scope on and sight it in. Then do the same thing and put whichever of the 2 scopes on the gun that you like best. Then if something happens you will have an extra scope to put on the gun and as it is already sighted in it should be within an inch or so.

I have blown up 2 or 3 scopes in my 14 trips to Africa and that second scope sure comes in handy when Murphy's Law happens.

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When I went to Africa I put my spare scope in my carry-on bag. I thought this was a clever way to keep it safe. Bad move. First the dizzy dame in TSA didn't know what it was and when I told her she turned white and got nervous. I was successful in talking her off the ledge and she let me through with it but the whole thing could have ended badly. Taking it in carry-on was a mistake. Any gun "component" is subject to confiscation by TSA. That includes scopes. So, don't tempt fate. Make sure both scopes are in your gun case with your gun(s) when you check them and nothing related to a firearm is in your carry-on.

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as a carry on bag. I admit I was a little impish in doing so but it only had my bare necessities in it in case things went awry. TSA had these little "sniffer" things. Why it did not trigger some red alert I'll never know. It has so much residual nitroglycerin in it from powder and being used as a "rest" sighting in stuff. Maybe the sniffer was testing for weed or some other dope?!

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1. You should have told her it was a micro-telescope.
2. The TSA does not have any power to "confiscate" anything.
You can voluntarily surrender an item to be allowed through security to catch your flight, you can ask to be let out of the secure area to deal with the item (ie store it in a locker, mail it to yourself, etc), or the TSA can call local law enforcement and you can deal with them.

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The key takeaway from my experience is to avoid being put into a position where my stuff won't be with me when I arrive at my destination because of "Voluntarily Abandoning" my property. Best to check anything that the TSA may feel compelled to "collect." That's my message.

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Been really busy but a weekend shoot.

Fun family time!

The other GNR cartridges are fully capable too

the 378 GNR and 41 GNR are our 2 best sellers

I did some extensive testing of my 378 GNR (now Dougs)

The 378GNR is a special cartridge

that is a good idea and one I tell all my guys

lesson learned with TSA and scopes

When we went to Alaska I used my Allen pistol case

scopes and TSA

"Voluntarily Abandoned Property"