Three great groups for Shooter

[Springville Shooter]

Shot three great groups at the range today at 300yds. Shot a 1.5" with my 300 ultra, a .80" with my 7mm Dakota which ties my personal best group at 300yds, and a .85" with a brand new load of Barnes TSX 100gr in my 25-06 Ackley. These kind of groups make me very happy at the range, I love it when good equipment combines with me having a good shooting day. Now I just have to decide which one to shoot my deer with. Which one do you guys think I should use?------------SS

[needs_recoil]

Of the three I am a 25-06 fan. But with results like that I cant imagine going wrong with any of them. Great shooting.

[a_bow_nut]

I'm partial to the 25-06 also. I love blasting prarie dogs with mine.

[capt.nw]

I' am a fan of the 300 ultra!

[sneekeepete]

I say carry the one that is most comfortable. You can obviously shoot all of them very well so that is no concern.

[Springville Shooter]

Thanks Guys,
You were alot nicer to me than my benchrest buddies, but then again, alot of them don't shoot groups like that with their $5K 18lb rifles, so there might have been some jealousy there. They tried to come up with all the ways I might have cheated and gave me crap about my "hunting " rifles and bullets.

I always lean toward the 25-06 Ackley. It shoots very well and is both easy to pack as well as shoot offhand. I worry about the 100grn bullets being too light for shots past 400 on a big muley, but 400 is a pretty good range. The Dakota is like an old dog, I've had that rifle since I was 16 years old when it was just a Ruger M77 in 7mm Rem mag. Now it has a fancy new barrel and stock and is chambered in the Dakota 7mm. The 300 is a beast, but the range is almost limitless if I can have the time to get set up and get a good read with the rangefinder. Sad thing is I have two more rifles in the safe that shoot good as well in 338 Ultra and 6mm Rem. Sometimes I think I have too many guns............Nahhhhh. Mrs. Shooter thinks so.-------SS

[sneekeepete]

I would agree that 100 gr. bullets are a little light out at 400 yards; but then again any hunter that goes out with the intention of long range shots only isn't a very good hunter in my book. I would imagine that you are definatley skilled enough to get well within range. I look forward to hearing and seeing the pics of your precision work my friend. Good luck this fall.

[Springville Shooter]

I actually do go out hoping for longer shots because I've found through lots of experience that these are by far my highest percentage shots. I would much rather take a rested shot at 300-500 yards at a deer that doesn't know I'm in the woods than a 50 yard offhand shot at a running deer. My hunting style has been referred to as deer sniping, not hunting by a few of my traditionalist friends and I can't say that I disagree with them. Regardless, this is the method that I enjoy. I also like the ability to take my time and look a buck over before I decide to take him or let him go. I learned to hunt this way in Northern California where me and my friends found that you could almost never kill a crafty Blacktail buck by "sneeking" through the dense timber, but you could get them by setting up across the canyon from their favorite clearcut and waiting for them to pop out at 300 or so yards. This type of hunting is not for everyone, but I like the fun of the hours of preparation, the personal element of building a custom rifle and custom loads, and the satisfaction of a 90%+ one-shot kill rate. All that said, I still practice alot at closer, offhand shooting because I know that I will be faced with those shots too and I believe that a hunter must be prepared for whatever shot that once-in-a-lifetime buck offers him whether it's bouncing through the cedars at close range, or coming out of the treeline just before dark at 500yds.-----------SS

[sneekeepete]

I guess I am somewhat the same way just not quite at the same ranges. I prefer to take my shots between 150 to 300 yards. I seem to have a knack for getting in close to buck undetected most of the time though. Last year my buck was shot at 10 yards with him still coming my way! I like to think it is because I am really sneekee and not just lucky!

[Springville Shooter]

That's great, I bet you are sneekee. Be it luck, or skill, or a combination of both, I say take em however they come. I've had 10 yard shots, but they were with a bow. I did shoot a Blacktail on the way back to camp once at 25 yrds with my rifle in the thick timber. It was like manna from heaven.---------SS