NM Buck WY does and 130 Bergers

[mark42quin]

Sooooo..... this year has stared off great! So far guided the boss to a 304 Bull elk, killed a decent Barbary Sheep, put the smack on a decent NM Pronghorn buck, gave a coyote a dirt and whacked a couple Wyoming Pronghown does at a distance..... which is where this post is headed. Lemme start out with the rifle specs and load and go from there.

So I am currently on hiatus from shooting long range competitions only because it started becoming a "job" instead of a hobby and I didn't want to "hate" shooting and reloading so i took a year off but figured I'd start the next build. Here it is...

Remington 700 "done up" by Charley Robertson n company at Score High Gunsmithing, (awesome work!)
Eliseo lightweight hunter stock with Desert Fox 006 finish from Gary at Competition Machine Inc., (Love it!)
Ergo furniture in Olive Drab, F93 buttstock and fat grip
Vortex Razor HD 5-20 with EBR-2 Reticle
.260 Remington Varmint contour Criterion "remage" barrel with Score High tactical muzzlebrake

the load is 43.2 grains of H4350 and 130 Berger VLD hunting bullets... "trues" at 2936 fps. Lapua brass

Alright so, the first "game" i took with the rifle was a dandy 16" NM buck at 358 yards.... perfect broadside, right behind the shoulder. He bucked at the shot, then ran about 20 yards, stopped and looked at me... I ran the bolt, shot him again behind the shoulder, this time aiming for the "off shoulder". To which the bullet exited the off shoulder. The first bullet ended up "blowing out the back"... shoulda taken a picture of that. Anyhow, at the second shot, he ran off a few yards, stopped and looked at me and then finally the death wobble... In my opinion, it took a little while... here he is.

So on to Wyoming... we purposefully wanted to draw doe tags to "try out" our long range skills... A very humbling experience. The first evening I took a doe at 895 yards with the second shot, (first shot was just over her back), I ran the bolt, adjusted and fired. Hit her a little far back but, she ran around in a circle and dropped.

The second doe was taken at 1046 yards... hit her on the first shot and clipped the elbow, going low into the brisket. She ran over the hill and I found her bedded... didn't want to take a chance so shot her again at 666 right behind the shoulder blowing through the "off shoulder". She ran about 75 yards and dropped...

So has anyone had some experience with the 130 Berger VLD hunting? I use the 210's in my .300 win mag and am absolutely satisfied with their performance... I know, I know.... prolly be shooting that far at game and blah blah blah... but, just wondering if I should go with a 140 amax? lemme know...

Q

oh yeah, gave this dude a dirt nap around 300 yards.... he ran like 50 and finally dropped!

 

[blackdog]

My .260 and I took a trip to Wyoming last year and it ended up shooting 2 bucks and 2 does, ranging in distance between 585 yards and 200 yards, all with the 130g Berger and H4350 as well. All hits were solid behind the shoulder hits and none of them ran over 50 yards before dying. One of the bucks and one of the does were DRT and the other two both did a short death sprint. I thought the bullets all performed well and to my expectations and wouldn't hesitate to use them again (although I've been shooting the newer 140g Hybrids at the range and at rocks lately and love the way they shoot - may have to test them on an antelope or two in the future).

 

[mark42quin]

That's what I was thinking.... Maybe something of the 140 grain flavor.... Possibly an Amax.... It just seemed as though the 130's didn't expand...