The first animal you killed with a reload

First critter killed with my reloads was a prairie dog. Then. the next thousand critters were.....you guessed it.....prairie dogs!! And I've killed 2 whitetails with reloads; one .243 and one .270. For me, taking animals with my very accurate reloads is particularly satisfying. Last year I shot a doe behind the ear with my 60gr .243 reload. Typically hunters favor a bigger bullet and a lung/heart shot. But, with my Remington 700 .243 that is zeroed to hit a nickel at 100 yds and shooting off a tripod at a large doe at 80 yds, the head shot made perfect sense.

Mine was a mule deer doe on public land with my .308. I just fell in love with the accuracy I was getting with 165g Sierra Game King hollow points. The bullet killed the deer but resulted in a lot of meat damage. Moved on to Accubonds and have been taking western game happily since.

2 elk (1 bull and one cow) 30-06 with IMR 4350 and 180 gr Nosler Partition. Both under 100 yard shots and both dropped within 15 yards of impact.

3 deer with same 30-06 but with 165 gr Sierra Gameking BTSP over IMR 4350. All 3 dropped on the spot with longest shot at 200 yds.

The first animal I ever killed with a reload was either a dove or a deer. I'm sure both were killed the same year because when I started loading, I started shotgun, rifle and pistol all at the same time. Other than squirrels with .22 LR and a lot of deer with Buckshot on Dog Drives, every animal I've killed since I was 16 has been with reloaded ammo.

Lots and lots of ducks. 1 1/4 oz lead 5's at 1400 fps 2 3/4" AA hulls. Obviously, that was a while ago before steel shot came to be the law.

Deer: A decent whitetail buck that I shot with my .270. Winchester brass, WLR primer, 54.9 grains of IMR 4350, 130 grain Sierra Game King BTSP.

He was walking straight toward me, dropped down out of sight crossing a dry wash, 60 yards out. I was sitting on the ground about halfway up a rise where I had a good view of the timbered bottom. Centered the scope on his chest and fired. Deer took off like greased lightning running about 45 degrees crossing in front of me right to left. Chambered another one and dropped him with a shot through the neck. Talk about a lucky shot!

Thought to myself how did I miss with that first shot? When I got to the deer and started looking around, I hadn't missed at all, there was a blood trail Stevie Wonder could have followed. Later recovered a perfectly expanded bullet under the skin on the deer's back right in front of his left hind leg. Only bullet I've ever recovered.

This year I will be useing reloaded rifle ammo.
243 Winchester, 30/30 and 308.
We'll see what developes come deer s3ason November 16th.

First big game animal killed with a handload ( and all others since) was a nice 4 point mule deer on public land over 30 years ago. Rifle was a Winchester Model 70 lightweight carbine in 30-06, with a Nosler 165 gr Solid Base bullet, 58.gr of H-4831, CCI-200 primer in Winchester brass. (Guessed velocity at 2800 fps, later chronographed at 2450 fps from the 20" barrel. Didn't matter at the 85 yard range.) Last one was a pronghorn taken in north central Montana taken at 318 yards with a Stevens 200 in .243 Win., using a Speer 90 gr Deep Curl, 41 gr of Reloder 17, CCI-200, Federal case. First antelope!

Whitetail. Then several more. Here is one. 30-06, 57gr I4350, 168 AMAX. All 25 yards to 200 yards and full pass throughs.

Marlin 62 levermatic. Dad saw it in a second hand consignment shop as a kid and scraped up the money to go get it. That would have been late 60s. Fast forward to late 90s and I’m 13 and hunting. Ammunition was scarce to put it mildly, and proper .257 60gr hollow points were exceedingly rare so factory loads could not be recreated, but a 60gr flat nose bullet would shoot almost to the same point of impact so we sighted in with reloads and I intended to hunt with factory loads. The reloads were important though. I had hunted before with my grandad who wouldn’t hand over his rifle but also wouldn’t shoot a deer, he would just watch them play. I then hunted with a .410 and slugs but never had a deer in range, so the agreement was that if I used the .256 then I had to make ammo. Dad had an old can of 2400, a couple boxes of bullets, and a lee loader. I made 100 rounds whackamole style.
Whack 1 pops spent primer
Whack 2 neck sizes
Whack 3 knocks the case out of the sizer.
Whack 4 seats a new primer
Whack 5 is whacking the powder dipper level
Whack 6 is seating the bullet.
Back to hunting... It’s my job to get my stuff ready the night before, including gun, ammo, clothes, and then to get up early enough to go. Of course as a 13 year old kid I forgot something important, the magazine for the rifle loaded with 4 factory rounds, but I did somehow manage to end up with a few loose reloads. Youth season opened with me and dad under a fallen maple at the edge of a narrow corn field. 1 cartridge in the gun, and a couple more in dads coat pocket for him to hand me if I needed them. It was raining or we would have been up on the fallen tree, but a raincoat draped over limbs shielded us both really well. So out stumbles a young buck sliding around in the mud and chewing up every remnant of corn he could find until I fired. The shot hit him well, and I quickly got the second cartridge in and took a shot as he panicked and ran around the field trying to decide where to go. The second shot also hit but in the neck. He ran across the field into a stand of woods surrounding an old cattle pond. The neck shot produced a easy blood trail to follow, and the chest shot was a good one too as it got the edge of the lung and heart. The buck was special, not only was he my first, but he was what we think to be a cross with some fallow deer that are in the area. He had a matched line of faint spots that ran from the top of his neck down his spine to midways and then the spots dropped down almost to his belly then went back up over his back legs.

