WildRose
Well-Known Member
Not sure if Butter Beans is still active but years ago I bought a custom 7mm STW built on a Montana action from him. The thing weighs seomewhere north of 14lbs so it's not one that at my age I'm going to pack very far through the woods but I do love to shoot it.
It will shoot dime sized groups all day long with at least half a dozen different bullet/load combos and is easily one of the most accurate rifles I've ever had my hands on and out of my entire collection is easily in my top 3 or 4 favorites.
I was moving some stuff around a few weeks ago, saw the case and though, "I haven't shot that one in a few years", so I drug it out, ran a patch through it and lightly oiled the moving parts, about all the care I've ever given it other than a once a year cleaning when I'm actually using it.
Last week well after dark I get a herd of pigs in at my 325yds feeder. They aren't well lit up but are somewhat outlined by the green "hog light". This wasn't just a small herd of pigs it was a mob and they just kept going around like marbles in a blender. There were two very large hogs one of which I was sure was the herd boar, another the Alpha sow and honestly, I dind't feel like loading something that large alone so I picked one of the smaller sows.
It's now dead dark but fortunately the 6.5-20x50 Illum MK4 is great in low/no light. Since I can't really "see" the sow, only make out her outline I line up for a body shot behind the shoulders. Finally she's clear and we let one fly. All I see is an explosion of pigs in every direction but no squealing so I'm feeling good about the shot.
Twenty minutes later I pull up and sure enough a perfect caliber sized entrance and quarter sized exit. Shot is a bit high passing behind the shoulders just nicking the spine and clean exit. She never took a step.
Same setup a few days later, pickup a big doe moving through the trees in a high wind. She's very nervous acting like something is following her and kept to the trees/brush.
Something finally caught her eye and she freezes just watching. I am looking all around but there's a draw below the finger ridge she's standing on about 430yds away and I can't figure out what it is that has her attention. The wind is blowing a steady 25-30mph about 90deg right to left so it could be anything.
Pigs and deer travel the bottom of that draw like a highway regularly but then so do the cats and coyotes.
Nothing much else is going on so I just keep watching her. After about five minutes she takes a couple of steps but locks up again.
This time though I notice she's standing in a gap where I have about a 2' window and clear LOS on her heart/lung area so I flip the safety off and try to weigh waiting for a lull in the wind vs the likelihood she'll take another step and I lose the clear shot or that she might just bolt at any second.
Finally I flip a coin in my head and rough out the wind drift put the crosshairs on her flank and give it about 4.5moa elevation and start to squeeze. Before I even realize the shot has broken she just craters in her tracks in the scope. This rifle has an excellent trigger and with it's weight even at that range you can usually see your hits.
Finally, I was out again this evening. I'm sitting there bored stiff texting back and forth with @marioq telling him what I'd seen through the week and making plans for him to bring the kids up when something catches my eye.
Two ridges over I see an obviously very mature large buck but couldn't make a whole lot more out about him. Funny thing is I'm telling Mario about a really nice young 10pt I'd been watching at that exact moment. This deer is almost certainly his daddy.
As you'd expect from a large old mature buck nothing gets him very excited, he's just mosying around taking his time and finally disappears in a draw on the other side of the hill between the ridges.
I'm thrilled just getting to watch the old guy for a few minutes. I'd seen him several times in the last few weeks but always at a distance in the brush and/or over on my neighbor's place moving through really tight, small mesquites.
I give it a couple of minutes but he doesn't reappear so I pull the phone out and just as I start back to telling Mario Stories I see this very respectable 10pt rack, the first good view I've had of his rack to date bobbing along the top of the finger ridge moving left to right but that's all I can see other than glimpses of his head from the eyes up.
I'm getting turned on just watching him thinking, "He's gonna do it to me again!" and laughed. He disappears and I think that's the last I'll see of him for sure.
A few minutes later he pops back up at the far end of one of my shooting lanes so I know it's about 420-430yds. Now I'm getting serious.
I dial up and start watching him. After what seemed like hours, (even longer than this post) he's coming over the top of the ridge down towards the bottom of the finger and stops dead looking my direction like he's posing in the setting sun (about 5:40pm) give/take for an oil paint portrait.
I'm really torn because all I can see is his head and neck in the clear and the est of his body is obscured by our 40" or better broom weed and brush. I'm afraid with a straight on neck shot I'll hit the spine and blow a huge hole out the back with fragmented vertebrae ruining the cape and this is a deer that if I kill him is definitely going to get mounted.
Finally something causes him to shift his front end slightly to my left and he's giving me clear mid neck line that should put the exit behind his right shoulder.
