Archive for the 'Ammunition' Category

For the reloader, it was his first time shooting a lever action 30-30.  He did well (missing only once), and that’s expected.  I find the 30-30 easy to shoot, easy on recoil, and powerful enough to take anything I want to take.  I think the rifle and cartridge are a pure joy.

OL.

For years now we’ve heard from rifle and ammo manufacturers that the 6.5 Creedmoor is their most popular cartridge. It’s an excellent round for open country, and it’s found its way into plenty of Midwestern and Eastern deer camps, too. But there’s one consideration that’s become a head scratcher. A whole bunch of deer hunters are reporting sub-par blood trails from deer—even well-hit deer—shot with their 6.5 Creeds.

Just ask full-time Wisconsin blood-tracker Dean Muthig, who has put his Bavarian mountain scent hounds on 230 deer tracks so far this season. Many of his calls over the years have been from parents who need help recovering deer during the youth rifle season. Not because their kids are making poor shots—Muthig says younger hunters seem to shoot just as accurately as adults. Instead, it’s because they tend to use smaller calibers like a .243—and the 6.5 Creedmoor. It’s not that these kids aren’t killing deer. They just can’t find them.

Consider the 9-year-old boy who shot a nice buck on a Wisconsin food plot this fall. The 8-pointer fled into a stand of pines, which his family searched without finding a speck of blood. When Muthig arrived, his hound lead him directly to the buck. It had run 175 yards before piling up from the double-lung shot. The bullet had not exited, and there was no visible blood on the entire track.

“The kid made a great shot, but it’s just one of those things where the deer didn’t bleed at all,” says Muthig, who’s been tracking for 17 years. “The 6.5 Creedmoor is like a .243 where—they kill deer, don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of people who kill deer with them. But they just don’t leave a blood trail, hardly ever. And it’s just because it’s such a small entry hole … It’s the size of a pencil, and a lot of times the bullets go in and expand and there’s no exit, and nowhere for the blood to go. … Or if it does exit, there’s not a lot of room for blood to get out. Running deer cover a lot of ground fast, so you can end up with really minimal blood in the course of a few hundred yards.”

[ … ]

But even if you have a higher sectional density with the 6.5 Creedmoor, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get a heavy blood trail on a pass through. So what does this mean for hunters who don’t want to wade into ballistics, and just want to recover their deer? It means they need to choose the right bullet for their desired outcome.

“If you like two leaky holes, and there’s a lot to be said for that, you’re going to want to shoot something like a Nosler AccuBond, a Barnes Monolithic, or a Hornaday GMX,” Snow says. “If you want lots of internal damage but not necessarily a pass-through, look at the Hornaday ELD-X or a Nosler Ballistic Tip—any of those lighter, polymer-tip bullets should fit the bill. Just know that there’s still a chance that it’ll blow through the deer.”

I guess that’s one knock against the bullet.  But it seems to me that you want both – expansion and damage + pass-through.  Of course, I spoke to one old hunter one time who told me “I shoot the 300 Win Mag and I don’t have to chase a blood trail.”

Video courtesy of reader Ned.

Interesting experience he has with Louisiana floods and what it does to guns and ammo.

Tim from MAC.

If velocity and muzzle energy are what you want, Underwood is hot ammo.

Well isn’t this special.  So after mandating that his employees take the shot, and then denying it in writing later when the gun community panned his decision, apparently now they’re on a tear to find the one who leaked the memo to the gun community.

The CFO is at the tip of the spear on the hunt.  He’s angry.  Furthermore, those who do not take the shot will have no access to their sick time.  This is punishment for not taking the shot.

So this has almost become unrecoverable for Steve Hornady.  It may be able to be salvaged.  Let’s assume for a moment that Steve isn’t the one doing this, that he is being led by his CFO and/or his HR department.

The immediate solution is to make an example of his CFO and HR department by firing them in front of the employees.  Forthwith unemployed, no returns, no questions asked, no discussion necessary.  Do it.  Fire them all.

Then write a letter to the gun community and beg for forgiveness and explain that you’re not just concerned about money, that you’re committed to liberty and that this message falls right in line with your production of ammunition for lovers of liberty.  Then get in front of your employees and beg for their forgiveness.  Explain that you surrounded yourself with awful people, and that mistake won’t happen again – ever.

Now let’s assume that this is all coming from Steve.  In that case, there is no recovery.  It’s a fait accompli.

So, they did, but not without some weasel words to be able to deny they ever made the mandate in the first place.  This isn’t a very good look for Hornady, but at least they backed down.

For what it’s worth, as of this writing, I still haven’t gotten a response to my note to Steve Hornady.

The post title is correct.  That’s good shooting by both of them.

Of course, she’s shooting a very nice 223 rifle (SAKO) with a very long barrel (24″) along with a heavy bullet (80.5 grain Berger).  But still, that’s good shooting and a great job of taking the 223 out that far.

Reader Ned sends this our way.

I’ve sent a note out to Steve Hornady and so far there has been no response to my questions.  I’ll post a new article if I get a response.