I'm up in Minnesota. We can use a centerfire pistol during firearm deer season, but with the current population, you are only allowed one deer a year in nearly all of the state.

I'm excited to start playing with the gun and reloading for it. With no muzzle break, I'm sure I'll reach my limit before I limit out the potential of the cartridge and the platform. I've got a lot of family in Alaska and hope to head that way for a moose hunt in the next couple years. In the mean time I'll work on putting big holes in deer and maybe even some hogs if I can organize it.

I'm actually going to be in Montana on a family trip just north of WY-SHOT this summer and plan on taking my contender with 30-30 and 17hmr barrels to see if I can stretch their legs on some P-dogs. I think the Encore will have to come with.

On a similar note I was wondering if anyone had any experience using some of the bullets designed for 458 SOCOM in the 45-70. the published velocities for the SOCOM are similar or a bit slower then the published 45-70 rifle velocities so they should function well. I was thinking that some of the Barnes bullets might be fun (and expensive) to play with.