Getting ready for Deer Season

[KCSO]

I did a little work on my Mauser sporter and am going to take it out for deer. I am loading my Krag bullet a 220 rnfp in an 06 case with RX7 to just at 1950. When I got this rifle i cussed the previous owner for puttng on an American recoil pad and until I started sighting in the 220's i thought the guy was an a/h. No more!, the rifle loaded with sling weighs 7 pounds even and with that 220 bullet it really comes back. The German stock design seems made for finding out if you were ready to die for the fatherland. I sure do prefer the 130 plinking loads in this one, but it has yet to kil a deer so...

[9.3X62AL]

A few encounters with my G98/40's steel buttplate as influenced by Buckshot's 8mm Heavy at ~1900 FPS convinced me in very short order that load revisions were indicated. The loads probably shot well, but I damn sure didn't.

Not meaning to hijack the thread--what is the consensus view here of using 30 caliber flatnoses like KCSO's boolit or a lighter one like #311041 for deer harvesting? These castings seem able to shoot right through deer, so I'm thinking that a shot aimed to take out the far front shoulder from most angles would both rake the K-zone and take out a shoulder joint. That's the plan with my 9.3mm, anyway.

[35remington]

From what I've seen and shot while deer hunting, at around 2000 fps MV with ACWW bullets good expansion occurs on ordinary ribcage shots. For most woods hunting this seems to work just fine.

I sorta like the simplicity. Cast 'em, gascheck, and go hunting. No two step softnose bullets or other casting alchemy needed.

Haven't shot one with cast, but I'd think a 9.3 would make a heckuva good woods gun with cast bullets at speeds similar to what KCSO is doing.

I'm a Nebraska deer hunter as well, and I hunt very close to civilization-just on the west edge of Lincoln, near the rail yards. Truly, the closer you get to town, the more deer there are. Last weekend I was up in the stand and saw almost too many to count. Rut hasn't started yet but I've seen some scrapes. Opportunities are close and the trees pretty thick, so the .35 Remington is getting the call again. I used to hunt further out in the boondocks but the hunting is better here.

Thinning deer out is a tough job but somebody's gotta do it.

KCSO, nice looking rifle.

[waksupi]

Al, I've killed a couple deer out to around 50 yards with the 170 gr. Lee bullets, and a pocketsize raghorn elk, at about six feet. Seemed to work ok. The elk doesn't really count, a shot right into the neck bones at that range, will kill most anything.

[9.3X62AL]

I'm running the 270 grain flatnose around 1700 FPS, not quite as fast as KCSO's loads. It's a bolt action version of the old 38-55 methinks, so if I place it well I think venison will result.

I do have a fat 30 190 grainer with FN that might work in this application. It will take some fairly deep seating to get it to fit the 30-06 throat, it's an ogival flat point. Dunno how accuracy would pan out. This idea gets placed on the off-season shelf, since I'm 11 days deep into a 30-day deer season.

[Buckshot]

................The last deer I shot was outside Montross, CO with my 03A1 and the Lyman 311284 at 1650 fps (23.0 H4198 + Dacron). As I came out of the Sumac just short of the ridgetop, he was standing there facing me, also at the edge of the growth at my 3 o'clock. Maybe 60 yards off. He needed to be culled as the idiot stood there staring at me while I sloooooooooowly turned through almost 90 degress.

It was not the type shot I'd told myself I'd take. Similar to what you said, I figured a breakdown shot through the shoulders was what would happen. But there he was, point on :-). The shot severed his windpipe and hit the spine in his neck and he collapsed on his legs right there like cutting the strings on a puppet.

................KSCO, if you connect in the right spot that slug sure oughta put the lights out.

BTW, I figured I should add in the aftermath as that too is worth telling. In the hunting party was my uncle and cousin and the guy I grew up with (Steve) and his dad. We were staying in a nice one room prow front cabin my brother had on 40 acres, but we were hunting on about 5,000 total. I shot the deer on the same ridge my brothers cabin is on, and I could easily see it maybe 300 yards off.

I'd just walked up to the deer and was shucking my daypack when my buddy Steve showed up. He said he heard the shot and figured it was me. While he was talking he got his skinning knife and went to work gutting the deer. Okay by me! :-) as I lit up a smoke and sat down on a convenient rock and started putting my pack back together.

Someone had shot at this deer a few days before and just barely missed. He had a diagonal crease right across his back that took off the hair right down to the skin. You could see that if it had broke the skin it hadn't bled very much at all. So I saw some movement and here comes my cousin and uncle. About that time Steve was done. I was pouring out some water from my canteen as he cleaned up his hands. My cousin and uncle each grabbed an antler and started dragging the deer back to the cabin. I helped Steve clean up his stuff and then we to walked back to the cabin. By the time we got there the deer was hanging from an Aspen just alongside the cabin.

That's the way it should go. Shoot a deer and let the 'help' take care of the rest, HA!

