I sighted in my rifle today at my cousin's girlfriends house today, and did something VERY unexpected. (Cousins name is Neal, his girlfriend is Heather.)We were both shooting a Savage .270; I was using Federal Vital Shoks, and my cousin was using Winchester lead tips. We nailed a "Ducks Unlimited Banquet" sign to a pine tree that was about 8 inches in diameter and slapped on some targets. We set up about 75 yds away, and dropped some hammers.
My cousin shot two or three times until he got a consistent group. We walked up to the target, and we noticed/should-have-expected that there was bark and wood splinters all over the ground. The tree was taking a beating! Every shot was a pass through.
We jokingly said things like "Heather, you're gonna wake up and that things gonna be in your yard!" and "That trees gonna die... and when it does its gonna crush your huge house."
Every shotNeal took,you could see the bark and wood splinters fly off the tree. Finally, about 10 shots total,he got his rifle sighted in, and it was my turn. I took one shot, took a look at the target, and looked at the condition of the pine tree.
There was a small oak tree (about 3 inches diameter) about 2 yds behind the pine tree. None ofNeals Winchesters passed through the oak, but my Vital Shoks plowed clean through it, giving me maximum penetration.
I took another two, inspected my shot pattern, and determined that all I needed that all I needed was to go about three clicks up. I told Neal that I wanted to take one more shot to make sure. I squeezed off the last shot, looked at my cousin and said "I think that'll do it." When I heard a loud "CRACK" We all tuned our heads towards the pine as it toppled over right into the yard. [
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] We all busted out laughing in disbelief! All I could say was "No way!"
Heathers mom came out on fire! "I knew that was gonna happen! Ya'll are done! No more! Your fathers gonna be furious!" Not that it was a big deal... one small pine tree out of 50 acres of property isn't a big deal.
It was a pain trying to get that pine tree out the yard. We couldnt find an axe, and the chainsaw wouldn't crank. Eventually, god blessed us with a handsaw and Heather's brother sawed the tree in half. It took a lot of energy to get that pine tree in the woods.
Tomorrow morning we've got to cut the trunk. Oh... one more thing. I found pieces of my Vital Shoks yellow ballistic tip in the tree trunk "dust" None of it was deformed, just in chunks. Wish I had pics! Maybe I'll get some tomorrow
Federals and Winchesters
