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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Reloading
How "important" are certain details when reloading?
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<blockquote data-quote="trophyhusband" data-source="post: 863437" data-attributes="member: 70376"><p>Well, I SHOULD have and elk by now. A few days ago I was 300 yards away from a spike but I was in very dense timber on a very steep slope and he was across the valley. I just couldn't find any rest that didn't have branches in the way. I didn't take a shot. The next morning I bought some decent shooting sticks. Yesterday morning I spotted a herd over 1,100 yards away across a valley and I spent 9 hours stocking them. At one point I had my crosshairs on a very nice thick antlered 4x4 and several cows at 250 yards. I thought it would have been perfect if a spike stepped out but it didn't. At the same time there was a spike laying under a tree about 600 yards away but there were other elk around so I just had to sit back and wait. I spent the afternoon watching a couple stands of timber and clearings as small groups of elk would walk out and graze a while and then go back into the timber. Finally they all started coming out for their evening feeding. I picked out my spike and moved as close as I dared given the very noisy vegetation I had to move through. I set up at 475 yards. I relaxed and made sure I was holding steady and I squeezed the trigger. The elk looked around for a few seconds and went back to eating. He was completely unfazed. I let a second round go with the same result. Then a third. I could hear a very loud "thwack" when the bullet struck the hillside, but I never saw any bullet splash. I eased up 400 yards and shot again. Same thing. I then moved up to 350 yards and shot again. Again the elk was unharmed. All the while more and more elk were moving out into the open. I shot again. This time I noticed what appeared to be a bullet hole in the dirt in the hill a little above the spike. I then aimed a little lower and fired, this time expecting a hit. There was now another bullet hole just slightly lower than the first. I then aimed dead onto the vitals, but still nothing. That was my last bullet and the spike was still happily feeding. The long hike out sucked. I stopped by camp to grab a few things and went home to sulk and regroup.</p><p></p><p>Today I went out back to shoot, dreading that my scope was still dead on and that it was just my bad shooting that failed me. I shot at 100 yards and it wasn't even on paper. I move to 50 yards and the bullet hit 1 inch high and one inch to the right. That didn't make much sense. I shot my third round and it hit almost exactly where the second round hit. Now I don't know what the hell to make of it, but I may make a trip to Cabela's and get a new scope, then spend this evening loading more bullets, and spend tomorrow dialing in the scope and practicing shooting long range with my shooting sticks.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="trophyhusband, post: 863437, member: 70376"] Well, I SHOULD have and elk by now. A few days ago I was 300 yards away from a spike but I was in very dense timber on a very steep slope and he was across the valley. I just couldn't find any rest that didn't have branches in the way. I didn't take a shot. The next morning I bought some decent shooting sticks. Yesterday morning I spotted a herd over 1,100 yards away across a valley and I spent 9 hours stocking them. At one point I had my crosshairs on a very nice thick antlered 4x4 and several cows at 250 yards. I thought it would have been perfect if a spike stepped out but it didn't. At the same time there was a spike laying under a tree about 600 yards away but there were other elk around so I just had to sit back and wait. I spent the afternoon watching a couple stands of timber and clearings as small groups of elk would walk out and graze a while and then go back into the timber. Finally they all started coming out for their evening feeding. I picked out my spike and moved as close as I dared given the very noisy vegetation I had to move through. I set up at 475 yards. I relaxed and made sure I was holding steady and I squeezed the trigger. The elk looked around for a few seconds and went back to eating. He was completely unfazed. I let a second round go with the same result. Then a third. I could hear a very loud "thwack" when the bullet struck the hillside, but I never saw any bullet splash. I eased up 400 yards and shot again. Same thing. I then moved up to 350 yards and shot again. Again the elk was unharmed. All the while more and more elk were moving out into the open. I shot again. This time I noticed what appeared to be a bullet hole in the dirt in the hill a little above the spike. I then aimed a little lower and fired, this time expecting a hit. There was now another bullet hole just slightly lower than the first. I then aimed dead onto the vitals, but still nothing. That was my last bullet and the spike was still happily feeding. The long hike out sucked. I stopped by camp to grab a few things and went home to sulk and regroup. Today I went out back to shoot, dreading that my scope was still dead on and that it was just my bad shooting that failed me. I shot at 100 yards and it wasn't even on paper. I move to 50 yards and the bullet hit 1 inch high and one inch to the right. That didn't make much sense. I shot my third round and it hit almost exactly where the second round hit. Now I don't know what the hell to make of it, but I may make a trip to Cabela's and get a new scope, then spend this evening loading more bullets, and spend tomorrow dialing in the scope and practicing shooting long range with my shooting sticks. [/QUOTE]
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Reloading
How "important" are certain details when reloading?
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