Pre-Season Checks: The Maintenance Most People Skip

What overlooked maintenance issue could end your hunt before it begins? Is your firearm, gear, and ammunition truly ready for opening day, or are you trusting that everything still works like it did last season?

In this episode of Built to Last, Tim and Jude sit down again with Caleb Savant, Senior Media Content Supervisor at Brownells. Caleb shares a practical approach to preseason preparation, from reviewing current hunting regulations and confirming zero to inspecting action screws, scope mounts, magazines, batteries, boots, clothing, knives, first-aid supplies, and other essential gear. The conversation covers why hunters should verify their setup well before the season, especially when changing ammunition, using a firearm that has been stored for months, or preparing a muzzleloader. Caleb also explains how small details such as loose hardware, dead batteries, rust, damaged equipment, or an incomplete pack can become major problems in the field. Tim, Jude, and Caleb discuss lessons learned from experience and the value of practicing with the same firearm, optics, clothing, and support positions you will use during the hunt.

Listeners will walk away with a straightforward preseason checklist and a clear reminder that a successful hunt often starts long before opening morning.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Please speak to a qualified firearm professional for any industry-related questions or decisions. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the host and guests and do not reflect the official policy or position of any company. This content is intended for audiences 21 years or older. Viewer discretion is advised. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to another episode of Built a Last with Brownells. I'm your host Tim, alongside our co-host Jude, recording in the Ram Room at Brownells in Grinnell, Iowa. Caleb Savant is back on the podcast to share his expertise. Most hunters know Caleb as one of the trusted faces behind Brownells educational content, but his experience goes well beyond the camera. As a gunsmith, competitive shooter, hunter, and senior media content supervisor, Caleb spends countless hours diagnosing firearm problems, testing equipment, and helping shooters get the most from their gear. Today we're talking about something every hunter should do before opening day, but many overlook it until it's too late. Maintenance and setup. From loose scope rings and forgotten batteries to rusty magazines, warm boots, dull knives, and rifles that haven't been confirmed since last season. We'll cover the simple inspections that can make the difference between confidence and frustration in the field. Caleb, welcome back to Built to Last.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Yeah, thanks, Tim. I'm glad to be back.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

You know, every successful hunt starts long before opening day, and it's not just preparing their skills, it's preparing their equipment. Five minutes in a garage can prevent five hours or more of frustration in the woods. Why do you think so many hunters assume everything is ready because it worked last season?

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Yeah, that's exactly it. Because it worked last season. So they just like throw it in their gun case, throw it in the closet, and never look at it again until they need it. And uh a lot can happen. Like a lot happens in that season that people just either forget about or didn't notice. So it's always like a last minute thing. It's it's ridiculous, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

What's the most common preseason mistake that you've seen or have done yourself, maybe?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Have seen, uh yeah, so like preseason and postseason mistake. So the majority of my my gunsmithing experience is is in South Louisiana, so so kind of just like keep that frame of mind throughout this. But this applies to everyone everywhere, and it's whenever they put that gun back in that case, I I'm gonna allude to something else here shortly, but it's they they put it they put it back in that case either wet or with some kind of mud or or snow or whatever on that gun, and then it just eats away at it all like all off season, and then they pull it out the case and it's covered in rust, and they're like, what the heck happened? And uh not only that, storing a gun in the case is just a bad idea in general because pretty much every case out there will hold moisture in some way.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Even if it's like a moisture, it is sold as like a moisture absorbing or moisture barrier or whatever, the stuff that insulates the those cases, like if it's made out of canvas, cotton, you know, nylon, whatever, it will hold some form of humidity to an extent. So if you take a wet gun, you put it in a case that's made to block moisture, that's cool. But now all the moisture's inside and it's it's just trapped in there with it out. Yeah, and it can't get out. So it's just gonna that it's gonna eat the metal.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Same effect in places like Iowa, like so you get the extreme hot, yeah, but then when you get to the extreme cold, like you take your rifle out deer season, and it's like an ice cold piece of metal.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

And then you take it from that to the truck to the house, it condenses, everything condenses on it, then you slap it in the bag.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Like the same, same exact thing.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Yeah, I mean the best place to store it is in a gun safe with some kind of humidity control. And that that's the best thing you could do for your gun is just control that moisture.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Have you ever watched someone's hunt fall apart because of something that could have been caught in like a five-minute pre-check? Uh only only every season. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

All the time. All the time, then okay. Especially around here, because like, you know, the the evolution of going from 12 gauge to 450 to 350 and stuff like that, and people are like building their own stuff. And like reliability issues in the field, because people will build it and then maybe they test it, but their testing is limited.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Yeah, or they built it and it barely functioned in the summertime. So come wintertime, it doesn't work at all.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Um, that that's a that's a big thing, especially with like the AR stuff, like 350 legend, different things like that. Uh, but the most busiest time in the gunsmith shop is probably opening day and the few days before that.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Yeah, I believe that.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah. So what is it just rust in water or moisture uh damage that you're seeing with a lot of these, or is it like you got something in the barrel, like there's mud or debris in the barrel that you didn't realize?

