Rich,

I would say that there are instances of both humor and serious thought in this thread.

And you know what makes humor good is the element of truth that rings through.

The inclusion of both serious thought and jocularity, combined with the interaction of the various posters and their self expression is what makes this board so addicting.
GWB

PS: I believe I met you at the big bore shoot in Julif last March, or am I mistaken.
GWB

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
I see and hear of far too many people that think a big rifle means they can shoot an elk from any angle and put it down when they should have waited for a good angle and done it right. A big rifle does not turn every animal "sighting" into a shot.

While I agree with your sentiments in general, there aren't many "bad" angles with the rifle/bullet combination I use. I have never shot an animal with a texas heart shot but, any other angle is completely doable. I will always take the best angle possible, but I'm certainly not going to pass on a bull elk because he's facing me, or at a severe angle. This is not an uncommon situation after all. A few years ago I had a bull walk right on top of me, and I had about a second to shoot him at about 15 yards before he bolted. There would never have been a standing broadside shot offered. I can shoot heavy calibers well and have never found recoil to be an issue under hunting conditions. To each his own, but I favor heavy, well constructed bullets at good velocities for elk sized game. I've killed over 50 big game animals with my .300RUM and with the exception of 1 bear nothing has gone more than 50 yards, with most simply folding in their tracks. This includes zebra, oryx and bull elk. I use Nosler Partitions and TSX bullets and have never had a bullet failure. I read smug, flip comments about "cannons" routinely on this forum, but I chose this caliber for some very specific reasons and it works under hunting conditions and that is all that matters.

I've been hunting for 30+ years and have lost not a single animal. I attribute this fully to using calibers large enough to do the job and keeping ranges within reason. If the day comes that I do lose an animal, it won't be because I shot an animal with a marginal caliber, or used crap bullets, or decided that 600 yards was an acceptable distance to snipe an animal.

Can you a kill bull elk with a .243? Sure when everything is perfect. Anyone with any real hunting experience knows that sh*t happens. I think hunters would do well to consider that fact more often when choosing calibers and bullets. It's common sense.

I'd like one person on this forum to make a compelling argument as to why a .300 RUM shooting 200grn premium bullets is a bad choice for elk.

Well if anyone ever does say that it is not good medicine they are daft.
Through the guts though and it makes no difference as you know.
Just so long as somewhere in your bullets path through the animal it encounters a vital zone it will work great, again as you know.
It does not take a 300RUM and a TSX to handle extreme and bad angles however.
I once shot a BIG bull in a very bad place and still got him.
He was running away from me at about a hundred yards and I tried to stick 7mm 175 grainer into his flank.
I missed and hit him in the hip, it still was recovered under the hide on his off front shoulder.
A lot of elk it passed through, and it was not a 300 with a barnes so your sure not going to get any arguement on your choice from me.

quote:

A ton, that was just under what my Cape Buffalo weighed last month.

Where did you hunt cape buffalo in December? Also, how did you weigh it? Very few cape buffalo get near 2,000 pounds.

quote:

Originally posted by DesertRam:
We're surrounded by idiots...

It's scary but true! My brother and a friend had some shmucks, lobbing bullets in at a moose over their heads!

I also can't believe how many times you'll see a "hunter" with multiple factory loads and no clue that each load requires a new sighting in.
Usually they have a semi-automatic with a "few" extra clips.

quote:

I'd like one person on this forum to make a compelling argument as to why a .300 RUM shooting 200grn premium bullets is a bad choice for elk.

I'm not going to say it is a bad choice but it isn't the only one. The biggest problem I see with the .300 RUM as well as most RUM rifles is that most hunters can't shoot them well enough to use them on elk. For an experienced hunter who knows what they are getting into when they buy a rifle in the RUM cartridge they are a fine choice.

Recoil is the biggest problem I see with this cartridge choice for a guy who hasn’t learned to handle it yet. Sure the recoil can be tamed with managed recoil rounds or through muzzle brakes and other means. That doesn’t help the guy who has already developed bad habits in his shooting because of it.

