Pygmy

Good price on a good rifle... I have had a couple of 700s over the years ( my current go-to whitetail rifle is a 700 Mountain Rifle in 7mm08) and I have shot several others, and I have never encountered one that was not accurate. The ADL is the no frills model and perhaps not as nice cosmetically as the higher grades, but functionally it should shoot just as well. I am a proponent of good optics, but as long as the rifle has a scope on it, give it a whirl before you replace it. It might surprise you. Back before my first Alaska hunt in '89, my partner put a cheap Bushnell on his Model 70 Winchester, much against my advice.. The scope took a beating on that trip..He dropped it and it hit a rock so hard that it actually dented the objective tube...Checked the zero and it was just fine..As far as I know he STILL hasn't had to re-sight it..Ya never know...

What do you mean "SHORT RANGE" deer rifle...?? The .243, with proper bullets,is a flat shooter and is fully capable of making clean kills on deer sized game at 300+ yards... A REAL short range deer rifle would be a .44 mag. ( 100 yards or under) A "moderatelty short range" deer rifle would be a 30-30, .35 Rem or 45-70.(200 yards or under). But the .243 ain't no SHORT range deer rifle..

You are my hero, Culver... The only full auto firearms I have ever fired were a Thompson ( in the Navy) and an AR 180 and Mac 10 that a friend who had a class 4 license had in PA... I'd love to shoot an MG 42 or 34 , a Bren Gun and a BAR...On my ship we had Thompsons, BAR's and an air cooled Browning .30, but only the gunner's mates got to shoot the BARs and the .30AC... We also had half a dozen parkerized M12 Winchester trench guns, complete with ventilated cooling sleeves and bayonet lugs... I'd love to have one of THOSE today.

Some FUN, eh ?? I've been to Knob Creek twice...It's a BLAST, pun fully intended..! I almost paid the $45 to fire a jeep mounted .50 BMG, but that was only for ten rounds...

Them's TURNIPS... Just ask Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae... Hehehehe...Gotta agree with the turnip folks...Those look just like the purple top turnips I planted this year.. The hog radishes/daikon radishes look dramatically different, both in the greens and the roots.. BTW...So far, the deer seem to prefer the turnips over the radishes

I have done 5 elk hunts, all DIY... Four were bowhunts, and I missed one bull and killed one cow. The other was a MZ hunt, and I killed a 6x6 bull.. There are many hunts available, from private land truck hunts to wilderness horseback hunts.. I would suggest contacting a booking agent and telling them what kind of a hunt you are interested in and how much you can afford to spend.. PM me if you want... I have used a booking agent for a number of hunts and they have done a good job..I'll gladly share the info.

When Barnes bullets first became available, there were issues with copper fouling and with accuracy.. Those issues have been addressed and current bullets are MUCH better in both respects than the early ones.. I can't predict how well your rifle will group them... However, I'd bet my next month's social security check that you would be happy with thier performance on game...<<grin>>..

Congratulations and good luck. Check your testicles at the door.....

The coreloct was designed as a controlled expansion bullet. If it comes apart it it because it is being pushed at magnum velocity, faster than it was designed for.. It works fine in chamberings such as the 30-06,.308, or 7mm08. That's why belted magnums such as the .300 mags and the 7MM Mags have a reputation as meat wasters... They perform better with more stoutly constructed bullets, like the Nosler partition or accubond, or my personal favorite, the Barnes X bullets. With the Barnes, you can go to a lighter bullet, jack up the velocity, and still get nearly 100% weight retention , and they always exit, at least on broadside shots. I have never bought into the " more energy dissapated on the deer" theory...I'd rather have two holes in the animal.

Hmmmm... An hour and a half before sunrise....Then it was Wednesday afternoon... Am I the only one who is confused by this post ? AND wouldn't somebody trying to recovered a wounded deer be AT LEAST as important as your morning hunt..? How could having your one morning hunt interrupted cost you $300? I am SO confused... I think it's time for my NAP...

I don't blame you for not wanting to spend $40 a box for ammo.. One thing in your favor...Nearly every ammo manufacturer offers .308 hunting loads.. There are other choices out there ( Privi Partisan comes to mind) that are reasonably priced.. Good luck... One other thought... A load does not need to produce benchrest accuracy to be an effective hunting load...No need for 1" groups at 100 yards for deer hunting.. If your rifle produces 2" groups at 100, that's only a 6 inch group at 300, which is still well within "minute of whitetail"...

