300 gr Berger Vs Antelope

[D.Camilleri]

Well as the title says, I put the 338 rum through the paces with the 300 gr berger with mixed results. 1st shot was around 700 yards, hit high, then took a poke at 964, high again. *** My buddy dropped a doe with his 2506 at about 200 and I took off after some rutting bucks. Saw one that seem ok and put the hammer down at 320. He dropped hard and then his head was up and my bolt wouldn't work. Ut oh. I waited and he finally died. I went up to the buck and I hit him through the hind quarters. How the hell did that happen? Quartered him up and went back to camp.Pulled my action out of the stock and the trigger pin that holds the bolt lever had backed out. Repaired and good as new. Monday morning my buddy whacks a nice doe at 400 with the 2506. I finally found another doe and put the hammer down at 550 another miss. I am not happy. Found another doe and pulled the trigger at 300 and oh no, head up again. Another hit in the ***! I went up to 100 yards and dialed the scope down and put the cross hairs on her head and miss high. Next shot miss right, next shot miss right again. Well I wasn't really missing, just missing the neck where I was aiming. The bergers were hitting their mark in the mid section and making a huge mess. Quartered this one out (what was left) and went back and grabbed my 300 rum. Obviously the 338 was off. Went out and found a lone doe on a far hillside dialed in for 600 and gained some confidence back with a clean kill.

I went out to the rifle range today and tested the 338 and found it shooting 6 inches right and 3 inches high at my 100 yard zero. I pulled the scope off the rail and checked the screws, all tight. Remounted the scope and retorqued the rings (burris tactical) and torqued the nuts to the rail. I will shoot it again tomorrow. The only thing I can figure is the bouncing of the atv on the rough roads knocked my zero off, but so far no explanation. The bergers seem to kill well with lots of damage and very little bloodshot. My scope is a sightron S*3 8-32x56 and I have had great luck with it tracking well.

 

[Greyfox]

Sounds like it might be the scope. My buddy just went through two scopes on his 338 Lapua. Both were name brand scopes that were proven performers using smaller calibers. Zero's were all over the place. They couldnt take the recoil of the 338. I have heard about this happening frequently and experienced it myself several years ago with my 375H&H.

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Add a 3rd ring, what kind of case do you have the rifle in on the ATV?

 

[D.Camilleri]

The problem with the rack on the ATV is the gun is held on the handlebars. I think I am going to quit doing this as the gun takes a beating. I will go back to using my hard case lined with foam.
I pulled the scope off the rail completely and remounted it and torqued the cross bolts to 90 in lbs. I also retorqued the rings to 25 in lbs. I will go and shoot it after work today and see if my zero changed.

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

The problem with the rack on the ATV is the gun is held on the handlebars. I think I am going to quit doing this as the gun takes a beating. I will go back to using my hard case lined with foam.
I pulled the scope off the rail completely and remounted it and torqued the cross bolts to 90 in lbs. I also retorqued the rings to 25 in lbs. I will go and shoot it after work today and see if my zero changed.

Have you considered one of the back packs? You could wear it while you ride.

 

[HARPERC]

Sounds like it might be the scope. My buddy just went through two scopes on his 338 Lapua. Both were name brand scopes that were proven performers using smaller calibers. Zero's were all over the place. They couldnt take the recoil of the 338. I have heard about this happening frequently and experienced it myself several years ago with my 375H&H.

I've had similar experiences. It could be the ATV travel as well. I broke a base loose on my 338 RUM. Never completely isolated the cause, but the ATV was one of the suspects. Still continued to carry that way, my partners as well, never another incident in many miles. Soft screw?

 

[D.Camilleri]

Well, after remounting the scope on the rail I went to the range and shot a few more shots. I was able to move the windage back two moa in the direction where it was before it moved and had to bring the elevation back up to get zero. I will double check it again tomorrow to make sure the zero is holding. Elk season is only a couple days away.