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Yeah, and the the rust thing was just the most common. It was definitely not the only thing. Yeah, and whenever we're whenever it comes to shotguns, choke tubes, rusted in choke tubes are the big thing. Like at the end of the season, just take your choke tube out if you're concerned about it. Because if there's any kind of moisture or anything on those threads, it'll rust right in there. And then it it's you're gonna be hunting with that choke the next season or this the the season you're at right now until you can pay somebody to remove it. It it can it can get pretty tricky as far as like that. And that's just for shotguns too. But all this other stuff happens. I mean, let's talk about scopes on you know, because I mean we have scope shotguns too, but let's talk about scopes on on rifles and shotguns, because it'll get let's say you bump it coming out the deer stand. You didn't notice that was your last hunt that season. You put it up, you go take it out to the range just to verify that zero the season before, which you should do, and you notice it's not grouping and you can't figure out why. Well, hunting season starts tomorrow. It's too late to kind of figure it out, you know. You're gonna miss a little bit of time.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

So, when would you recommend hunters start checking out their gear, not not just their firearms, but their gear as well?

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Yeah, so gear as well. Gear's a really good conversation to have too because like the same thing happens with your gear because you it you may have ripped something, something may have been torn, you may have lost a part of it and not notice, uh like a buckle or something, and you go to put that gear on the next season. Let's say it's like a a rig or a vest or whatever, and now it doesn't work, or you you have a range finder, your range finder's not working, uh, just different things like that. Just all of this stuff needs to be checked, not the day of, not the day before, but like I I usually recommend a month to a month and a half prior at the latest, you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Because everybody's gonna be getting their stuff into the gunsmith to check out the week of or week before. Yeah. So if you do find something, it's tough to get it fixed ahead of time.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Exactly. So typically the gunsmith shop I worked at on most repairs, we were you know four to six months out at any given time. But for hunting season type stuff, we usually left a time slot open uh just so we can focus on on that last minute type stuff, just uh just to be able to help people out.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Is there such a thing as checking it too early? No, never. So best bet check it when you're done at the end of the season, and then a month or two before the season you're going out for starts, give it another once over just to double check.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Yeah, that's exactly it. The best thing you can do is get everything ready for the next season at the end of the season, right? So you you have everything ready. All you literally need to do is just give it a once over and you're ready to go out into the field.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Nice. So equipment, like we said, isn't the only thing that changes. Uh hunting regulations can also change every season, too. So what regulations should hunters be verifying before every every single hunting season?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, so like if you're hunting on public land, make sure that public land is still hunting land this season. Um, because that kind of stuff can change, and caliber restrictions, especially like here in Iowa. So they haven't really pulled any calibers off recently. Okay, but fortunately, they've actually added a lot of stuff you can use. So you may be pleasantly surprised checking on that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Yeah, I know we were stuck with just straight wall for a long time, and now we can use uh I can't remember the exact for deer hunting, but uh we're not limited to just straight wall anymore.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

So right, 35 caliber and larger um within a certain power factor. I don't remember exactly what it is, but now you can use things like 35 Whalen and stuff like that, which is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

What regulation updates tend to surprise hunters the most often?

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Um, I think it's probably time frames and that that land one. I think the the public land is what gets people the most. Uh, because that like like I said, that stuff does change and people aren't aware. They just assume and then they go out and start hunting on this land that they're not even supposed to be on. So uh it can get it can get kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

One of those scenarios where this is where me and my boys have every come every whitetail season, and you know, end of last year they decided to take it out of the the public hunting right spot, and you just go out there, there's probably not going to be as much signage saying, hey, this is no longer huntable.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Right. Yeah, they usually don't post a bunch of signage uh and they don't, there's not like a memo that goes out. You know, you have to actively check that information.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Where would you recommend people go to check that information directly to their DNR website?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Yep, that's the best place. That's the most updated accurate information is gonna be that DNR website. Let's talk some more about clothing.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Yeah. What would you recommend to check for hunting clothes?

SPEAKER_00 9:07

So cloth like the your clothing as far as like your tops and your bottoms go, those are those are usually pretty consistent, not a real big deal. The thing that fails the most are probably gonna be gloves and boots.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

And uh like base layers for the most part are you know, they they don't they don't take a lot of wear and tear. Uh but yeah, gloves and boots are are what what tend to fall apart because those get the most wear, especially your boots, because I mean you're you're you're putting those through through all the torture, you know, especially depending on what kind of terrain you're on, but yeah, the the worst thing whenever you're hunting is like your feet and hands freezing, and then you can't feel your fingers, and then you end up missing a a pretty big shot because of it.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Or not realizing you have a huge hole in your boot until you step through that first puddle and now your feet are cold and wet the rest of the day.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Yeah, especially here in like Iowa when uh because I mean most of the time during hunting season there's snow on the ground. Um I've been on a few hunts where it was actively like blizzarding almost. So yeah, being uh being cold because of a stupid mistake is just it it's it it'll just tear you down.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Uh let's talk electronics. Are there batteries that you just replace at the start of every season uh just as part of your normal setup or at least check?

