quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
Why not put a stalk on it even if it means low crawling across the soybean field and then if you get close enough for a rresponsible shot take it. Instead of just turning one loose at 800 yards and hoping.

That is why they call it HUNTING right?

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
Why not put a stalk on it even if it means low crawling across the soybean field and then if you get close enough for a rresponsible shot take it. Instead of just turning one loose at 800 yards and hoping.

That is why they call it HUNTING right?

Well, My first rifle was a Rem 700 ADL 270 winchester. I liked it, it was accurate and didn't kick bad, but I really wanted a caliber that had fmj for shooting steel with and the option to load heavier bullets. So I went to the 30-06 in another Rem 700 ADL. This rifle I could not get to shoot worth a crap. So I got rid of it and bought a Savage 114 in 30-06. It kicked a lot harder than any of the previous rifles. Next I wanted to try something different, so I got a Ruger Mark II in 300 win mag. To my surprize it kicked the same as the Savage 30-06. I put a Hogue stock on it and now it feels like the 270win I originally bought. It shoots accurately too. This rifle will stay with me because it doesn't kick that hard, it feels good in my hands, and it shoots accurately. If this rifle happened to be in a 260 rem or a 375 H&H, I would still keep it because it's a great shooter. I like the idea that I can use 200-220 gr bullets and still keep a 30-06 trajectory. magnum or no magnum, I think it has to do more with how you like the feel of your rifle and how comfortable you feel shooting it. Any medium bore shooting above 2500 fps should still have a pretty flat trajectory and enough energy to kill big game quickly at a pretty good range.

Just spent the afternoon at the range with my .375 H&H. I absolutely love to shoot that rifle. I have taken game with it out to 300 yards. It is a wonderful caliber.

I also own three more magnums, two 7mm Rems in Browning and Dakota and a Remington LSS .300 ultra. I don't shoot that one much because of ammo expense, but I love magnums and have had excellent luck on three continents with the 7mm's. It's a versatile, accurate caliber that will take SC whitetail, Kudu and Gemsbok
with equal aplomb.

I also shoot a .25-06, which is a tack driver, and use it occasionally on whitetail. But the .375 will take anything from dik dik to elephant, if one is so recklessly inclined. I'm not, even if I did have the budget, which I don't.

I shoot 3000 plus rounds a year and 95% are Magnums, this is my hobby instead of Golf after tennis nearly destroyed my knees. I hunt Colorado yearly for Elk-Deer and Deer at home as well as a few trips to Alaska and Canada occasionlly with one trip to Africa for Buffalo and plains game. The "why" I shoot mainly Magnums is I want the largest bullet going fast with the most accuracy I can achieve. Most of what I hunt are larger than Deer sized animals and I want to anchor them as soon as possisble and I can care less about meat, I figure the most meat lost is by lost animals and I have never lost one and don't want to start. I reload because of the expense of shooting as much as I do and enjoy every minute of it, and it gets me out of my wife's hair on those cold winter nights. ----- I shoot 30-30, .243 WSSM, 25 WSSM, .257 Wby, .270 WSM, .308, 7mmBR(pistol), 7mmSTW, .30 Winny, .338 Win, .340 Wby, .358 STA, .416 Rem and Rigby, .50 BMG. I also shoot many of my buddies rifles getting them ready for Elk season. Don't ever tell me that the non-Magnums will do everything the Magnums will do, it just does not happen. Yep, they will kill efficiently but give a good hunter that shoots enough to become instinctive with his Magnum rifle or whatever you choose to call a fast, hard hitting chambering that fires a big bullet very flat and you have an excellent taker of game. ----- On my Elk mountain I want my .358 STA loaded with a 250 or 270 grain North Fork bullet close to 3000 fps, you non-Magnum guys can pack your standard chambering and we can live in the same world and both be happy, each doing it our way. Good shooting.

After a few years of hunting the term "magnum" has come to mean "further and faster" to me.

It would likely take a full day to read all of the magnum vs. non-magnum crowd posts that have been posted on this sight alone, nothing new. Still there are non magnum users that refuse to admitt that there is a benefit to flatter trajectory faster bullets as well as magnum users who refuse to admitt that a 30-06 could have taken the same animal at the same distance as there 300mag.

On deer/medium sized game, I do not think there is a big difference between magnums and their counterparts, at least in the .27-30 cal range. I expect this is because the standard rounds make a big wound at their current velocities, at least in proportion to deer sized game and are devastating. There is no doubt that a 300 magnum, combined with something like a 150-165 cup & core bullet will do more damage at the same range. I have killed several animals with 300 WSM, Win, and Weatherby using standard bullets and seen it first hand. I have not seen this add anything except more bloodshot meat, so have moved to tougher bullets when shooting the higher velocity rounds. On larger game or at very long range on deer (well over 400), the difference may be more apparent.

-Lou

Yeah, Lou, I use the tougher bullets usually, also. A Frames instead of ballistic tips. Also NP's. They drill a neat hole and don't destroy the meat, which is why I hunt whitetail, anyway, mostly. Just ate half a skilletful of chili made from last year's SC deer. Very tasty.