Picking the Proper Caliber for Your Game

This week I will dive deeper into caliber selection for your hunt. I get the same question over and over from new hunters and even from experienced hunters that should know by now what calibers to use on specific quarry. The questions usually go something like the following. Is a ____good enough to hunt_______? You can fill in the first blank with whatever caliber and the other blank with whatever animal you wish to and the answer should still be the same. Use enough gun to humanely take the quarry you are hunting. It should also have enough energy to cleanly kill if your shot is off just a little bit. Bullet placement and type is so important in a clean kill. I am not going to get into arguing the merits of all the calibers. I usually rank them as light caliber, standard calibers and magnum calibers. I have harvested surplus doe and exotics on a game ranch where we used small fast varmint calibers and out of hundreds taken all were killed cleanly. The key was taking only good standing shots from a solid rest at reasonable ranges. I also have spent hours trailing deer for clients that had been shot with the latest greatest magnum on the market. The difference was bullet placement. If you shoot a super magnum and the recoil makes you pull the shot it would be much better for you to shoot a lighter less powerful round that you could precisely place the shot. I guided Desert Mule Deer hunters for many years and carried a lightweight .243. That little gun put down many a wounded deer that had been shot by a large magnum but hit badly. The .243 did not usually drop big Mule deer on the spot, but very few ran more than a hundred yards. In wide open country that is not a problem. If you are hunting in thick brush country where a deer disappears in 10 yards you might need to shoot a caliber that will anchor them on the spot. Bullet placement was usually very precise as one can shoot the .243 with ease and the rifle is light enough to shoot very well off hand. Step up to the .308 and the result will be more knockdown with just a little more recoil if you need the power. If you are on a high dollar trophy hunt and can handle the recoil shoot whatever you feel you need to put your trophy down. You alone can really decide what amount of recoil you can handle. The key is to be honest with yourself. When a hunter asks me if I will sight in their rifle I can assure you most of the time they are afraid of the recoil and just do not want to suffer the pain of the kick. Lots of people can’t handle a hard kicking rifle and you should not have to. There are too many good choices of calibers that will get the job done with not very much recoil.

These days a lot of people are shooting an AR-15 platform in .556, .223 and other short cartridges to fit the platform. Some want to hog or deer hunt with the guns because they are accurate and fun to shoot. Many have been told by others that the .223 is too small to hunt deer or hogs. It depends on how big the deer are in your area and at what range you will be shooting them, the type of bullet you will be using and at what speed it is moving. It also depends on whether you can place your bullet precisely and if you are willing to pass on a shot if you do not get a good standing shot. My wife dropped a large hill country buck last year with one shot from her little .223. She has often passed shots when bullet placement would have been questionable due to brush, angle, distance or when the deer would not quit moving. I have culled hundreds of hogs, whitetail does and exotics through the years with a .223 and love the little round. The key is bullet placement. If you make a bad shot with a .223 you will have problems as it does not have extra power to blow things up if you are off target like some of the larger more powerful cartridges. On the other hand do you need a large magnum caliber to hunt 100 pound whitetails? I think not. If you are hunting 700 pound Nilgai Antelope on the costal plains of Texas you will need the most rifle you can effectively shoot with all the recoil you can stand. Just fit the caliber to the game.

If you wish to use a marginal caliber be sure and use the best bullet and power cartridge available and practice so you can put the bullet where it goes. A feral hog hit in the crease behind the ear with a .22 or .17HMR within 50 yards will go down like a sledge hammer hit it. Shoot it in the shoulder with the same load and all you have done is wound an animal. It seems a lot of people want to hunt coyotes and other predators with a .22 LR or .17HMR. Those calibers will work but they are by far not the best to use. How many of us shoot everyday, once a week or even once a month and have enough skill to precisely place those calibers?  Would it not be better to hunt them with one of the fast .22 caliber centerfires that will anchor them for sure?  I have guided many self-proclaimed expert shots that must have had something wrong with their rifles or just had bad luck because they could not shoot a decent group at the target range with their guns, and missed shots at game within normal distances. It is funny but experienced guides can usually tell which clients will be able to shoot well and those who cannot. It is not some psychic sense but mostly how someone carries themselves. A truly good shooter pays attention to the guide and does not have to tell everyone what a good shot they are. The guns and scopes have been taken care of but show some wear. They carry shooting sticks or shooting bags for a rest. The rifle stock and strap fit them. The brands of ammo they carry all match and are the same bullet weight. They do not tell me their rifle was bore sighted when I ask if they checked the zero on their rifle. They don’t tell me their last kill was made at 375 or 450 or 600 yards. If you think you can shoot that far tell me how far your bullet drops at 450 yards without looking at a ballistic chart. Then tell me you have a laser range finder and trained for several months or even years in long range shooting and I might start to consider you did make that shot if you have a tactical ranging scope on your flat-shooting, well-worn, sniper rifle. Now if you can find a 400 yard range within a few hours driving time of your location go try to hit the target when you finally get time to practice. Remember shooting off a steady rest and bench is not like making a shot in the field. If you really want to train for long range shooting go on some prairie dog hunts. It is one of the best teachers of long range shooting I know of, if you take advantage of the long range targets and learn how to hit them. Most people will be amazed at the holdover and wind drift that takes place on really long shots. I love hunting with experienced prairie dog hunters as they can buckle down and make a long shot when it counts. If you question your firearm or caliber, go shoot it awhile before the hunt and you will know if it is enough gun or maybe even too much gun. Like I always tell my hunters, you can validate your man card with the shot you make and the game you hang on the meat pole. The caliber of rifle you carry means very little about what kind of shooter you are. Good Shooting, Wild Ed

