Bill Powell here, from the "Mining District" of Grant County, southern New Mexico. Semi-retired newspaper editor. Spent most of my life in the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon, with stints in the Bend area and my home town of Salem, high school in Arcata, California, and my Boy Scout years when we lived near Tacoma, Washington. Shot my first round ever -- a .22 Short -- in the basement range of friends dad made working for the Oregon Department of Forestry. This would have been about 1958 or so. Shooter ever since. My first real Wildcat was making cases and loading for a Contender in .30 Herrett, thanks to the writings of the late Bob Milek. Later fooled with the 7mm and 6.5 mm TCs when dabbling with silhouette at the Sportsman Park in Merlin, Oregon, near Grants Pass. Not technically wildcatting, but the procedures are very similar loading for the old ones, currently trimming .50 Alaskan brass to fit my Swedish rolling block in 12,7X44R. Current small bores include a Ruger Super Wrangler and a Tikka T1X, which is showing promise. And I am in the process of drinking the 22 ARC Kool-Aid as we speak. No, I am not going to hunt moose with it as Tyler Freel of Outdoor Life did, but I am applying for antelope and javelina tags this year.
Thanks to my friend George Dwight for making me aware of this forum. We met over on Saeed's Accurate Reloading forums, where I've been a member for 26 years. I hang at Rimfire Central as well.
Yes, Bozeman has certainly changed in the short time we've lived in the valley - and not for the better either! Since retiring in 2014 we have watched the deterioration much to our dismay. If it weren't for kids and grandkids who also live in the valley, we would have pulled up stakes and found a place more suited to our lifestyle.
The hi-line is one area I need to explore further. The only other place in the hi-line I've visited has been Shelby as we ventured further north to spend time in Calgary and Banff. Maybe this year. Welcome!
