Rifle Practice with my son

[Guy Miner]

Mule deer hunting soon, so my son and I got out with a pair of Bergara rifles for some field practice yesterday. He's shooting a very accurate 7mm Rem Mag, I'm being kinder & gentler with a 6.5 Creedmoor...

The good ol' 30-06 Rem 700 CDL was along as well of course, and still shooting great.

John used the tall Harris bipod as usual. He's made some fine shots from that over the years. I used an Ultradyne carbon tripod which mates up nicely with the ARCA rail on the 6.5 Creedmoor "Bergara Ridge Carbon Wilderness." That's a mouthful of a name for the rifle, but it's a cool little rifle and I'm having fun getting to know it.

The 30-06 Remington was in my Bog "Deathgrip" tripod. It's heavy, but works well.

The last few years I've done a lot more hunting from a tripod. It's helped me make some longer shots.

Regards, Guy

 

[JD338]

Guy, a great day with your son for sure.
The 6.5 Creedmoor is a fun little round and will easily fill the freezer for you without and fuss or drama. Cool tripod set up.
The death grip tripod is nice but heavy.
Best of luck to you and John this season.
JD338

 

[Guy Miner]

Agree on the tripods for sure. That Bog Deathgrip has done well for me, but it's a heavy beast to lug around. I've actually shot my last three big game animals from it:
2021 muley buck at 350 yards with the 30-06
2022 muley doe at 170 yards with the 30-30
2023 cow elk at 405 yards with the 30-06

Only the 2023 elk hunt involved a lot of hiking with the Bog Deathgrip tripod and I had young, strong help from Zach & Dale (Filmjunkie here on the forum)

The UD carbon tripod is quite lightweight and still very steady. The ball head and ARCA rail make it pretty sweet too. It can be set up with a vise similar to the Bog, but much smaller and lighter. The UD tripod is a lot better, but it's also a lot more expensive.

Regards, Guy

 

[6mm Remington]

Oh the shame Guy you have gone to the dark side of the 6.5 ManBun! Nice looking rifles.

 

[Guy Miner]

Oh the shame Guy you have gone to the dark side of the 6.5 ManBun! Nice looking rifles.

The boss handed it to me, with the Leupold scope, as a bonus for my work in 2023.

I'm not turning down a cool rifle!

So ya, I'm learning how to load for the 6.5 Creed. So far I'm not drinking Bud Lite, so I must be doing okay.

Guy

 

[RL338]

The boss handed it to me, with the Leupold scope, as a bonus for my work in 2023.

Are you sure it wasn’t April 1’st






All kidding aside nice to see you enjoying some family time

 

[Guy Miner]

Thanks.

I kinda look at the 6.5 Creed as a lighter recoiling alternative to the 308, that also has some great longer range and precision shooting qualities. The 308 has filled that role for me for many years. Now... Well the 6.5 Creed is an attractive option.

Honestly, it's got plenty of power for most of what I hunt. And this Bergara is a nice, light, reasonably compact rifle as well. The 3-15 scope is terrific!

So... I'm interested in giving it a try. After all, I've clobbered a lot of game with 100 - 115 grain bullets from smaller bore cartridges.

Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

Sigh... I have to admit that familiar walnut stocked 30-06 700 CDL with the 6x scope sure felt good to me and shot great...

Guy

 

[TackDriver284]

You must have had a blast practicing with your son before opening deer season. It's good to get unrusty by pulling triggers on a few long range shots. Good luck on your deer season hunts. The Creedmoor will work for sure.

 

[KinleyWater]

Sigh... I have to admit that familiar walnut stocked 30-06 700 CDL with the 6x scope sure felt good to me and shot great...

Guy

Not going to lie; that's the only one that caught my eye.

 

[NYDAN]

What a great way to spend some time with your son.

 

[JD338]

That's a great bonus Guy. Congratulations on getting compensated for all your hard work.
My wife has a Kimber Hunter in 6.5 Creedmoor. I quickly found a load with RL17 and the 129 ABLR. That load dumped deer right now.

JD338

 

[SJB358]

The boss handed it to me, with the Leupold scope, as a bonus for my work in 2023.

I'm not turning down a cool rifle!

So ya, I'm learning how to load for the 6.5 Creed. So far I'm not drinking Bud Lite, so I must be doing okay.

Guy

That was danged funny!

I am guilty of having a couple 6.5's myself. They shoot so well it's hard to not eat your words on their performance though.

The Old Goat won't let me use them in elk though, so I have to keep schlepping the Mashburn Super..

 

[Blkram]

Having had such fun and great performance with the 6.5x55 Swede in the years prior to the intro of the 6.5 CM, I was immediately interested in it and got one of the first Rugers available in the chambering that came north of the border (DrMike now owns that right handed rifle).
I am on my 4th Swede and 2nd CM now and enjoy both rifles. And the CM has accounted for 3 animals for me and 2 for the wife this year. The rifle is a pleasure to shoot and it is accurate. While I am enjoying the new 6.5 PRC, I cannot see myself giving up my CM or not using for some of my hunting every year. It's also nice to have a rifle that uses the same ammo as my wife's rifle...and same detachable magazine. No disruption of the hunt if one of us should lose a magazine or forget our ammo.

Regardless of the media hype or poor opinions of the inexperienced with this round, it is working very well for what it was originally designed to do.
I freely admit that I for one will not be pressing it into long distance hunting for large game as some are doing. On an unwary young cow or spike elk within 200 yards, with a broadside shot presentation, I don't think I would pass on the opportunity with this ammo in the CM (at over 2500 fps and 1800 ft lbs of remaining energy, it will have the goods to do the job on an animal that will most likely weigh about 500 lbs, as was my red stag). An older, larger animal at a further distance or less than ideal broadside shot would be a definite pass.

If you haven't tried the 130 gr Terminal Ascent bullet or ammo from Federal, you really need to try it, whether in the CM or PRC (or the Swede and other 6.5s with the component bullet). If your rifle likes the bullet/ammo, I think you will be impressed with it.
It is proving to accurate in both my and my wife's rifles, and very effective on game (no surprise there) on animals up to 500 lbs on the hoof and out to 296 yards to date. My wife is taking hers to Africa next May.

I'm sure Guy will make good use out of his work bonus and have as much fun as we are having with our rifles in this chambering!