I give it a squeeze and watch him hit the ground like a ton of bricks.
I have to think for a minute or two about what just happened. This is a I've been watching for at least four years. He's always been a nice straight ten point even as a 2yo and it's just gotten taller and wider every year since.
I'm not usually this patient but because of where my place is I don't have to worry much about anyone else hunting there or my neighbors shooting him so I just waited.
Tonight after 4 years of watching him mature getting better each year the patience pays off. I have no idea what he'll score, there will certainly be better deer killed in the county but in a way, everything came together for three friends from LRH putting a very nice deer on the ground tonight.
Unlike me Mario is a very good, responsible, hard working husband and dad so I take him along on all my hunts at least in spirit and like to give him the play by play when things are happening just to drive him nuts until the next time he can bring the kids up HA!
Beans of course being an old friend and father of "The Beast" as I call this thing because of both it's weight and the way it eats game. I have yet to pull the trigger on it in the field and not have to then go pick up a very solidly dead animal. I've never even had to make a follow up shot with it and I've stretched it to just over 800yds.
Anyhow, I finally pull myself together, make the quarter mile walk to the truck then drive around the far end of the place and back down to where he's laying. the little creek on my place only runs about 300 gallons per minute from the spring, but it's a 30' deep gorge that runs from 20-50 yards wide in places so I have to drive up to the spring to get around to the far side.
To be nice though I've saved the bigger 10pt and a mainframe 2pt that's got all sorts of junk hanging off in different directions, a few smaller bucks and three or four herds of hogs for Mario and the boys.
I'm too technologically retarded to get pictures from my phone onto the screen here so maybe @marioq will notice the thread and post a couple.
Beans, thanks for a great rifle that has never let me down, and Thank you Mario for being there in spirit and on the phone at the "moment of Truth".
Oh, since I'm a terminal performance freak.
The Peregrine VLR could not have performed better. Entered his neck about mid way up just below shoulder level, just clipped the spine and exited with about 2.5-3x diameter exit wound behind the opposite shoulder. Maybe lost a pound of meat adding up the neck and shoulder together.
Over 45 years of shooting centerfires starting with my original 7mm RM 700bdl, shooting just about every bullet I could think to try and nothing has performed as well or as consistently for me from point blank to well beyond 800yards as the Peregrine VLR's.
If you're willing to try a mono, give them a try and you will not be disappointed.
It will shoot dime sized groups all day long with at least half a dozen different bullet/load combos and is easily one of the most accurate rifles I've ever had my hands on and out of my entire collection is easily in my top 3 or 4 favorites.
I was moving some stuff around a few weeks ago, saw the case and though, "I haven't shot that one in a few years", so I drug it out, ran a patch through it and lightly oiled the moving parts, about all the care I've ever given it other than a once a year cleaning when I'm actually using it.
Last week well after dark I get a herd of pigs in at my 325yds feeder. They aren't well lit up but are somewhat outlined by the green "hog light". This wasn't just a small herd of pigs it was a mob and they just kept going around like marbles in a blender. There were two very large hogs one of which I was sure was the herd boar, another the Alpha sow and honestly, I dind't feel like loading something that large alone so I picked one of the smaller sows.
It's now dead dark but fortunately the 6.5-20x50 Illum MK4 is great in low/no light. Since I can't really "see" the sow, only make out her outline I line up for a body shot behind the shoulders. Finally she's clear and we let one fly. All I see is an explosion of pigs in every direction but no squealing so I'm feeling good about the shot.
Twenty minutes later I pull up and sure enough a perfect caliber sized entrance and quarter sized exit. Shot is a bit high passing behind the shoulders just nicking the spine and clean exit. She never took a step.
Same setup a few days later, pickup a big doe moving through the trees in a high wind. She's very nervous acting like something is following her and kept to the trees/brush.
Something finally caught her eye and she freezes just watching. I am looking all around but there's a draw below the finger ridge she's standing on about 430yds away and I can't figure out what it is that has her attention. The wind is blowing a steady 25-30mph about 90deg right to left so it could be anything.
Pigs and deer travel the bottom of that draw like a highway regularly but then so do the cats and coyotes.
Nothing much else is going on so I just keep watching her. After about five minutes she takes a couple of steps but locks up again.
This time though I notice she's standing in a gap where I have about a 2' window and clear LOS on her heart/lung area so I flip the safety off and try to weigh waiting for a lull in the wind vs the likelihood she'll take another step and I lose the clear shot or that she might just bolt at any second.
