New Mexico Antelope 338AM

[wolffman]

I am not good at telling stories so it will be short and sweet.
This past Saturday was opening day of New mexico antelope season and so myself and 3 buddies went out looking for some goats.
1st buddy shot his at around 350 with a 257 wby 1 shot 1 kill.
Goats started getting very skittish after that.
Next 3 were shot with my Kirby Allen 338AM with 300 gr Gen 2 bergers at 3300 fps using kirby's standard load.
1st up is myself at 1005 yards. Shot was perfect elevation but I missed the wind and was off 6 inches but still 1shot 1 kill because of the awesome power of the beast.
2nd is a buddy of mine and the same group of antelope he shot his at 1080 and I dialed the wind perfect and it took out his off shoulder and another 1 shot 1kill.
3rd was about 45min later and another buddy shot his at 750 slightly quartering away bullet entered around last rib and out the off shoulder DRT!

This is was my buddies and I first 1000 yard animal but we have shot past 1000 yards on steel many many times.
The Berger bullets did awesome and I can't say enough good things about Kirbys rifles and thats why he is building me a Raptor Stalker 7mmAM for a lightweight carry gun.

 

[Derek M.]

Nice!!!

 

[remmy308]

Wow, nice shooting and what an awesome rifle! Oh and nice speed goat too!

 

[Fiftydriver]

Nice shooting boys, a great rifle is only half the equation, good job with some FINE shooting. By the way, judging the wind within 6" at +1000 yards is not all that bad!!!

Thanks for the report and glad the big 338 Allen Magnum did some work for you! Those Gen 2 bergers are going to make this a special chambering for sure, just another slight boost in ballistic preformance over the 300 gr SMK which is not all that bad but the more options the better.

Again, great shooting and thanks for the report.

 

[wolffman]

It was probably one of my greatest hunts so far because of the company I had, the rifle, and the shots that were made. Thanks for the comments and I will be in Wyoming Oct 1st with 4 antelope doe tags so if conditions are right then hopefully I will have 4 more tags filled and if possible make my personal longest shot even longer.

All I will say is Kirby builds one hell of a rifle and I don't think there are any doubts how well the Gen 2's are going to work going 3300fps.

 

[Korhil78]

Where at in New Mexico were you hunting?

 

[wolffman]

Northeast

 

[Korhil78]

Ahhh...cool. I live down in Deming, New Mexico. Quite a bit of nice antelope in New Mexico. Even a lot down here. Good shooting on those.

 

[MT4XFore]

Great shooting!! Yes, the 338 Allen Magnum is quite the effective long range firearm. Just wait til you get your Raptor Stalker........you will really see what Kirby can do then!!! Good luck and good shooting!

 

[squirrelduster]

You sure that's enough gun for a goat.

Good shootin.

 

[wolffman]

My motto has always been that something can't be over dead gun)

 

[Fiftydriver]

I get ribbed all the time from guys about using big guns on smaller big game. I try to explain to them the reasoning behind it but often it goes in one ear and out the other. Simply put, the goal to long range hunting is nothing more then putting the bullet precisely where you want it and at long range, the higher the BC bullet you can drive and the higher the velocity you can produce with that bullet, the less effect external conditions will have on your bullets trajectory.

A 338 AM is not used because there is a need for this class of power to kill these game animals, its used because it makes precision shot placement at these long ranges EASY even compared to the best conventional 338 magnums on the market today including the 338 Edge, 338 Lapua and even my 338 Allen Xpress.

You can spend a few hours shooting these lesser chamberings and then switch to the 338 AM and its like comparing a 243 Win to a 6mm-284 in ballistic ability.

I am not saying its difficult to make shots with these lesser 338 magnums, certainly that is not the case but making a 1000 yard hit with these lesser 338 magnums is about like making a 1500 yard hit with the 338 AM. One just has to be shot to experience the raw power of these weapons and also the accuracy potential as well is amazing.

I took a customers 338 AM out yesterday, same class of rifle as the one posted about on this topic and at 1520 yards, put two 265 gr Barnes TTSX bullets into within 3" ctc!!! That was with a relatively mild load and 3440 fps velocity which is around 100 fps lower then the max you can get with this weapon system but the owner will be using it for hunting in a wide range of envornmental conditions and locations so we throttled things back a bit. Recoil is about like a 243 Win sporter rifle at most.

I often get the comment that there is no need for a rifle of this power class. For 80% of all hunting I would agree, there is no NEED, but for certain applications its unbeatable. One fella gave me so much crap about these big guns that I called him out on it. He said his 300 Win Mag was all he ever would need for big game hunting out to a mile. I told him to put his money where his mouth was and invited him to come out and shoot with me. Suprisingly he did.

He did pretty well out to 1200 yards or so in the conditions we were shooting in but past that things went to hell for him. At that point I pulled out one of my XHSs in 338 AM and lined up on my gong that was set up at a mile. The fella had just missed the gong three times in a row from his prized 300 Win Mag that was built by a top end builder. No need to give the name, it was a good rifle.

Slapped the steel three times in a row with the 338 AM making a slightly less then 1 moa triangle. Not amazing but plenty good for the conditions we were dealing with and again, remember this guy could not even hit the gong with his 300 Win Mag. I then let him shoot the big rifle and he slapped it another two times in a row.

After that shooting session he said he still felt that for most big game hunting his 300 Win Mag was fully adequate but at times maybe the big 338 AM had some merit!!! I agreed with him 100%!!!

 

[sambo3006]

To the original poster, nice shooting!
Kirby,
Did that guy ever tell you exactly how that heaping helping of crow tasted?

 

[Fiftydriver]

Do they EVER!!! LOL

In all honesty, that happened three years ago, I have seen the guy to more times only since that day and that was just casually running into him in town. Every time I ask him how his 300 Win Mag is shooting. All he every says is good and changes the subject!