Howdy - -
My name is Robert and I live just a few feet from the pearly gates..i.e.
Washington State and hunt Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and BC Canada.
For Moose and Elk I really have a great appreciation for my Browning SSS .338 Winnie Mag. 26" tube, with a KDF ... The Nozler 250 gr. Partition has never let me down over the course of many hunts, many years. I believe that there is a lot to be said for a bullet with controlled expansion.. epically when shooting 3000+ fps.. even at long distance the Partition does it's work.. and all the partitions I have retrieved from the animal, still preformed perfectly --great mushroom, never threw a jacket, and great accuracy. Totally predictability time after time ---never an unpleasant surprise, jut what the doctor ordered.. Hats off to Mr. John Nozler r. (who clams to be a fan of the .284 bore.) I have watch where guys with the fast 7 mags shoot elk at close quarters and have the bullets go in at a dia. of .284 and come out at a dia of .284 .. I have also seen this with the .270 again at close quarters.. I believe the answer to that problem is a bullet with controlled expansion like the Accubond, or Partition.
I have taken partitions to AK for Caribou and Canada for moose/bear/mulie's, Idaho Mt. and Or. for Elk and while I sound like a broken record here, the partition can be relied on (for me 100% of the time) .. Several trips ended in my having to shoot distances I really had no right to shoot save for it was the last day and the last chance to take a moose. In both cases the 250 gr Partition in the .338 winnie mag/ IMR4350 or IMR 7828 was up to the task and in each instance the diameter of the tip was at least doubled.
For lighter fare such as the Idaho WhiteTail (a very tenacious animal with plenty of smarts ) I like the .270 win. either reg. or the new Winnie short mag.
I also carry a 7mm-08 with 140 gr Accubond of the 7MM Mag with a the 140 Accubond or 160 Part. Occasionally I use the 25.06 w/ 117 noz partitions.
The quarter bore is a 700 Remington w/ 26" barrel.
Have had much fun with my Ruger 9 1/2" barrel Redhawk 44 mag.
These deer raised on the straight up and down are tough and I like the "reach out and touch"-ing properties of the 7 mag .. some shots exceed 300 yds and I like to know that when the bullet gets to the target it's carrying plenty of foot/lbs. I have seen these big white-tail run up-hill after being mortally wounded.. they will run till there plum empty and all the way, running up hill.. they never cease to amaze me. For many years I hunted the Oregon coastal black-tail and found the 6mm to be just dandy. The Black-tail is approx 65% of the size of it's eastern brothers.
My nine fly in Moose hunts will forever be sweet memories .. great salmon fishing in the rivers and animals that have never seen humans and has no fear .
The coyote, wolverine, mulie, grizzly, martin, mink, grouse, ect will stand and look at you---totally fearless .. We had instant camp meet with sling-shots shooting steel balls at grouse at 10 feet... Well I have some area's I'd like to get the opinions of others on.. and hope to chat with some hunters with some tips on how to get the 140 gr out of the muzzle of the 7mm-08 at 3000fps ... I have read it can be done with H414. ?? The gun is new and I'm seasoning the barrel so I want to shoot 100 or so rounds at 80% before I run them up to 95% (my top end).
It has taken me over 50 years to get the guns I now have --none of them shoot over 1/2 moa and 7's and 25-06 shoot 1/2 moa.. So there is no reason to beat them up and I don't. But as I wrote these white-tail and mulies are a tough animal and can take a hit and keep going like nothing happened.. This is why I would like to shoot the 140 gr Accubond at 3000fps. It shoots the 120 Noz. Balistic tips great, very accurate and at 3100fps with several powders. But last year I shot a nice large white-tail buck that ran for about a mile and he was hit in both lungs - no harm to the heart but his lungs were in critical condition. I will always wonder how much faster that deer would have gone down had that been a 140 gr Accubond at 3000fps (he was at about 160 yds according to the range-finder)
He dropped right down got up and me admiring my shot watched as he got up and got out of there in a big hurry but no so fast that if that hadn't been the first deer I'd shot with the 7mm-08 and found myself watching rather than rolling the bold and getting another shot off ( I had plenty of time) My Bad !!
I really like the light stainless breech/barrel with a plastic stock, as our weather is often rain or snow... and while I love the beauty of wood stocks, the synthetic simply can take rain and mud and snow and not warp or if the barrel heats up and travels (with wood) away from the wood stock our accuracy is gone.
I have glassed many a friends wood stocks (from Oregon) but I've grown to appreciate the tough properties of stainless and McMillan stocks. . .(or Browning)
I'm a lefty and for years the only bolt rifle I could afford was the Savage .270 which is just fine for these very speedy eastern deer. As time went on I purchased Sako's, Browning's, Winchesters, Weatherby's ect (all left handed as I can no longer shoot a right hand bolt unless I shoot it as a single shot.) so I will always be appreciative to Savage for that great .270 win. lefty as it put a lot of meat in the freezer, and I didn't have to drop the gun down or cross over to throw the bolt.
I became used to a left bolt on the first time I rolled the bolt on the left side.
Savage is also making some very fine guns these days- - mine were always accurate and comfortable to shoot --- I had everything I needed except when Sako came out with their .338 winnie LH I was in hog heaven.
I hope they bury me with my .338 winnie mag Browning SSS as that gun is like your best dog ,and it never dies. Always there, always on the money, never persnickety about what I feed it (although it doesn't like IMR 4831 sc or otherwise), it hits like a freight-train (think God for the KDF recoil arrestor which makes shooting that gun very palatable..) I have stood beside guys shooting the 30 mags, 7 mags, 06's, and I have yet to see one of those calibers knock a moose off their feet like the .338 does.. oh they may get back up but by then you've had 4-6 sec. to get back on the animal and make another well aimed shot. I have yet to see a moose get up twice, and most don't get up once.
I would hope I've not given the impression that moose are easy to kill as they aren't. They do however present a large target with a lot of lung area.
Most guys who have hunted moose have seen a big rutted up bull take an 06 or 7 mag ect and stand there like nothing happened. If this is the poor fellows first moose and he has just given it his best shot, and the moose is still there like nothing happened what follows can be quite amusing .. my guide of 9 years told me about a fellow who was shooting a Ruger #1 in .264 win mag.
The guy made a good lung shot on the moose but the moose didn't budge. The guide (as they always do) quickly told the fellow to shoot again... the guy loaded another round and "click" nothing - - he dropped the leaver and loaded again.. by then this fellow is about 3 seconds from passing out from hyperventilation..
And again "click" The guide told the fellow to shoot again but noticed laying on the ground below the guys rifle were two Tootsie Rolls........ This guy in the heat of battle had reached into the wrong pocket and loaded his Ruger with those big old flat nose Tootsie Rolls, the moose was wounded the hunter was so flustered that the guide had to finish the animal rather than have it run off and die.
There are some very funny stories about guys coming up to hunt in anode and bringing 3 shells.. or the wrong caliber shells.. guys are given to unloading their entire gun never having pulled the trigger, or shooting straight up in the air or into the ground.. Needless to say there is a lot of adrenaline that hits the injectors when you see a big old bull walk out of the trees and stand there..
Sorry to be so long winded but these thoughts came bubbling up from years past and hopefully there are many more yet to collect.
When I figure how to post a pict. I'll post a moose er 2 ...
Roberoo
