First Time Pronghorn

The load/bullet combo is not as important as practice with it- in REAL conditions. Folks that have not hunted the west usually have a difficult time with distance and wind. A good range finder helps a ton. And the wind blows all the time in Wyoming and Nebraska.... Shoot that .243 in the wind. ALSO,walk 100 yards (brisk walk) then shoot it in a hunting position- practice on life size targets- those speed goats are not that big.
Good luck and hope you get some nice ones!

Dropped my Antelope yesterday AM in the eastern plains of NM (Kiowa National Grasslands), about a 300 yd shot after a stalk of about 800 yards in open country. Remington 700SPS in 270WSM. It was not my first choice in rifle for this hunt but I had taken it for a back-up to my 25-06. Went with it due to the wind. Opening morning of the second rifle hunt on public land. The hunts are only three days, mature buck only. The hunt camp, area of the stalk, and the goat...

Gonna revive this one, season is RIGHT around the corner! Getting stoked! Got some good loads worked out for the .243 and .22-250, gotta get a date set with my buddy for sight in (got him a new bipod for his birthday he's not aware of yet) and get the kids/wife out for some more practice. Herds are already acting on the suddenly colder temps and gathering to their larger groups, in the last 2 (ish) weeks, I've watched 1 herd of 15 explode into 70+! Getting giddy like you wouldn't believe! How are things looking for your hunt @somethingbenign !?

We drove from Albuquerque to Roswell this past Sunday. Between Cline's Corners and Vaughn on US 285 we saw a total of probably 75-100 pronghorns near the highway all along that stretch. More than I have seen in years in that area during the daytime.

somethingbenign said:

Was planning to do a scouting trip this weekend but that turned into a paddlefishing trip. Got my first paddlefish tag this year and assumed wrongly I could knock that out opening weekend, everyone one I caught was in the illegal to keep slot. I have a bunch of brass prepped and just need to put powder and bullets in to figure out my ladder load. Wife wants a deck built this year yet so that has been the major hang-up. I did get a list on names and numbers of land owners that let my buddy and his dad hunt pronghorn a few years ago so I feel I'm not in a terrible spot yet. Amazing how the year gets away from you.

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Just checking in, super excited here, helping out together rifles for friends and sighting in etc this weekend, might even fill a tag or two by Sunday but we're not hunting hard, I've got herds picked out and ambushes planned, 2 more calls to make to the neighbors for extra places I've seen them gather. Couple first timers in my party so it's gonna be great even if we wait till January 29 lol! How are things your way? Congrats on the multibag from the other thread!

somethingbenign said:

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Gotten wrapped up in some home repairs and your responses are helping me stay excited about this new challenge. Talking with a farmer this week about setting up a 3-400 yard strip of land I can shoot on to get some practice at those ranges. My rifle shooting has maxed out at 200 up to now.

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How much have you shot at 200 yds? I used to shoot that range twice a week then decided to try longer range. Hit 4 out of 5 St 550. I haven't been able to shoot that distance since, but have been shooting out to 300 meters for the last couple of years. I'm sure that if you have been shooting 200 yds then 3-400 won't be that difficult for you.

somethingbenign said:

did attempt to load up some 243 rounds for load development but was getting wild swings off my dispenser so need to figure that out. Still excited though.

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What type of dispenser are you using? I use Lee scoups and weigh each charge on a beam scale. I'm fussy about powder charges measure to minute of kernel. I have a savage m11 in 243 I'm working on loads for found some promising loads with ramshot hunter 42.2 gr 42.3 gr. H4350 39.8 gr, and imr 4350 40.0 gr.with a col of 2.67 - 2.673". I've gotten some under half in groups, I think that I might have a bedding issue with this rifle because I usually get 3 in one hole and 2 in a separate hole
25 in right and. 125 in lower.

This is a 200 yd target from my 243 win 100 gr sgk 42.2 gr of ramshot hunter.

Sorry I can't help much with harvesting pronghorns, being in ny we don't have any here.

I forgot to answer one of your questions,. I haven't used much factory ammo iny newest 243 but, did buy ppu 90 gr spbt wich shot just over moa in my rifle and 2 boxes of Peters premier blue 95 gr btp.

The hornandy bullets you mentioned earlier should work fine as long as they shoot well from your rifle.

somethingbenign said:

The Lee bench mounted drum dispenser. I'm starting with IMR 4064 so it could be just as much the powder not playing nice

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I used imr 4064 for years, picked up a hornandy deluxe powder measure. It didn't play well with that one either. Stick powders tend not toeter very well anyway. There are several electric measures that work fairly well like the r bs charge master, but I can't justify it right now.

somethingbenign said:

A hundred rounds more or less and it all was from a rest. While I am fairly confidant I can put a

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100 RSS is s pretty good start. We all start somewhere. My journey towards longer ranges started on state land at one tenth of mile, shot hundreds of rounds at that range before going longer. It's all a process

somethingbenign said:

Pheasant opener turned into quite the event here. I had two first year hunters I was working with to get them ready and organizing with a few other guys to makes sure we had a good party. Turns out we had 8 hunters in the field and 4 dogs, only one that has hunted pheasant before. Happy to report every new hunter got their first pheasant and every household was able to take a bird home. My wife and I took three of the birds home, plucked, cleaned, roasted, and then threw a party for everyone that hunted minus two. None of that was related to pronghorn but just wanted to make clear that my hunting focus is stretched a bit this year. I did attempt to load up some 243 rounds for load development but was getting wild swings off my dispenser so need to figure that out. Still excited though. I'm hoping to snag a deer early this year and might do some scouting the latter part of the deer season but that is optimistic.

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Youth hunt! Happy 14 year old man....

somethingbenign said:

I should add that I bought some Hornady 100gr BTSP interlocks before I drew this tag for the sole purpose to learn to reload rifle. If these group well do you think the soft point is a good enough hunting bullet to count on?

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That is a *great* bullet for loading in the .243, and it will definitely kill an animal the size of an antelope. I’ve used them in my Savage across Arizona canyons on Coues whitetail. More than adequate for the task.