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Ready to go!Big Game Hunting topics that dont fit other categories
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Coyote_Hunter_ Member
Joined: Mar 05, 2005 Posts: 208 Location: Franktown, CO
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Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:19 am Post subject: Ready to go! |
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Was at the range one last time last Sunday with my hunting buddy. The wind was strengthening and gusty, not a good time to adjust scopes but OK to check zeros. I was trying to determine which rifles would go elk an deer hunting come Friday. The choices were as follows:
.30-30 with Winchester factory 170g Power Point loads
7mm Rem Mag with 160g North Fork handloads
.300 Win Mag with 180g North Fork and 180g Barnes TSX, both handloads
.45-70 with 350g North Fork
We set up paper targets at 100 yards and paper, hanging steel gongs (which I sprayed with fluorescent orange marking paint) and clay pigeons at 200 yards. Then we set up the chrono for my hunting buddy and declared the range “hotâ€. (Awfully nice to be a member of a 500-member club and have the range to yourself!) I was using ear muffs over plugs while my buddy was using muffs only.
First up was the Marlin .30-30 I had picked up this last spring. I single loaded a WW Power Point into the ejection port and closed the lever, chambering the round. After setting the crosshairs on a 200-yard steel gong I squeezed off the first shot of the day. “Click!â€
Opening the lever, I could see the round still in the chamber with a primer indentation. I immediately closed the bolt in case it was a hang fire and tried again. “Click!†This time when I opened the lever and saw the case head in the chamber it dawned on me that the case should have extracted and didn’t. Comprehension came a little late but I finally realized what the problem was – I had just fired a .30-30 cartridge in the .45-70!
My buddy said he had heard a “Pop!â€, kind of like a squib load. I opened the bolt and ran a cleaning rod down the barrel to knock the case out. From the case mouth to a point about 0.8†back the case was blown out to match the .45-70 chamber. From that point it had what reminded me of a Weatherby shoulder (in reverse) as it narrowed back down to normal .30-30 case diameter.
No one was hurt from my stupidity (several instances thereof). I removed the lever and the bolt and ran a brush down the bore several times, gave it a good visual inspection and reassembled the Marlin before putting it away for the time being.
With the right rifle this time, I tried the .30-30 again. It was shooting low at 200 yards which surprised me until I remembered I had zeroed it for 100 yards for bear season. A quick adjustment on the scope brought the point of impact up to where it needed to be. The .45-70 was shooting low and to the right and I decided to leave it home this year rather than mess with it. (It took a forkhorn buck and a 6x6 bull two years ago.) The 7mm Mag that has served me so well for over 20 years was shooting well but a couple inches to the right, something I attributed to the increasing winds. The .300 Win Mag was happy with both the TSX and North Fork bullets.
So the decision was made – this is “The year of the .30’sâ€. The .300 win Mag for days when long range shot opportunities can be expected and the .30-30 for days we hunt the heavy stuff. We leave for Buford, CO, Friday morning.
_________________ Coyote Hunter
NRA, GOA, DAD |
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RPM1031 Member
Joined: Jun 27, 2005 Posts: 237 Location: College Park, Georgia
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Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:55 am Post subject: Re: Ready to go! |
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Good luck, enjoy, and be safe!
_________________ Bob |
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DallanC Site Admin
Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3571 Location: Utah
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Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 12:44 pm Post subject: Re: Ready to go! |
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Friend of mine in haste once fired a 270 through his 30-06... it was kindof spooky in retrospect. We all heard it go "plop" when he fired... he removed the split case and was horrified to see what he had done.
-DallanC
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