Dave, How about a photo of that taxidermy. That sounds like something I would like to see. Seen a million nice gun photos over the years.
The KC Cabelas has two bull elephants locked in battle, a 16 ft croc with a Wildebeast in his jaws and a pride of lions pulling down a zebra stallion among others.

Alas! I was born a poor white child, have spent my adult life wallowing in financial quicksand.

Nights have been spent trying to figure how to buy a new Beretta and still pay the mortgage and my monthly O-Club bill.

Sounds like a safari in itself. I prefer animals to people though. Not much for crowded venues. Let us know if the zombie/tactical crowd is making any incursions. I hope not. Something must remain sacred.

So is it legal to stuff and mount dead Indians now? I do need to get up off my dead a** and onto my dying feet to see this. So the public can actually attend unlike the SHOT show? Do they have booth babes or do you just stare at the trophy wives?

I like the rear sight on that dangerous game rifle. My dad had one just like it on the A-5 he used for deer. And if nothing else I would love to shoot a .505 before I die. It couldn't damage my hearing much more and every other part of my body already hurts most of the time anyway...

Dave, I would love to attend but I would feel 'out-classed' for as you said the custom makers go to the SCI to sell guns.
I love the Echols rifle and beautiful sight, you said it is a Mauser Magnum action but the belly is fat like an Enfield. I guess another reason I should go to see it myself.

Moose, It's my understanding the best and fastest sights for dangerous game rifle are a shallow express V rear and/or a 1.5 or 2 power telescopic. At one time I considered peep rear sight after research. I wrote a letter to Guru Jim Carmichael for his input. The great and gracious man replied he thought a good 2x scope best and fastest followed by the shallow express V. If I recall correctly, the man wrote he considered modern scopes were so reliable making iron backup sights unnecessary.

Mr Carmichael also wrote I should learn all I could handling my 458 shooting reduced loads in many, many practice sessions to get my setup right and familiarity.

I found his advice good and on spot. Saved his letter, of course.

That would be Jim "Carmichel"....just sayin'

I would like to see the bison display, too. Sounds pretty fantastic. In fact, I'd like to see you guys do a couple of posts on taxidermy. So much of what is done is pretty bad, but I've rarely read a good description of what to look for and how to make sure its done the right way. I've been lucky with the few mounts I have by seeing examples at friend's homes (NOT the examples the taxidermist shows on his floor) but I've seen some awful stuff (pun intended).

As for really fine guns, stopping or otherwise, I can only dream...someday.

Although I have had only a few experiences with hostile animals, but with countless less aggressive ones, I consider the "peep" sight in question the absolute BEST and FASTEST sight going! I've used all the others, and while they are all OK, my personal pick will always be the so-called "ghost ring". You can forget that it's even there and just shoot! I have even shot a few bird's out of the air with it. That said, if there is any significant distance or bad light involved, a LOW power 'scope is best.

WA, I think your spelling "Carmichel" is correct, but on Google I've seen it spelled three others ways, always associated with OutDoor Life.

At least Poor Jim's last name doesn't have as many different spellings as "Quadafi". :-)

That is a pretty rifle.

This was my first SCI Convention. While wandering the aisles I was able to chit-chat with the likes of Boddington, Shockey, Eichler and many other well known names in the business. Being there very early in the day, before the crowds built-up, made them easy to approach. Bumped into several other people, including Mr. Petzal, throughout the day.

However, the highlight would be spending time with Happy Myles. That needs no explanation here. Only wish I had a second day but my wife had other plans.

WAM,
Wish you would attend, know we would have a good time. The RMEF shindig was in Vegas at the same time as SCI, kept everyone hopping. Jim Zumbo and I waved a Happy New Year going in opposite directions on escalators. Mark Bansner stopped me for a minute or two in the hallway, never got by his booth. It was that kind of a week.

To Happy Myles: If you could get a photo of the bison mount that the bloggers could log onto, that would be great.

And generally: Yes, the rifle does have a dropped magazine, which contains I think 4 of those colossal rounds. And sometimes you need every one.

About the ghost sight: D'Arcy is unwilling to put a scope on a .458 Lott, or anything bigger, because he has yet to find a scope that will hold together under that kind of recoil. Having used both the shallow V and the ghost ring, I think the latter is a little faster, especially if your eyes are less than 20/20. A stopping rifle is used inside of 50 yards, more often 25 yards, so the last thing you need is magnification.

To Ralph and Deadly: I have lots and lots of experience with Knives of Alaska. Charles Allen, who runs it, is a former game biologist (from Texas) and current Alaska guide, and knows as much about what a knife should do in the field as anyone. Or more. They are all first-rate knives (at reasonable prices, too) and first-rate designs. The knife I bought was the Yukon Belt Knife, which is Charles' take on the Russel Belt Knife, of which I am a big fan.

The correct spelling of Carmichel is Carmichel, not Carmichael. The correct spelling of O'Connor is O'Connor, not O'Conner.

I first saw Jim's byline in 1981 so I'm now quite familiar with it. I was spelling it incorrectly at first.

It gets confusing because the songwriter Hoagy Carmichael, among others, has the "a" michael.

The artist Michelangelo is also a "Michel".

German newscasters say "Mihkhel" when talking about MichAel Schumacher. Maybe it's just the German pronunciation.

I remember reading that Finn Aagard's .458Win Mauser also had an aperture sight, but also had the original "military" (right-vertical-left) Mauser wing safety. (The rifle was probably a sporterized 98, but many original Oberndorff Mauser sporters were also sold with this military safety installed.) He recalled one time he brought the rifle to his shoulder to fire at an oncoming animal, only to see the safety in the middle or "up" position, not only unable to fire, but also blocking the peep. Fortunately, the day proceeded without much incident, but it sure was stressful.

The Model 70 style safety on this Echols rifle prevents the "blocked aperture" problem.

To O Garcia: The Echols .505? I'd guess about 11 pounds. You couldn't get by with less.

Tom-Tom,
My wife did not go with me for over ten years, then when she begrudgingly tagged along I couldn't get anything done. She was dragging me off to art galleries, jewelry, clothes, taxidermy, and I can't remember what all. Do not recall if we bought anything, but the ladies seem to find lot's to look at and gossip about.

To Rocky Squirrel: The reason you can't find a good small Bowie is because it doesn't make a very good hunting knife. If you want one, the Ka-Bar is a good bet, but its blade is 7 inches.

Would that be because a Bowie knife by it's very nature is a large knife? A milspec Ka-bar is not much of a hunting knife either IMO.

As for the K-Bar Bowie, I use the heck out of mine. Well made with a darn good blade that keeps coming back for more!
K-Bar has been making a BIGGER bowie..plan on gettin me one them, too!