How Much Is Enough??

[jmad_81]

Do you opt for the biggest you can get or at least the biggest you can fire comfortably?
Depends. I've shot deer with a 375 R, and a 22-250. Both worked great. I try to match the critter with the gun. Deer and speed goats are getting the 280 AI. Elk will get it this year just to get some blood on it. Normally elk/bears get the 338 WM, or if the weather is nice they could get the 375 R. Yotes get the .243.

Do you practice with your primary weapon?
Very much! I practice several times a month all year shooting off shooting sticks at milk jugs or 12" steel gongs out to 600 yards.

How many rounds do you put through your deer rifle each year?
I have over 250 through my 280 AI so far this year. Pretty close to over 150 through my 338 WM, and over 500 through my .243

Do you rely on the caliber to replace your ability to put the round where it should be?
NO! I like good looking shots.

Do you use your round choice as a safety net?
Not sure what you mean? I don't use it as an excuse to take a poor shot if that is what u mean. Do I use larger calibers sometimes on tougher animals like elk to have a more devistating effect on the first good shot, yes!

Do you know beyond a doubt where the round is going when you pull the trigger?
I would like to think that I do, but things happen. If I thought that the bullet was going to go some other place I would have held different. I sure try to know. I shoot alot in all sorts of weather conditions and angles.

 

[Murphdog]

1. I take a very practicle approach to rifle selection, I try and look at the big picture and cover the likely scenarios. An example the only valid tag in my pocket maybe for a whitetail doe but if I am in griz country I am packing a rifle/bulllet combination that can get the job done should a confirtation a raise.

2. Guns are a lot like tools on a western ranch. I don't shoot every day but I always have a rifle close by.

3. I suppose the 30-06 is my primary rifle, outside of hunting or load development I will go through 15 to 40 rounds a year. Because I carry it so often when there are bears around I shoot a couple of coyotes a year with it.

4. I don't know if that is possible, A gut shot elk is going to require lots of effort to recover even if you shoot it with a 416 Rigby. You can over come a lack of horse power with bullet placement but you still have to hit the vital organs to put down a animal.

5. I worked a number of years in the Packing House industry. In a little plant that I managed we killed quite a few bulls (2000 lb +) and did it with a 22 mag to the back of the head. Both sets of my grandparents were homesteaders, growing up my dad hunted deer with a Marlin 39 .22 long rifle. Some of the muley bucks he killed with the little .22 had racks that by todays standards are huge. So from that prospective if I am using a 30-06 for elk or a .243 for deer I have lots of saftey net.

6. One of the three concrete rules in firearm saftey is be sure of your target and beyond. That is an absolute. Do I know everytime when I pull the trigger exactly were the bullet is going to hit... I wish!!! but I do know that it is not going to kill something that I don't intend it to.

 

[Elkman]

Here is my take on this great post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Do you opt for the biggest you can get or at least the biggest you can fire comfortably?
I opt for the biggest that I can shoot accurately and have practiced with for the game intended.

2. Do you practice with your primary weapon?
I shoot my principe hunting rifles all year long. Those I intend to hunt with I practice a minimum of once a month prior to the hunting season and more the last couple of weeks.

3. How many rounds do you put through your deer rifle each year?
I put though my two primary rifles (7mm STW and 300 Win Mag) combined around 250+ a year depending on time, and the results of my practice sessions.

4. Do you rely on the caliber to replace your ability to put the round where it should be?
Nope if I am not going to kill it I don't shoot. I use enough gun however to allow the flexability of a variety of shots rather than not having enough gun and having to wait for the perfect standing broadside which mostly seems to happen on TV

5. Do you use your round choice as a safety net?
I always use more than the minimum cartridge and load to handle the task, terrain and circumstances that I might happen upon or likely face. See #4.

6. Do you know beyond a doubt where the round is going when you pull the trigger?"
Nope! that is impossible, there are lots of variables out there that make that impossible, limbs without leaves or needles that can't be seen, variable winds that can't be doped accurately, animals that move just as you tell your brain to fire. I try to eliminate as many of those variables as I can in the field but the field is not the range and many little things can impact bullet placement on the way to the animal.

Good post,m good discussion