Jim Shockey

[Rocky Johnson]

I have seen his name on differant post here, people looking down there nose at his choice of rifle and I can understand that but I am just green with envy with what he has been able to do. Would I like to be able to hunt all the places he has? You bet your biffy. Rocky

 

[musketman]

Where did you find the name "Jim Shockey", the forum's search shows nothing about him?

 

[tg]

I think his deeds woulld carry much more meaning if a real ML with PRB was used rather than a modern centerfire modified to omit the cartridge so it could technicaly be called a ML, he basicly uses something not unlike a 45-70 or one of the other large cal heavy bulleted guns and makes a big whoop tee doo because it loads from the front.

 

Rocky,
I think the reason that alot of people in black powder look down their nose at Jim Shockey is that he does everything he can to eliminate the challenges inherent in muzzle loading IE uses a plastic stock stainless steel inline with pyro pellets, jacketed sabot, scope, and so on, but then, in his magazine atricles, brags about getting his (bought and paid for guided) game with a "muzzleloader". He wants the credit for useing a muzzleloader but doesn't want the challenges that come with it. To real muzzleloader enthusiests, this is like cheating. Especially when he puts his bought and paid for guided game animals in the longhunter society record book. Hey eliminate all the challenges and then enter your game in a book with less competition and lower entry level standards. If there was no special seasons and no special record book that aloud inlines, the true muzzleloading enthusiests would still hunt with traditional muzzleloaders and inlines would fade away like the dodo bird.

Cody

 

[Zonie]

Well, at least Shockey is still using a B/P gun.
Check this item I got off another web site out:
http://ns.connext.net/~daq/hunting.html

As I mentioned over there, Airguns are not new (reference Lewis & Clark Journals and this months MuzzleLoader Magazine article on page 76).

The thing that bothers me is Why would someone use a AirRifle to kill an Elk unless he were just trying to sell the Quackenbush Air Rifle?

I don't know the ballistics of this gun but there is no way it is working at the 17000+PSI of Blackpowder or the 55000+CUP of smokeless powder so I can't believe the knock down power needed is really there. Hell, I killed a bird with a rubber band and a piece of bailing wire when I was a kid but that doesn't make it right.
Just looks like a hell of a good way to cripple a fine animal.

 

I don't agree with Jim Shockeys choice of a Knight "muzzleloader" complete with modern optics, modern ignition, synthetic stock and stainless steel barrel. That simply isn't "muzzleloading" in the spirit intended, even tho the rifle loads from the front. Nor do I read any of his articles about his hunts....or anyone elses hunts with in-lines. They don't interest me in the least. Anyone with enough money can do the same things. Our brand of muzzleloading isn't about that. But I DO like his humor column!!!!

Hey....he's promoting himself, his business and the way he hunts with a so called "muzzleloader". His success has most likely made him pretty comfortable and evidently he enjoys what he's doing......not to mention all those endorsements!! Who among us doesn't wish we were doing the same thing carrying a Hawken, Kentucky Rifle, Brown Bess or any similar firearm? I can't think of any successful person in any field of endeavor who hasn't or isn't doing the same thing. I don't agree with his "muzzleloading" but you can't fault a good businessman and promoter......unless you're so petty as to be jealous of their success. Then it's your problem.

Vic

 

[tg]

I think the main issue I have with him and Zumbo and the modern clan is what they represent, and where they have and will take the sport, I amazes me that a fix(modern ML's) to something that was not broken (traditional ML's) has found such a following.

 

[musketman]

Here is a clip from Jim Shockey's interview with Mike Schoby...

JS:
"For the past few years I have been hunting with a .50 caliber Knight DISC rifle. There are many reasons I prefer this gun above all others, but what I really like is the DISC priming system. It is fast and convenient. Even when my fingers are cold and stiff, I can still prime the weapon in a split second. The plastic disc and the bolt style action also help shield the primer from the elements and when you hunt in some of the extreme conditions I find myself in, this is a major factor."

JS:
"Sure, I have tried about every primer made. Surprisingly, #11 magnum percussion caps work much better than most people give them credit for. I am not a big fan of musket caps and usually opt for #209's."

JS:
"It is really pretty simple. I shoot 100 grains of powder behind a 300-grain bullet. This is the same load that I have been using since I started muzzleloader hunting. It has worked great on everything from whitetails in Saskatchewan to Polar bears in the Arctic. The only thing different is now I use two, 50-grain Pyrodex2

 

[Allan]

You are all correct. I'm guilty of mentioning his name here a few times and always for all the reasons mentioned above.
I really feel that alot of the conteporary ML hunters today have little or no sence of history about were our sport came from. Now it's a sport but back then in Boone's day (the other name I mention a lot) it was the way we lived and survived.
If I could figure out a way to do what Shockey does but do it with a traditional rifle I would be there in a heartbeat.

