Hey everyone, I don't post much but am so proud of my son that I just had to share this!
Yesterday morning, my son and I went down to the Hoosier National Forest for the opening of gun season and it was a beautiful morning. I was lucky enough to take a nice doe with my Encore using an MGM 20" 460 Mag barrel hand-loaded with a Barnes 275 gr. XPB. Dropped her in her tracks! My son was excited, but I could see the disappointment in his eyes that he hadn't got one yet. It was about 10:00 AM and I wanted to get this doe to the processor so I told him we would drop the doe off, get some lunch and head back out so he could get a chance. He had been using a single shot 12 gauge with a bead sight and was only confident out to about 25 yards with it. He was afraid of the recoil in the 460 so I suggested that he use the 460 with 454 Casull rounds. I didn't have any so we stopped by the local Army/Navy store and picked up a box of the Hornady 240 gr. XTP. With no time to check the zero, we headed out. (This barrel had never fired these before). With about 30 minutes of daylight left, a doe emerged from the brush. I was about 20 yards from my son and he couldn't see it. I signaled to him to try to alert him and the doe locked in on me with laser accuracy. She was only about 30 yards from us. He couldn't see here because she was behind a tree. She snorted and wheezed and bounced another 20 yards away...stopped and turned. By this time, my son had zeroed in on her. She wheezed and bounced another 25 yards away...again, she stopped and turned. I heard the click of the hammer coming back, POW! She dropped in her tracks! The bullet entered the right lung and took a turn up and ripped completely through the spine and came out the other side. The damage was amazing and the shot placement could not have been better!
My son was so excited he ran over and gave me a hug! My son is 16; an age that many of you know can be challenging at times. A really great bonding experience between us!
Thanks for reading...a very proud dad!
Nathan
