8mm mag vs whitetails hat trick

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got an old 8mag bdl and i know its a big overkill on whitetail but it was my brother in laws gun and he died in a car wreck so it has some sentimental feelings with me. So i take it out at least once a year to kill something. I took it out last night doing crop damage shooting and got 3 does with it. One at 320 yards, one at 210 and one a 150. Let me tell you a 200 nos partition at 3000fps puts one hell of a hole in a 100 lb doe! The longer range one had a 50 cent piece exit hole but the two closer ones you could put your fist through the exit hole! Sure like that gun. Its flat shooting and very hard hitting. I never cared for the bdl stock so this year i had my stock maker buddy fit it with a factory cdl stock. It not only took about a lb off the weight but sure made it better looking.

[Three44s]

"better looking and a pound lighter" ........

Maybe you'll have to pack it around more from now on?


Regards

Three 44s

[uncle joe]

I believe you Lloyd, my cousin shoots a 7mm mag with nos partitions and asked me to come help him get a deer out of the woods, it looked like somebody took a bucket of blood and splashed it all around the deer. the deer had a exit hole you could stick your head through. it's for sure a 'no tracking' bullet.

[Jack Stanley]

What is it with brothers and huge rifles ? My little brother bought a three hundred Remington mag before he passed away . When asked why he bought such a cannon he said " Because I can " I dunno what he was gonna do with it but all he had around him was little deer .

Good enough for me :bigsmyl2:

Jack

[Lloyd Smale]

jack I used to think the same way and was the first to jump down the throat of someone useing a 300 or 7mag on little whitetail. What changed my mind was this crop damage shooting. Shooting that many deer having them run off and having to track them or having them run out into the crop is a royal pain in the but. Ive just seen the mags dump deer with more athourity to many times. Another thing weve noticed is even with a marginal hit and shoot enough deer and it happens deer usually die or drop within sight using a bigger gun. Sure you may loose 5lbs of hamburger meat with the same placement as you would with something like an 06 but ive found bullet selection is just as important in that aspect as velocity. I also here guys that preach that the 3 or 4 inchs of trajectory at 300-400 yards isnt important but ive also hit many deer way out there with the mags that if i didnt have that few inchs flatter trajectory would not have been harvested. Bottom line is 400 yard deer shooting isnt as easy as people make it out to be and any advantage is real out there. Another thing is that theres guys that hunt at a hundred yards or less with something like a 06 that is a much bigger overkill then a 300 mag is at 300 yards. We actually seldom get shots under 200 yards and the norm is 250-300. Come whitetail season you will usually find me at camp with a 6 gun when hunting as its all the gun i need for the tight quarters up here at camp but when crop damage season is in effect the guns start at the 2506 and 257 weatherby and other then an occasional night with a new gun in something like o6 308 or 280 that i want to just break in, the power level just goes up from there. Probably my most used gun for that purpose is a 300 mag of some sorts. they just reach out and touch something at 300 yards with more athourity then the standard guns.

[Jack Stanley]

I hadn't thought about the idea of an 06 being more overkill at a hundred yards , but I do see your point and it's well taken . I guess if the mission is to knock down the crop eaters then about anything that will get the job done without destroying crops in the process is a go . I sorta got a kick out of the guy that was using a mountain howitzer for deer hunting and a coehorn mortar for feral cats .

So now I'm thinking that maybe the three hundred Remington and hundred seventy grain flat nose bullets should lay 'em down like a two twenty swift on chucks .

Jack

[Trifocals]

Add my two thumbs down on the magnums. They are most certainly overkill. They are O.K. for very long range work but in truth how many of us are consistently proficient to master the recoil and muzzle blast to truly take game at LONG range? Thirty Eight years ago I succumbed to "magnumitis" and purchased a 7mm Rem. mag.. Yes, a lot of game fell to this rifle before I got it through my head that I could do the job with a lesser cartridge that consumed a whole lot less powder ie: the .280 Rem.. My all time favorite is the .308 Win.. If shooters are using this cartridge for 1000yd competition and our military snipers are effective with it out to the same range, what more can be asked of a cartridge? In total reality, how many of those really long range shots do you encounter? Then it must be asked.... is the rifle, ammo, scope and personal skill up to such a shot? From a personal standpoint, for the past 6-7 years, I have easily brought home venison using the .44 mag, .30-30 and .35 Rem.. They are all I felt was needed. For pronghorns, I revert to the .280 Rem. or the .308 Win.. This is just my spoonful of food for thought.

[Jack Stanley]

How did that thirty-five Remington work at four hundred yards ? Would two hundred grain bullets be a better choice to keep the critter from getting out into the field farther ? I got to go on a crop control hunt once , the owner just wanted the deer gone and didn't care how . My friend took the longer range gun and I went down into the corner with a forty-four carbine ... a good time was had by all ........ except the deer that is .