Pick a Dependable Rifle and a Common Caliber

As the 2011 Texas deer season is just around the corner I have been covering topics to help you have a better season. The following pearls of wisdom come from years of hunting, guiding others and being in hunting camps all over the country. When it comes to rifles, step up to the plate and buy quality. I am not talking about some exotic brand and caliber that cost a fortune just so everyone can "Ooh" and "Ahh" over it when you take it out of the case. I mean buy a top of the line rifle from a tried and proven company that you can carry to hell and back and it will shoot every time you pull the trigger. Don’t go out and buy the first ever released new special model for your depend-on-every-shot rifle. On the other hand don’t go out and buy some cheap rifle put out by a company that makes bargain firearms for your primary hunting rifle. I am talking about buying rifles like Remington, Savage, Winchester and Weatherby that are solid proven designs. I only mention Weatherby for those that have them in normal calibers and not the special Weatherby designed cartridges. I know lots of you have this or that rifle made by so and so that is great, so do I, but when the rifle has to perform every time without a hiccup I carry a rifle I can depend on to fire when needed. If it is a rifle based on one of the solid designs and major companies, if that rifle has been slicked up by some custom gunsmith, so much the better, if you believe in the smith’s work. I have seen several shots-of-a-lifetime fumbled because some fancy rifle failed to feed properly or jammed in the heat of the moment. I have seen outstanding trophies missed because of flinching, caused by fear of magnum cartridge recoil. Both of these things are so easy to prevent and it is sad they occur at all, but it happens to people every season.


I have a Remington model 700 ADL in .243 that my father bought for me at Gibson’s Discount Center in Abilene, Texas when I was nine years old. That rifle has been carried all over Texas, New Mexico and Colorado and you would amazed at the game that little rifle has accounted for through those years. I carried it often as a guide rifle when backing other hunters and it has put down game wounded by much more exotic and magnum calibers. I have traded it off for a shot to many a hunter that could not hit their game with a magnum rifle but made the shot with that little .243. That rifle has never failed to work and I shoot it still today. It has never been in the shop, nothing has ever broken and I will pass it on to one of my daughters to use and treasure. I can walk into any country store, box store or any place ammo is sold, and purchase ammo for that rifle. Try to buy ammo for some of the exotic magnum calibers in No-where, Texas or a country feed store in the mountains of Colorado or New Mexico. If you never had someone show up in camp without their ammo you have not hunted very long. If they have a common caliber someone can usually loan them some ammo or a trip to the nearest town solves the problem. Some of the Weatherby cartridges are great rounds but I never recommend them as they can be impossible to find and the expense of a box of ammo unreal.

I have a model 70 Winchester.270 that my grandfather shot all his life and passed to my father who passed it to me. I am proud that it continues on with no problems. My father shot a Remington model 700 in .264 Winchester Magnum most of his life and I still shoot it today while my brother shoots its twin, but ammo is now getting hard to find and very expensive to boot. I know some people need to have the latest, greatest magnum to validate their man card, but I can assure you it is much more important to be able to precisely place a bullet than to be able to stand recoil. Someone in camp will always make the point of quoting one of the old big game hunters or authorities on caliber and power. Some will point out all the tests done by writers and ammo companies back in the early twentieth century. What they fail to realize is that these guys lived in a time where the modern bullets and powders we now have were not available. The optics for precision bullet placement were also not near as developed as the current optics we have today. I will take bullet placement with a sufficient caliber over misses or bad hits with a monster magnum any day. I will be hunting later this year and I will be carrying a Remington 700 tactical in .308. It has very little recoil and sufficient power to do the job with proper bullet placement on most any game in the lower forty eight. My wife will be hunting with my little .243 this year. Shoot whatever you do well with and feel comfortable shooting. Be honest with yourself about recoil. If your mind tells you this is going to hurt when you sit down at the bench to sight your rifle in each season; you need to get something that recoils less. If recoil prevents you from properly sighting in a rifle or shooting a good group, you need to get something that recoils less. If you are thinking about how bad this rifle is going to kick while trying to hold the crosshair steady on a big buck you have a real recoil problem. Get a rifle you can shoot well and that will not beat you up with recoil. You can validate you man card with game you hang on the meat pole. None of my hunting buddies laugh at my little rifles any more. Have a great season, Wild Ed