Finally I flip a coin in my head and rough out the wind drift put the crosshairs on her flank and give it about 4.5moa elevation and start to squeeze. Before I even realize the shot has broken she just craters in her tracks in the scope. This rifle has an excellent trigger and with it's weight even at that range you can usually see your hits.
Finally, I was out again this evening. I'm sitting there bored stiff texting back and forth with @marioq telling him what I'd seen through the week and making plans for him to bring the kids up when something catches my eye.
Two ridges over I see an obviously very mature large buck but couldn't make a whole lot more out about him. Funny thing is I'm telling Mario about a really nice young 10pt I'd been watching at that exact moment. This deer is almost certainly his daddy.
As you'd expect from a large old mature buck nothing gets him very excited, he's just mosying around taking his time and finally disappears in a draw on the other side of the hill between the ridges.
I'm thrilled just getting to watch the old guy for a few minutes. I'd seen him several times in the last few weeks but always at a distance in the brush and/or over on my neighbor's place moving through really tight, small mesquites.
I give it a couple of minutes but he doesn't reappear so I pull the phone out and just as I start back to telling Mario Stories I see this very respectable 10pt rack, the first good view I've had of his rack to date bobbing along the top of the finger ridge moving left to right but that's all I can see other than glimpses of his head from the eyes up.
I'm getting turned on just watching him thinking, "He's gonna do it to me again!" and laughed. He disappears and I think that's the last I'll see of him for sure.
A few minutes later he pops back up at the far end of one of my shooting lanes so I know it's about 420-430yds. Now I'm getting serious.
I dial up and start watching him. After what seemed like hours, (even longer than this post) he's coming over the top of the ridge down towards the bottom of the finger and stops dead looking my direction like he's posing in the setting sun (about 5:40pm) give/take for an oil paint portrait.
I'm really torn because all I can see is his head and neck in the clear and the est of his body is obscured by our 40" or better broom weed and brush. I'm afraid with a straight on neck shot I'll hit the spine and blow a huge hole out the back with fragmented vertebrae ruining the cape and this is a deer that if I kill him is definitely going to get mounted.
Finally something causes him to shift his front end slightly to my left and he's giving me clear mid neck line that should put the exit behind his right shoulder.
I give it a squeeze and watch him hit the ground like a ton of bricks.
I have to think for a minute or two about what just happened. This is a I've been watching for at least four years. He's always been a nice straight ten point even as a 2yo and it's just gotten taller and wider every year since.
I'm not usually this patient but because of where my place is I don't have to worry much about anyone else hunting there or my neighbors shooting him so I just waited.
Tonight after 4 years of watching him mature getting better each year the patience pays off. I have no idea what he'll score, there will certainly be better deer killed in the county but in a way, everything came together for three friends from LRH putting a very nice deer on the ground tonight.
Unlike me Mario is a very good, responsible, hard working husband and dad so I take him along on all my hunts at least in spirit and like to give him the play by play when things are happening just to drive him nuts until the next time he can bring the kids up HA!
Beans of course being an old friend and father of "The Beast" as I call this thing because of both it's weight and the way it eats game. I have yet to pull the trigger on it in the field and not have to then go pick up a very solidly dead animal. I've never even had to make a follow up shot with it and I've stretched it to just over 800yds.
Anyhow, I finally pull myself together, make the quarter mile walk to the truck then drive around the far end of the place and back down to where he's laying. the little creek on my place only runs about 300 gallons per minute from the spring, but it's a 30' deep gorge that runs from 20-50 yards wide in places so I have to drive up to the spring to get around to the far side.
To be nice though I've saved the bigger 10pt and a mainframe 2pt that's got all sorts of junk hanging off in different directions, a few smaller bucks and three or four herds of hogs for Mario and the boys.
I'm too technologically retarded to get pictures from my phone onto the screen here so maybe @marioq will notice the thread and post a couple.
Beans, thanks for a great rifle that has never let me down, and Thank you Mario for being there in spirit and on the phone at the "moment of Truth".
Oh, since I'm a terminal performance freak.
The Peregrine VLR could not have performed better. Entered his neck about mid way up just below shoulder level, just clipped the spine and exited with about 2.5-3x diameter exit wound behind the opposite shoulder. Maybe lost a pound of meat adding up the neck and shoulder together.
Over 45 years of shooting centerfires starting with my original 7mm RM 700bdl, shooting just about every bullet I could think to try and nothing has performed as well or as consistently for me from point blank to well beyond 800yards as the Peregrine VLR's.
If you're willing to try a mono, give them a try and you will not be disappointed.
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