2011 Hunting Season Contest

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2011 Hunting Season Contest

Postby wildcatter » Sat Oct 15, 2011 5:47 pm

This is a reprint from StealthShooter's posting about his first 450b kill. Copy and paste your other posting over here, so we can better keep track of events.

Opening a new thread for this was the BushMeister's idea.

So, here's goes, a Gentleman's Contest, wherein You are the judges. I alone will settle any disputes, anyway I want. So, even if you don't win, we'll all win by the accumulation of Forensic Data and the betterment of Interior, Exterior, and Terminal Ballistics, as it relates to the 450b.

Good Luck..

..t


Re: First 450 Bushmaster kill

Postby wildcatter » 13 Oct 2011, 07:56
BINGO, and 262 yards to boot!!

Nice kill, now we need details (as in, how well did it kill at that range), the load, penetration angles, bullet recovery, vitals destruction, hold over or sight in stuff, etc.

Just so you guys know, our Stealthshooter here has been preparing for shots to 400+ yards, and this, in an effort to put to rest, that our little gun is only a mere 200yd rig at best, or at least, that is what the Neophyte's on the other big bore channels would have you believe. I guess, they just don't understand what is actually possible, when you have a rig (the 450 Bushmaster) with far greater possibilities, compared to their low pressure, stretched pistol, wanna-be, cartridges. Just because they are stretching their envelops to over-max at 200yds, they can't comprehend our capabilities.

This years hunt, should be a water-shed, enlightening year, in regards to terminal ballistics, for us. You guys are going to bypass the things the Civil-War Engineers/Buffalo Hunters knew, and that consequent Ballistics Engineers, have forgotten. In other words, forget what the paper graphs say, which spells out supposed dismal results for our bullets Ft/Lb Energy vs Killing and find out for yourself just what the possibilities are.

So, how about this.

Two categories, one being the longest ranged Big Game "Clean" kill and the Toughest Kill.

A 438yds kill on a deer might win the longest yardage, but a 225yd kill on a Moose, might be the toughest. You guys will be the judges and lets say January first (subj to change), lets vote on who did what.

To the two categories, as I have lined out here, I will ship, to both winners, 100rds of brand new 450b cases, each.

Now for some rules (Subj to change, as many here want to read all manor of topics about the kill and will define some loose rules as well.). This is a Gentleman's Competition, the voters at the end will define who the winners are, under very loose, ill defined, rules.

Details, Details, Details, about the hunt, how you determined the range, the kill, the postmortem, loads, etc., etc.. Write about it all. Heck, the best story, just might be one of the winners.

AND most importantly, you must not take a chance of wounding the animal, by trying something like a 2500yd shot. This must be a clean ethical kill. If you have a bait pile at say 435 paces, I'd suggest sighting-in at that range, use a stable shooting platform and a bullet up to the task (we got hundreds to pick from, choose one and use that one this year), just realize, if you choose a hollow point (say a 250gr HP/XTP product #45200), which will be going at 911fps (45LC speeds) at my mythological distance of 435yds and will expand and flatten the any serious big game animal, will however, explode on contact, most likely will not penetrate into the vitals, at close ranges. So choose your poisons and tactics wisely, like maybe another magazine with some other kind of bullet for close work???

By doing this you will start to capture the picture, that has alluded Hunters, since the sub-caliber craze became all the rage, more than 140 years ago (imagine killing all those buffalo, with a 308 or how about the 243, 223 anyone?? Holly-Cow!!). Now, we not only have a High-Speed Big-Bore (repetitively speaking, Heck, Win/Fed factory 45-70 300gr loads are are advertised only going 1880fps, from a 24" barrel, that's the 1600fps area for a 16" barrel), but we're shooting ours from a "keep-on-ticking" battle proven rifle, with hundreds and hundreds of bullets to choose from (at speeds, heretofore, not known in this caliber), with thousands and thousands of loading combinations. Can you spell, "Kick-Booty and don't bother taking any Names"??

Again, Fantastic Kill, keep up the good work and to you other guys, good Hunting..