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Yeah, so I typically like in optics, if I'm using an optic with um like a CR, like a 2032 or something like that, I'll just change that out every season, regardless. Because I mean they're they're not super expensive. And if I forgot to turn that battery off last season, it may turn on this season, but it won't stay on very long. So yeah, that quick check like means absolutely nothing. So uh yeah, I optic batteries, I just change them out every season, regardless.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

What electronics tend to be forgotten about the most when people are doing their pre-checks?

SPEAKER_00 10:50

So things like range finders, uh stuff like that. Um I I would say like thermal optic batteries, not so much, night vision, not so much, but like the the things like that, like range finders, uh, whether it be uh you know monocular or binocular, those tend to be forgotten quite a bit.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Something that happens to me all the time is like a headlamp. Oh, yeah, headlamp flashlight batteries. This is a flashlight, because like you're you know, you're it's you wake up at like four or five o'clock in the morning and like you've got maybe you have all your stuff set the night before. You just grab it and throw it in the truck, and you go out there and now you're in the dark in the woods and get out of your truck, and it's like, oh, cool. Looks like I'm gonna have to feel my way through this one.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Yeah, so the really cool thing about all that, like all the flashlights I use now are USB-C charged. Oh, nice. Like uh like Surefire Stilettos, like my BDC flashlight, and that's the one I bring hunting because I think super bright. It's a USB-C charge. So I keep that thing charged all the time. I don't have to worry about batteries. If I do forget, I can literally just plug it in in my truck on the way to the hunt.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

And good enough. It's good enough. Yeah. Same thing with headlamps, like streamlight and surefire headlamps now. USB C chargeable.

SPEAKER_02 11:57

Nice. That is nice.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Nothing worse than taking your that awesome shot right at the tail end of the day, and you're going out there and starting to field dress.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Oh, yeah, too.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah, then the headlamp goes out, and you're like, oh, I'm halfway through this deer, and all right. Yeah, you stay there. You don't go anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yeah. Or if uh if if you're like me and Jude this season, we're gonna try to do some stuff with the uh trigger cam.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

So we gotta make sure those batteries are charged because they they tend to drain pretty quick. So it it's it's you gotta have a full charge.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

And it'd be cold, and that that plays hell on batteries too.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

Yeah, it really does. Uh let's talk about knives since we were talking about field dressing. What kind of knife preseason check do you have, if any?

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Yeah, so I it especially if I used it to to scan or field dress something last year, just make sure it's clean.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Because I I'm it's happening to me too. Man, I'm the worst of it. I'll pull up somewhere in the garage. It's so gross. Yeah, that's gross.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah, it happens. Yeah, and blood like rust stuff. Really bad. It'll rust stainless steel like nothing. It's crazy. Um, so yeah, just uh, you know, make sure your knife is clean. Uh, it doesn't hurt to sharpen it. Uh, there are some knife sharpeners out there that are super easy to use and really convenient. Like um, like my favorite's the Warthog knife sharpener. I don't know if y'all know anything about that.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

No, yeah, whatever. What's what's it like? Like, what's the style of it?

SPEAKER_00 13:21

So it's like electric one or no, it's not an electric one, it's all manual, and um, it has like interchangeable grit stones on it, and they're under spring tension. So you run the knife through it under spring tension, and it applies equal pressure to both sides, and you can adjust the angle of it too. So it's yeah, it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

I gotta get a nice sharpener. Yeah, I always I always like use those like two dollar things that just like two ceramic stones on each side, and you just rip through. That's what I do too. Those are the worst sharpeners.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

So the warthog sharpeners like a really fancy version of that one. Okay, they're actually imported from they're made in South Africa and imported to the United States, but they're just they're so good.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

So let's say I go and check my knife and notice that I did not clean it off at all. How do you go about getting it ready for this this coming season?

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yeah, so what I typically do at that point, depending on how bad it is, you know, I'll just find the closest garbage can and uh just kind of throw it in there. Jeez, no, I'm just kidding. That kind of money. No, no, no, I'm I'm kidding. Just clean in, yeah, you you can get the rust off of it the same way you get rust off of a gun, quadruple out steel wool and some oil, gun oil. Uh, clean it up with that, and then just run it run it across a stone to sharpen it. That's it. That's all you need to do.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Do you, when you're out hunting, do you carry a first aid kit? Yes, absolutely. All right. So, what you do you check that every pre-season as well, or what would you recommend checking? Good question.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

How often do you check that thing? Because like if you have it on you all the time and it's yours, right, you know what went into it. Right. Chances are nobody's touched it. Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah, so I typically actually carry a sealed one. Um so I know everything's in there, and if as long as it's still sealed, I don't have to check anything on it.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

