Soggy Rifle: Deer hunting with the "pip squeak".

[jmoore]

Good weather finally!




Mid 30s (F) and drizzle-y, my favorite! And a rifle that eats it up with no dramas.


But no deer, yet.

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[vintage hunter]

Nice ''sun shades'' JM. Or in this case rain deflectors. Did you ever get that deer you were after last year or are you picking up where you left off?

[jmoore]

Only one last year. And that with a "pip squeakier" 16" carbine. Full chest cavity penetration and shattered the far side upper humerus into gravel with a 62gr. WW power point. I think it was pictured in the hunting with milsurps 2010 edtion thread.

This rifle has taken quite a few using a Sierra 55gr Gameking bullet. Liquifies the entire lungs, generally. It's the go-to foul weather rifle. I save the "rare" and high condition milsurps for dry days.

[vintage hunter]

Think I got 11 last year, IIRC. Up to 10 so far this year. Not a lot of time left for hunting during cotton season. Took off a couple hours early today to fix up a batch of Jalapeno and cheddar sausage out of a little three point my son nabbed Monday whilst it was raining. Got some time left before dark so maybe I'll dig out my foul weather gun( AR in 6.8mm) and see if I can bag one for a batch of onion sausage..........

[jmoore]

Good grief, 11! Big family, yes? Three is more than enough for our needs, but things have been too much in flux lately to get much hunting in this year. Last year was just lots of hard hunting with results only very late in the season. Maybe losing that hunting lease wasn't such a bad thing...but now it's WMAs or the Nat'l Forest, which is kinda unsettling after years on private land.

[vintage hunter]

Large family, no. Just my 2 sons and I. They hunt too, the oldest has 7 already this year. I say so far, it'll be over here in 30 more days. The youngest has taken up bow hunting and has'nt got the hang of it yet so he's managed to get only 1 to collide with the arrow so far. We do our own processing and give about half of the seasonal take to folks who like venison but can't or don't hunt for whatever reason. The rest we turn into sausage, bologna, roasts, burger and such for our own consumption. Got a bit happy with the jalapenos in this last batch, a little too HOT! You should take a couple days vacation and bring the ''pip squeak'' down to my place and try you're luck, these flat land deer are way better eatin' than those tough old hillside gougers you got up there.

[jmoore]

I might take you up on that offer! But probably not this year. Vacation is already scheduled and more or less settled as to itenerary.

But if you've fox squirrels, then that's even more tempting! Squirrel safari with muzzleloaders. Lots of fun, if you don't mind missing and having to reload whilst keeping the critter in sight.

[vintage hunter]

Got a few Foxies around but mostly the garden variety Greys. Never went after either with a smoke pole though. Just might be fun. Kinda like rabbit hunting with a single shot .22 and one old slow dog. You ever tried the Speer 70 gr semi spitzers in your AR? Quite an effective little bullet.

[jmoore]

You ever tried the Speer 70 gr semi spitzers in your AR?

No, never felt the need to work up a heavy bullet load.

Started with 60gr Nosler Partitions, which work fine, but always they exited the body. Performance indistinguishable from the usual .30 caliber rounds. Which is to say, it works, but doesn't always anchor the animal altogether, every time. The 55gr Sierras out of the 1-12 twist 20" barrel do a fantastic job, although they tend to shed the jacket, thus producing two exit wounds, or the jacket gets caught in the far ribs. The only time I've had a deer move from where it was shot using 55 grainers was a "too long" shot the impacted forward of the chest cavity just a little. He went maybe 150 yds. ("Too long" because he was much bigger than expected! Thus the error in range estimation)

[imarangemaster]

For years, Winchester market a 64 grain Power Point for "White Tail hunting" It worked fine in 1/12" twist barrel, and it was a fairly short projectile, not like the M855 62 grain (with its lighter steel core and longer bullet). It is more like 55 grainers.

BTW, seeing first hand what an M193 FMJ round does to the human body, I have no doubt in its capability to kill game.