..t
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Re: 2011 Hunting Season Contest

Postby Stealthshooter » Sat Oct 15, 2011 8:44 pm

I'm game WC!!

So Here is how the day went......

Shayna (my wife with the big deer) and I started the morning out in an area that we had not hunted before. We saw 3 does and a bunch of deer and elk sign but nothing with antlers. We then decided to hunt a little spot that we know about but most people drive right by and never give a second look. Shayna dropped me off so I could give it a walk through and she drove to the end to pick me up and watch for anything that I may spook out. I didn't get very far in and sure enough a buck and a doe jump up. The buck just would not give me a shot so I jogged up and around the hill because I was pretty sure of where he was going. I managed to get to the top and there they were right where I was thinking they would be. At this point I was not sure about his size........Well when I saw him again I knew he was a good one. I ranged him at 375 yards and dropped to my knees and flipped out my bipod legs. As soon as I laid down i knew I was not going to be able to see through the tall grass. At this point I was just hoping Shayna was where she usually is because that's where he was heading. I barely got that thought through my mind when I heard the unmistakable whop of a bullet hitting an animal and he dropped out of sight. I was more excited at that point than if I had shot it because I knew exactly what had happened...........My lovely wife had just shot her biggest deer ever. When I got to her she was out of breath from running up the hill to get a rest on a fence post and from being so excited. She had just made a 280 yard shot on a 140-150 class deer! We took care of her deer and she drug it to the truck since I am unable to do so because of my recent back surgery....she is a trooper!


I was sitting in my recliner after skinning and hanging the deer and she said ok lets go back out and get your's. I said ok but I'm not sure where to go but decide to go back to where my Dad had killed his the day before. Just as soon as we pulled up to the area I spotted a doe and a fawn bedded down. We got out and walk towards the deer and there were actually 7 does and fawns bedded down. We spooked them up and I laid down with my bipod out and watched them through my scope for about 10 minutes trying to grow antlers on one which by the way doesn't work!! They were 246 yards out which would of been perfect as my rifle is zeroed at 250 yards. They wandered off up the hill and I picked my rifle up dusted myself off and started the hike again. well the hike lasted about 10 more yards before Shayna spotted another deer. I laid down with my bipod out once again looked through my scope and immediately noticed the rack on his head. He didn't know we were there so I handed Shayna my range finder and she said 262 yards. He was feeding on a bush and facing me so I waited until he gave me a better shot. He walked away from the bush and ended up quartering away from me. Not wanting to ruin the meat in the far shoulder I put the crosshairs on his neck just in front of his shoulder. I pulled the trigger and he disappeared with a wonderful WHOP. Shayna said holy crap he went down hard! We started the trip to recover him and a smaller buck jumped up from the same spot and for a second I was worried he had gotten back up but it was def smaller and as hard as he went down I knew it couldn't be him. When we got up to him it looked as if he was sleeping he had collapsed right in his tracks his head was still facing the same way as when I shot and all 4 feet were under him. My 300 grain SST had hit it's mark and passed through a little over a foot of meat and spine and exited the far side. The exit hole was roughly twice the size of the entrance hole but it had not needlessly destroyed meat like I have seen smaller faster calibers do. All in all i was extremely impressed with the performance and am convinced it would of went through twice as much meat and bone.

I look forward to taking my 450 on many more hunts!
Stealthshooter

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Re: 2011 Hunting Season Contest

Postby Hoot » Sat Oct 15, 2011 9:17 pm

That's going to be a hard act to follow. Where I hunt, the woods are so thick that a 50 yard shot is about as far as you get. I do have a scale and they grow pretty big up here where the winters are brutal. Regardless, best of luck for everyone going into the field with our favorite heavy hitter. My goal is to get two mature deer between my Dad and I. In the zone we hunt in, you're allowed up to six each due to over-population. I've toyed with eliminating the cost of dog food by taking one to feed the dog. He loves boiled venison. Gravy and all. Seriously, they're like ticks on a dog up where we go. The drawback over dry food is having to cook a batch up every week for him and keeping it in the refrigerator. The girls hate the smell.

