Took my new Apex out saturday for last day of Ohio ML season. I had not sighted it in as well as I'd hoped to. Didn't really have enough time but I had it shooting decent groups at 50 yards so I decided to take a go at it. I took my 6 year old daughter with me. It was her first deer hunt and it was a beauty. I had to fill a doe tag and we were able to do that just 45 minutes into our morning stand. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, warm, no wind. A piebald doe came within 60 yards with a button buck. The landowner didn't want the piebald shot so I took the button buck at 75 yards. Perfect heart shot quartering away. The gun perfromed beautifully. 100 grains Pyrodex with 270gr. platinum aerotip powerbelts. We pushed deer for the rst of the day for my brothers and saw several more. A great day.
Awesome. Congratulations! Did you get a pass thru or recover the bullet? Also, did it drop in its tracks or run a little? For those of us who recently purchased Apexs, I'm pretty sure that you are the first to score. Congrats
Congratulations on your hunt. Also I commend you for introducing your daughter to hunting. That is the root of this sport. We need to involve our young people making them aware that we are not out there slaughtering helpless creatures, but controlling deer populations while providing excellent table fare for our family at the same time.
It sounds like the powerbelt did a great job. I too am interested in how well these platinum powerbelts works.. Way to go.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Awesome!!! I'm glad it all worked out. I'm shooting basically the same load and just finished shootingfor the day.
I fine tuned my sights soit's exactly DEADON and1-1 1/2 inches high at 60 yards. It was snowing today and it performed like a charm. I can't wait to take it hunting next year.
Any more details on the hunt would be awesome. Did the deer drop in it's tracks, etc?
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Browning BPS shotgun, Browning Rage One bow, TC Omega muzzleloader, Ruger Super Redhawk .44 mag pistol, Gamo Shadow 1000 pellet gun, Winchester Model 12 pump shotgun
The deer did not drop in its tracks. It ran downhill 30 yards and died. I might attribute this to the powerbelt but I'm not sure. The same thing happened to me during shotgun season with a similar deer. I shot both right in the heart, nearly destroying the upper front leg and both ran 30 yards downhill and fell over dead. I did recover the bullet. It flattened out nicely and did not disintegrate but then again this was not a tough bone shot as it entered the rib cage just behind the shoulder. Also I was shooting from an elevated ledge downhill into the deer so it entered high and lodged low. The entry wound was substantially bigger than that of the shotgun slugs I'm used to. My conclusion is that the powerbelt did its job but I'm anxious to experiment with other bullets. Like I mentioned before, there are also hogs in this woods and I would like to have something I can count on for taking one of those down.
On another note, my brother bought a Rem. Genesis around the same time I got my Apex. He got skunked during shotgun season. Never fired a shot. However during this past ML season he was able to shoot 3 times and saw plenty of deer. He seemed to be missing low so he planned on spending more time sigthing in this summer. All of his shots were 100+ yards. Not something we shotgun hunters are used to. But he loved ML season and he loves his Genesis. I shot it once just to see what it was like and it had very little kick with the same load I was shooting. Nice gun.
After the report of the hunt to my father, he plans on buying a ML for next season. So 3 more of us join the BP ranks. We loved having a hunt where the deer were less pressured and the shooting was more methodical.
teachhunt - I realize it is not important since the deer dropped probably in your sight, but did the powerbelt produce a good blood trail? It would be intersting if you could post a picture of the recovered powerbelt. Also, no pass through. All very interesting facts. I really thought the platinum powerbelt would have penetrated without problems. This might account for the excellent expansion and lack of fragmentation.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Those Powerbelts performed great for me last year on deer. I used 245 grain ones and shot a buck through the heart. It just fell over and never got up again. It was a complete pass through. There wasn't a drop of blood on the ground by it.
My doe this year was shot with a 300 grain XTP MAG sabot. It fell over at the shot and then crawled 30 yards. It was shot through the neck. I hit the jugular or some major artery and it spewed literally gallons of blood out of both sides of the entrance and exit holes.
Both performed well. I think basically any bullet can kill a deer if hit right. This year I'll use the PB's for ease of loading though.
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Browning BPS shotgun, Browning Rage One bow, TC Omega muzzleloader, Ruger Super Redhawk .44 mag pistol, Gamo Shadow 1000 pellet gun, Winchester Model 12 pump shotgun
I think basically any bullet can kill a deer if hit right. This year I'll use the PB's for ease of loading though.
So if I told you that you COULD load the 300 grain XTP about as easy as you can load a PB would it make a difference in your bullet choice - cause it is possible to do that
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Keep on Shooting Muzzleloaders they are a Blast
I think basically any bullet can kill a deer if hit right. This year I'll use the PB's for ease of loading though.
So if I told you that you COULD load the 300 grain XTP about as easy as you can load a PB would it make a difference in your bullet choice - cause it is possible to do that
I'd bet this is right. Of all the bullets I shot in my sidekick, the one that gave the most resistance going down, was the 295 PB. Definitely surprised me, I actually broke the OEM ramrod loading one on a perfectly cleaned barrel. After crowning, even the GP conicals went down easier.
Of all the bullets I shot in my sidekick, the one that gave the most resistance going down, was the 295 PB.
Now that does surprise me... I have shot a few 295's from my tight bore Remingtons and the A&H and never had any trouble - seems like the weight of the ram rod would push em down.... I use to shoot a few of them through each new gun to help break in the barrel, remove some of the burs & stuff...
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Keep on Shooting Muzzleloaders they are a Blast
success with new Apex