Sight In Your Rifle for Deer Season

As deer season is right around the corner I am going to post a couple of articles in the next weeks about sighting in a rifle and using enough gun for the game you're hunting.  In my years of guiding hunters two of the most common reasons for missing shots at game are rifles that are not sighted in properly and using a rifle with too much recoil.  Many believe they can have a gunsmith boresight a rifle and go hunting, that is not properly sighting a rifle.  The other group think they have to have the latest super magnum to be accepted by the group at the deer lease.  I shoot a .243 most of the time and the game on the pole along with the shots I make prove it up year after year.  Above all be safe with your firearms, don't mix alcohol and guns, take a kid with you hunting and have fun. I hope you enjoy the following article on sighting in your rifle and just maybe learn a little. Wild Ed


A gentleman sent me an email asking if there was an easy way to sight in a rifle. He said he had gone through several boxes of ammo to sight in his rifle. I have heard this many times and always wonder what is wrong to take so many shots. Remember the scope must be mounted correctly and all must be tight in order to sight in properly. I won’t go into that here. If you do not know how to mount a scope correctly have someone that does help you the first couple of times or have a professional gunsmith do it for you. Do not let some kid in a box store mount your scope. I have had to remount lots of scopes for clients through the years. Bore sighting a firearm means it might be on the paper, It does not mean you have a firearm that is sighted in properly. Bore sighting will usually get the shots on the paper but not always. I have seen lots of people miss with a gun that has been bore sighted, if I had known that they had not sighted in the rifle properly I would not have been hunting with them. Every barrel and different ammo will impact differently and must be shot in properly on a target.
 Remember that if your rifle barrel has been cleaned since firing or it is a brand new rifle to fire a couple of fouling shots before sighting in. Many rifles will not shoot to the same point of impact with a clean oiled barrel as they will with a fouled barrel.

Here is the fastest and simplest way I know to sight in a rifle. I usually start at 25 yards so I will be on the paper. Even a bore sighted rifle may not be on the paper at long range. I get a solid gun vice or some way to hold the rifle in place where it will not move. A cardboard box with two v cutouts to rest the rifle across can be used in a pinch. I fire one shot at the bullseye and then make sure the cross hair is lined up on the center of the bullseye. Making sure not to move the rifle adjust the elevation and windage until the crosshair is exactly centered on the bullet hole where the shot you just fired hit. This means move the center of the reticle to the actual center of the bullet hole of your shot. Next carefully fire a second shot at the bullseye. If you did not move the rifle while adjusting the scope and you can shoot, the second shot should be in the bullseye. In reality most will need a few more shots for small adjustments to get into the center of the bull, but this is a lot faster that most other methods and uses a lot less ammo.

Now move to the one-hundred yard target and finish sighting in with whatever small adjustments are needed to get you where you want to be on the target. Wild Ed

Fiocchi .45 ACP Ammo Review

I went out to the family place this last weekend and while I was there tested a box of Fiocchi 230 grain FMJ .45acp ammo furnished by LuckyGunner.com. 
http://www.luckygunner.com/fiocchi-45-acp-ammo-for-sale-45acp230fmjfiocchi-50
This ammunition is new production, non-corrosive, in boxer-primed, reloadable brass cases. It comes in a cardboard box with plastic ammo organizer holding the rounds in place.
My brother and I took three .45 acp pistols to run this ammo through to check it for reliability. A Kimber and Taurus 1911 style along with a Ruger P345 double action.  The ammo performed flawlessly in all three pistols. I carry a .45 for self defense and sometimes as a backup on hog hunts so I am very concerned with reliability and feeding. The ammo was shot at seven yards and twenty yards, all free hand. Some was shot in rapid fire and some in very rapid fire. Out of 50 rounds there were no jams, hiccups or stove pipes, just as one would expect from FMJ hardball ammo. The ammo had plenty of power and more than acceptable accuracy for off hand combat style shooting. If I slowed my rate of fire the ammo just ate out a big circle in the bull. Lucky gunner carries a full line of .45 acp ammo http://www.luckygunner.com/handgun/45-acp-ammo
along with ammo for most any caliber you might need whether Long gun, Handgun. Rimfire or Shotgun.


Seven rounds at seven yards rapid fire.

Remainder of ammo fired from 20 yards rapid fire and at red dots on right side of target from 20 yards slow fire.

 
The next time you need some good ammo for a cheap price give http://www.luckygunner.com/ a try.  I think you will be pleased, Wild Ed

45 Ammo

Red Ale Bottled

My first batch is now bottled, just need to wait three weeks to sample it.  Brewing the ale was not hard but it does take some work.  The cost was about half of what you would pay for a similar product at the store not counting the cost of equipment.  You would have to make several batches to pay for the equipment and recognize the savings.  There is something to be said for making it yourself.  My goal is to learn a lot of the old skills this generation did not learn and pass them on to someone in the next generation.  Take a kid for a day and teach them a skill you know, Wild Ed