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Re: 2011 Hunting Season Contest

Postby Stealthshooter » Sat Oct 15, 2011 9:59 pm

It won't be too hard to keep up with. He won't make any record books for sure.
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Re: 2011 Hunting Season Contest

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Sat Oct 15, 2011 10:56 pm

I dont think we are counting points, spread on this. If that was the case, a 300 pound russian boar or a 450 pound bear would not even get a mention. From what I have read, this is a distance and biggest/nasty or dangerous game with a strong influence on external/internal and terminal ballistics WRT the 450 Bushmaster exclusively. And your 262 yard bang-flop is gonna be a "first on" leader on the distance/ terminal ballistics board. That is, if I am understanding WCs' description of this competition.
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Re: 2011 Hunting Season Contest

Postby DFWDave » Sun Oct 16, 2011 4:18 pm

Well, this sounds like fun!

But, for those of us non-reloaders, whose repertoire of ammo consists of one (1), count'em one each choice, namely the Hornady LeveRevolution at CheaperThanDirt (or however they decide to label the box that they put the ammo in, it appears to all be the same thing), do you think we too have the possibility of hitting anything big (a 300 lb boar would be nice) at 300 yards without aiming at Ursa Major? Is there a better way of graphing the ballistics than the HandLoads.com calculator?
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Re: 2011 Hunting Season Contest

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Sun Oct 16, 2011 5:31 pm

There are currently two factory loadings. Hornady Custom and Remmy has their own version out too. I don't see any reason to exclude the members who are launching factory fodder. Maybe we should subdivide into two categories Factory ammo kills and handloaded kills? What do you think Tim?
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Re: 2011 Hunting Season Contest

Postby wildcatter » Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:28 pm

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:I dont think we are counting points, spread on this. If that was the case, a 300 pound russian boar or a 450 pound bear would not even get a mention. From what I have read, this is a distance and biggest/nasty or dangerous game with a strong influence on external/internal and terminal ballistics WRT the 450 Bushmaster exclusively. And your 262 yard bang-flop is gonna be a "first on" leader on the distance/ terminal ballistics board. That is, if I am understanding WCs' description of this competition.


Heck Yeah, shoot'em, that monsta-hog would go into the toughest category and if you include a great description and general data, you might get the votes.

As in, try this..."so there I was, up on the Klondike and a charging herd of little piggies, Kilt-me", get it?

Everything is fair game, even Hoots limitations for range, could be over come, by killing, a killer muskrat, over the lake, at say 842yds, inject a great story and bingo, that could easily get my vote. Everything is fair game, even though I personally would like to see results of remaining Terminal Ballistics, at what has here-to-fore, been described as just too far for this weapon system. You know the .."it's only barely a 200yd cartridge", crowd..


..t
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Re: 2011 Hunting Season Contest

Postby wildcatter » Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:42 pm

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:There are currently two factory loadings. Hornady Custom and Remmy has their own version out too. I don't see any reason to exclude the members who are launching factory fodder. Maybe we should subdivide into two categories Factory ammo kills and handloaded kills? What do you think Tim?


Yuppers, I think I may have already answered this. What we need is a Great story Line and Data. A 100yd shot on a 300lb pig, with factory ammo, from a water tower, using a mirror, could generate votes. Just make sure you can cleanly and ethically, kill the animal, shooting over your shoulder, using a mirror and falling to the ground and dieing, because of a stupid trip to the top of the local water tower, doesn't count..

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Re: 2011 Hunting Season Contest

Postby Ghost Dog » Mon Oct 17, 2011 4:53 pm

Yuppers, I think I may have already answered this. What we need is a Great story Line and Data. A 100yd shot on a 300lb pig, with factory ammo, from a water tower, using a mirror, could generate votes. Just make sure you can cleanly and ethically, kill the animal, shooting over your shoulder, using a mirror and falling to the ground and dieing, because of a stupid trip to the top of the local water tower, doesn't count..

..t


Dang. Hope they'll take the mirror back, now where's that receipt.
Suppose the blindfold and gorilla suit have to go also?
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