Deer Season 2026-2027: Rifle Considerations

With the successes and failures of the 2025-2026 deer season, I have much to think about. It's become blatantly obvious that my favorite hunting setup has some sort of issue and can't be relied upon for hunting applications for the time being. Until I can dedicate time to fixing it, I'll need something more reliable that I can press into the Marlin 1894 CST's roll. The .270 project will most likely be that rifle but will take some time before I have the money to fully sort out the build. It's very unlikely that I will have it field-ready by season opening. 

The two primary choices are the Remington 700 Pork Sword build or the What Would Stoner Do Hunter build. Both of these are in .300 Blackout and are short range builds.

Some time ago, I zeroed the 700 for a subsonic loading from Discrete Ballistics but the observed velocities where close to 1100 fps. I will want to re-check to make sure the loads are still subsonic in the cooler temps come October. My biggest concern is having a critter run off into the neighbor's field since I haven't proven these loads yet. The lady that owns it is a fan of the critters and I would prefer to be a good neighbor and not start something with her. While not guaranteed, anchoring the animal is preferred to prevent social issues so an experimental subsonic load probably isn't the best option. Something supersonic seems like a better option for the time being.

The WWSD Hunter with the Wolfman

Previously, the WWSD Hunter build got a change to a General Purpose optics setup with a red dot and a 3x magnifier. The magnifier later got stripped for another roll and not long after that, the red dot came off. The previous 3-9x scope went back on along with the Dead Air Primal with a 9mm end cap.

In both cases, I could just verify either or both rifles with their current ammo selection and just give either a go on day one but also, in both cases, a change in ammo to something with a better data package could be an easy change over. Just buy some boxes and re-zero. My gut-feeling says I needed more research but an ammo change looked to be in order.

I have several boxes of the SIG Elite 120 grain copper hollow points but I have very little data supporting the SIG loads are good for a deer hunting application. There is, however, available open source data for other loads in .300 Blackout.

I had settled on Barnes's 120 grain VOR-TX offering with the Federal's Fusion 150 grain in second as the two top contenders in my running based on some of the testing videos available. I had ordered some of the VOR-TX loads and just need to zero once I have the time.

I'm hoping to setup a new deer stand on the Little Farm this year which should keep shots under 50 yards with there I am thinking of setting up. The 3-9x is way too much for this location but for this year, it'll just stay dialed back to 3x.

Stay tuned to see if everything works well.

The Marlin 1894 CST - An Update. Again.

 On opening day of deer season 2026, I ran into an issue with my beloved .357 Magnum Marlin 1894. The shot that I took should have been good but I couldn't find anything to indicate that I had hit my deer. I later setup a target at 100 yards and found the point of impact to be very high and to the left despite having confirmed zero a little before season open. This should not have been an issue. I made several adjustments ending with a good zero but after running a group to validate, I found that the zero had shifted again to the left several inches. I packed up and went home not wanting to waste more ammo.

I spent some time trying to find what was wrong. I made sure everything from the end cap on the Dead Air Primal to the Midwest Industries T1 mount was tight and they were. So far I have not found anything wrong. That said, I got a little froggy and decided that now is a good time to try an experiment. 

I had considered that an LPVO type optic could be a good match with the cartridge and rifle but I had never liked the excessive overhang from short eye relief scopes and the short Marlin receiver. The red dot in the Midwest Industries mount, so far, had been my favorite iteration of the setup overall but I did sort of miss the Leupold Ultralight FX-II 2.5x fixed scope for hunting. I had been considering that the issue I may have run into with the red dot was a parallax issue and maybe going back to a scope would mitigate that but I didn't want to go back to the 2.5x.

For me, the red dot truly made the rifle fun for plinking but that's more of a magnification related thing. The 2.5x scope didn't have that same magic that I found with the red dot. For the distances I hunt with the Marlin, there isn't a need for any real magnification and the 2.5x detracted from the fun which is why I went back to the red dot. At that point, I just concluded that it was better to have no magnification for my build since I could do everything I wanted. I still stand by that. I had looked several times for a true 1x type optic. I looked at muzzleloader optics and prism scopes but I hadn't found anything that did was I wanted that was still being made or looked good on a lever action rifle. Maybe if the micro prism scopes had a longer eye relief to keep the body over the receiver, I would have felt different.

I had known that Leupold makes a variable power scope similar to the 2.5x scope. They are not the same but similar. Thinking they were more similar than different, I ordered a Leupold VX-Freedom 1.5-4x20 for experimentation. The Ashley Performance mount was reused for this configuration. It turns out that I was wrong. The Leupold Ultralight 2.5x and V-Freedom 1.5-4x are not very similar.

