First deer of the year (Video Added)

[KRal]

This morning I got an opportunity to go deer hunting - it’s been almost two years since I’ve killed a whitetail. The wind was out of the east and I knew of a good trail that would be perfect for hunting that wind. I was set up in a pine plantation that has a fire lane that’s about ten yards wide. The trail I was hunting crossed the fire lane and also ran alone the fire lane with several scraps along the trail.

I got in and set-up before daylight. Once I got my seat and video camera set up and ready, I went ahead and put on my face mask and hearing protection. With the way I was set-up, I knew a deer would be very close when I first seen it and wouldn’t be able to move putting on hearing protection.

Just as it got legal shooting light, I was about to do a video intro when I seen a deers head emerge from the tall weeds about 20 yards in front of me. I got the camera oriented toward the deer while he was hitting a licking branch and then began cocking and raising my FA83 44 mag. Just about the time I was leveling out the FA, he spotted me moving. Curious, he turned toward me and took a few steps my direction. By now, I’m focusing on the front sight and beginning to put pressure on the trigger. With the front sight settled on the frontal shot, the roar of the FA broke the morning silence! The deer buckled a little, the turned and ran - making it only 40 yards before retiring.

I’m shooting a 260gr PC Keith bullet (cast by Sixshot) over 10 gr of Unique. No where near a magnum load, but still packs plenty of punch.



A view from the deers perspective ....



The bullet struck the buck between the brisket and left front leg...



...and came to rest under the hide at the rear of his right hind quarter (at tuft of white hair)...



The bullet retained 100% of its weight and had no deformation at all (other than rifling).



The end result was a nice young buck that made some fine grilling material tonight for supper...



...video added... Disclosure:

Below is the link to my FA M83 44 Mag kill. It's video only - NO AUDIO!!!! I didn't know my battery was dead on my external mic....my apologies. You're all shooters, so you’re probably deaf like me and have to read lips anyway.


Click>>> Spike Buck With FA M83 44 Mag

[wheelguns]

Congratulations on the deer! Great write up!

[Joe S.]

Congrats!

[bushog]

Great!

[bradshaw]

KRal..... well into the season and that young buck got curious. Sounds like you did everything right----maybe except trying to film a movie!----with excellent concentration of sight picture & squeeze. Light load, too. Your bullet looks stripped clean of POWDER COAT along the bearing surface, which I find unusual. What is your take? Any leading? A question for POWDER COAT authority Dick Thompson as well.
Appreciate the clarity of your report,
David Bradshaw

[markhampton]

Congrats - well done as usual!

[Joe S.]

Dec 22, 2019 4:13:23 GMT -5 bradshaw said:

. Your bullet looks stripped clean of POWDER COAT along the bearing surface, which I find unusual. What isbyour take? Any leading?

That is typical of most PC bullets I have recovered as well.

[KRal]

Thanks, gents!

David, the PC absent on the bearing surface was the first thing I noticed when I removed the bullet. I haven’t had time to discuss it with Dick yet. This is the first one recovered, so I wasn’t aware of it doing this either. So far, no leading issues.

[foxtrapper]

Great shootin and hunt!

[sheriff]

Nice shot! Congratulations on some fine 'eating'.

[hawkeye45]

Good shooting .That is a nice .44 you have there. Six shot make's some great bullets.
Hawk

[Burnston]

Enjoyed the read, and being allowed to share in your success through the write-up. Thanks for the great post.

[sixshot]

Over the last 5-6 years that I've been shooting powder coated bullets I've probably killed about 15 deer, 3 antelope & one elk but I've only recovered 2 bullets. I seldom ever recover a cast bullet but since I've been using a lot of the different Miha type moulds with the HP pins I have managed to recover a couple, both from deer & both were almost exactly as Kim described, shot almost length ways.

On both of those deer where I recovered the bullets the powder coating was gone. I think because of the distance traveled through a lot of flesh, some bone & other fatty tissue, not sure. I have recovered lots of bullets behind the berms that have still been coated for the most part. Here are some photo's of the 2 bullets recovered from the 2 deer, one was a Montana doe taken with my Ruger 357 Maximum at 117 yds facing me straight on. I was using a 185 gr GC HP & a heavy charge of 4227 from my 10.5" Ruger. The powder coated bullet hit the base of the throat, going through the brisket, getting the top of the heart & one lung, going through the intestines & breaking a couple of ribs on one side before stopping just in front of the right hind quarter where I found it when field dressing her.

In the second photo the shot was also exactly the same but I was shooting my old model 44 flat top 6.5" 44 magnum with a Miha 243 gr "Penta" HP & the same charge as Kim, 10 grs of Unique. The bullet broke the right front shoulder at 64 yds, got a lung, went through the intestines & was lodged up against the left hip bone. I've said before, this really surprised me that this somewhat fragile HP would penetrate that much tissue. I think the reason was the bullet hardness matched up perfectly with the velocity. More speed could have caused an early break up on that front shoulder bone with that big HP, just guessing.

Here are the photo's of both the 357 Maximum first & then the 44 magnum second. Also some 44 Penta HP's are shown.








Dick

[sixshot]

Great shooting Kim, glad to see you back whacking some bucks, I know you've been gone for a while but you haven't lost your touch!

Dick

[contender]

Congrats on a FINE hunt!