The only thing that's not sealed in the first aid kit, yeah, because it's in like a vacuum pack with a quick tear tab. The only thing that's not in there is um a tourniquet. I usually keep that on the outside just for quick access, and right that's worth checking just to make sure it's still staged properly. Uh the Velcro's not like blown out or anything. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Yeah. Yeah, because like a vacuum sealed first aid blowout kit or something. Yeah. It's also like sterile in the bag. Exactly. So yeah. Yeah, I don't have to touch that.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

I have a um Spiritus Systems thing two chest rig that I have like set up for hunting. So everything I need is in a zipper pouch, so it doesn't make a lot of noise. But then like my first aid kit is behind a Velcro pouch. Because I mean, like I don't care about making noise at that point. If I need my first aid kit, I don't care about being quiet. Um, but yeah, that's just that's yeah. There's actually a uh a brown house video on that that setup I use for hunting.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

So cool. So you have a setup for hunting that is like set it and forget it. Exactly. Nothing to do. Something I did a while ago, like don't do this. Speaking of first aid, is a lot of first aid kits. If you set it up yourself or if somebody sells it to you, it'll have uh like nitro gloves in it. Yes. And if you're dressing on an animal, cool to have those gloves on.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Yeah, so yeah, I keep those in a I keep an extra set of those in a separate.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Like if you if you want to use them, bring an extra set and just like keep in your mind, don't touch that.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Don't open it up.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Do not, yeah. That first aid kit is for one thing. Yeah, it's not uh it's not a multi-use you know thing. It's it's for emergency.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

So if you do end up using a first aid kit during the season, make sure you replenish it with a I'm gonna say use a first aid kit.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

There there's no if about it. You need to have one with you. And yes, keep it sealed 100%.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

And as long as you're keeping it sealed, there's really nothing you need to keep an eye on for expiration dates or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

No, so uh technically most life-saving equipment, because it's life-saving equipment, will have an expiration date, just because a lot of the industries that use them, like military law enforcement, stuff like that, have to cycle through it for that reason, because they their stuff gets a lot of wear and tear. But I mean, like even armor plates have expiration dates when they don't technically expire, right? Yeah, they just they just have like cycle life, if that makes sense. Yeah. But um, even though your first aid kit has an expiration date, I mean, legally, I should say you should probably replace it, but it's probably gonna be just fine, right?

SPEAKER_02 17:25

Yeah, I think that that date is more so like this is our guarantee.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

This is what we've seen, and it's life saving equipment.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

So yeah, I mean it's not a Pop Tart, you know. Right. Like I don't know. I've eaten some Pop Tarts past that. You know what? Forget about it. Pop Tarts are good past their expiration date a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Good to know. Note that one.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Yeah, as long as it's not like the fruity flavors, the chocolate flavor, like other stuff is good.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Good for decades.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Yeah, that's what I mean. They put them in MREs. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

But that was one thing, uh, not Pop Tarts, but the equipment. Going back to the Velcro uh comment, that is one thing I I completely glossed over is checking your setup for Velcro. Like if you got Velcro on there, you're not gonna want to open that on the hunt at all.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

You were gonna want to stay far away from Velcro stuff. So, like the whole tactical community is overlapping with the hunting community, but you got to be mindful of the amount of stuff, like what makes noise, right? Right. Because you gotta be quiet when you're hunting for white tail and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Let's move on to talking about firearms. What firearm hardware do most people skip checking?

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Oh, probably things like sling mounts, again, choke tubes and scope mounts. Scope mounts are a big thing, like scope bases, mounts, different stuff like that can come loose, especially if they get a little bit of rust underneath them. They can kind of work their way loose under recoil um whenever they were shot and stuff like that. Or uh just screw torque in general. Screw torque's easy to check. You just set your torque wrench to what the screw torque should be and just check all the screws. And you can do that, and it won't affect your zero unless something was loose, right? So uh check the torque on all of those and don't over-torque anything because an over-torked screw has so much stress on it that under re the firearm's recoil, it can shear the screw. I've seen it happen so many times. Uh huh. So that's the danger of over-tightening a screw. So don't do that either.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

What is there any hardware that you would recommend checking every single preseason? I mean, I know the barrel, you're gonna want to check your barrel and scope mounts, but just the full the whole gun, just like everything.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Making sure everything's clean. Yeah, that's all you gotta do is just just make sure it's clean. As long as everything's clean, those screws are torqued, and you've I mean, go out and test fire your gun.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Yeah, confirm zero, stuff like that. That's it's it's too easy.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

We talked a little bit about this when we were talking about knives, but what do you do if you find rust on your firearm?