Once in possession, I found the VX-Freedom 1.5-4x20 is a little heavier by 3 ozs and a little longer by about 1.75 inch compared to the FX-II. The windage and elevation adjustment part of the body is slightly larger as well. This has the effect of being just a little bulkier which meant the super low DD rings used for the FX-II were too low. I would need a pair of rings to match the new scope. While trying to order new rings, I found that Leupold has discontinued both the Low and Medium DD rings and I had to do some hunting on the Internet for remaining stock. I managed to source both Low and Medium height. While the Low rings cleared the mount, the hammer impacted the bottom of the scope so I switched to the medium rings. The body of the scope can't be moved forward enough to compensate as the adjustment ring would impact the rear most scope ring.

The immediate downside to the new scope is that the rig weighs 9.5 pounds which is up from 8.99 pounds. That's a lot of weight for a setup that's only meant for under 150 yards worth of deer hunting and something that was supposed to be easy to carry around the Little Farm. I already know that it won't be fun to truck around with as the Winchester weighed around that in the Timber Scout configuration. Thankfully, I don't do much lengthy spot and stalk hunting these days but still. Admittedly, most of the excess weight comes from the Dear Air Primal which is 21 oz and that .6 pounds or so could be shaved off by dedicating a Griffin Armament Sportsman 46 to the Marlin. That's a lot of money spent to shave off a little weight, especially given that I could go back to iron sights for free and save even more weight. I may just do that some day to free up the Primal for other stuff.

To bring us back out of the weeds, I took a short moment to test the scope setup and it didn't go well. While the test was very impromptu, I was still having the same issue where the point of impact would shift and I would chase zero. This brief test was only at 50 yards. After burning through around 15 rounds, I concluded that I needed to stand down.

For now, my beloved Marlin 1894 CST is unusable. I do want to spend more time on it but spare time to experiment is very scarce these days. For the 2026-2027 deer season, I am considering my options. 

My first reaction is to strip the rifle of all the goodies and put it back to stock then put it away but I think before I go to far, I should try a different cartridge to make sure it's not something with the ammo. I'll keep the Leupold in place for now. 

I had truly hoped the red dot was an issue but I'm struggling with what could be causing this issue. It will take time and good testing. It's very disheartening as this is one of my most favorite rifles.

New Product News: 45 Colt Is BACK in the Marlin 1894

Just in time for America's 250th birthday, Marlin finally released an 1894 in .45 Colt. The cartridge has long been waited by the community since Ruger brought Marlin back up after the Remington bankruptcy and Ruger's acquisition of the brand. They started with .44 Magnum which was Marlin's cartridge of choice for the return of the 1894 back in the 1960's. 

The newest iteration of the 1894 fleshed out various versions of the core rifle such as the Classic, SBL and Trapper but only offered the .44 and finally the .357 versions. While .45 Colt was never really an offering back before the 1900's for rifles, modern rifles chambered for .45 Colt have been reasonably available and is generally considered one of the 3 default options for pistol caliber lever action rifles. The old Winchester Center Fire (WCF) offerings are somewhat rare these days and are usually limited to the original WCF, the .44, also known as the .44-40.

The newest .45 Colt offering from Marlin is part of the Classic lineup but features stainless steel material with walnut stocks and a 20 inch barrel. It's the first stainless offering in the Classic line. It's priced about $300 more than the current Classic with the stainless construction but does feature text on the left side of the receiver that says "Made in the 250th Year of American Liberty."

I would say that is a pretty good way to bring about the .45 Colt back to the 1894.

A New Blessing - Farm Update

 

We are pregnant! The Lord above (not the guy in the picture) has chosen to allow our 3rd embryo transfer to be successful which will be our second baby. We had tried at the end of 2025 but the embryo didn't take which was hard but we are very grateful this one did. We are grateful for all of them.

As for farm work, we are experimenting with poppies; not the drug kind. I would have sowed bread poppies for the seeds but but I'm pretty sure we can't actually grow that here because bread seed poppies and drug poppies are the same plant. I'm not trying to catch legal troubles just for wanting to grow poppy seeds for baking.

We picked up a cheap walk-behind tiller as finding a tractor tiller that isn't in the $1000+ is hard. Thankfully, we were able to till and sow before the last freeze and it's rained a few times since. They are in fact, growing.

Also, the pear and peach trees are blooming! I thought we had lost at least one of the peach trees but they are blooming. 

At the house, we rebuilt 2 raised beds and what I like to call the potato corral. We have a small variety of stuff planted along with a russet potato I hope gives us a few pounds. Asparagus is growing nicely along with beans and strawberries. There are a few other things growing.

The elderberry plants I put in 2 years ago are huge and likely going to be transplanted from the house to the farm as they are most likely going to cause issues.

Other things are coming up this year so I fully expect that I won't have much time for many projects. I do want to finish testing the batch of .357 Mag I made for the handgun hunting experiment from last year and getting the Marlin re-zeroed. I have a write up for the next phase of the Marlin CST. I also filed a Form 1 for a .22 LR rifle that I'm doing things with that was approved in 50-something days. I'm excited for that.

