antelope at 50 yards

[Clark]

Out to 550 yards I practiced and practiced every day on public land in that little town 900 miles from here.
Then when I was watching TV, two guys came in and told me I was going antelope hunting.
The guy with me was 72, had lived there on a ranch all his life, and knows everyone.
We went 5 minutes out of town, there was a herd of a dozen with one buck on private land. The old guy was yelling at me to shoot. The buck quartered away at 10 mph. I grazed his shoulder and it knocked him down. I was dragging the animal to the vehicle and the rancher shows up. There were a few tense seconds until I pointed out his friend in my vehicle. The rancher left. So I was done antelope hunting for the season, and 10 minutes earlier I had been watching TV.

And I did all that long range practicing.

 

[HARPERC]

Sometimes you have to take them where and how you find them. I love antelope hunts, I especially like seeing it done with single shot rifles. I'll have to find a way to do so at some point.

A little info on the rifle please.

 

[Clark]

That is a Browning 7mmRM Winchester 1885 made in Japan in 1994 and purchased used from SWFA on gunbroker by me in 2013. I was shooting 140 gr Ballistic Tips at 3400 fps with a Sightron 3.5x10 scope. I have a Harris swivel bi pod in the front and two rear bags, one mounted to the cheek rest with an elastic string.

That rifle is crazy accurate, but not fast to reload when the big scope is in the way of the fingers. I have a 7mmRM Ruger #1 with a 1.75x6 scope that shoots like a machine gun from the prone position.

I had a couple 260 bolt actions rifles I built with premium barrels on that trip, but they could not perform like the 1885, so the 1885 was what I hunted with.

I would have shot it last year, but the scope mounts did not look right. The tapered Octagon needs a slight slope on the front mount. I just put shims under it until the scope with the reticle in the center of the tube would line up with the Leupold zero point bore sighter [modified with green LED].

Here is a target with a 3.6" 3 shot group at 450 yards. And I shot a deer with it a week later.

 

[jonthomps]

Practice hard, hunt easy. Nice goat!