38-55 vs antlelope

[ammohead]

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss189/brucerfrechette/20150910_084704_zpsdsc5a5jz.jpg (http://s574.photobucket.com/user/brucerfrechette/media/20150910_084704_zpsdsc5a5jz.jpg.html)
Thursday morning Sept 10. Near last year of production from New Haven 94ae with 26" bbl 38-55. 240gr swaged lead paper patched boolit from a swage die that I made on my lathe. My youngest stepson Aaron and I watched this doe being chased by a decent buck up and out of view just west of McGill NV in Steptoe Valley. We walked up in their direction to see if we could find them again and stumbled on them at about 100 yards. I took the shot off hand on one knee and heard the hit but they both trotted off downhill into the pasture. After about 500 yards the buck stopped and the doe laid down. We waited till her head didn't come up any more and walked in. The hit was a bit farther back than I would have liked so we waited rather than walk in too soon.

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss189/brucerfrechette/DSCF2709_zps07bdccb2.jpg (http://s574.photobucket.com/user/brucerfrechette/media/DSCF2709_zps07bdccb2.jpg.html)

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss189/brucerfrechette/DSCF2725_zpsuw61kbht.jpg (http://s574.photobucket.com/user/brucerfrechette/media/DSCF2725_zpsuw61kbht.jpg.html)

[35 shooter]

Nice doe and that's a fine looking rifle you have there.

[BobT]

Congrats! Some fine eating ahead.

[white eagle]

excellent sounds like you had a great hunt

[Spruce]

Fine looking rifle and nice doe with great scenery. Thanks for the pics of your ammo and dies, nice added info.

[skeettx]

Wonderful!!
Great picture
Thank you for sharing
Are you using 3031 with your 38-55?
I have a Marlin Cowboy and a Ruger #1 and they both like 3031
Mike

[dave roelle]

Outstanding !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sharpsguy]

Good job! Nice doe, and a great approach to the ammunition. It's hard to find fault with that. Congratulations.

[missionary5155]

Greetings and Well done Ammohead !
I read this again not to miss anything. Thank you for the good photos. I also would enjoy to know the boolit mix (looks near pure) and powder under the PP slayer. Thank you
Mike in Peru

[RonT]

Would also like to see the rest of the load info.
Cheers,
R

[ammohead]

Near pure PB just a touch of tin. About 6 bhn. It is not real pretty when it falls out of the mould. I made a mould with a hand ground modified end mill from a old 9mm lee mould. The swage cleans it all up. Load is 36 gr of WC846.

[OnHoPr]

Bravo, and all three pics tell a story worth a thousand words and with those words comes inquisitive questions. Is that pancake in the lower right of the bottom pic over double eckspansion with how much weight? It still must be dropping a whole bunch of energy in the game and get decent penetration still. Something tells me that even with a broadside pass through on green ribs that boolit should open up to make a very large tunnel wound through lungs. The boolit looks to have been from a raking shot, is there an entrance hole, travel angle, and stoppage point story there?

[tdoyka]

congrats!!!

[richhodg66]

Very nice! I'd love to hunt pronghorns someday.

[ammohead]

Bravo, and all three pics tell a story worth a thousand words and with those words comes inquisitive questions. Is that pancake in the lower right of the bottom pic over double eckspansion with how much weight? It still must be dropping a whole bunch of energy in the game and get decent penetration still. Something tells me that even with a broadside pass through on green ribs that boolit should open up to make a very large tunnel wound through lungs. The boolit looks to have been from a raking shot, is there an entrance hole, travel angle, and stoppage point story there?

That pic is from over a year ago. The spent boolit was recovered from soft sand. I do not recall what it weighed but it was close to 70% to the original 240 gr. The shot on the antelope was not real pretty and a little far back. She was quartering toward me slightly facing to my left. It entered at the last rib and exited before it hit any hind quarter meat. It went all the way through and caused massive internal bleeding. I would guess that being soft it must have expanded some, but the exit wound was not massive, maybe 5/8 inch.

[smoked turkey]

Very nice pictures and hunting story. Your rifle is very nice as well. It is very special to shoot an animal with ammo that you have made. In your case it is even more special since you made the tool that made the boolit! Nice going.