Finally, I have started a new job that has a different schedule so there will be an adjustment period in trying to balance everything out.

Pear trees

Peach Trees

Short Barrel Rifles and the New $0 Stamp - My Ruger American Rimfire is Getting SBRed Part 1

I think it's finally time to build an SBR or Short Barrel Rifle. For about 12 years, I've had a Ruger American Rimfire, or what I have referred to as the RAR, that has a 22 inch barrel. It mostly got used for bench shooting but got setup for small game hunting a few years ago. The barrel was threaded not long after and since then, nothing else happened. Then 2026 rolled in and the $0 stamps went into effect. 

I don't remember what restarted the bug I caught but I started looking up 10/22 SBRs again and integrally suppressed .22s. I saw some pretty nice 10/22s and even a CZ 457 but I remembered that I have the RAR. I don't want to register my 10/22 or the CZ 457 Scout as they have very functional setups and registering them adds complexity and cost to their specific use-cases. The RAR doesn't need iron sights added back and isn't intended for kid use. It's a perfect candidate for this project as it's inexpensive and in a good place for it. Admittedly, if the stamps had still been $200, I wouldn't have done this.

The plan simple: the RAR is getting registered as an SBR then chopped to 12 inches and threaded 1/2x28 to make a compact small game and varmint rifle.

The Plan

I would like to make good on my statements that the performance of a 22 LR with a shorter barrel isn't severely lost. In this case, I want a short rifle with a suppressor that could be quiet. As a result of the process, I will end up with a functional rifle that's much easier to carry around.

This chart from BBTI shows the velocity of the Remington 36 grain Golden Bullet load doesn't increase past 11 inches. The exception is the node at 13 inches with a slightly lower velocity.

Since the stamp is now $0, all I had to do is submit the Form 1 via the portal but after that, I still need to find a shop that can engrave the trust information on the receiver before you cut the barrel down then thread 1/2x28. Thankfully, Chad from Iraqveteran8888 has his own shop in Locus Grove, GA called Argos Ordinance that can handle the engraving requirements and the chop. At least that's the current process. 

As of April, a new ATF director has been sworn in and he is making a bunch of good changes. One of those Rule changes involves engraving and serial numbers. I would like to clarify if I will still need to engrave trust information. If no additional information needs to be engraved and I am able to use the existing markings then it saves time and money. It will take a while before the Rule goes into effect.

That works out fine for me as I am in no rush to complete this but also, it would save me $50 since that's Mr. Chad's cost for the service.

An ATF announcement can be found here  The Rule in question is under 17P. I haven't found the Proposed Rule on the Federal Register yet. I will post that once, available. Update: The posted Rule is RIN 1140-AA70 found here. It DOES remove the requirement to add additional markings to an already serialized firearm as in my case.

Linked from the ATF website.

Form 1 Approved

I followed the Form 1 process with Silencer Shop. They took a while to review my form, the certification process was completed quickly. I don't remember when I submitted the initial documents and image to Silencer Shop but it was right around SHOT Show 2026. I didn't hear anything until 02 FEB when I got the email that Silencer Shop had reviewed everything. Not long after, the Form 1 was ready for submitting. 

I had to go through a process to submit the form which I completed on my phone. The certification was a little clumsy but it went by quick enough. It probably only took about 15 minutes. 

Officially, the Form 1 was submitted to the ATF on 02 FEB around noon. There was a partial government shutdown at the time and I have no idea if the NFA stuff would have been impacted. I officially received the approved stamp on 30 MAR. That's 56 days per the Google search prompt.

The Silencer Shop process is simple and works well enough but the issue is they lock you into an ecosystem. You can submit Form 1's via the portal but you need the finger prints. To manually submit a e-form, you need to load a .eft file but Silencer Shop won't give you the one they have on file. 

There are services that will provide you with that file for you to upload.

Future

Once the Rule on markings is clarified, I will move forward. It takes around 90 days before a proposed Rule can go into effect. This works out fine since I'm not trying to put money into this at the moment.

There are a few changes that I would like to make to class-up this build. The first one that comes to mind is a Boyds wood stock. I very much want this to have a wood stock that's just pretty. Next, a lighter optic would be nice. The BSA Sweet 22 3-9x is a fine scope and all but it's chunky. I have a Simmons 2-7x sitting on a Marlin 60 that would be a good candidate but I was leaning toward Leupold's 2-7x as it's fairly light and could make for a good companion. Finally, I would like to dedicate a suppressor to the build like a Dead Air Mask or SiCo Sparrow. I do see that Silencer Shop has Resilient Suppressors' Jessie's Girl which is 3.1 oz and under $400. That could be a very nice add. I also found out about AAC Enterprise's new carbon fiber suppressor, the Pindrop XL. At $200, that would make for a great, dedicated suppressor. 

We shall see where this build goes!