Rethinking my loads/calibers for deer.

[Colorado Cowboy]

Some of you have probably read my post about this years antelope/deer hunt in Wyoming and know about my encounter with a buck deer of a lifetime.

A little background: my primary deer/antelope caliber has been 25-06 since the early 70's. I have killed over 100 deer & antelope using my Ruger M77 in 25-06. I handload everything using a 117gr Sierra Game King BT. I also have a Leupold Ballistic Turret for the load. Longest kill was on antelope at 478 yds, one shot. I also have a 30-06 and a .300 Wby. The Wby is my elk gun and the 30-06 is a backup for everything.

This year I had the opportunity to take what I believe would have been a record book buck deer. Conditions were tough and I didn't connect. There were 7 bucks in a canyon, I ranged them at 378 yds and a wind was blowing in my face that was about 30mph (felt like a gale!). I had an excellent rest and was shooting downhill near the bottom of the canyon. I set my turret at 375 and missed twice. We could not see a bullet strike.

I realize it was a really tough shot, especially in the wind. I am sure the wind and the angle really screwed up my shots. As I relive the situation, I believe I would have had a much better chance with one of my .30 calibers shooting a 150 gr bullet.

Soooo...... I am going to work up a 150gr load for my .300 Wby. Ballistics will be outstanding at around 3400 fps. The load should be able to do a better job in adverse conditions. Once I get the load worked out, I'll shoot it distances up to 500yds and see how it does. My .300 also has a Leupold Ballistic Turret, for a 180gr elk load. It will be interesting to see how the 2 loads compare.

Looks like I'll be taking 2 rifles in the future and the conditions will dictate which one I use.

 

[Winchester]

Hey CC,
Very sorry to hear about your missed opportunity … but those certainly were adverse conditions.
Your plan makes good sense to me.
Certainly no one here is going to challenge your knowledge of ballistics.
I've been taking along my 30-06 as a backup rifle for my new .28 Nosler lately.
It works for me.

 

[JimP]

For the best wind bucking bullets you need to find a long time skinny one. That is where the 6.5's shine. Those long skinny 140-145 grain bullets buck the wind real good.

How about a 6.5-300 Weatherby for a new rifle?

 

[HuskyMusky]

what's the BC of the 150 vs the 117..?

I wonder if a higher bc from the 300, like a 165, 180 would be better? or are you thinking you want speed/flatter out to 500 or so?

good luck!

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I have 200 150 gr bullets that I don't use much. Want better performance in the wind. The 150's are faster and shoot flatter.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

what's the BC of the 150 vs the 117..?

I wonder if a higher bc from the 300, like a 165, 180 would be better? or are you thinking you want speed/flatter out to 500 or so?

good luck!

.308 150gr BT B/C is .408; S/D is 226

.257 117 gr BT B/C is .410; S/D is 216

 

[Gr8bawana]

Why not just use the 300 with 180 grain bullets for deer? The difference in drop between the 150 and the 180 out to 500 yards is amazingly small.
I'm sure you've already got a very accurate load for your 180's and that is what many hunters use for deer and it works just fine.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

You are right< I do have a great 180 gr load. It is an option for sure.

 

[mallardsx2]

I killed a deer at exactly 397 yards last year in a 10-15 MPH crosswind. I hit him about a foot to the left of where I was aiming. That was with a 300 WSM 150 grain bullet going 3300 FPS. Looking back at it if the wind was blowing the other direction I might have missed the deer if I didnt adjust for the crosswind.

When I got to the deer the wind was blowing the opposite direction that from where I shot....??? Lots of coulda woulda shouldas in hunting. Been there and I'll be there again.

Bottom line is that in 400 yards unless on a perfectly flat surface at the range with a wind gadget you really dont know how to adjust for the wind exactly. Its just more of an estimate.

100 yards from where you are sitting the wind could be blowing the bullet up down right or left.

Sorry ya didn't get your deer. I bet you that bullet literally barely missed that deer twice though. Too bad you couldn't see the bullet hit and adjust. But sometimes thats how she goes.

Jumping up to a 180 grain bullet out of my 300 WSM isnt an option for me. The recoil difference is substancial and that to me is unacceptable.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

You are right about the wind, everything happened so fast there was no way to really look at the grass/brush to see how much and what direction the wind was. It swirls around in a canyon and changes direction a lot. I had 2 spotters with binos looking as I was shooting and no bullet strike was seen so adjustments could be made.

I have seen and hunted in conditions like these many times, but have opted not to shoot. This time I decided to shoot.

 

[RICMIC]

CC, you mentioned the extreme angle of your shot. So, do you have a rangefinder with the angle range compensated for your ammo profile? They call it different things, my Leupold RX1000TBR calls it True Ballistic Range. I traded up to this after I shot a good mule deer at an extreme angle and wanted to account for that in future hunts.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Nope. I have a swaro bino/rangefinder combo.

 

[Sawfish]

I like a heavier bullet in the .300 Magnums. In my .300 Weatherby, I use either the Barnes 165 gr. TTSX over 83.0 RL22, or the Nosler 180 gr. Partition over 81.0 AA-3100. Both loads clock a shade over 3,000 fps.

 

[DRUSS]

wind is tough situation. but normally the heavy higher BC projectiles help us compensate the least in these situations. I shoot 180s in my 300 WSM and 200gr in my 300 Win Mag. But my 25/06 gets 1 of 2 bullets either yours(sierra 117gr BT) or berger 115gr. and the 25/06 and 270 win have been the majority of my deer taken. I will admit my 280AI is getting carried a lot these days though.