First rifle, advise

[XRpredator]

I usually hire my cutting done. Somewhere between 50-60 cents/lb. For deer, it usually ends up as sausage, pepperoni, and jerky, since it ain't the tastiest of critters around here. (we don't have 'em grain fed like those easterners! :D ) Most of the steaks and hamburger we use is elk.

 

[bsmith]

First, in washington you can't use the inline Muzzleloaders with a scope that shot 200 yards, so I have an Thompsin Hawkin 50 caliber.
I didn't have a lot of help learning how so I got the 50 grain pyrodex pellets to make life easy, drop 2 in for a 100 grains, then a pre-lubed slug and away I go :) , ya right, well the dam pellets are made for in line so the flames from the cap travel in a straight line into the pellets, and the pellets have a whole thru the center to pre heat and/or also ignite the second pellet.
The old standard Cap lock on the side sends the flame in the chamber at a 90' angle so the pellets wouldn't ignite.
I then got some real black powder and she fired like a champ. I did however have to pull a couple slugs out while experimenting with the pellets.

So trial and error, I ended up pre loading a couple of the little plastic containers so I wouldn't have to measure in the field if I missed or needed an additional shot.
I'm happy now, and have since learned I could dump a few grains thru the cap hole in order to ignite the pellets. Lice and learn.
I changed primarily for a better season and don't have to where the KTM orange.

 

[bwalker]

Zio, IMO stainless synthetic is the only way to go.My gun looks like new even though its been to Alaska, Montana twice, and about 10 seasons in MI. Stainless is fine for stealth purposes, although this is not really a issue for deer hunting. As far as caliber goes 270 and 30-06 ammo can be found every where. The same can not be said for my 280 and some of the other calibers. I love the gun, but if I had a choice I would have it in a 06 or a 270. I would favor the 270 with a 130 grain bullet(nosler partition/spear grandslam,etc) for deer, black bear and pig(which is delicious) and the 06 (150 gr for deer and a 180 gr for the big stuff) if you ever intend to go after elk or moose.I wouldnt be too afraid of Black bear when armed with a 270. Plenty of knock down power for black bear.Many people in MI take them with lever action 30-30's and 32 specials. BTW I would go remington. There are a real good value.

 

[bsmith]

We have a meat room on the farm so typically we cut our own.
I took my Mule deer( gameir tasting then a whitey) and had some peperoni and suasage made.
The thing I hate about a meat shop is they typically measure the weight of what you brought in and give you the equalivent in return. The kicker is it might not even be your meat:eek: .
Egger Meats is the big shop around hear and they add together enough meat to make 100lbs of sausage, hamburger, pepperoni, etc, so if you only want 20lbs of sausage then they mix in enough of other peoples meat to fill the order and then give you 20 lbs of finished/mixed product.
My family takes good care of our game, we have it cleaned, skinned, quartered, and hanging in the rootcellar ASAP, we typically let it hang for 5 days then cut it up. Others might not take care of their game at all and you
might end up eating theirs instead:mad:
I'll also add that before taking it in I cut it off the bone and cut the fat out, at the meat shop they get paid buy the pound, so my good clean meat is now filled with some one elses fat and grissel.
It's a personel choice, just like a green, red, yellow or orange bike argument, what's better for you:p:

 

[zio]

Originally posted by XRpredator
I usually hire my cutting done. Somewhere between 50-60 cents/lb. For deer, it usually ends up as sausage, pepperoni, and jerky, since it ain't the tastiest of critters around here. (we don't have 'em grain fed like those easterners! :D ) Most of the steaks and hamburger we use is elk.

Holy crap, that's a lot of sausage, pepperoni & jerky! Hmm.... maybe pig is the way to go. Besides, I wouldn't have any regrets shooting an ugly pig.

 

[XRpredator]

Originally posted by zio
Holy crap, that's a lot of sausage, pepperoni & jerky!