................Buckshot

[KCSO]

I have had real good luck with the 31141 in 30-30 at 2000 fps. I am using the 220 in the 06 as it has done so well for me in the Krag. You shoot a deer and you have a small hole going in and a big one going out every time and a dead deer within 100 yards. I may try the 31141 in this gun just to see how it shoots.

[LAH]

I use a flat nose bullet [RCBS 30-180-FN] in my '06 at 1800 fps. It drops whitetail with no problem. My longest kill with such is 85 yards. No bullets recoved.

Creeker

[357maximum]

................I'd just walked up to the deer and was shucking my daypack when my buddy Steve showed up. He said he heard the shot and figured it was me. While he was talking he got his skinning knife and went to work gutting the deer. Okay by me! :-) as I lit up a smoke and sat down on a convenient rock and started putting my pack back together.

Someone had shot at this deer a few days before and just barely missed. He had a diagonal crease right across his back that took off the hair right down to the skin. You could see that if it had broke the skin it hadn't bled very much at all. So I saw some movement and here comes my cousin and uncle. About that time Steve was done. I was pouring out some water from my canteen as he cleaned up his hands. My cousin and uncle each grabbed an antler and started dragging the deer back to the cabin. I helped Steve clean up his stuff and then we to walked back to the cabin. By the time we got there the deer was hanging from an Aspen just alongside the cabin.

That's the way it should go. Shoot a deer and let the 'help' take care of the rest, HA!

................Buckshot

The friends and family I hunt with have a standing rule...He who kills it does not gut it...Originally the rule was instituted by my father in law to prevent an excited youngster from slitting ones own wrist...a better idea for some than others...it has evolved into a act of comraderie, and will always remain a rule/plan anywhere I have any say as to the way things are done...Not only is it nicer it is safer....and proably has saved some spilled blood of a few excited newbies and youngsters...

Michael

[9.3X62AL]

Good info, gentlemen. With as many 30 caliber rifles as I've had (and still have), I still haven't used the Lyman #311041, 311284, or 311299--the only one of the "Classic 4" that I have is 311291. The 311041 is a must for the 30-30, and why I haven't gotten one is a real question. Gotta fix that situation!

[carpetman]

A few years ago when my grandson shot a deer,I'd be the one gutting it---but he would help and was willing to do all he could. Nowdays it's the opposite. The kid is strong and he grabs an antler and walks off about like a tractor pulling it. He gets it to a spot he wants and in fairly fast order has it gutted.

[montana_charlie]

I sure do prefer the 130 plinking loads in this one, but it has yet to kil a deer so...
Considering how many deer have been killed with 1200 fps patched roundball, and 900 fps slugs from revolvers...wouldn't be at all surprised if your 'plinking load' would do just fine.
CM

[jhalcott]

LAH, I'm getting 1793 fps using 27/3031 with that RCBS FN from my 14" contender! I was wondering if it was under powered for deer,guess not!

[KCSO]

Charlie
I have hunted with patched round balls since 1972 and killed a lot of critters with them up to and including buffalo. When I carry my ctg guns I am usually with someone and am shooting backup. Here in NE if you don't drop your deer close you might not get him. When I shoot RB, hunting by myself I have to really pick my shot. When my dad puts a bullet in a deer and it is still running I need to slap it down quick or maybe lose it. One of my best hunting spots is bordered by an a/h who won't let you go get a downed deer, if its on his side of the fence it's his. 2 years ago my dad put a bullet into a big mulie and I stopped it 12 feet from the fence. If I wasn't so stubborn I would just shoot a 270 with J bullets but I just can't stand that.

[hydraulic]

Now there's three of us who hunt deer in Nebraska on this thread. I live about a dozen miles from KCSO, and a local farmer said that last week he drove from KCSO's home town to mine, in the evening, and counted 15 bucks. I haven't had a deer license for the last couple of years, but a friend gave us some venison this summer so I intend to kill a doe to eat. I'll probably get a good chance at some old rangy, tough, trophy buck, since I'll be after a doe. I suppose I should do like most hunters and "harvest" my deer, but I can't for the life of me understand how there would be any meat to eat after the critter went through a John Deere combine.

[waksupi]

Now there's three of us who hunt deer in Nebraska on this thread. I live about a dozen miles from KCSO, and a local farmer said that last week he drove from KCSO's home town to mine, in the evening, and counted 15 bucks. I haven't had a deer license for the last couple of years, but a friend gave us some venison this summer so I intend to kill a doe to eat. I'll probably get a good chance at some old rangy, tough, trophy buck, since I'll be after a doe. I suppose I should do like most hunters and "harvest" my deer, but I can't for the life of me understand how there would be any meat to eat after the critter went through a John Deere combine.

Brahahahahaha! Not as far fetched as some believe! Dad carried a shotgun, with shot and slugs on the corn picker in the fall, and made good use of it!

[db2]

I have a old Remington model 11 that was my wife's grandfathers. He dropped it into a header of a combine. I was told he spent most of the evening with a steel bar out in the barn straighting the barrel back. Looking inside the barrel from the mussel back 12 inches you can really see it. However, she still patterns pretty good.

db2