SPEAKER_00 19:46

So you need to neutralize that rust. I would say remove it with some quadruple out steel wool and gun oil. We have a lot of really good content on how to do that properly. Um, but that's that's really all you need to do. And if it it it it may leave a bare spot where that rust was, and you can have the firearm refinished if you want to, but that's usually a lengthy process, and you should probably wait till after the season, but just keep it oiled and and it'll be okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Would that be an opportunity for someone to get like a bottle of cold blue and throw it on there just to cover it up?

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Yeah, there's this uh this company, I I don't remember their name, but I think it's called Oxfo Blue, and then they got T4, and then they got Dicropan, different cold blues, and uh they work really well. Oh, the company's brown nails. Oh, that's I remember now, Tim. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Because basically you don't want to leave that bare metal bare for an entire season.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

You don't. I mean, as long as you keep it oiled, you'll be okay, but the cold blue does help out cosmetically and it does etch the surface of it so it holds oil better as well. So it's uh it's not a bad idea to use cold blue.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

All right. Uh let's talk about ammo. What's what are you checking when it comes to ammo?

SPEAKER_00 20:52

If unless you want to re-zero your rifle, make sure you're using the same weight ammo, the same, the same ammo your rifle zeroed for. Write that stuff down somewhere. I mean, right before hunting season is not the time to switch it up.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

You mean different brands and different product within brands?

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah, differently? Yeah, so uh uh you know 168 grain is gonna perform way different than 132 grain. So I'm like, you know, whatever. So yeah, there's a big big or supersonic and subsonic, now's not the time to play with that, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:23

So if you had trouble finding the ammo you used last season and you could only find a say manufacturer, different kind of product, go check that ballistic data to make sure it's hitting where you think it is.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Yeah, if you change ammo for any reason, so like last season was the time to buy that ammo, right? If you have to change ammo, you have to check re zero your gun. Everything. That that's it. Yeah, there's no there's no cheating it.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

That's why we're doing this stuff weeks to months in advance, too. Because if you show up opening day or the week before and you get this very specific polymer tipped hollow point uh game ammo. It's not gonna be there.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

No, everyone's looking probably probably Yeah, ever everyone wants that stuff. And uh so to kind of reiterate on that a little bit too, if you're taking a close shot, it probably isn't gonna matter. You're gonna hit within a few inches um of where that other ammo was, hopefully. But if you got to take a longer shot, you're you you can potentially take a shot that is unethical uh because of that. So you gotta be careful.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Well, we were Jude and I were talking with Ted Hager, uh competitive long distance PRS guy, uh just the last episode, and he was telling us like how much just temperature alone can impact the same kind of ammo or distance.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

So that's a good point, right? Because uh if your plan is to zero all your stuff in summer when it's nice out, yep, and then you go out and hunt in the winter time that's right and change some stuff.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

You're absolutely right. So I use a Kestrel for all that, the 5700 Elite. So it takes a temperature reading uh right there where you're shooting. So I have guns like that six arc we built, like we we built and shot that gun when it was still really cold out.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

So next time I go to if I were to take that gun to the range right now, because it's it's hot out. Um what's what's the temperature right now? It is 81 degrees outside. My kestrel is gonna give me different ballistic data than it gave me when it was cold out.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Really cool reason I have a kestrel. It is because in that kestrel you have like multiple rifles built in there, right?

SPEAKER_00 23:29

I have a bunch of different I have every rifle I own built in there.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Yeah, and all of the different measurements and the ballistics of each rifle is is different and it's in its own like chart. It is so when you take a reading of that moment.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Yeah, yeah, it's it's all yeah. So that's the problem. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

It solves everybody's problems. Yeah, it's just a kestrel.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Everybody go buy a 5700 elite kestrel. Yeah. Uh it's only tell them Caleb sent you. Yeah, tell them tell them Caleb. Oh, buy it from Brownells, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

So let's talk about something that people might overlook or not think about checking is magazines.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Yeah. The most neglected piece of the firearm.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Yeah, I'd hardly ever look at my magazines and I don't even do any hunting. I just do range stuff. So, what should someone be looking at in their magazine uh before heading out?

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Yep. So your magazine, um, a magazine by definition is made up of a few components the body, uh, the follower, and the spring. Those are the components you need to make a magazine. So you need to check all of those components. A quick and easy thing you can do. Uh, if you have a base plate that that comes off, just disassemble your magazine. They're easy to take apart, they're easy to put back together for almost every firearm. Almost. There are some older magazines I would not wish disassembling on anybody, but for the most part, all the modern stuff's easy to do. And it's easy to just do a quick visual check. So check the body of the magazine, check the feed lips, check the follower. And you're looking just for any dents, cracks, anything like that. And magazines themselves can get full of junk, like thistle leaves and and tons of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Just you're holding the rifle, you know, on right in front of you. You're trekking through a bunch of this, like chest high, knee high stuff. Yeah. It's a it's a magnet for that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

It is. And your magazine springs are made of steel, and steel will rust.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

Again, we would introduce that moisture, put it into that case for, you know, just last year.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

That's right. And a rusty spring is a a spring that loses tension very quickly and it doesn't operate at its full or the tension it should or need to operate at. Uh so it can cause the firearm to malfunction. Now, with that as well, um, I would say lubricate your spraying, but I use a dry lubricant. Don't use like your regular gun oil uh because that dry lubricant won't allow stuff to stick to it, like dust particles and different things like that.

