CptCurl:

First, welcome to the board--I'm a "newbie" like you and I am pleased to meet so many DR owners/fans out there.

Two things:

First, I'm a Virginian too! (Fairfax County here) and two, I also got my Merkel from Hendershot's! And I completely agree with you about Lance. I drove the 1.5 hours to their store and Lance was kind enough to spend over an hour with me during a VERY busy time for his shop! (Maybe it was becuase I bought the Merkel, a Win. in 375 H&H and am ordering an AR-50...No, it's not that, he's just a GREAT GUY!

Send me an IM. What part of Virginia are you from? The closest range for me to shot my monster is at the CF Phelps WMA in Culpeper Co.

If you are not too far, perhaps we can get together sometime and meet at a range and check out each other's .500s....

Also, if you deer hunt, I would love to pick your brain on good places to go in VA--maybe 2-3 hours from Fairfax Co. I moved to VA about five years ago and between career, graduate school and starting a family, deer hunting didn't seem to fit in....until now ;-)

Again, nice to meet you...