Jack

[Lloyd Smale]

Ill agree and disagree. Like you the 280 and the 308 are a couple of my favorite rifle rounds. Bottom line is i use most all of the standard and mag rounds to kill deer. Sure he 308 is a great round and does real well out to 250-300 yards. Out past that it just has to much drop. Sure snipers use it for 1000 yard killing but they are trained much more then the average hunter and that includes me. They know the exact trajectory of there round, the exact wind drift and even use temp and barametric pressure and altitude in there calculations. they also are alot more familar with there optics and how to use them to shoot at those distances. What im looking for is a more fool proof way of shooting deer out to 400 yards and maybe a bit more with maybe just using a bit of hold over or lead for wind. The mags do that much better then the standard rounds. I here all the time guys saying that there 06 or 270 has only 4 inches more drop at a certain range then a 7 mag or 300 mag but imo that is significant and can definately make the differnce in a kill or a missed or wounded animal. Combine that drop with the fact that a slower bullet is blown off a bit more by wind and theres even more of an advantage. If you doubt it makes a differnce go prarie dog hunting with a .223 and a 22250 or a swift and start shooting a dogs at 400 yards and see which is easier to hit with. theres not even a comparision in my experience. dont get me wrong, like i said i use them all. Ive killed deer this year with the 2506,308 06, 257wby, 300 mag and the 8mag. Ive used 257 roberts 250 savage,243 and even the .223 in the past and have killed deer. But ive had to pass on longer shots because i was using them. By far to me anyway my favorites for doing this are the 2506, 257wby and the 300 mag. they just take a bit more of the guess work out of it and at least in the case of the mags seem to put deer down faster.
Add my two thumbs down on the magnums. They are most certainly overkill. They are O.K. for very long range work but in truth how many of us are consistently proficient to master the recoil and muzzle blast to truly take game at LONG range? Thirty Eight years ago I succumbed to "magnumitis" and purchased a 7mm Rem. mag.. Yes, a lot of game fell to this rifle before I got it through my head that I could do the job with a lesser cartridge that consumed a whole lot less powder ie: the .280 Rem.. My all time favorite is the .308 Win.. If shooters are using this cartridge for 1000yd competition and our military snipers are effective with it out to the same range, what more can be asked of a cartridge? In total reality, how many of those really long range shots do you encounter? Then it must be asked.... is the rifle, ammo, scope and personal skill up to such a shot? From a personal standpoint, for the past 6-7 years, I have easily brought home venison using the .44 mag, .30-30 and .35 Rem.. They are all I felt was needed. For pronghorns, I revert to the .280 Rem. or the .308 Win.. This is just my spoonful of food for thought.

[Combat Diver]

Overkill, have you ever seen what a .510" 647 gr bullet at 2800 fps does to a deer at 200 yds?

[tek4260]

Nice to hear of someone else using the ol 8 Mag. I have had mine for years and love it. Dad bought his before they were officially released and used them ever since. I believe he has around 6 of them now. Mine is the Classic and I had a KDF installed on it. The 8 is getting to the point where a brake is needed.

I have made some really bad shots on running deer at long range, but the 8 has always killed them in their tracks no matter how far back the shot was.

FWIW, the cheap Speer 150's that are designed for 8 Mauser velocity will completely bloodshot a deer inside of 200 yards, but if I was trophy hunting.......

[NickSS]

Most all of my hinting is done at under 200 yards and as a result I have no use for a magnum rifle. I have owned and shot several and if I were to be hunting animals routinely at 3 to 5 hindred yards I would have (depending upon the critter being hunted a 264 to 300 maf for antelope though elk) or a 338 throungh 375 mag for anything larger (if you get large enough and dangerous enough I would go up to 50 BMG. In close woods hunting I carry either a 30-30 or a 45-70 lever gun. For more open areas I carry usually either a 5.5X55, 7X57, 308 or 30-06. These work fine up to around 300yards for me.

[MT Gianni]

The 8mm mag is an Elk killler for sure. The one I shot was accurate but in many cases it's overkill for the US and under diameter for African bg 5. Glad you found a niche for it Lloyd.

[frankenfab]

I had a Remington 700 Classic, pillar and glass bedded it. Put a Zeiss 3X9X40 on it. It kicked so hard with factory loads that I really didn't enjoy shooting it. It needed a better butt pad and a brake. My .338/.378 shoots 200's at 3500, and is exhillerating to shoot.

I always have thought it's a great caliber, and it lead us to the 7mm and .257 STW.:drinks:

I hope to build an 8 Mag. someday, and I wish I could have the one I sold back, and finish turning it into a ***** cat.