Ok..Too bad you couldn't find the cartridge to examine the primer...Although it certainly happens sometimes, modern day primers SELDOM fail to fire if struck with sufficient force from the firing pin. MUCH more often, it is a gun problem rather than an ammo problem. Personally, the only time I have seen rifle primers fail was with VERY old loaded ammo ( both military and commercial) which very well might have been stored under inproper conditions. I once had a box of 7 x 57 Super X that was bought at a gun show..It was probably manufactured during the 1920s. About half of the rounds were either misfires or hangfires. I have seen some duds in military surplus ammo also, usually very old, corroded stuff. The cold weather may well have been an issue... Sometimes firing spring springs weaken with time and use..I had a Ruger 25-06 that started misfiring with my reloads after firing a few hundred rounds. I tried it with factory ammo and it did the same thing, so I knew it was not an ammo problem..Took the rifle to a gunsmith and he installed a heavy duty firing pin spring...End of problem..It never misfired again. Some guns are very sensitive to primer seating depth..Get a primer that is seated a little too deep and they misfire..TC Contenders were noted for that.

To answer your original question, in MY rifles, similar shaped bullets of equal weight do tend to group the same with equal powder charges. Group size may differ, but group LOCATION is similar. However, every rifle is an individual, and to be sure you should certainly check any different load on the bench before you take it hunting. As for poor blood trails, btsp bullets of standard cup/core design sometimes DO tend to shed thier jackets easier than other designs. This can result in a lack of exit hole, which can result in a poor blood trail. As for the rounds that did not fire..Was the primer dented ?

I like the smell of the burnt powder when you eject the empty...

Why were you unhappy with the Hornady boat tail soft points? They should perform fine on deer size game, as long as they are accurate in your rifle.

Good luck with your surgery, Growie !

My Dad's .22 which I inherited was a Stevens M 15 also... Shot my first squirrel, first rabbit, first woodchuck, first fox, first coon and first crow with that rifle.. I'm sure it is rugged enough for the Stingers, but I'm not sure they are worth the extra expense, for general small game hunting or plinking. I'll probably just continue to shoot plain old long rifles in mine...

Tomorrow is opening day of rifle season in PA... A whole bunch of deer who won't know it is deer season until the shots begin tomorrow morning... It's GREAT living just a few miles from the border.. Nothing like getting TWO opening days every deer season.. I have two doe tags and a buck tag and a good spot where I see deer every opening day... Life is GOOD ....<<sigh>>....

I'm older than most of the cougars... That means if they meet up with me, they are not interested in jacking ANYTHING....<<sigh>>...

When I was a kid, in the 50s and 60s, there were tales of these cats also.. Back then, they were called panthers, and the ones that people " saw " were always black.. Nowdays, they are called cougars, pumas or mountain lions and are usually tawny in color.. The evidence of thier presence as a breeding population is the same now as it it was back in the 50s. NON-Existant.... And OH YEAH....The idea that the DEC is subversively STOCKING them, is as ludicrous now as it was then. Anybody who believes that probably also believes in Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny AND the Tooth Fairy.

I hate you...I just had potato pancakes and leftover turkey...<<grin>>...

Good shooting ,Growie...CONGRATS..!!...

Skin it cased, like most trappers skin foxes, coons, muskrats, etc. Then have it tanned and hang it on the wall..They are pretty that way and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. The ones I have had done cost from $40-$100. Get it skinned asap...Coyotes tend to slip ( the hair falls out) very quickly if not skinned, even if kept quite cold.

Don't tell me... You would also like to purchase some home grown " medicinal herbs".....

One of the most useful tools for the stillhunter is your binoculars. People think of binos as long range, open country tools...Not necessarily... They are EXTREMELY useful in dense, close cover while stillhunting...Use them to focus THROUGH brush, and look into every nook and cranny, between trees, etc. You will be amazed at how much more detail you will see.. Take a few steps, then scan everything you can see with the binos...Spend 5% of your time moving slowly, and 95% of your time LOOKING carefully.. High powered glass can be counterproductive. 6 x 35 or 7 x 35 is ideal..8 power should be considered max for this type of hunting.