You spread it around to friends and family. :)

And Smith, where I get my meat cut, you pay for the hangin' weight, but you don't get that much back (bones, tripe, etc.). They're good guys, so I know what I'm getting back.

 

[bsmith]

I don't think I'll use Eggers again for that reason. That's not something they tell you unless you push the subject.
I've heard of a good guy in Moses lake I might try.

We pay about $.70 a pound for a guy from Davenport to come off a few cows. Theirs nothing like home grown beef, um um good!:moon: but he only does Hamburger so can't get and sausage or pep sticks.

Zio- It makes for a great X-mas presents Couple packs a breakfast sausage, pepsticks, and summer sausage. Sure beats a fruit cake:cool:

 

[bwalker]

You can also soak deer meat in milk to draw out the gamey taste. This even works to draw the sage taste out of mule deer.

 

[thorman75]

after years of butchering and processing wild game most of that gamey taste your talking about is caused by the fat

 

[Neil Wig]

A couple quick questions while were at it.

30-06 vs .308 Win.
I've heard the 30-06 has better range than a .308, any truth to that?
I'm looking for a new rifle too, but I'm looking for a Browning (BLR) lightning lever. I would prefer the medium casings rather than long action, so I'm leaning toward the .308 or 300 Win. Short Mag.
This years whitetail was taken with a .308 at 100 yards, belly down, running flat out... You can pretty much shoot Whitetail or Mule deer at whatever range you perfer in Saskatchewan. If you wanna push ****(trees), we got lots of that. If your a long range sharp shooter...we got them too. The tropy whitetail (Hansen Buck) was taken about 60 miles from my back door.
We were spotting last weekend, and saw some seriously large mulies. One two pointer had about 7" tines, about 1" in diameter. He was one of two adolescents in the herd. The stag out front looked lots bigger.....

Any opinions?

 

[bwalker]

A 06 will shoot farther than a 308, but not by enough to make a big differance. Both are excellant deer calibers. The 300wsm is suppose to be a nice cartridge, but it will kick more than a 06 and I dont think it is chambered in the BLR.

 

[bsmith]

Those antlers should be falling off, go back and get-um.

 

[ghunter]

Maybe I missed it in this thread, but IMHO the most important decision is 'Can I afford the cost of the ammo to get enough practice?'. I own a few rifles in various calibers from .17 Rem to 7mm Rem Mag. and will tell you that a box of '06 or 7mm will cost you $10 - $15 for 20 rounds; more for premium 'Hunting Quality' stuff.

Get something that will get the job done, but won't bankrupt you with ammo costs. I'd much rather have an ugly, yet reliable firearm that I can afford to shoot than a beautiful conversation piece that I can only shoot on special occasions.

Let's face it, most of us will never use the range provided by the .270, 7mm, .308, or the other long-range cartidges. Even a 30-30 will drop a decent sized animal at 100-plus yards, IF you have enough practice to fire it well. Hell, I know a guy that gets his yearly limit of whitetail exclusively with a .17 cal Remington bolt action... not legally of course, but that's his problem. The fact is that he's good enough to shoot 'em in the eye and drop 'em in their tracks. I couldn't do it, and I doubt many others could hit a quarter sized target, especially at 150+ yards. But he knows his capabilities and those of his rifle.

If you are really serious about getting into shooting, look into reloading your own ammo. I was forced into it by my desire to fire my .50 cal Desert Eagle and at $30 for 20 rounds, I had to reload! But I really got into it and now reload ammo for everything I shoot, including my shotgun. The initial investment is relatively minimal (around $150 - $200) for a decent press and dies. And one pound of powder, a brick of primers, and some projectiles will probably cost you $50 - $75 and provide you with a thousand or more rounds of ammo, depending on caliber. If you spend enough time at the range to become proficient with your rifle, you will certainly recognize a dramatic savings in ammo costs - I see about 85% savings over store-bought ammo.

Practice is the key to good marksmanship with any firearm!

