Nice. I'm working on a 336 to look a lot like yours, though with a cherished 2.5 Weaver made in Japan.
Nice. I'm working on a 336 to look a lot like yours, though with a cherished 2.5 Weaver made in Japan.
I'd like to put a shorter scope on it - this one is too far back, even though it is as far forward as it can go.
QFT.Originally Posted by SLG
Shooting something w a a a a a a y out there past Ft. Mudge is an exercise in wind and drop. Getting close enough to smell its breath is hunting.
In this as in all things, YMMD.
Thanks. I'll post an AAR on that hunt in a couple of days to avoid derailing your thread.
Okie John
“The reliability of the 30-06 on most of the world’s non-dangerous game is so well established as to be beyond intelligent dispute.” Finn Aagaard
"Don't fuck with it" seems to prevent the vast majority of reported issues." BehindBlueI's
Searching for days or weeks, hiking and glassing till your eyes bleed, is hunting, too. The shot at the end is almost anti-climactic, even if it is way out there.
Weaver makes a very compact 1-3X variable. It works quite well on lever actions. Mine is currently on a CZ527, but prior to that it was on a 336. I simply leave it on 3x and never fiddle with it. Good jap glass from the LOW factory (same place Leupold gets theirs). Weaver (the Japanese versions, not Chinese or Korean) has long had a reputation for very reliable turrets and repeatable adjustments. I know i have a pic somewhere of PB, I will try to find it to give you an idea, in relation to lever actions.
I can't say I've ever found the shot to be anticlimactic, even when it was an easy one. I know too well what hunting hard country for 10 days straight is like, often not even seeing an Elk.
It's all hunting, and different people like to do it differently. I do think the Best of the West crap has resulted in a lot of injured animals. I know a few guys who are very capable of taking really long shots on game. That doesn't interest me, but as long as it interests them, I know they are gtg. Most are not.
There other bases and rings that will change where the rings end up. Weaver has two bases, a short and a longer one, both stick out in front of the receiver more than your current one does. Theres extension offset rings available also.
I have a slightly differing opinion on .243s and .270s compared to O.J. and others.
In the 1970s I started hunting deer and elk with a .270, simply because that is what both my dad and mom used. My dad loaded Partitions almost exclusively. 130s for deer, 150s for elk. I watched my little mom kill a number of big bulls with an old Savage .270, and it worked every time. Until I really caught the Loonyism and also had money, I used a .270 pretty much exclusively. My first dozen or so elk were with one, and it always worked. Then I started reading too many gun magazines about big elk rifles, and followed a path that many others have followed, only to end up almost exactly where I started. In my case, due to working with the cartridge a lot, I ended up back hunting mostly with a .308, and using the belted mags, less often.
The short version is that a .270 is a stellar elk, mule deer, antelope cartridge.
.243s: My experience has been that they can be somewhat finicky to get to shoot as well as some other cartridges, but when you do they are fine. .243s are very popular for kids/wives/smaller statured shooters, in the west for hunting big game. TONS of elk get taken each year by folks in the previously mentioned category. The general rule is to skip the shoulder shots, double lung them and give them a couple/three minutes and they will be dead by the time you walk over to them.
Personally I am a big fan of the lesser common 6mm Remington. There are some great projectiles out now, and in spite of what info is often parroted, the 6Rem allows you to push a .24 cal bullet a fair bit quicker. My standard load that I use almost exclusively is an 85 grain Sierra HPBT Game king. Like its cousin, the 165 grain HPBT GK, it has a thicker, heavier jacket, and really performs well on larger animals. My T3 Tikka with a Lilja tube pushes the 85 grain GK at an average of 3340 FPS. The old adage of " Hits like a lightning bolt" is what immediately comes to mind, to describe the reaction of game animals.
I would not hesitate at all to hunt elk, moose, antelope, whatever with a 6mm Remington. I would simply limit my ranges to under 500, and skip shoulder shots.
And of course since we guys are predominantly visual, here is a Pic of my T3, 6mm Remington. It currently wears a 4-14 Leupold with an M1 elevation turret.
I had an old Rem 788 6mm that used the previously mentioned load, and was an absolute hammer on yotes. If you look closely in the pic, just to the left of me in the brush is a small chunk of what used to be inside of this coyote. It literally made him go stiff leg, and tip over DRT. I have never had a runner with a 6 Rem.
The same 6 Rem Tikka, stuck in a shorter stock for my oldest, was what she used her first season before I switched her to a .308. She enjoyed it, and never complained about recoil.
Practicing prior to the hunt:
She popped this doe at 198 yards, putting it right behind the shoulder as instructed.
Getting back on track, the 243/6Rem class of cartridges are quite capable for big game, so if you need to spend a couple/few season hunting with one, before you can get a 30-06/.270/.308, don't sweat it, you are not under gunned.
Reply With Quote
