I just shot three mule deer over the past two days, and watched several others shot as well. These were does on depradation permits in hay fields.
I typically shoot a custom-ish Swede with 140gr Partitions. This seems to be a great load, kills very dead and doesn't screw up a lot of meat. Just nice. This fall I'm getting ready for elk, so I've been shooting my Ruger #1 in .338WM quite a bit, including this last three does. My first two shots were both head-shots, first at 120 yards and second at 104. No big deal I expect a .338WM to make a hole in a neck/head. It's the third shot that got me thinking, I hit my last doe at 344yds with the 225gr Accubond. Got her right through the hips (yeah, yeah, I screwed up the shot but that's not the point) where the bone and muscle mass are the largest. It went right through both hip sockets and out the other side with enough zip that it created a vaccum (I'm assuming) and dragged a fist-sized clump of intestine with it where it just sort of blossomed on the far side, protruding from the hide. No tears or damage to the intestine, just pulled out.
So- here's my thinking. 344 yards is as far as I'll be shooting for a long time. That's the furthest I've ever shot at live game and try not to shoot that far as a general rule. With the energy I've been seeing, my Swede or .30-06 is well within an needs I would have outside of Alaska, in fact when comparing ballistic tables the drop at 400 yards is within inches using either the .338WM, the 6.5x55 or the ol' -06, so range to 'shootable' distance (for me) is moot. I'm thinking that the .338 has TOO MUCH energy, if I'd been using the swede my placement would have been pretty much the same at 344 yards, and internal destruction would have been more manageable, to the point there I not only would have lost less meat, but possibly not a huge exit wound either. Either way, she would have been down and not running away.
That said, I'll still be using the .338WM on elk this fall to conduct more research into the matter.
now for the obligitory pics, the first two I cleaned before taking the pics and all of them are situated not to show the gore, which was significant on the first two.
first blood for the .338-
Second-
334 yards
I typically shoot a custom-ish Swede with 140gr Partitions. This seems to be a great load, kills very dead and doesn't screw up a lot of meat. Just nice. This fall I'm getting ready for elk, so I've been shooting my Ruger #1 in .338WM quite a bit, including this last three does. My first two shots were both head-shots, first at 120 yards and second at 104. No big deal I expect a .338WM to make a hole in a neck/head. It's the third shot that got me thinking, I hit my last doe at 344yds with the 225gr Accubond. Got her right through the hips (yeah, yeah, I screwed up the shot but that's not the point) where the bone and muscle mass are the largest. It went right through both hip sockets and out the other side with enough zip that it created a vaccum (I'm assuming) and dragged a fist-sized clump of intestine with it where it just sort of blossomed on the far side, protruding from the hide. No tears or damage to the intestine, just pulled out.
So- here's my thinking. 344 yards is as far as I'll be shooting for a long time. That's the furthest I've ever shot at live game and try not to shoot that far as a general rule. With the energy I've been seeing, my Swede or .30-06 is well within an needs I would have outside of Alaska, in fact when comparing ballistic tables the drop at 400 yards is within inches using either the .338WM, the 6.5x55 or the ol' -06, so range to 'shootable' distance (for me) is moot. I'm thinking that the .338 has TOO MUCH energy, if I'd been using the swede my placement would have been pretty much the same at 344 yards, and internal destruction would have been more manageable, to the point there I not only would have lost less meat, but possibly not a huge exit wound either. Either way, she would have been down and not running away.
That said, I'll still be using the .338WM on elk this fall to conduct more research into the matter.
now for the obligitory pics, the first two I cleaned before taking the pics and all of them are situated not to show the gore, which was significant on the first two.
first blood for the .338-
Second-
334 yards
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