[Ernest]

That is simply amazing. Boy to have the multiple skills that it took to have that story. From being a metallurgist to machinist to hunter to reloader to shooter to a dad to a photographer to a story teller. All this rolled into one person in one life time. WOW!

[ammohead]

Earnest, WOW.

You are too kind. It has been a great lifetime, but there is no secret to doing these things. It is just that no one ever told me I couldn't do those things. What ever one man can do, another man can do. Let nothing hold you back, and have a great life yourself. This board can give you all the information you need to do anything firearms related.

[Idaho Mule]

Excellent Bruce, thanks for the pics and story. JW

[TXGunNut]

Good job! What did your hunting partner think of all this?

[ammohead]

Good job! What did your hunting partner think of all this?

My partner helped me by watching the antelope as I tried getting closer for a follow up shot but the buck was on to me right away. I did get closer but it was obvious that she wasn't going anywhere unless pushed so I backed off and waited. Then I signaled for Aaron to come down when she rolled to her side. He helped me field dress then we cleaned her up at a water box near by with a old antifreeze can and my handkerchief. Earlier we had seen a group of about 12 antelope cross in front of us at about 700 yards to another pivot field. So we went back around to a road we knew went in that general direction. Turns out the road got right close to the field where the goats were at so we put on a little stalk crawling about 40 yards closer and he downed his doe from about 150 yards with his 6.5X55 Swede that I had sporterized (bubba'ed) when he was 14. He was using Barnes tripleshocks 130 gr at about 2750 fps. He spined her ahead of the hams 6 inches or so and she dropped at the shot and never moved. We cleaned her and took her back to the waterbox and cleaned the body cavity real good also. Then while rinsing my hanky my damn cell phone fell into the water and got sucked into the pipe going to the pump for the pivot fields....gone, gone, gone. The rancher will have a surprise when he cleans the strainer before the pump.

[Gunnut 45/454]

ammohead
Nice lope! Great looking rifle! I'm sure with better shot that lope wouldn't have gone that far. Thank goodness they don't live in heavy brush might not have ever found her. So how fast was that boollit going? Lookin to use a boolit on a nice 4x4 mulely I got my eye on here. If he co-operates that is!

[ammohead]

ammohead
Nice lope! Great looking rifle! I'm sure with better shot that lope wouldn't have gone that far. Thank goodness they don't live in heavy brush might not have ever found her. So how fast was that boollit going? Lookin to use a boolit on a nice 4x4 mulely I got my eye on here. If he co-operates that is!

I will have to chronograph to be certain. Best estimate is 1600+fps.

[DW475]

Congrats, nice antelope.

[TXGunNut]

Great story, thanks for sharing it with us.

[Area Man]

Very nice. Nice gun, nice ammo (paper patch in a lever gun is no small accomplishment).

[RugerFan]

Great job! The pics are fantastic too.!

[ammohead]

Thanks guys for the kind words. I was thinking this post was history. Good to see it pop up again.

Area Man, Not being able to crimp on the bullet without cutting the paper proved a challenge. The tube magazine spring + recoil was pushing the boolits into the case. Canneluring with the tubing cutter (with cutting wheel edge rounded) was the medicine.

[obssd1958]

...Not being able to crimp on the bullet without cutting the paper proved a challenge. The tube magazine spring + recoil was pushing the boolits into the case. Canneluring with the tubing cutter (with cutting wheel edge rounded) was the medicine.


Brilliant solution, Bruce!!
Congratulations on the nice antelope, and all the work that went into getting her.
And thank you for some really valuable information that you have intertwined into a great story!

Don

[ArcticGoose]

Well done. Good to see someone taking out a rifle in such a fine caliber.

[ammohead]

http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss189/brucerfrechette/DSCF3036_zpsfp3gaypm.jpg (http://s574.photobucket.com/user/brucerfrechette/media/DSCF3036_zpsfp3gaypm.jpg.html)
Here is a picture of the cartridge after the bottom cannelure is applied. This one is a little heavy. I use a lighter cannelure mostly.

[tygar]

Super, & with a 38-55, goooood job. Wish I could actually get a Antelope or Caribou shot close enough to use a old timey lever caliber, guess I'm to noisy. Mine all seem to be 200-500. Sitting here looking at my Antelope from Eastern Oregon shot in 83 at 250+ & that was my closest. Been contemplating making a 375 Win but can't even think of shooting one past 100.