Hi all! I know this is an old thread, but it's a great subject and I wanted to introduce myself by (hopefully) contributing something.
I grew up zapping small game & varmints with a '63 Remington Nylon 66 with a Sears Ted Williams scope (it's identical to
this one). It was the very first gun I ever shot, and my dad proudly handed her down to me (she still looks like new, in fact, she's aged far better than *I* have lol). Dad taught me to aim small and miss small; shooting at aspirins with a .22 will definitely help improve your aim! Ha!
Anyway, I finally was able to bag my very first deer this year, using my very first "real" rifle. It was literally a day out of the box- though I took it to a 100yard indoor range to carefully sight it in before I hit the field (God bless my dad, he got me a new Savage Axis 30-06 for Christmas...
).
I nailed this fine button buck in a
front quartering shot at roughly 160yds, aiming for his right front shoulder. He ran only about 20 yards, and was dead in seconds.
The bullet (150gr Federal Vital Shok) had struck his right humerus roughly 1/3 of the way up from the bottom, shattering it and sending a mixture of bone and bullet shrapnel through his heart and lungs; they were pulverized and turned to red Jello. I don't think I could have ground up his thoracic cavity any better with a blender! I lost some brisket meat, the heart, and the right arm roast, but the rest of the animal was pretty intact. There was no exit wound, and the stomach/intestines were untouched.
I can't wait to repeat the performance on some feral hogs, coyotes, and lots more deer!