There I was

[Dan Cash]

The thermometer hovered at 11 degrees and the wind moaned. There I was, snuggled up to the fireplace when my wife, Grace called me to the front window to check outa pretty decent little buck, considering the condition of the herd here in ND.

My 95 Winchester was laying on the front table. While Grace got our hound to the bedroom, I took up the rifle and slowly opened the front door. A cartridge in the chamber, I rested against the door frame and drew a bead through the Lyman #21 peep sight on the 180 yard buck. There was not much time for the shot as I was bare footed and with the front door open, the toes were getting cold.


His head was down grazing but he was turned slightly toward me. It was starting to get dark and the wind was shrieking out of the west. I lay the front sight in the middle of his chest and let a 220 grain cast, paper patched bullet fly at 2300 feet per second.
Bang-crack and down went the buck. The bullet strike did not sound like a chest hit and I worried about him getting up again.

Grace watched while I got my clothes and gun belt on. Deer still down.

The 4 wheeler would not start so it is into the pickup and out to the carcass; south west of the house on the power line. Boy, was he dead. He had his head in the way of my chest shot and took the slug dead between the horns. Like Hillary's, his brain was Jell-O.
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[Digital Dan]

So, you're saying he lost his mind? :drinks:

[Beagle333]

Meat for the freezer! Oh yeah! :D

[ammohead]

A potential liberal. How nice of him to fall in the road. Congrats!

[Janoosh]

Great shot....

Nice deer too.!

[45coltnut]

Fantastic!!! Great story and even better ending "Like Hillary's, his brain was Jell-O."

[s mac]

What a story, enjoy the venison.

[scaevola]

Good story; this made me laugh:

.. . Like Hillary's, his brain was Jell-O.
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[John Allen]

Nice buck I see some jerky in your future.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I never was much of a fan of "Skull soup" anyway. In Billary`s case, the light is on in the attic - `sept there`s nobody home!Robert

[CastingFool]

Outstanding! Fresh venison is always good! Reminds me of a story a guy told me about shooting a deer off his back deck, while just wearing underwear.

[skeettx]

Cool !! in fact Cold !! Great shot with a fine gun
Well done, well done
Thank you for sharing
Mike

[Sensai]

Could just be my imagination, but I think the venison tastes better when the kill is like a light switch. He probably never felt, heard, or saw a thing. Nice kill!

[MT Chambers]

Great job!!!! Is that an orig. '95? What caliber? Tell us more, I like Model '95 stories ever since Teddy used one. I have a '95 in .303 Br. the most common '95 cal. here in Kanada.

[Treetop]

Great story, Dan! Thanks for sharing it with us. I'm also curious about your 1895 Winchester. How about some details? Maybe some close ups...

BTW, that was nice piece of shooting! Tt.

[Charlie U.]

Nice story!
Very decent of that little buck to give you front door service like that.

[pworley1]

Gives new meaning to shooting house. Nice deer.

[Dan Cash]

MT Chambers , Tree Top, et all.
Since you ask, I will post some close up pix of the old 95. I am very fond of the old girl though I have a number of lever guns in .30-30, 32-20, .35 Rem, .250-3000, .300 Sav and .45-70. For serious work, this old 95 in .30 U.S. (.30-40 Krag) is my favorite. I think if I wrer to go looking for a Brown Bear or Grizz in close cover, I might defer to my .45-70 but if it were not to hand, the 95 Win .30 U.S. would get the job done.

When I acquired this old gal, a .308 bullet coould be pushed through the bore which resembled the Grand Canon. I had John Taylor reline the bore back to .30 U.S.. To look at the gun, you would not know it is relines except that the bore is now pristine. It will shoot 1 MOA or less with the bullets cast from my Accurate mould and paper patched. I have confidence in it to kill deer or elk to 300 yards if light and other conditions are suitable.

I am not sure why Winchester figured the 95 to be too costly to build as it does not seem as complex as a 94 or 71. Perhaps it was the protruding box magazine that bothered folks. That is a shame as the gun balances right in front of the magazine, the magazine allows the use of any shape bullet you desire, is easy to reload and has to be the smoothest action Winchester ever built.

As far as magazines go, I am fond of old Styers, M88 Commission rifles and Mosins. Enfields fit in there too. The magazine hanging down does not hurt a thing. The 95 does not handle dirt real well, but other lever guns don't either. As issued, the gun is a bit punnishing in the recoil department but stocking could have fixed that.

This is the old girlfriend who is tolerated by my wife.

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[leeggen]

Wow what an expensive deer stand. Comes with heat stormdoors evn has cook stove an fridg. Just a great mancave with the wife and kids included. Many are enveous of this. Great shot and bet you didn't even have to dress it in the outdoors either' atleast not at that temp.
way to go.
CD

[Idaho Mule]

Nice looking 95 there Dan, I am envious. Great shot on the whitetail too and thanks for the story. Sure wish I had a house to shoot out of. JW

[shoot-n-lead]

Nice buck, rifle, dog, wife (for alerting you to the buck) and story. Love reading about stuff like this...

[oldsagerat]

I got up early for my first deer hunt. While in the bathroom I noticed a deer in the back yard. Slid the window open a bit and
the deer didn't spook. Retrieved Pop's 300 H&H magnum from
the hall, took good aim, shot the deer. No one had told me to use
ear plugs or to make sure the barrel was outside the window before shooting. I couldn't hear my dad screaming at me. All I
could think to say was "I shot him like you trained me, why are you mad?". He was not sympathetic.

[w5pv]

Did the same in a pickup but missed the deer.I was shooting left handed.I remember that my ears rang for days it seemed.

[TXGunNut]

Nicely done, so much for a quiet evening around the house! Even nicer when the buck blocks the shot with his forehead to keep you from wasting shoulder meat. Congrats on a nice buck.

[RugerFan]

Very nice! My son has killed 2 deer in his back yard in 2 different states, but I have yet to make it happen. If I can draw a moose tag for my area I might get to drop a real biggun out the back door.