I spent a couple hours recently checking out a couple cast bullet hand loads in several of my favorite rifles
one was a browning BLR in caliber 358 win, the load Ive used for 4 decades is 44 grains of IMR 4064 under a speer 250 grain bullet and using a federal 215 primer,
https://www.speer-ammo.com/products/...le-bullet/2453
the guy on the next bench over had brought a 270 win caliber savage bolt action, after watching me shoot a couple decent groups of the bench I got into a seated position ,
seated on the concrete and using a sling I fired off a couple shots to be sure the rifle still held the same zero the way it would be used vs the off the bench zero.
now a browning BLR throwing a 250 grain bullet throws those bullets out at about 2300 fps and I sighted in at 3.5" high at 100 yards,
this places the impact at 200 yards at almost dead on, and about 10" low at 300 yards,
after watching me for awhile this guy asked me where I was hunting, and I told him about one of the local wild life management areas.
this guy asked me why I was HAMPERING myself with such a limited range rifle?
now Ive had this discussion a hundred times in the last 50 plus years, and I pointed out that deer,
even big deer are not that large they may on average only have the shoulder height in the 36"-42" range and in a great many areas brush, even weeds and grass reaches that height,
I ask him if hes ever been watching an area and suddenly found he saw deer feeding in fairly close like 40-60 yards? (we all have)
I then ask him how come he had not spotted those deer when they were out at 300-500 yards...
the answers obvious if you have experience, they were not visible until they cleared the local ground cover brush,
and even if your up in a tree stand 15-20 feet above ground level which gives you a tremendous advantage,
this happens all the time here and in most areas Ive hunted.
if you have the skills to use your equipment of choice fast and accurately out to about 200 yards ,
you could spend several life times filling your freezer with venison, and still count the number of times you had a potential shot at deer ,
in many areas at ranges exceeding 250 yards on one hand with a few fingers still left.
he thought about that for a few minutes and smiled and said, you know! youve got a point , Ive hunted for about 20 years and Ive only shot one deer out past about 150 yards.