This year is the first year to hunt with reloaded ammo.
I loaded some 7mm08 for my brother and he took a doe last Sunday morning.


I loaded up some 243 and took a small spike yesterday.

Well seeing how I am a senior citizen, my first was a deer long forgotten sex 30-06 with probably a 150 gr. bronze bullet. I hand load for most of our family, this morning my 16 year old grand-daughter shot a doe with her .308 at 212 yards , my 13 year old grand son killed a nice 8 point with his Tikka 7mm-08, with my hand loads of course, I didn't hear the yardage on his buck.

This is the second deer I killed with one of my reloads. 243 100 grain soft point. Just under two hundred paces.

Shot it yesterday just after 4pm.

We hung it up in the air on the excavator in the back ground.

First kill with a reload was a deer ( probably a spike buck that was legal at that time).
Load was a 150 gr Speer (don't remember the bullet name. spire point?) over 57.5 gr of IMR 4350 and out of a Remington 760 pumpgun in .06.
My hunt log is at home for details. It was probably late 70's

A friend at his Dad's hunting camp (25 members) did a lot of scouting in the area of his camp.
I wasn't invited to stay there but did have the use of the camp for lunch and warm up during the day after I fixed their water heater.
He told me about a spike with a long and short spike and exactly where he had been seeing it.
I followed his direction, got into the woods and shot that deer.

I have since shot deer with reloads in more .06, 30-30 (170 gr deep curls over 34 (?) gr of IMR 4350) in a Marlin 336, .44 Mag Ruger RedHawk (240 gr Speer Magnum), .300 WinMag. 180 gr Nosler ballistic tip over IMR 4350.

I am working up a load for the .300 Savage 111 for a possible first cow elk hunt next year.
I'm 70. It's about time. I am having pretty decent groups using Nosler 180 gr Accubonds over 4350 but not done yet.

I may also work a load for a NO1903A3 which I also may scope. It was given to me a few weeks ago after sitting dormant in a guys house for over 40 years. I had the head space checked. If it hits decently with the irons (which I can't see well) at close range, I may clean it up, refinish the wood and use it.


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Buddy shot a buck at 40-50 yards or so with my 44mag 240gr xtp loads and the deer died 40 yards away. First deer with 44mag handloads.

If it wasn’t a deer, it was the hogs in my Avatar. I just honestly don’t know. Hogs were my 444 with 300gr Sierra FP’s over H-4198. Both hogs were north of 350lbs and neither hog took a step. I recovered both bullets and still have them in a glass on my dresser.

I got a small deer yesterday with a hand loaded 243 - 87 grain Hornady FBSP over 42.8 grains of 4831.



All three of these deer were killed with hand loaded ammo.

Didn’t do any hunting until college, so mine was a bit later in life than most here. First (hopefully of many) was a doe opening day this year. 7mm08 with a 140gr Nosler e-tip over 39.5gr IMR 4895.

Next up on the reloading purchase list is a chronograph so that I can tell what these things are actually doing.

I got two more deer with the reloaded 243 yesterday. The New York doe tags are transferable. We all got two doe tags apiece so we still have a few left.

I think it was a squirrel with a 16 ga. reload.

Dove with hand loads out of a MEC600jr many many years ago. Since about 1999 everything killed with anything but rimfire has been with handloads.

I shot 2 bucks this season with reloads. Both with 7mm08 140 nosler ballistic tips imr 4350 46.5 gr.


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Back in the early 80's I shot a doe with a 41 magnum hand load at about 25 yards. To this day it is the only load that approached maximum. I dont remember the specifics of powder but I'm sure that 170 grain Sierra JHC was traveling over 1600 fps. 41 hole in saucer sized hole coming out.

Since then I have shot mostly factory rounds in my rifles until this year. The only factory 30-40 Krag load, 180 Spitzer, required my peep sight to be so low it interfered with bolt operation. So I loaded a Hornaday 220 grain round nose soft point to mimic the original military load of 2050 fps out of a 30" barrel. It was very effective on this years buck.

1974, doe, 35 yards, Ruger 6 1/2" Blackhawk, 357446 Lyman, 12.5/2400. Between eye and ear. Down on the spot. Did it again 30 years later, same load, Security Six, 2 3/4".

Wow had to look at deer pics and dates to figure it out. First animal was an 8 pointer that came down a bog edge and stopped right in front of my stand and looked right up at me. Easy shot so I raised my savage 308 put it right on his chest and squeezed the accutrigger (this is where I never trusted an accutrigger again) it made a click but never fired. Deer bounded straight towards the thick wall of cedar at the bog edge while I worked the bolt to recock the gun, he stopped at the cedar and turned to look back at me in the tree. This time I pulled the trigger straight and the buck dropped in his tracks. It was Lapua brass, CCI BR-2 primer, RL-15 powder, and a 150gr partition bullet. That night I removed the accutrigger and ordered a rifle basix adjustable target trigger. If you set em light and don't pull in a straight line they will uncock but the safety shoe will prevent it from firing.

First animal taken with my own reload was a big Southern Michigan doe this morning. Used my Henry Single Shot .44 mag. 240 gr. Speer Deep Curl and H110 in Starline Brass. 35 yards slightly quartered away. Bang Flop.
Last year was the first year I hunted with my own ammunition in Northern MI. Used my .30-06 but didn't have any opportunities. Been reloading for only about 2 years.