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how many of you gentlemen have been impressed with a friends rifles performance?

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how many of you gentlemen have been impressed with a friends rifles performance?

Old 02-16-2019, 01:08 PM
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Default how many of you gentlemen have been impressed with a friends rifles performance?

I started out big game hunting , using a remington slide action, 760 30/06,
the first two elk I shot failed too drop on bullet impact,
with what I was sure was darn good shot placement.
both ran a short distance before falling, I felt I could do better.
I did a great deal of research, and saved up for a year and purchased a 340 wby,
and never looked back... but as my experience grew,
I noticed the guys I hunted with continued to use and drop game with a wide verity of rifles.
It became obvious to me that power was not the only factor when a buddy was consistently successful using a 358 win BLR,
and one of my mentors was consistently dropping elk with a 257 Roberts
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Old 02-16-2019, 08:04 PM
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I purposely gave very few details in anticipation, of questions, that someone would in all probability,
ask a few related questions about the difference in lethality and related factors.
Id point out most of the guys I hunt with generally hunt the thick timber and steep canyon country ,
shots or even seeing any deer or elk at over 200 yards in the heavy timber, aspen and conifer was very rare, almost improbable,
potential shots at walking or trotting elk at under 70-80 yard or less far more frequent!
I also reload for most of the guys in our hunt club, and generally I select a rather heavy for caliber projectile,
250 grain speer or hornady in the 35 and 338 calibers, 180-200 grain speer or hornady in 30 caliber,
150 grain speer or hornady bullets in 270 and 115 noslers in the 25 caliber rifles
this habit of hunting in pairs helps a good deal in retrieving the elk and transporting it once its down, and if required tracking and packing out or remote areas.
the fact that most of use hunt the area, generally within sight of each other also lends itself too having two witness to the results of a shot.
the first private communication., was as expected asking for more details
well the first two elk I shot were with that 760 rem, the first time I used a 220 grain peters range was about 60 or so yards ,
a broadside heart/lung shot the second used a 190 hornady boat tail that was at about 80 yards also a broad side heart / lung shot,
in both cases a short run of about 50 yards and a collapse resulted, the first two elk I used a 250 grain hornady bullet and the 340 wby
were also shot at ranges under 100-120 yards, the difference was that both fell within a step or two of where they were hit.
now I was in my early 20s so at the time I took that as proof the 340 mag was far superior,
AS I aged and gained more practical experience , I realized that a single shot from both the 30/06 and 340 wby resulted in a dead elk.
I also came to realize by watching my hunting buddies kill elk with a single bullet that the 358 win was racking up a very impressive track record of elk being killed.
I was generally called to do a lot of the field dressing and meat processing, thus I got a good look at the internal damage on the elk.
the wounds were different but both the 340 wby and 358 bullets had exited the elk,
it was rather obvious at least to me that the 340 wby had done greater adjacent to the bullet impact path, damage along the projectiles path,
than the 358 win, but not a great deal different than the 30/06, and to me it was also curious that the 115 grain nosler used in a friends 257 Roberts
(this was back when the nosler partitions looked to be brass jackets and lathe turned) had resulted in noticeably less penetration and internal damage yet
one bull hit at about 180 yards and one shot at about 120 yards had both died after running about 70 yards, again a single well placed bullet had proven lethal.
the larger caliber and heavier projectile had very obviously penetrated deeper and done more damage, but there was the fact...
the elk a buddies dad had shot in both cases with the little 257 roberts was dead!
every bit as dead as the result of considerably more internal damage, my 340 weatherby had done.
there was an obvious difference in the elks reaction and the distance traveled and time between bullet impact and the elks collapsing, all four of us noticed that,
but there was that rather nagging result... all four rifles had killed elk with a single well placed shot!
this obviously threw a wrench into the gears of the idea that promoted the concept that raw power was the key to success.
I was very pleased with and continue too be pleased with my 340 wby, yet It was also clear that proper shot placement with any of the rifles produced lethal results,
and what you have confidence in using related to your personal experiences and what previous results you had seen and what you expected to happen, after a shot taken.
as I went on more hunts I saw the 270 win, 7mm rem mag and 308 win all kill elk rather regularly, even the 444 marlin and 45/70 were proven very lethal in a competent hunters hands.

Last edited by hardcastonly; 02-16-2019 at 08:17 PM.
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Old 02-17-2019, 04:49 AM
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Not a friend's rifle but my own. My 270 win with Nosler 130 gr ballistic tip bullets pushed by 54 gr of IMR4350 dropped every whitetail in its tracks for 40 years and that's a lot of deer. It was also the most accurate rifle I ever owned shooting 1/2" 100 yard groups consistently and taking mulies out past 400 yards. My little 45-70 guide gun is my "hammer of thor". It has rolled black bear on several occasions and even once on a straight on shot literally knocked one on his butt.
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Old 02-17-2019, 05:32 PM
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Impressed? Sure. Surprised? Not so much.

