SmallCaliberCentral

it will cost you more than the price of an omlet and coffee.

i have the great honor of living in the same city as rick, and not only is he a great friend, i call him pops for a reason. he is just that, a father figure to me. and every minute spent with him is not a minute wasted.

well rick and i meet up for breakfast every once in awhile to talk shooting, family, and life. yesterday was no different. we headed down to the local cafe to fill our gullets with good eats and coffee. along the way i mentioned that wholesale sport here in town has a nice looking cooper 21 in 204 on its shelves and does he want to go check it out with me as i am interested in it.

he stutters out "c cc cc cooper? oh course i will go look at a c cc cc cooper with you."

as i already have two coopers, i was thinking i might need to jump on this 204 bandwagon that he is always talking about. and you can never have enough coopers in the safe.

we look at the gun, not the greatest piece of wood, but in the sunshine the fiddleback will come out and shine thru. the action is smooth as silk. but all of them are. the test target is typical, one hole using 32 gr pill and h335. the price is more than i want to pay, but i have yet to find a cooper in the discount rack. after i wipe rick's drool off the stock and the countertop, he wonders off and i tell them to box it up and start the paperwork. i am now the proud owner of a mdl 21 in 204.

scope will have to wait a bit, but it will no doubt be a vx3 6.5-20 with the varmint hunter reticle, rick's favorite. all my other rifle are topped with leupolds, this will be no different. this will be my first with the VH reticle though.

now to order dies, and brass, and cleaning rods, and jags, and....... the list goes on and on.

i will post some pics once the sun comes out and i can get some nice shots.

long story short, rick is expensive to have as a friend, but i would not trade him for anything.

andy

Andy you phrased it very well...................."long story short, Rick is expensive to have as a friend but I would not trade him for anything."
I wish I leaved closer to RIO and you so well can visit over a bit to eat. Sorry I don't have any Coopers in my safe.......yet.........1-1911 Kimber and lot of Leupolds, 2-1" tubes the rest of the fleet are 30mm tubes.
Thanks for the post and please keep an eye on Rick!!
Later
Ray P

Andy,
I understand full well what you speek of. After a flight from Chicago to St.Louis with Rick, I to have fell victim to this fun little venture. My pocket book was a lot happier before that day, however after thousands of dollars later I have never been happier. Who knew spending so much money to kill a dang squirell could feel so rewarding.

I don't own a cooper YET (you are welcome to as Rick why). However he has got me into precision handloading and now of coarse Kimber 1911's. Somehow after all of this spending my wife still lets me visit Rick a half doz times a year.

I'll have to add a blurb in hear for my old man (CaptQC) since he is out of town for a few weeks. As it was one time out in the field I mentioned to Rick that my dad would like to tag along one of these trips. What do you know a spot came available and thousands of dollars more have been spent. Sometimes to the point to where my dad says he might have to move in with me for fear of my mom.

I will agree with you that no minute spent with Rick is wasted. I couldn't have said it better.

Dan

I've only been in contact with Rick via the internet, and it has still cost me money!
I have TWO Cooper rifles, in .204, several Leupold scopes, and thousands in precision reloading materials and tools. Money well spent, I might add.
But......when you want to get info and opinions, nothing better than talk to someone who "has been there, and done that".

Shucks you guys, I din' do nuthin'......

You're givin' me a fat head though! I figure as long as I've been doing this stuff, by now I should be able to get a few things right. (But there's been a few bumbles along the way too......) I just love this stuff!

Rio
I too must say that you are an expensive guy to know. I only know rick from the internet also and we struck a deal on his 330 dakota. it was pricey for me but also a great deal. then the wife said if you buy that gun you will also need to buy a safe, I said but it needs a scope. she said you will have to get both then, man I love that woman. I made the mistake of asking Rio what to put on it and OF COURSE HE SAID TOP THAT RIG WITH A VX-3 3.5X10X40, WOW MORE MONEY SPENT. now I know this is not Rios fault, but the wife say's hey you got a new gun so maybe for valentines day you can get me a new handgun. well I guess it beats a manicure or something.
All kidding aside with the little contact I have had with Rick I consider him a GOOD FRIEND.
Rick again I thank you for the dakota and I am going to the basement right now to load some fun.
Sportingly
Cracker

Oh Andy! you have just begun to realize what it costs to have breakfast with Rick! Lets see if I can list a few items which can be linked to this friendship:
1. Remington 700 .204 with scope (gave that one to the kid (Rat Force One)).
2. Remington 700 .204 (SS, Thumbhole stock) with scope.
3. Two Ruger 77/17's (had to get one for the kid you know) with scope.
4. Henry .17HMR lever action rifle with scope.
5. Cooper Phoenix .204 (no scope yet).
6. Ruger Mark III Hunter pistol with Tact. Solutions upper and red dot.
7. Rebuilt my Ruger 10/22 (don't ask how much that cost!) with scope.
8. Leupold spotting scope and binos (after the Nikon binos).
9. Rick's superior shooting bench.
10. E-Z Up sun shade.
11. Two Ruger Chargers (had to get one of those for the kid too) with scope.
12. Custom Eastern Oregon Raptor Feeding Society hats, shirts, flag (and pole).
13. Tons of ammo and reloading supplies.
14. Rifle cases, ammo boxes, other support gear too numerous to list.
15. Sinclair bench rest.
16. Gun safe to hold it all.
I'm sure I've left off a few hundered items, but I wouldn't change a thing if I had to do it all over again, I can honestly say that spending the time in the field with my son and my dear friends of the E.O.R.F.S. is worth a 100 times the money I've spent. True friends don't come along very often and being able to share that with my son is priceless. I can't describe the excitement I'm feeling waiting to go again and showing my new toys to Rick and the crew. So...........Hang in there, save your spare change, and give Rick a call and see if by chance he's hungry!
Man I love this stuff! Gary

hey gary-
will you adopt me? what a lucky son you have. yeah, rick has cost me nothing i would not have spent myself. i am lucky to take advantage of his years of mistakes. he has never steered me wrong yet.

pictures of new rifle should be coming today, nice and sunny here.

andy

Okay you guys.....I'm gone for a spell, come back and see all this abuse heaped upon me. All I can say is that proper rodent eradication requires cool spendy stuff to do it up right and have fun while you're at it. Gotta pay to play, right?

Heck, if I wasn't around to help mentor you in the proper ways to deplete your bank account, there's no telling what fate may have awaited you all. You may have invested in some serious miniature golf equipment, found some way to customize that Prius, taken up birdwatching or Romanian patio cooking, I dunno, but the pitfalls could have been quite numerous. Just think of me as your outdoor guide to fun stuff. Just bring your wallet......never know, we may bumble into a nice rifle while we're out 'n about........

Rick, this won't cost me anything,as you already got me to spend all of my money on a new Pac-Nor 11 twist x20 cal barrel.Now i'm hoping for a freebie, just want to know if you've used any heavier bullets than 40g in your 11 twist and if so were they working ok? Thanks, ken.

Ken: The short answer is "no". Although tomorrow I'm headed out to my range to test both 40gr Nosler BT's and Hornady VM's in SPOD, my 11 twist 204. I'm trying RL10X in this ladder series with Nosler brass, Rem 7.5's. The purpose of this rifle was just to shoot the 39 SBK and hopefully one of the poly-tipped 40's.

At present, I've been only shooting the 39 SBK in two of my 204's over 10X, just because it shoots so well. I've got great access to the Noslers, so it's my hope I'll find the Pet Load using them. We'll see.......

Rick, i was just trying to be a cheapskate, i'll just have to bite the bullet and go buy some and try for myself. Thanks anyway. Regards,ken.