One Shot, One Kill...

[Koda]

Its not just the cheap ammo that can make your shot miss...
I reload... I take a fouling shot first and let the barrel cool before starting on my loads that I am working up. After each shot I let the barrel cool (I shoot my pistol a lot when working up rifle loads )

Also, after working up an accurate load, DO NOT CLEAN THE BARREL before going hunting.
you want your rifle shooting like it did on the range and it was cold and dirty! (I only clean my rifles when they are being put away for a while) I have had 0 issues with rust, corrosion or anything else with my rifles.... but I did just move up here to Oregon from Southern Ca. so that may change.... we will have to see

This is an example of what I mean when I say that someone knows their rifle and where it shoots "cold" (1st shot). I do the same thing here, an experienced shooter learns the rifle.
I dont agree that cheap ammo causes a miss though. My experience with cheap ammo is that it may not be as precise, but it is usually still accurate enough for hunting. If its not accurate, youll find out before you go hunting and wont use it. Ive also found that cheap ammos zero can vary between lots... So if you use it buy extra to hunt with the same lot code.

So many people buy a nice gun, but go sight it in the weekend befor and call it "good enough" with a few rounds in 3" at 100yds.

Your barrel wont rust here if you dont clean it till after hunting season, but keep the finish on those wood stocks sealed cause its gonna rain on ya come deer season.

 

[tac]

Here in snow-covered East Anglia, my shooting buddy of 35 years is an avid deer-slayer with his trusty SAKO 6.5x55, and has managed to keep his freezer full for years with the local deer as a result, even though much of his shooting takes place up in Scotland.

He has a couple of nice rifles, including a custom Valkyrie in 260Rem, and although he handloads for that and the .223, he pays Mr Norma for his very best ammunition to REALLY rely on.

And here in yUK, that stuff costs $3.28 per shot.

Mind you, the other reason is that the estate he shoots on has a geas on handloaded ammunition, and does not allow any of its paying guest shooters to use it on their land.

tac

 

[Certaindeaf]

Back in the old days, Daniel Boone was sure thankful for those green and yellow boxes of Remington Core-Lokt ammoes.
true story

 

[Larry243]

For me, hunting rifles are like golf clubs. I use the club that covers the intend purpose. A longer barreled rifle chambered in a faster cartridge and higher BC bullets for the open areas; something short and handy in the timber, usually chambered in something thats big and slow.

It sounds like it all works for you Coyote caller... How about those desert dogs?

 

[Larry243]

This is an example of what I mean when I say that someone knows their rifle and where it shoots "cold" (1st shot). I do the same thing here, an experienced shooter learns the rifle.
I dont agree that cheap ammo causes a miss though. My experience with cheap ammo is that it may not be as precise, but it is usually still accurate enough for hunting. If its not accurate, youll find out before you go hunting and wont use it. Ive also found that cheap ammos zero can vary between lots... So if you use it buy extra to hunt with the same lot code.

So many people buy a nice gun, but go sight it in the weekend befor and call it "good enough" with a few rounds in 3" at 100yds.

Your barrel wont rust here if you dont clean it till after hunting season, but keep the finish on those wood stocks sealed cause its gonna rain on ya come deer season.

You are absolutely 100% correct in you analogy. I do the exact same thing....Why, because the first shot is the most important one of all, and may be the only one you get all day.... A cold barrel with a fouled round will always produce more things with hair for sure. I believe everyone should per-pare there rifle before hunting, not the day you go to the grocery store...
Good writing!
Larry243

 

[Larry243]

That has always been my logic for using flat shooting rifles but my brothers new 2500.00 rangefinder sort of blows that argument. The old buffalo type guns shot big bullets slowly but very consistently. My cousin in Rathdrum is really into the Quigley style rifle shooting. 45-120 and similar.

One thing for sure.... It is not the bullet I would ever want to get hit with. It was, and still is a devastating round. It was not meant for conserving meat, it was intended to do what it does best!
Right?

 

[Boboclown]

Never had that a problem with a shot being off, unless it was ammo it wasn't sighted in for. Or if the barrel was cleaned beforehand.

 

[pharmseller]

Back in the old days, Daniel Boone was sure thankful for those green and yellow boxes of Remington Core-Lokt ammoes.
true story

Total BS. I knew Danny (he let me call him Danny, everyone else was Daniel or Mr. Boone) and he was full on blue box Federal.

Turns out he had gotten into a knife fight over a parking spot with a fella named Remington some time back. Took a cut on the forearm but he gave better than he got. He told me he didn't mind the blood so much but it stained the buckskin something fierce. Snappy dresser, he was. Dapper.

After that he never could get behind anything that bore the name.




P

 

[bbbass]

I was mostly new to centerfire shooting when I moved here in 1980. Had an Enfield .303 that was fun to shoot but not accurate at all. Then I bought a .300 Weatherby from a horse trader type fella. Turns out that rifle was blown out also. Hmmm, maybe it was just me. Nope, I bought a brand new Ruger 77 wood stock rifle in 7mm Magnum. Used Remington CoreLokt because that was what was available. Not a bad shooter, and accurate enough for hunting.

Then I watched my boss at our workplace reloading. It looked like fun so I picked up the hobby. Started shooting Nosler for hunting and Sierra boat tails for target. Got good results over factory ammo. Bought 7mm-08, .243, and 6mm Remington rifles. Shot CoreLockts and Sierra in those also. .243 1" or less groups 3" high at 100yds gives a dang good bullet path. Never had any misfires at all, none, never.