 

[429421Cowboy]

I hate to be a spoilsport, but three misses and a poor shot might mean time to check things out or switch rifles... The middle of a hunt using live game as targets doesn't seem like the time to be working problems out. We all have equipment issues and make less than ideal shots on game, and try to minimize the effects, which you did well. I am not saying that it has never happened to me, because it sure has. However i would be cautious about posting some things on the internet for anyone to read, we have enough trouble convincing other hunters that long range hunting is humane and ethical, much less anti's or non hunters that might stumble across what is posted on a public forum. I am in no way critisising your shots or shooting, just saying from the perspectve of someone that is less informed about shooting, long range or not, somethings may serve to make us look bad...

 

[D.Camilleri]

I spent countless hours at the range with this rifle verifying my ranges and drops and everything was perfect. The only change was beating the crap out of my gun on the handlebar mount on my atv. Whether my scope is still good, is still to be determined. I will recheck my zero tonight and test the dial at several extended ranges. In the last 100 rounds, this gun hasn't changed POI at all. While I do my best to not make bad hits, we are human and sh@t happens. I am also considering getting rid of my 20 moa rail and going to a 0 moa rail. My scope has plenty of elevation adjustment and one of the problems could be that I am too close to being bottomed out in the down part of the turret adjustment.

 

[D.Camilleri]

Last night I finished processing the meat from my 3 speed goats. I ground all the meat from each into hamburger and vacuum packed. The net meat from an antelope with 0 meat loss was about 24 lbs of finished burger. The other two animals yielded 18 and 20 pounds for comparision. So even with some meat loss due to unperfect hits, the difference in yield was not that great.

 

[429421Cowboy]

As i said, we all have it happen to us if we hunt long enough... Long range, short range, it doesn't matter, eventually something is gonna happen! I can't blame you for a gear failure, it happens! My only point was it might seem a little like a black eye on our sport when even many other hunters don't agree with how we take game, let alone someone that doesn't hunt.

 

[Outlaw6.0]

"The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools. "
--Herbert Spencer


I'm glad he shared his findings with the community as his experience is perfectly relevent to our community. My group also travels lots of miles via ATV & we too have experienced issues with unexplicable loss of zero after a long & rough ATV ride. Taking a pounding via ATV for an hour or three will most definitely show you the weak link in your setup. I had a very similar experience with my Lazzeroni; used it during elk season & went on a late season whitetail hunt. POI was 3 full minutes high IIRC.... thank god it turned into a spine shot for me, just chalked it up to bad karma After speaking to different members of our group, more than one of us had a shift in zero.... I'm not sure how a clean miss at 300 whatever yards would/could be construed with any more ill effect that the anti's are already using. I personally don't care much what they have to say or who they have to say it about . I guess that is why my signature line says what it does.....

Sharing individual failures is not only a lesson in humility but a lesson learned for the rest of us to grow from as sportsmen. If this story is able to mitigate reoccurances for the members here, I would be apt to call it due dilligence over anything else.


t

 

[D.Camilleri]

I believe in being honest, if I pull a shot, it is my mistake, if the equipment malfunctions it is still ultimately my mistake to do my best to not let it happen again. With that being said, I believe in using a lot more power than needed to harvest a particular animal, because the additional energy is often enough to turn a marginal shot into a quick and fatal one. The same can't be said for marginal cartridges.

I went out to the range this evening and my zero is holding and tracking is right on. I think it is time to invest in a different setup for my atv. Luckily this Monday I am heading out for elk (or wolf) and will be either on foot or horseback and hopefully a nice 6 point bull comes out across my favorite canyon (last year it was on fire)

Every year at the end of the hunting season, game wardens go out and look for wounded animals and put them out of their misery. There are plenty of hunters out there that are lucky to hit a paper plate at 100 yards and then there are those of us that put in lots of hours developing loads and making drop charts all so we can take a high percentage long range shot. Are we 100 percent? No, but how many people get into a car and run a stop light or aren't competent to drive on snow and ice but do it anyway. I will continue to take long range shots that I feel are within my ability and I will do my best to make good hits, but we all know sh@t happens.

 

[angus-5024]

Check out the "safari sling". I use it for on the quad, its a front carry type sling. Then your body cusions the rifle the whole time (some off us have more cusion than others).