Post by zeus on Jan 11, 2015 20:09:26 GMT -5
This project started a little over a year ago. I had been planning a long range single shot build and decided that I wanted to try the MOA platform. A fellow had a used MOA for sale on the SP forum for a great price in 30 Herrett and I snatched it up. It was bought for the specific reason to take off the barrel and rebarrel it to a different caliber. However, I had to research the round a little more before taking delivery of the MOA. By the time I had it in my hands, I had decided that it may not be a bad round to play with for a while, especially in the MOA platform that didn’t have the possibility of frame stretching etc like the original contender platform. The Herrett was not very popular in my area when I was growing up so it was neat to pull up old articles from Bob Milek and see what the original field testing produced for him. When I picked up the MOA, I was amazed at how compact the little pistol was in hand. The other thing I noticed was that the serial number was the same as the last 4 digits of my social, it was meant to be. Ha The gun is only about 15” long from the rear of the grip to the end of the barrel, action is different but very smooth and unique once you get accustomed to it, and to top it off, the trigger is amazingly crisp. Barrel length is 10” which makes for a VERY handy little hunting pistol coupled with a bulletproof scope mount and a 2.5-8 Weaver scope and its ready to hit the woods. That is, if it shoots well!
I picked up some Nosler 125 grain ballistic tips, Sierra 125s, and had a few hornady slugs as well to try in it. I used Nosler 150 grain Ballistic Tip slugs for fireforming. My initial thoughts when I went to fireform the brass were positive. The trigger was great as I already knew but the recoil was the most surprising of the day. Or I guess I should say the lack of recoil. After fireforming the brass, I started to load a few of the 125s for load development but decided that I may want to try the 110 barnes TacTX bullets that were designed for the 300 whisper velocities. The Barnes is designed with a lower velocity threshold of 1300 fps which is outstanding and they have tested velocities of about 2400 according to the technician at Barnes when I called to discuss the bullet. I was so intrigued with the Barnes that I put the Sierra and Noslers on the backburner and decided that I would work with the Barnes first. I had a target velocity goal of about 2400 fps which would put it in the velocity range of the Whisper carbines which had a good track record. My first loads clocked at 2335 fps which was in line with the old load data I had on hand with other brands of bullets. The load shot really well but I changed the load by one grain for the next batch and the velocity met my goal of 2400 fps and put 5 rounds in less than an inch easily at 100 yards. I decided this would be the load I would try first hunting with the little pistol. Just out of curiosity when I was back in MS, I put 7 water jugs in a line and shot it at 10 yards. I caught the bullet in the 5th jug and it retained its weight and looks like a Barnes ad in appearance. Water is tough on a bullet especially at that distance so I felt comfortable taking it to the woods.
When I was out with my son this weekend, the ranch has fallow deer that I wanted to try the little Herrett on. Problem with the fallow is that they are very elusive little guys on this property and are usually in the trees and always moving if you happen to see one. Makes for tough shots with a handgun but also makes it a lot more challenging than just sitting in a field and shooting one that comes out to feed like we do with whitetails a lot of the time. The first two days were a bust. I had a buddy that connected on one with his rifle on the second day but that was it. By the third day, my son was getting really disappointed in my performance. He kept mentioning that he thought I was going to shoot a deer, it’s tough to explain to a 7 year old, just hadn’t realized that before this weekend. The morning of the last day, I decided to give it one last try before giving up.
After about an hour of walking, I was glassing a ridge and caught movement. There were 5 deer feeding and milling around near the base of the ridge. I decided quickly to try and get a little closer. I closed the gap to about 90 yards but the angle of the ridge didn’t allow for a shot when I knelt down to brace on the side of a tree. I decided to try and get a few more yards to get over that rise. I was able to close it to about 70 yards using the trees for cover and staying low to the ground. When I was in position, I braced on the side of the tree and due to the trees, there was no shot. There are so many trees on the ridge that your shooting “lanes” between them are not very wide when you look down to the target. To add to the space issue, when the deer was still, it seemed that there was always one of the others in front or behind the one I had in mind. The biggest doe went to the left and separated herself from the others and I was finally able to get only her in the scope. When I got my sight picture, I heard a loud whistle to my left. Apparently, there were a couple of fallow bedded down the ridge to my left that I had not seen and spotted me. They bolted off through the trees which made the one that I was looking at in the scope jump back about 3 feet and covered her entire body with tree cover. Fortunately, she didn’t bolt off with the rest of the ones in the group that were with her because she had never seen me so she stomped and made two steps forward. I knew that I had a very limited time to shoot as when she made the second step she made a little hop and bobbed her head a few times quickly about to dart off to join up with the others. She started to turn to her left and I applied the small amount of pressure needed to send the little Barnes 110 downrange. At the shot, she turned back to her right and rared up just a little. I was sure the shot was true but immediately grabbed my binoculars to glass the bottom of the ridge and see if she ran out of the area. After a couple minutes, I had not seen her so I motioned to my guide and my son to join me and ease down the rocky ridge. Once I was over the top of the rise, I could see her lying about 20 yards from her original location behind more trees of course. But, I felt this was a good learning opportunity so had my son look with me at the shot location and find the blood. I had him so occupied looking for the next spot of blood that he was about 5 yards from her before I told him to look around now and see if he saw her. He was very excited that dad finally quit failing and killed a deer with him. We took a few pics in the field and then headed to the skinning shed to see how the little Barnes performed.
