Goals for a hunting load?

[Guy]

I've done a fair bit of hunting over my six decades on this earth. Birds & small game. Deer & other medium game. Elk and other big game. I've got some ideas about what I want from my hunting handloads.

1. Absolute reliability. The doggone cartridges simply must feed through the magazine, into the chamber and then fire.

2. Acceptable accuracy. This changes. If I'm loading my 204 to shoot itty-bitty sage rats at 300+ yards... I want serious accuracy, 1/2 MOA or better. If I'm loading to hunt elk in the timber, I'm fine with much less accuracy.

3. Enough penetration to reach the vitals from any reasonable shot. This too changes, depending on the game sought. Small deer are easy, big bull elk are considerably larger and more difficult to penetrate.

4. Consistent ability to damage the vitals enough for a quick kill. Destruction to drop the animal either in place, or within a few yards.

Those are my goals, be it for my 204 varmint rifle, my all-around 30-06 rifle, or my big game 375 rifle. First and foremost my ammo simply has to work. It's got to feed smoothly from magazine to chamber, then the brass must eject reliably and the bullet must accurately travel it's designated path. I don't waste time on getting that last 1/4" reduction in group size if I'm building an elk or bear load. At that point, I'm willing to settle for superb reliability and performance on target.

Black bear in 2010, a 306 yard, one-shot kill from my Ruger Number One in 375 H&H, with a 260 gr Nosler Accubond at about 2650 fps. Powerful enough. Accurate enough. Absolutely reliable in the single shot rifle:


Big cow elk in 2016, a 338 yard one-shot kill from my Remington 700 CDL in 30-06, with a 165 gr Nosler Ballistic tip at over 2900 fps. Accurate, flat, and lethal. Perhaps my best all-around game load:


Antelope, a 160 yard one-shot kill from my Remington 700 CDL in 25-06, with a 115 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip at 3120 fps. A great load for deer-sized game.


Mule deer at 355 yards with the same 25-06/115 gr load:



Put a good bullet where it belongs, and game is yours! Time to time a followup shot is required.

Load for success!

What are your goals when loading for the hunt?

Guy

[EUDE75]

I couldn't agree more. Great kills BTW.

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[Guy]

For an example of when "absolute reliability" was required - I look to my arctic grizzly hunt in the Brooks Range, 2017. I used my 30-06 rifle and handloads with 200 grain Nosler Partitions.

After a mile-long stalk, we found the bear at about 40 yards, perhaps a bit farther. Firing was fast and furious. I used all four of the cartridges in my rifle's magazine in less than a minute. At the end of the shooting, the bear was dead. Each round simply had to slip smoothly from magazine to chamber, fire accurately and with full power, and then eject, clearing the way for the next cartridge.



I'd loaded some cartridges that shot extremely well. However they were really long, seated to be close to the lands. Some were so long the bullet actually jammed into the rifling and then stayed there! The cartridge wouldn't smoothly eject if I didn't fire it. Backing off a bit with the length, was a good course of action.

Reliability mattered more to me in that case than the ultimate accuracy.

Regards, Guy

[Guy]

I couldn't agree more. Great kills BTW.

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Thanks, I truly love hunting mule deer, which are common near my home in central Washington, and have fallen hard for hunting antelope - for which I must travel.

Guy

[Muddydawg75]

Nice harvests


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[Clopez]

Couldn’t agree more and those are some beautiful animals my friend.


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[Kamikaze007]

Guy where do you hunt antelope.


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[Wes Sage]

Wyoming

Guy where do you hunt antelope.


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[Guy]

Guy where do you hunt antelope.


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Yes. About every other year I make a trip from my home in Washington to go hunt Wyoming. I only started hunting antelope a few years ago and found out that I dearly loved hunting them, and that their meat is delicious! My wife isn't a real big fan of steaks of any kind, but when she got her first bite of antelope backstrap steak, her face lit up and she asked "did you cook more of this?" So, when I want to make a trip to Wyoming for antelope, she's all for it.

Regards, Guy

[Kamikaze007]

Yes. About every other year I make a trip from my home in Washington to go hunt Wyoming. I only started hunting antelope a few years ago and found out that I dearly loved hunting them, and that their meat is delicious! My wife isn't a real big fan of steaks of any kind, but when she got her first bite of antelope backstrap steak, her face lit up and she asked "did you cook more of this?" So, when I want to make a trip to Wyoming for antelope, she's all for it.

Regards, Guy

Always awesome when you can get the bosses approval!


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