 

[Plains99]

Whether they use an in-line or a primitive gun, a lot of these writer/hunters function best from atop a fat wallet. I'm a writer as well but you show me an old boy with a primitive round ball gun who gets his deer/elk/bear/ whatever year in and year out and you'll find a dedicated hunter and sportsman. I've been on some of these company sponsored hunts and sometimes its discouraging to learn how they really work. He's a good shot and a good hunter but he's also bought and paid for. That always influences opinion.

 

Cain't remember wher I read it, but if I remember correctly,...in excess of $300,000.00 was stated as the "cost" of Shockey's "Grand Slam Sheep Hunt". I seriuosly doubt the money came from "his" pocket,.... but ether way, it does put him in a "different league" then 99.99% of us!!

'Zonie might be the 0.01% (consider'n the money he saves on his "heat'n bill" in Arizona,...*grin*!)

I'll see, if'n I can find the "article"!!

 

[Zonie]

quote:'Zonie might be the 0.01% (consider'n the money he saves on his "heat'n bill" in Arizona,...*grin*!)
Ye got a pint thar but iffen ye comb yer har a little different ye'll cover it

Ya, Ah wouldn't want ta pay ta heat am houses up in the New England area rite now BUT payin fer Refrigeration when it's 117 degrees don't come cheap so all that money Ah'm a savin now will go ta pay the Salt River Project next summer ye can bet!

 

'Zonie,.... Well then,... thet makes it "official",... 100% of us "regular folks", ain't got $300,000.00 to spend on a muzzleload'n "Grand Slam Sheep Hunt"!! (I never thot 'bout you have'n to pay a "un-heat'n bill",...*grin agin*!)

 

[musketman]

I sure that the money came from endorsements by Knight Industries and the rest of the tab is picked up by the magazines he writes for...

People like Jim, (SHOKEY not 'ZONIE) rarely pay out of their own pockets...

 

[Chuck Deaton]

Admiring someone like Shockley isn't hard for me to do. His hunting skills probably suck but he is a genius at self promotion.

Who else else would have thought to make a living hunting for a gun manufacturer and filming the adventure.

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by DoLittle:
Who else else would have thought to make a living hunting for a gun manufacturer and filming the adventure. I did back in the '80's...

But the only gun sponsor I could get was for a hot glue gun...

It just wasn't the same, the hot glue gun was a breech loader...

 

[Haggis]

I've never heard of this Jim S. I have heard of Jack O'Conner, Howard Hill, Fred Bear, and a kzillion other folks who have had "great skill" at hunting and especially self-promotion. They both had the money and time to hunt nearly everywhere, and kill about everything.

The common element is that "nothing succeeds like success." Most of us can hit stuff with a ML. Most of us can tell the difference between a rock and a sheep, caribou, moose, yadda yadda, etcetera, et al, but you can't shoot what you can't get to.

We had an old guy in Kentucky who was supposed to be this great trapper. Some of invited him away from the private load on Western Kentucky's coal fields, and into the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. This guy gave lectures on catching foxes, 'coons, and what have you. He didn't catch squat. Turns out that on his exclusive properties he had an enormous amount of fur animals and he managed to catch some of it; of course the numbers seemed big to us in the mountains, but put in an area where fur was scarce he couldn't catch his own thumb in a trap.

It's like I tell my son, "Don't look at what the other man is doing with what he has, look at what you're doing with what you have. If you're doing all you can, you're 'Up to Green River'".

 

[Darkhorse]

I have stopped reading anything by J.S. also his TV show is not tops on my list of "things to watch"
Not just because of what he hunts with, for awhile I could watch or read just for the sake of the hunt. Even though I have NEVER considered him a fellow ML hunter.
But awhile back, I think it was in "The American Hunter", he made a statement that continues to gall me to no end. Something about not seeing eye to eye with the traditional crowd, the crowning statement was like a confidential fact in an aside type comment, "those round balls just bounce off an animals side" Grrrrrr!!!

That was misrepresentatiion at its worst. Irresponsibly taking advantage of his position as a writer to spread disinformation directed at the unlearned or already inline opinionated.
I just can't bring myself to read anymore of his trash

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by Darkhorse:
"those round balls just bounce off an animals side" Grrrrrr!!!

That was misrepresentatiion at its worst.I'm sure he got a big fat check from Hornady, or whosever bullet he represents at the time for that statement...

He was wrong for stating this false information about traditional muzzleloaders and the projectiles they use...

 

[Plains99]

But to be fair to Jim, he has had to work his butt off and make a lot of personal sacrifices to climb that high in the profession. His original location and the fairly exotic far north game he hunts added to early success. The pressure to perform on company hunts is great and it takes a lot of work to bring back trophies. Sometimes the temptation can be too great and several well known professional writers have been caught "cheating." I've never heard that acusation made about Shockey.... but when I read that he's hunting large brownies with a 260-grain sabot I have to wonder about his brain power and just how big the gun was that was backing him up. Going after a big bear with that load is irresponsible and should be strongly discouraged.