One which comes to mind is an AR a former employee of mine built in my shop. I offer a “build your own AR” class and he wanted a long range, precision-15 in 6.5 Grendel. With our change in work arrangement, he ended up leaving the rifle at my shop for over a year, during which time I shot a couple Precision Rifle matches, and took my buck that winter with it. Knowing the parts I helped him select, the bullet chosen, and the methods of build, I wasn’t surprised when the rifle shot incredibly well, but it did shoot incredibly well in competition and on game. I ran it in matches out to 1100yrds, making impacts in a hit-to-advance micro-match on 8”x12” targets out to 900yrds.





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Old 02-17-2019, 08:00 PM
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I was thoroughly impressed with the effects of my dad's 7mm Rem. Magnum on deer within 200 yards. Whether the shot was at 40 or 180 yards, the deer seemed to drop almost instantly even when hit in the upper lung area (in those cases, it appeared the shock caused damage to the spine in addition to the vitals). In other cases, it was a clear case of hydrostatic shock. This was not with a special bullet design---just Federal Powershoks, which are your normal, unbonded soft-point.

I've had impressive performances with my .308 Win., but excepting cases in which I hit the CNS, it was clear the animal expired from rapid blood loss, not hydrostatic shock.
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Old 02-18-2019, 06:08 AM
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Nomercy448 that looks like a very nice custom rifle, most of the sites members would love to own something similar.


younggun308
one of my long term hunt clubs most dedicated members has a browning BLR in caliber 308, he's used for 3 decades to kill elk consistently with,
the load he has used for decades is simply 47 grains of WW760 over a fed 215 primer and a speer 200 grain bullet seated to max length the magazine allows
hes killed enough mule deer and elk to be very confident in his ability with that carbine.
and in 30 plus years Ive never known him to need to shoot, exceeding about 250 yards to fill a tag,
the expansion characteristics of the 200 grain speer, at the 308 velocity seems well matched

https://www.speer-ammo.com/downloads...hester_200.pdf


https://www.speer-ammo.com/products/...le-bullet/2211

his BLR could be a clone of this picture I found posted else ware.

Last edited by hardcastonly; 02-18-2019 at 06:25 AM.
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Old 02-18-2019, 10:05 AM
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A friend’s rifle - or at least a cartridge, which did impress me about 22-23yrs ago was a 6.5 Swede Mauser. A buddy was trying to get into deer hunting, no cash since we were in high school, and his dad never hunted. He convinced his dad to take him to a gun show with a $100 bill, and he came home with a Swede in great condition, with no idea what he had just bought. Naturally, finding ammo wasn’t easy in a “pre-internet, instant satisfaction era,” so I ended up reloading for him, ordering out of paper catalogs. I really fell in love with the 6.5mm bullet and capabilities while I did load work up for him, and I ended up building a sporterized Mauser of my own, followed by a 6.5-06 Rem 700 shortly behind it. I was a big fan at that time of the 30-06 and the 7mm Mauser, and likely never would have tried the 6.5x55 if my friend hadn’t stumbled into one and then dropped it into my lap.
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Old 02-18-2019, 10:27 AM
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When I was young my uncle gave me a big box full of pennsylvania game news magazines. Years and years worth. Plus some other old hunting magazines as well.

In one of those magazines was an article on the Savage 99s. And I decided right then that that was the perfect deer rifle and that I had to have one.

I was under ten years old at the time.

In 2013 I finally got my first Savage 99 in .300 Savage and shot a doe with it that season.

Then last year I added a 99 in .375 Winchester that is Ohio legal.

I really enjoy the 99s. They aren't the perfect deer rifle. But they are a joy and pleasure to carry.





-Jake
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Old 02-20-2019, 10:56 AM
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I wasn't impressed with a friend's rifle, but a cartridge case that he had. I didn't start big game hunting until I was in college and went with one of my roommates. The first year I borrowed a Winchester .32 Special and shot my first mule deer, and the second year I borrowed a .30-40 Krag from my Uncle and shot my first elk. After that I asked northwestern Colorado locals that I worked with what rifle I should get. They said either a .270 Win or a
30-06. So I bought a .30-06 barreled action and a semi inleted stock from Herter's, and I had my first centerfire rifle. For about 10 years that rifle put a deer and elk in my freezer every year, and I was as happy as a clam.

Then, a few years after I moved to Montana, my hunting partner showed me a .30 Gibbs case. I thought that case was so cool that I carried it in my pocket for a couple of months and finally decided to have my .30-06 re-chambered to .30 Gibbs. As a handloader, once I formed the Gibbs cases, the reloading was no different than loading the .30-06. For the next 20 some years, that rifle filled my freezers with elk, a couple of moose, and a mountain goat.


Again it wasn't a friend's rifle, but in reading P.O. Ackley's books I was very impressed with his .257 Roberts Improved. I had my .30 Gibbs for elk and I wanted another rifle primarily for deer. So I bought a Mauser Mark X barreled action in .25-06 and had a local gunsmith rechamber it to .257 Ackley. For the last 40 years I have used that rifle on dozens of deer, dozens of antelope, 4 bighorn and Dall rams, and one of my best 6x6 bull elk.

One year I was hunting deer on a friend's ranch south of Livingston, MT. He was with me when I shot a buck that was about 250 yards above us on the mountain. It was an instant DRT kill, and my friend was so impressed with that rifle/cartridge that he had one made for himself.
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