SPEAKER_02 25:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

So um there's a bunch of different ones out there. The Otis Otis makes a really good one. Uh, there's some stuff called mag Slick, and they all come in an aerosol. You just spray them on there, wait a few seconds for them to dry, and that's it. That's all you gotta do.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Cool. Nice. And then while you're talking about magazines, gather your magazines for the firearm that you're using so you don't get out to the field and be like, oh, I don't have any magazines for my ammo.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

So I feel like you're you're calling me out right now, Tim, because I have 350 Legend magazines. I have some in my truck, I have some in my attic. I think I have a couple in my basement. Um so yeah, I should I should probably do that. But yeah, that's uh that's good. Know where your magazines are. You don't need a lot to hunt with.

SPEAKER_03 26:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

If you do, something's wrong. Uh you you should only need really one magazine. Right. I I carry two. I keep one in the gun and then one in my pocket or whatever, uh, just as a backup. I never I have never needed it, but it's uh it's just peace of mind, really.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Let's talk in uh about firearm inspection. So confirming your zero. How many rounds should it take to confirm your zero?

SPEAKER_00 26:55

So this is kind of a tricky one because there are different ideas behind this. For me, most of the time on a hunting gun, if I take it out to check, I'll fire one shot. If that point of aim and point of impact are exactly where they're supposed to be, a lot of the times I'll call it right there. But a lot of people say you need to shoot a group uh just to make sure your firearm's still grouping. Because if you have any crown damage or anything like that on your barrel, that that first shot may go where it needs to, but the shot after that may not. Then shot after that, who knows where that one's going. Uh so it, even though I am guilty of only firing one shot just out of um, I guess laziness and money concerns because ammo's expensive. Um, even though I'm hand loading most of my hunting stuff anyway, I would say you should probably at least fire three shots, shoot a group to confirm, and then you're good.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

When it comes to your grouping, it does it really depend on what season you're going after or animal you're going after to determine what an acceptable grouping size would be. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yeah, it's firearm related. You know, a shotgun group is um, and when I say shotgun group, I'm talking slug. Slug, right. Yeah. Uh a larger group is way more acceptable just because of the way the barrels melted to the receiver and things like that. They're not gonna be perfect. Uh, but a rifle, like my rifles, I want, you know, MOA or less, just because that's like that's my standard. It all depends on the firearm and and and what it's capable of.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

Yeah. Anybody doing like big game or something, like long-range shots, like th you should be practicing anyway. Right. So like you're gonna be very familiar with your zero on that rifle leading up to it. That's not really the case where you just take it out of the safe and say, let's go. Yeah, it's if you want, you can.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

Yeah, um, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Good luck. So we talked a little bit about rifle uh checking or the things you should check on a rifle. A little bit on shotgun. Is there anything else that you should check your shotgun for before heading out for the season? Especially if you're doing any kind of like bird.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Well, like if you if you have a tube limiter, if you need that in your state, double check that first. Yeah, first thing you do.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

And in that tube limiter, so that that tube plug. Um I've seen a lot of times where people lose that and they just like break a stick and put that in there. Well, that stick's gonna rot, and your tube limiter's not gonna limit the next season. And also you're gonna have like rotten wood particles all in your gun jamming up your magazine tube. I've seen that a lot.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

So it works. Take it out.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Yeah, listen, it got you, it got you where you need to be.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Yeah, now it's time to fix it. Yeah. That's one thing I'd have to check because I that was one of the first things I took out with trap and skeet shooting where you need you can go hang out with your buddies, you can go do trap, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

I'm not nobody's limiting me. You're right here. Limitless. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you gotta put that back.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

What about other firearms? Uh, let's talk about muzzle loader for the muzzle loading seasons. What do people usually forget to check either at the end of the season or at the beginning of the season?

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Unloading that muzzle loader. Oh, yeah, that's a big one. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

Yeah, it's so true. It's so real.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Coming into the gunsmith shop, someone that brings in a muzzle loader, the first thing I do is pull the ramrod and check the depth to make sure that thing is unloaded. So if that ramrod doesn't go all the way down, you're like, huh. Yeah, this is a this is a loaded gun.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

So the first thing I do is I'll take it into the the range and shoot it to unload it, and then we can start working on stuff.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Okay. Is that probably the most recommended way to unload your muzzle loader after it's been sitting for a year?

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Or yes, you kind of need to know what you're doing as far as that depth check goes, um, especially if you're not the one that loaded it.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

Because there's some dudes that get some spicy charges in there. So you need to you need to really be careful. You gotta unload it because during that off season, like moisture effects, powder burn rate, and stuff like that, just different things. And um, you may not even remember what charge you put in there, so you have no idea where your your zero is now.