The shot hit the very front point of the left shoulder. It completely destroyed the shoulder/upper leg bone and blew fragments of bone everywhere. The damage from the bone fragments was extensive. You could see through the hole in the shoulder. I found the bullet on the offside ribcage about midway back due to the angle. It had lost the black plastic tip of course and 3 petals. But the remaining shank and petal weighed in at 71 grains which is almost 70% weight retention. I was very happy with that considering the amount of bone that it busted at almost full velocity. That’s a very tough test of that bullet in my opinion and it performed very well. The pictures show the amount of bloodshot area on the lower ribcage and brisket. The heart was perforated due to fragments I assume or maybe a loose petal from the Barnes. Surprisingly, only the lower portion of the shoulder was lost which shocked me after seeing the deer when the hide was off. Overall, I think the Herrett will get a lot more field time. With virtually no recoil, great accuracy, and a super compact footprint, it makes for an outstanding packing single shot hunting pistol. This load is 300 fps above the lower threshold of the Barnes bullet at 300 yards and only drops 12” at that distance with my usual 3” high sight in at 100 yards. That’s pretty impressive performance from such a small packing gun. I will do more testing at the extended distances of course but it does show promise for a great all around hunting pistol. I think it goes without saying that the barrel will not be removed from this pistol. It will stay just as it is!
I got to test my new Lil’ Caper from Kim Ralston on this deer as well. I know this is not was it was designed for but it excelled anyway. The edge is outstanding and the balance is incredible. Kim really knows how to shape a handle for perfect control. The thickness of the handle is perfect in my opinion. If you are in the market for a new blade, I highly recommend you getting in touch with Kim. His work is outstanding and you will be hard pressed to find a better guy to deal with. He uses these knives and knows what works. Talk with him and describe what you are needing and I bet he can help you out!
SORRY for the long post but this is a project that I have been working with for a year and have been really excited to finally try in the field.
I picked up some Nosler 125 grain ballistic tips, Sierra 125s, and had a few hornady slugs as well to try in it. I used Nosler 150 grain Ballistic Tip slugs for fireforming. My initial thoughts when I went to fireform the brass were positive. The trigger was great as I already knew but the recoil was the most surprising of the day. Or I guess I should say the lack of recoil. After fireforming the brass, I started to load a few of the 125s for load development but decided that I may want to try the 110 barnes TacTX bullets that were designed for the 300 whisper velocities. The Barnes is designed with a lower velocity threshold of 1300 fps which is outstanding and they have tested velocities of about 2400 according to the technician at Barnes when I called to discuss the bullet. I was so intrigued with the Barnes that I put the Sierra and Noslers on the backburner and decided that I would work with the Barnes first. I had a target velocity goal of about 2400 fps which would put it in the velocity range of the Whisper carbines which had a good track record. My first loads clocked at 2335 fps which was in line with the old load data I had on hand with other brands of bullets. The load shot really well but I changed the load by one grain for the next batch and the velocity met my goal of 2400 fps and put 5 rounds in less than an inch easily at 100 yards. I decided this would be the load I would try first hunting with the little pistol. Just out of curiosity when I was back in MS, I put 7 water jugs in a line and shot it at 10 yards. I caught the bullet in the 5th jug and it retained its weight and looks like a Barnes ad in appearance. Water is tough on a bullet especially at that distance so I felt comfortable taking it to the woods.