Here is what I take into consideration when I choose the rifle I’m going to use and when I’m hunting with it:

Know the anatomy of the animal you are hunting as well as their habits/behavior as much as possible.
Know your cartridge limitations. Is it really the best one for the job or situation you might find yourself in?
Bullet placement, shoot at where you want your bullet to exit not enter.
Bullet construction, make sure you have an adequate bullet for the job at hand and that doesn't always mean a premium bullet is needed.
Know your firearm. Spend some days at the range with it and practice from different positions.
Know your limitations as well. Range and accuracy as well as your patience factor for making the shot.
Most of all use a little common sense when you hunt!

I have had a few heart shot deer run almost 100 yards. Lung shots seem to kill quicker than heart shots.

Two wild pigs shot with 12 ga slugs just behind the shoulder, complete pass through, ran @ 80 yards.

I shot a cape buff at 12 yards through the heart with a 480 Woodleigh Soft, that went over 100 yards. I have a picture of me holding the heart with a BIG hole in it.

All these animals were dead at the shot... it just took them a while to figure it out.

We need to find out what bullet this guy is shooting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV0S1Pj_DUg

quote:

Originally posted by rick243:
We need to find out what bullet this guy is shooting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV0S1Pj_DUg

HOLY CRAP!! I've never seen a whitetail bleed that much!!

quote:

HOLY CRAP!! I've never seen a whitetail bleed that much!!

I have. Just about a month ago, I shot a fair sized whitetail doe here in Northwest Florida. Hit her square in the chest with a 160 gr Nosler Accubond from a 7MM Rem Mag. Exit wound was about 2.5 inches in diameter. She ran about 30 yards before dropping. It literally looked like someone took a bucket full of blood and walked the trail spilling it out. Almost a solid stream from where she took the slug to where she dropped.

When I dressed her out, she was almost completely bled dry. Even the chest cavity was almost empty. Both lungs were devastated. She was one of 3 deer I shot with that bullet this last season, the others were bucks, and all had big exit wounds. But she was the only one to bleed completely out.

Don't know if I like the bullet yet, but it sure untracked those whitetails. I just started loading it. It groups well, but looks like it may be a little soft for things bigger than deer. I'm going to try it on elk next fall and see if it holds up on the bigger stuff.

Cheers

Mac

For what it is worth Mac a friend of mine shot a BIG bull elk with a 180 AB in his 338 and got a complete pass through.
It was at 400 yards however so the velocity had a chance to drop a little.
Just thought I would toss that your way.

We are ALL So Much Cooler On Line.

I wonder sometimes how many total kills/hunts, some of these folks have been on.

Just my opinion, your mileage may vary, but if you kill enough animals under many of the varying conditions faced by a hunter in the field, Odd Ball Shit Happens.

An animal that most of the time is seemingly "Bullet Proof", falls dead with a marginal hit from a minimal caliber, or an animal that should be DRT when a certain size/type of bullet passes thru the same time zone due, to the lack of breathable oxygen left in the atmosphrere due to the proximity of the bullets passing, stands there and looks at you fairly unconcerned.

Crap happens when you pull a trigger, for everyone.

remember when you are standing in front of a guy and he tells you this and that about his exploits, and you ask yourself, "is he putting me on?". well, add in almost total anonymity and see what comes to mind.

quote:

Originally posted by MThuntr:
The internet isn't just for buying stuff, playing video games, and watching porn. Where else can everybody be an expert on everything?

I myself have a several PhD's from my internet experiences. They were all free. However I had to pay for my BS(ing) degree.

yep, and i am a former green beret CIA agent who has been to every country in the world and has the solution to every rpoblem! isn't life grand?

seriously, MT nailed it on the head. if something sounds reasonable on the internet, a person can cautiously accept it as true, or at least told without intention of deception. but when you get soemthing that is just too far out there, you know you got yourself a keyboard expert who in all probablility is riding on alcohol or pure bullspit.

Hey tasunkawitko, what happend to your bombshell girl?