SPEAKER_02 30:59

So that's how much how much experience do you have with like muzzle loaders coming in being being a gunsmith? Is it like a bunch or some or whatever?

SPEAKER_00 31:07

So not a ton, especially like you know, think about because my most of my experience in this is in South Louisiana. Right. And for primitive season, which was the muzzle loader season, you were also allowed to use cartridges like 4570, 444.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Not very common.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

So not super common, but uh I've I've still messed with my share.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

My question is like, it's gotta be so easy for somebody to like load their muzzle loader, not shoot, take it out next season, load their muzzle loader, not shoot. Oh, yeah, take it out, you know, and then double charge that stack them up in there.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Have you ever seen that happen?

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Or I have I personally have not seen that happen, no, but I have heard about that happening.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Man, that would be horrifying.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

You yeah, you anyone with a moderate amount of experience won't do that because they know like the first thing you do before you load it is check to see if it's lo you just gotta drop the ramrod down. And if when you're loading your next charge, because you're gonna load your charge first, right? If that ramrod's not going as far as it should, uh now's the time to stop. Yeah. And it's easy to get it, it's a lot easier to get a charge out than it is to get a projectile out. Right. So uh you can you can get that charge out before things get sketchy.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Is there anything different when it comes to pistols for those that do pistol hunting season uh that they should check that we haven't covered already with like scope rings and everything's pretty much exactly the same.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Um just all the checks are the same. Just you know, obviously check your zero, check for rust, make sure everything's clean, functions properly. Uh so no handguns are usually pretty easy. The only extra thing to check there, I guess it would be like checking your sling, but in this case you're checking your holster. Right. Uh making sure your holster's, you know, in good working order, working condition, so that you don't have any issues there.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

Another thing that people might not think about, especially if they take their kids hunting, is your kids grow and can grow quite a lot from one year to the next. Yes. So the firearm that fit them the previous season might not fit them or as it should this season. How do you check that fit?

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Yeah, you just so we have uh some content on how to check length of pool. Okay. And that is all you really need to do is just check that length of pool. So uh especially like when your kid's going through a growth spurt, that length of pool is gonna be like so, for example, like my 16-year-old right now, we have the same length of pull. Like that, he's tall. He's a tall kid. He's he's definitely taking after me. You know, compared to two years ago when I had to literally build him a gun with a short stock on it, and then now he's shooting the same size gun as me, which is great because now we can share guns. Right. But uh, but yeah, that's something that you need to you definitely need to be be mindful of. And fortunately with AR-15s and adjustable stocks, it's easy.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Right. Yeah, it's true. So it's more your shotguns that you have to kind of worry about.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

Yeah, so typically what I end up doing in those scenarios um or recommending people do is if you don't want to cut the stock that's on there, buy another stock. If you do want to cut the stock that's on there, that's fine. You can cut the stock, uh, refit the recoil pad, and as they grow, you can add spacers in between the stock and recoil pad. So that's that's not really an issue. Nice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

And then also not just firearms, check the fit of their camo, their gear. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Yeah. This is the so this is the part where base layers become obsolete just because they do not fit anymore. So yeah, you need to you need to make sure you're you're uh you're keeping all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

My family always had that mad dash, and it's like the morning of, and it's like that's when we figure out where the orange is at, where the camo is at, and the warming layers and everything. That's the most fun way to do it. That's the best way to do it because me me and two other brothers are fighting over the orange that you find. Yeah. Yeah. Oldest one always got the cool stuff. It's out there in rags. It does, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

So I mean, it would you would you rather be the the best skill-wise or the best drip wise, you know?

SPEAKER_02 34:58

That's a tough call, actually. I should say, would you that's a that's gonna be a hard decision to do that? I know.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Listen, I live in that world, man. It's it's a tough call.

SPEAKER_02 35:04

I I love that mad dash though, because like now it's like us three are going hunting, everybody's up because like adrenaline's going, man. I'm gonna go to this.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Yeah. Yeah, and blaze orange is one of those things that you don't use it outside of hunting season. It gets thrown at a closet or in a chest or something.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

You just forget about it. You're like last last year I borrowed this guy's vest and I forgot about it. Yeah. This year, uh, it looks like I'm gonna try to do the same thing. Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Hopefully. Let's do some rapid fire now. We're getting close to the end. Uh, what's the most overlooked maintenance item for a hunting preseason check?

SPEAKER_00 35:39

Ooh, most overlooked maintenance item. Uh, it's gonna be firearm specific uh for shotgun as choke tubes, stop choke tubes, boom, every time. Uh, for rifle stuff, it's leaving that thing in the bag and letting it rest. Just moisture.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

All right. What's the most common opening day failure that you've seen or heard about or experienced yourself?

