Post by x101airborne on Aug 23, 2023 7:40:31 GMT -5
I bought my wife her first deer rifle, a Winchester mod 70 deluxe in 257 Roberts still in the factory box. What a find!
Being a handloader, I had bullets on hand for the 25-06's that live here. With the anemic load data for the cartridge I used, the impact speed of the bullets were too slow for them to open at 300 yards. She lost her first deer and almost quit deer hunting all together. We looked, found blood and hair. The shot was good, I was sitting with her watching through binoculars. We backed out figuring the deer would lay up. Looked some more. Called a buddy with dogs. The blood trail was only about 7 feet long and quit at a creek. Dogs didn't find it. Started a fan search. Nada. I walked the bottom of the creek fearing the worse, a gut shot which the deer would stay near water. Skipped hunting that evening to try and recover her deer. Still nothing. Looked for buzzards the next day. None. Never did find that deer. Now she uses my 308 and the Roberts stays in the safe. She still panics when the deer takes more than 3 steps.
I found an old box of Peters (I think from memory) 100 grain soft points. This was in the gunstore I worked at part time so I know they were real factory rounds. The first round was real weird when it went off. Just something about it I couldn't put a finger on. Ejected the case and the case had two or three holes in its side. Only thing I could think of was that was the holes were from how the cartridge was laying and the powder ate partially through the case. Beware old, even factory ammo.
Being a handloader, I had bullets on hand for the 25-06's that live here. With the anemic load data for the cartridge I used, the impact speed of the bullets were too slow for them to open at 300 yards. She lost her first deer and almost quit deer hunting all together. We looked, found blood and hair. The shot was good, I was sitting with her watching through binoculars. We backed out figuring the deer would lay up. Looked some more. Called a buddy with dogs. The blood trail was only about 7 feet long and quit at a creek. Dogs didn't find it. Started a fan search. Nada. I walked the bottom of the creek fearing the worse, a gut shot which the deer would stay near water. Skipped hunting that evening to try and recover her deer. Still nothing. Looked for buzzards the next day. None. Never did find that deer. Now she uses my 308 and the Roberts stays in the safe. She still panics when the deer takes more than 3 steps.
I found an old box of Peters (I think from memory) 100 grain soft points. This was in the gunstore I worked at part time so I know they were real factory rounds. The first round was real weird when it went off. Just something about it I couldn't put a finger on. Ejected the case and the case had two or three holes in its side. Only thing I could think of was that was the holes were from how the cartridge was laying and the powder ate partially through the case. Beware old, even factory ammo.