Just my .02

 

[zio]

I've read that shots beyond 350 or so yards are risky, at best, for all but the most experienced sharp-shooters. And the trajectory at 400 yards for 30-06, 7mm Mag, .270, .308 etc is around -20 to -30 inches inches. For example a typical 150 gr .308 zeroed at 200 yards will rise 2.0 at 100 yards, drop 8.8 at 300 yards, & drop 26.3 at 400 yards.

http://www.gamecalls.net/huntingtips/table.html

Energy with the .308 at 300 yards is still 1345, while a typical 180 gr. 30-06 is still packing 1665 at 300 yards. Either should still have enough energy to do the job if placed right.

Here's a great article I found... http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Forest/6059/bgkp.html

I'm turning into a ballistics expert in two days time!:)

 

[zio]

Here's another great link, with tons more info on a lot of the topics discussed in this thread:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/all_around_cartridges.htm

It's what has me choosing between either the .308 or the .270

 

[bwalker]

Zio, IMO most people have no business shooting 350 yards. The chances for wounding game at those ranges is too great for the average hunter.Most people have a very poor sense of yardage so many people claim to have shot game at very long range.
The fact of the matter is most shots are under 150 yards. I have never shot a deer in Mi that was over this range. I have taken two mule deer and a antelope out west and the farthest one was 200( antelope), one muley was shot at about fifty yards and the other at around 150.
I Did shoot a caribou at 400 yards(laser range finder Verified) in alaska with my 280. I was using a 140 gr nosler balistic tip and a max load of Reloader 22. With this combo and a three inch sight in at 100 yards the bullet only drops 10 inches at 400. Bullet drop is not the only issue at this range though. Wind, elevation, and shot angle must all be ideal for a clean kill to take place. The reason I took the shot was that I had a ideal rest in the prone position, the animal was broadside, no wind and I had shot targets at this range before so I was reasonably confident in my abilities. Under most hunting circumstances ideal conditions like this rarely present themselves and I would have not taken the shot.

btw a 150gr 30-06 drops 10.8 inches at 400 yards with a three inch zero, a 270 with a 130 and the same zero about 9.9, a 280 140 about 9.7, a 7 mag about 7.7. I dont know where you got those twenty inch figures at unless the gun was sighted in at very close range. Point of the whole matter. The gun will shoot that far, the shooter many times cant.

 

[oldguy]

Bwalker is right on. I have honestly shot only 1 whitetail at 125 yrds every other one of maybe 25 have been 30 yds or less. We hunt heavy woods and seldom can see farther.
I have a 308 that the kid really likes to shoot and has used the last 2 seasons. It is an excellent whitetail gun and I would forgo the 243 for him if he would grow soon. What really made him comfortable with it was for 2 months before he first used it we went shooting at least 3x a week and he shot at least 25 rounds each time (the ammo was free).
Whatever you decide on practice alot and wear the clothes you will have on hunting. Know both the guns and your capability and don't overshoot it. The worst feeling is having a mediocre hit and not finding the wounded animal.

 

[zio]

Originally posted by bwalker
Zio, IMO most people have no business shooting 350 yards. The chances for wounding game at those ranges is too great for the average hunter.Most people have a very poor sense of yardage so many people claim to have shot game at very long range.

btw a 150gr 30-06 drops 10.8 inches at 400 yards with a three inch zero, a 270 with a 130 and the same zero about 9.9, a 280 140 about 9.7, a 7 mag about 7.7. I dont know where you got those twenty inch figures at unless the gun was sighted in at very close range. Point of the whole matter. The gun will shoot that far, the shooter many times cant.

That's what I've read. Don't worry, I don't plan on actually bagging one for a while. I figure there's a pretty steep learning curve.

I got those figures here:

http://www.gamecalls.net/huntingtips/table.html

 

[bwalker]

I got those figures here:

Its odd they list a 1.5 inch zero but do not give the velocities. My figures are for a 3 inch zero(which is good for long Range work) and come from the Nosler reloading manual #4.