SPEAKER_00 35:58

Assuming everything is still sighted in. You got the the the big deer walks out, you got the perfect shot on it, you pull the trigger, who knows where that bullet went. But we we know which direction the deer went. It wasn't it wasn't down.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

I would add to that and be like, so yes, 100%. And then also with the with the the oncoming of Air 15 style rifles, like that's a tuned gun. And if you change the load of ammunition, so not a hundred percent then. Yeah, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

What what did you say? No, you said yeah, 100%, and then you added something to it, so it's not 100%. But no, you're you're doing great. Just adding a B.

SPEAKER_02 36:34

No, I your A, your gold, I'm adding silver. This is okay. That's all it is. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

That's good. Is that cool? No, I love it. I love I love where this is going. No, but yeah, no, you're absolutely right. Tuning an AR an untuned AR-15, because we talked about that.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

The guy will set it up, right? And then he'll get FMJ. Oh, yeah. And just shoot it, and he'd be like, hey, this works. And then he'll grab something else for hunting season and it's not gonna work.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

So I'm so glad you bring that up because same thing with handguns. Like, no one wants to shoot that expensive, especially with like even defense loads, right? No one wants to shoot that expensive ammo. Right. So they assume just because it worked with FMJ, it'll work with everything else, but that's not the case. So yeah, I'm glad you brought that's a good point.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

So like it's it's kind of a different topic, but it's not like a lot of those like defense ammo, hunting ammo are gonna be some kind of hollow point for expansion. Yep. And so if those guys don't shoot them to train because they are expensive, the biggest thing I've seen, like personally, is you go ahead and load that up in the gun, and it doesn't the failure to feed because your feed ramp and the hollow point just aren't working together. Yeah, they get hung up on that feed ramp.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

Yeah, yep. The either like the magazine's not positioning it the way it needs to be, um, even though it was with the the FMJ, the and that that feed ramp is just digging into it rather than gliding over. Yeah, that that happens a lot, actually.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Finding that out in like when you're gonna take a shot hunting sucks. Yeah, finding that out in a self-defense scenario sucks even really bad.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Yeah, that's not good.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

Don't do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

Uh what's one tool every hunter should own? A multi-tool.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Why is that?

SPEAKER_00 38:08

Because you can use that for everything. You can use it for clearing malfunctions, doing little quick fixes on your gun in the field. You can use it when you're field dressing. Um, you can you can use it for so many, so many things. A multi-tool is just like the tool to have.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

I was talking to Kevin Estella and he was saying he used uh a multi-tool to field dress a deer. Yeah. And like cut through the the pelvic bone. You just it's got a really good saw in there, yeah, and it saws right through that bone just fine.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

A multi-tool will get you out of a lot of binds.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

Imagine not cleaning that thing.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Oh no. Just like deer fat.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Just forgetting about it. Yeah. Stuck in there. Yeah, that's I feel like somebody in your life should give you a heads up on that. By the way, we need to talk afterwards. Okay. What's one maintenance job that takes less than five minutes but saves an entire hunt?

SPEAKER_00 38:56

When you are done hunting, wipe the moisture off your gun. Just give it a quick once over with some white oil. Just a quick, you don't even need just get just wipe it with anything. Okay. Literally anything. Uh if you have oil, great. You know, the silicone rags are awesome. Right.

SPEAKER_01 39:11

Just wipe it. What's one thing you've personally forgotten before a hunt that you'll never forget again? Just wiping that gun down.

SPEAKER_00 39:18

You know, just taking like a silicone rag or something and just wiping it.

unknown 39:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

I feel like there's a there's a story there. We'll have to get it. You know, a lot of a lot of this stuff is from personal experience. So um I I did it so you don't have to.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

I think like something I always forget to do that like just really comes back and haunts me next year, especially bird hunting, is you get your vest and you throw all this junk in your vest, and then you get done hunting and you just hang the vest up. And then next year you're like, whoa, look at all this cool free stuff that I left in there. But you don't do that first step. First step, you look for all your gear. Yeah. Last step, you get your vest, and it's like, oh, there it all is. It's all still. Also, I know a couple of older dudes, bird hunters, that have left birds. Oh, I've heard about that. I was just about to ask you about that. Yeah, I've never done that. I've never done that either.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

That's awful. That sounds I I've yeah, that's nuts.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

I've been around for the aftermath though. Gross. Not good. Not would not recommend. No.

SPEAKER_01 40:14

Well, Caleb, thanks for bringing your expertise and experience to the Ram room today. Where can folks interact with you or learn more about what to check for a preseason checklist?

SPEAKER_00 40:24

Every single year, uh Brownell's on the YouTube channel and in email blast, we do a hunting season preparation video.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

So we will cover a lot of this stuff in that video. And uh I'd I'd recommend checking it out there. And not only that, but all of the older videos we've done on it are still up. So check them out. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Well, if you enjoyed today's episode, share built to last with someone who cares about performance over trend and discipline over decoration. As always, ready aim, fire your comments or questions to built to last at brownells.com and rate and comment wherever you stream this podcast from. Remember, if it's worth building, ensure it's built to last