When I was out with my son this weekend, the ranch has fallow deer that I wanted to try the little Herrett on. Problem with the fallow is that they are very elusive little guys on this property and are usually in the trees and always moving if you happen to see one. Makes for tough shots with a handgun but also makes it a lot more challenging than just sitting in a field and shooting one that comes out to feed like we do with whitetails a lot of the time. The first two days were a bust. I had a buddy that connected on one with his rifle on the second day but that was it. By the third day, my son was getting really disappointed in my performance. He kept mentioning that he thought I was going to shoot a deer, it’s tough to explain to a 7 year old, just hadn’t realized that before this weekend. The morning of the last day, I decided to give it one last try before giving up.
After about an hour of walking, I was glassing a ridge and caught movement. There were 5 deer feeding and milling around near the base of the ridge. I decided quickly to try and get a little closer. I closed the gap to about 90 yards but the angle of the ridge didn’t allow for a shot when I knelt down to brace on the side of a tree. I decided to try and get a few more yards to get over that rise. I was able to close it to about 70 yards using the trees for cover and staying low to the ground. When I was in position, I braced on the side of the tree and due to the trees, there was no shot. There are so many trees on the ridge that your shooting “lanes” between them are not very wide when you look down to the target. To add to the space issue, when the deer was still, it seemed that there was always one of the others in front or behind the one I had in mind. The biggest doe went to the left and separated herself from the others and I was finally able to get only her in the scope. When I got my sight picture, I heard a loud whistle to my left. Apparently, there were a couple of fallow bedded down the ridge to my left that I had not seen and spotted me. They bolted off through the trees which made the one that I was looking at in the scope jump back about 3 feet and covered her entire body with tree cover. Fortunately, she didn’t bolt off with the rest of the ones in the group that were with her because she had never seen me so she stomped and made two steps forward. I knew that I had a very limited time to shoot as when she made the second step she made a little hop and bobbed her head a few times quickly about to dart off to join up with the others. She started to turn to her left and I applied the small amount of pressure needed to send the little Barnes 110 downrange. At the shot, she turned back to her right and rared up just a little. I was sure the shot was true but immediately grabbed my binoculars to glass the bottom of the ridge and see if she ran out of the area. After a couple minutes, I had not seen her so I motioned to my guide and my son to join me and ease down the rocky ridge. Once I was over the top of the rise, I could see her lying about 20 yards from her original location behind more trees of course. But, I felt this was a good learning opportunity so had my son look with me at the shot location and find the blood. I had him so occupied looking for the next spot of blood that he was about 5 yards from her before I told him to look around now and see if he saw her. He was very excited that dad finally quit failing and killed a deer with him. We took a few pics in the field and then headed to the skinning shed to see how the little Barnes performed.
The shot hit the very front point of the left shoulder. It completely destroyed the shoulder/upper leg bone and blew fragments of bone everywhere. The damage from the bone fragments was extensive. You could see through the hole in the shoulder. I found the bullet on the offside ribcage about midway back due to the angle. It had lost the black plastic tip of course and 3 petals. But the remaining shank and petal weighed in at 71 grains which is almost 70% weight retention. I was very happy with that considering the amount of bone that it busted at almost full velocity. That’s a very tough test of that bullet in my opinion and it performed very well. The pictures show the amount of bloodshot area on the lower ribcage and brisket. The heart was perforated due to fragments I assume or maybe a loose petal from the Barnes. Surprisingly, only the lower portion of the shoulder was lost which shocked me after seeing the deer when the hide was off. Overall, I think the Herrett will get a lot more field time. With virtually no recoil, great accuracy, and a super compact footprint, it makes for an outstanding packing single shot hunting pistol. This load is 300 fps above the lower threshold of the Barnes bullet at 300 yards and only drops 12” at that distance with my usual 3” high sight in at 100 yards. That’s pretty impressive performance from such a small packing gun. I will do more testing at the extended distances of course but it does show promise for a great all around hunting pistol. I think it goes without saying that the barrel will not be removed from this pistol. It will stay just as it is!
I got to test my new Lil’ Caper from Kim Ralston on this deer as well. I know this is not was it was designed for but it excelled anyway. The edge is outstanding and the balance is incredible. Kim really knows how to shape a handle for perfect control. The thickness of the handle is perfect in my opinion. If you are in the market for a new blade, I highly recommend you getting in touch with Kim. His work is outstanding and you will be hard pressed to find a better guy to deal with. He uses these knives and knows what works. Talk with him and describe what you are needing and I bet he can help you out!
SORRY for the long post but this is a project that I have been working with for a year and have been really excited to finally try in the field.