I loaned a friend's son my 17" .308 Bellm mounted on a carbine stock to use on his first deer season. He is 13 and not big enough to use a full sized rifle, but the T/C carbine stock fits like it was made for him. Yesterday morning (opening day in Oklahoma) he got a shot at a doe from about 40 yards. Due to buck (or doe) fever his first shot was a little high but he broke her back and put her down hard and a quick follow up shot finished her. She field dressed at 90 lbs.

I don't have any pictures yet, but I should have them in a few days. My problem now is trying to get my rifle back after the season ends (I think he feels that since he was the first one to bloody the barrel it should be his but I have told him that ain't so). He has convinced my friend that he just HAS to have a T/C carbine before next year.

Maybe I will get to use my rifle next year, but for this year I am almost as happy as he is that my rifle and reloads (130 grain Hornady SSP bullets and 51 grains of W760) were used by a kid to kill his first deer.

Dennis

[ 11-23-2003, 21:17: Message edited by: DennisF ]

Tell your friend's son congrats on the deer. I am looking forward to seeing the picture. I took my kids when they were young but they didn�t get lucky. They said something about getting nervous and missing the shot. Go ahead and give the boy the gun he made the first kill and you will have made a friend for life. Tell me about the .308 Bellm just what is it based on. I hear about these special calibers but if they are not in my reloading book I just have to speculate what they are.

Swede44mag

Congrats on the deer. You have brought another person into the sport who now is probably addicted for life! I guess one of you will be buying a new barrel soon.

Swede44mag
The 308 Bellm is a 444 Marlin necked down to 30 Caliber. Which is safe to shoot in a contender with out worry of frame damage. It is a little shorter than the 309 JDJ & can be made with standard 308 reloading dies. I have not been able to shoot a deer with mine yet but, It is shooting a 150 Grain SST @ 2360 Fps at the muzzle. Maybe this weekend I'll get a chance to break it in.

Sorry Swede44, it is killing me now not to have the gun safe at home. Rich Jake is right, it is based on the .444 Marlin necked to .308. My main reason for going with it was because I didn't have to buy custom dies. I haven't tried anything over 130 grain bullets in mine yet, but the 130 grain Hornady SSP's come out at 2650 - 2700 fps pushed by 51 grains of W760. The 130's shoot great out of my barrel and since the boy using it is kind of on the small side, I tried to keep recoil to a miminum.

[ 11-27-2003, 17:37: Message edited by: DennisF ]