30 minutes to go ....

[Shorty]

Sat.12/1/22 was the last day of the southern holiday n.y. deer hunt. Forward to 4:30 pm., about 20 ish minutes before season ends. Its a balmy 40 degrees and raining, no wind. I have been waiting for a deer for 3 hrs., wanting to try out my newly built muzzleloader. I wiggle around in my seat only to see a deer watching me at about 90 yds. I slowly brang up the gun to find it was a nice doe quartering to me. I had the crosshairs on her shoulder as she stopped to eyeball me over. I squeezed the trigger and the gun bucked me pretty good. I watched her run a short sprint of about 45 yds. Where she went down. I cannot believe what these beautiful creatures can endure and run like nothing is wrong. I wanted some keilbasi meat. I will never shoot one from that angle again. I had to cut off the whole shoulder and throw it away. The bullet did massive internal injuries as well. It entered the point on front shoulder and went through vitals and organs only to lay under the skin on the opposite side flank of the deer. The bullet was a 50 cal., 300 gr., pittman accumax..what a hard hitting bullet to say the least. I will continue to use this bullet but pick the placement better. This is the first deer i took with it and i am pleased with it...the picks speak a thousand words.

 

[deermanok]

Y'all got er done.
What's your rifle?

 

[phalanx]

That shoulder is tore up for sure! But, amazed it ran at all. Congratulations.

 

[Shorty]

Savage 110 tactical, 24" green mountain barrel, 1-26 twist from cecil. Great gun but too heavy to carry all day. Going to buy a woodman patriot in .45.

 

[Mnt monkey]

My goodness what bullet performance,, are you sure that wasn't a dalek ray gun from Doctor who?

 

[03mossy]

Way to take it down to the wire and get it done!

 

[user 23626]

Congratulations! But after viewing those I'll stick to my .45 PRB underhammer and 50-70 yd shots, Didn't draw a deer tag for our area again this year, but got it done for my doe pronghorn tag. Minimal damage thru the lungs. Lucky again, amazing how little bloodshot meat this produces. In Wyo unless you get a late season special draw most areas, you can't hunt during the Mule Deer rut..Trader

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

Congrats!

 

[JIMYJAC]

Savage 110 tactical, 24" green mountain barrel, 1-26 twist from cecil. Great gun but too heavy to carry all day. Going to buy a woodman patriot in .45.

Shorty, That`s a lot to carry around. But I`ve always shot a heavier firearm better. I use an Accura MR still trying to get use to it, seems a little compact for me. Your not to far from me the last couple days were odd we could of used some snow. Congrats, nice job!

 

[pierce]

Congratulations! But after viewing those I'll stick to my .45 PRB underhammer and 50-70 yd shots, Didn't draw a deer tag for our area again this year, but got it done for my doe pronghorn tag. Minimal damage thru the lungs. Lucky again, amazing how little bloodshot meat this produces. In Wyo unless you get a late season special draw most areas, you can't hunt during the Mule Deer rut..Trader

I agree...ballistics overkill. PRB has always done it for me. Fine on the target range to reach out, but not for hunting, at least in my opinion.

 

[10acres]

Congrats. It is amazing what they can endure.

 

[ENCORE50A]

Sat.12/1/22 was the last day of the southern holiday n.y. deer hunt. Forward to 4:30 pm., about 20 ish minutes before season ends. Its a balmy 40 degrees and raining, no wind. I have been waiting for a deer for 3 hrs., wanting to try out my newly built muzzleloader. I wiggle around in my seat only to see a deer watching me at about 90 yds. I slowly brang up the gun to find it was a nice doe quartering to me. I had the crosshairs on her shoulder as she stopped to eyeball me over. I squeezed the trigger and the gun bucked me pretty good. I watched her run a short sprint of about 45 yds. Where she went down. I cannot believe what these beautiful creatures can endure and run like nothing is wrong. I wanted some keilbasi meat. I will never shoot one from that angle again. I had to cut off the whole shoulder and throw it away. The bullet did massive internal injuries as well. It entered the point on front shoulder and went through vitals and organs only to lay under the skin on the opposite side flank of the deer. The bullet was a 50 cal., 300 gr., pittman accumax..what a hard hitting bullet to say the least. I will continue to use this bullet but pick the placement better. This is the first deer i took with it and i am pleased with it...the picks speak a thousand words.

Propellant.... charge... velocity ????

 

[Shorty]

Encore50a, Reloader 7, 64.5 grains , should be about 2250-2300 fps., not quite sure as my chrony is on fritz. I need a new one any model you have in mind that doesn't break the bank? I love shooting bug holes with my center fire rifles, but have never gotten a muzzleloader to do it. What is your secret?

 

[ENCORE50A]

Encore50a, Reloader 7, 64.5 grains , should be about 2250-2300 fps., not quite sure as my chrony is on fritz. I need a new one any model you have in mind that doesn't break the bank? I love shooting bug holes with my center fire rifles, but have never gotten a muzzleloader to do it. What is your secret?

Like everything else, quality always breaks the bank. If I had it my way it would be a LabRadar. That said, I'm using the Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph. Certainly not the best and IMO I question some of my readings of ES. Balance beam weights and force gauge seating and I still end up with higher ES. I'm going to try increasing the charge this spring/summer.
Caldwell Ballistic Precision Chronograph Premium Kit (midwayusa.com)

Bug holes with a muzzleloader............. Some days a guy gets lucky. Decades of shooting and striving for accuracy maybe too. Quality equipment always helps. Paying attention to details makes on heck of a difference and simple things like my thumb placement on the stock makes a difference. Eliminate any contributing factors no matter how small. Probably most of all, just the love of shooting. There's a number of top shooters on the site and I'll bet they all LOVE SHOOTING

 

[Bphunter1974]

We all love to shoot and we all shoot bug holes just some like mine are really big bugs. Lol

 

[ENCORE50A]

We all love to shoot and we all shoot bug holes just some like mine are really big bugs. Lol

Some guys shoot dime size groups all day........

 

[10acres]

@Shorty Hold on a minute. You can use smokeless powder in a muzzleloader?

 

[GM54-120]

His rifle was built to handle smokeless. Rifles like that have been built for a very long time. My NULA is smokeless rated. It was made around 2008.

 

[Bphunter1974]

Some guys shoot dime size groups all day........

View attachment 18618

I've got a few guns that will. My smokeless best 100 yard was .656 3 shot group but that was a great day. My optima after a couple years of softball sized groups will put 3 shots in a quarter after I sent it in and they replaced the barrel. I've got some centerfires that are truly one hole guns from a concrete bench with a lead sled, they're just not any fun to me anymore. I'd never part with them except to my grandson I just don't get thrilled with them like I used to.

 

[10acres]

His rifle was built to handle smokeless. Rifles like that have been built for a very long time. My NULA is smokeless rated. It was made around 2008.

Got it. Sorry about hijacking the thread.