Yakcountry
Well-Known Member
After hunting with this rifle in Colorado and Wyoming the last 2 seasons, thought I'd share my equipment, load data and some kills from my sons and I. Overall, I have nothing but great things to say about this setup as an all around western hunting rifle for my entire family.
Rifle (stock) and Scope:
All animals had pass through shots with nickel sized entrance and a golfball-to-baseball sized exit wound. A couple poorly placed shots, but still did the job. I will say that I'm not aiming for the shoulder due to meat loss with these Sierra TGK's. Terminal performance is
2021 Cow Elk
40 yd shot Freehand
Lung Shot-Edge of shoulder
Went 20 yds and piled up
2021 Mule Deer Buck
250 yd shot sitting w/ rest on rock
Centerpunch Lung Shot
Went 10 yds and piled up
2022 Pronghorn Buck
200 yd shot freehand sitting shot
Liver/Rear Vitals
Went 50 yds, laid down and expired after 5 minutes
2022 Pronghorn Doe
350 yds
prone
Lungs/Heart
Dropped in tracks
2022 Bull Elk - Son's first elk
500 yds prone
Centerpunch Lungs
Went 50 yds and piled up
2022 Mule Deer Buck
350 yds sitting w/ rest on rock
Centerpunch Lungs
Went 5yds and piled up
2022 Mule Deer Doe - Son's first animal
320 yds prone
Low Gut Shot, Likely got some lungs.
Ran 50yds downhill and piled up
Things I'd like to change:
Rifle (stock) and Scope:
- Gun: Browning X Bolt Mountain Pro Tungsten
- Caliber: 6.8 Western
- Barrel: Stock 24" w/ 1:7.5 twist
- Break: Browning Recoil Hawg. Recoil is very tame.
- Bipod: Javelin Lite Bipod w/ Tall legs
- Scope: Leopold VX-5HD 3-15x44 CDS-ZL2 Side Focus HTMR
- 200yd zero
- Bullet: 175gr Sierra Tipped Game King
- Primer: Federal LR Magnum
- Powder: 58gr H4831SC
- Jump: 0.020" off land
- MV: ~2820fps (no chrono, just back calculated based on empirical data generated by bullet drop. Saving up for a chrono.)
- MOA: 1" groups at 200yds
All animals had pass through shots with nickel sized entrance and a golfball-to-baseball sized exit wound. A couple poorly placed shots, but still did the job. I will say that I'm not aiming for the shoulder due to meat loss with these Sierra TGK's. Terminal performance is
2021 Cow Elk
40 yd shot Freehand
Lung Shot-Edge of shoulder
Went 20 yds and piled up
2021 Mule Deer Buck
250 yd shot sitting w/ rest on rock
Centerpunch Lung Shot
Went 10 yds and piled up
2022 Pronghorn Buck
200 yd shot freehand sitting shot
Liver/Rear Vitals
Went 50 yds, laid down and expired after 5 minutes
2022 Pronghorn Doe
350 yds
prone
Lungs/Heart
Dropped in tracks
2022 Bull Elk - Son's first elk
500 yds prone
Centerpunch Lungs
Went 50 yds and piled up
2022 Mule Deer Buck
350 yds sitting w/ rest on rock
Centerpunch Lungs
Went 5yds and piled up
2022 Mule Deer Doe - Son's first animal
320 yds prone
Low Gut Shot, Likely got some lungs.
Ran 50yds downhill and piled up
Things I'd like to change:
- Muzzle break is loud. Hard to get hearing protection on every time. Would like a can, but might try removing the break and reevaluating the recoil.
- I have the non-adjustable Javelin bipod. Great at the bench, but would like to look at something that is better for sitting shots to clear brush.
memtb