Didn't get good results with Winchester ammo in those days. But later I bought a box of Winchester 220gr Silvertips to shoot in a borrowed 300win mag. Ooooh, too much rifle for me these days.

I had to sell all those rifles to pay for a divorce. When I moved back from Brookings OR in 1993 (never hunted those stunted blacktails), I was able to buy ONE rifle for all my hunting at that time. I chose a Ruger 77 .308 Stainless with a Kevlar stock. I still shoot Corelokts in it for hunting because of their reliability and predictability. 1" groups 2" high at 100yds. 180gr kills all my elk in under 200yds, which was my ability to shoot as I got older and before I became fairly blind in my dominant eye (don't know what I am going to do now). The last elk I shot at 25yds from sitting position behind a log, and as usual for elk, he ran away. I thought maybe i forgot to compensate for the shorter distance so I stood up and dumped another round into him in a going-away-quartering shot. He went down immediately and rolled 100yds down the steep hill and into the creek at the bottom. Pain in the butt. But at lease we had cool water to keep the heart and liver which we had placed into a plastic bag that I always carry. Had to go back to the trucks to get packboards. Man that was a steep canyon!!! Busted my Achilles tendons carrying my load back up.

Corelokts did the job just fine and always have. They don't let me down. I don't use handloads for hunting big game anymore but my target handloads are still way more accurate using Sierra BTs. Haven't tried any others yet.

5 shot.223 is the size of a dime at 100yds out of my Varmint AR. Great rifle for chucks using Sierra 55gr hpbt matchking. I use FMJ for yotes.

 

[Larry243]

I was mostly new to centerfire shooting when I moved here in 1980. Had an Enfield .303 that was fun to shoot but not accurate at all. Then I bought a .300 Weatherby from a horse trader type fella. Turns out that rifle was blown out also. Hmmm, maybe it was just me. Nope, I bought a brand new Ruger 77 wood stock rifle in 7mm Magnum. Used Remington CoreLokt because that was what was available. Not a bad shooter, and accurate enough for hunting.

Then I watched my boss at our workplace reloading. It looked like fun so I picked up the hobby. Started shooting Nosler for hunting and Sierra boat tails for target. Got good results over factory ammo. Bought 7mm-08, .243, and 6mm Remington rifles. Shot CoreLockts and Sierra in those also. .243 1" or less groups 3" high at 100yds gives a dang good bullet path. Never had any misfires at all, none, never.

Didn't get good results with Winchester ammo in those days. But later I bought a box of Winchester 220gr Silvertips to shoot in a borrowed 300win mag. Ooooh, too much rifle for me these days.

I had to sell all those rifles to pay for a divorce. When I moved back from Brookings OR in 1993 (never hunted those stunted blacktails), I was able to buy ONE rifle for all my hunting at that time. I chose a Ruger 77 .308 Stainless with a Kevlar stock. I still shoot Corelokts in it for hunting because of their reliability and predictability. 1" groups 2" high at 100yds. 180gr kills all my elk in under 200yds, which was my ability to shoot as I got older and before I became fairly blind in my dominant eye (don't know what I am going to do now). The last elk I shot at 25yds from sitting position behind a log, and as usual for elk, he ran away. I thought maybe i forgot to compensate for the shorter distance so I stood up and dumped another round into him in a going-away-quartering shot. He went down immediately and rolled 100yds down the steep hill and into the creek at the bottom. Pain in the butt. But at lease we had cool water to keep the heart and liver which we had placed into a plastic bag that I always carry. Had to go back to the trucks to get packboards. Man that was a steep canyon!!! Busted my Achilles tendons carrying my load back up.

Corelokts did the job just fine and always have. They don't let me down. I don't use handloads for hunting big game anymore but my target handloads are still way more accurate using Sierra BTs. Haven't tried any others yet.

5 shot.223 is the size of a dime at 100yds out of my Varmint AR. Great rifle for chucks using Sierra 55gr hpbt matchking. I use FMJ for yotes.

Good reading,
I guess we all have our success and failure stories. The greatest issue is that fire arms mean different things to different people. I am in the mind set that ammo is really what good shooting is about, along with having a capable weapon that can produce shots that are where you aim them. Paper punching is fine for those who just like target practicing, but do not use the weapon for what it was intended to to do... I like to bench shoot to only qualify and certify that my rifle will shoot where it is intended within a small area of 1-1/2" at 100 yds. I am fine with that, but I am not fine with ammo splattering a 8-1/2 x 11" paper for the sake of shooting. I want my ammo to travel at the same ballistics every time to ensure that the impact is the same every time. Yep, we all like diffrent things for sure...
Good reading,
Larry243

 

[bbbass]

I like what works. Different things work for different people. All my rifles were intended to shoot game or for self defense and I have used them for what they were intended for. If I can still see well enough, I would like to have an AR9 to shoot IDPA PCC.

As far as paper punching goes, I do it to verify the rifle is still shooting where it is supposed to (because one year the scope screws had all loosened), to practice perishable skills, and to find out how bad my poor vision is affecting my shooting (cannot use open sights for years now and may not be able to see even with a scope as I write this today). Yes some folks enjoy bench rest competition and such, but I prefer shooting steel with my .22lr customized Ruger. It's nice to hear a ping and watch the target fall over. One reason for this I think is that I can go big game hunting and never fire a shot, for years at a time. That is the reason I always enjoyed bird and waterfowl hunting so much more... lots of shooting at game!!!

Be well. - bb