Now all this reloading has caused me a new issue.

[grizzly63]

Over the last year, i have dived into reloading and load development. It or my lack of control has caused me to purchase several more rifles.
I cant quite make up my mind on which rifle to take on a series of hunts I have planned. The first hunt is an any whitetail in the beautiful Black hills. The second hunt on the same extended trip is a prairie mule deer hunt. The whitetail hunt has to include my 1949 336A 30/30 cause thats what it was made for. But what about those wide open burns and ag plots? Shouldn't i have a long range rifle for those? of course. Should i bring a Weatherby 257 mag shooting 110ELDX, a Weatherby 270win shooting 150 nosler BT, a 700 sendero 300 wm shooting sierra 180 pro hunters or an old mule kicking 700 3006 using speer hotcor 165's. This second rifle also can be used on the Muley hunt. Now, i used the 257 on an antelope and it seemed to do the job just fine. I killed a decent Muley last year in the same prairie unit with the sendero. Some poor sap turned in his prairie tag due to covid and i was fortunate enough to get it. That leaves the other two. I'm leaning towards the 270. They all have decent trajectory to 400 yds and all pack plenty enough punch. Any of them are lighter than that pig sendero but it is probably the most accurate one of the bunch. Whole horror story on getting a 2019 Remington and making it do what it should. Thats all behind me now. Hopefully the people that buy Remington turn things around for the better. The old Remington is an ADL from around 76 and it is quality stuff. Cant bring them all as there is just not enough room in the truck. Maybe i'll have to flip some coins or something. I can understand how people end up with so many rifles. Buy one, make it right, develop a great load, Start all over again with a different gun. Good problem to have. Now, if we could just get some components.

 

[golfer]

I vote the 257, I am biased. But if you do select that rifle, please report back on how the 110 eldx performed for you out of that gun please.

 

[grizzly63]

I used the 257 with 110 ELDX on the antelope. 300 yds dropped like a rock. Nicked bottom of spine behind shoulder. He was dead. Used a 336A 30/30 in the hills with an old 150 silvertip on a decent 4x4. 125 yds Dead right there. Nicked the spine quartering through him angled towards me. Truly do not aim for the spine. Couldn't hardly walk that day as my sciatic nerve was giving me fits. Son in law had to help me get my boots on. Walked up a trail couple hundred yds, leaned against a tree and starting flipping a doe bleat "can". Thirty minutes later he showed up and died. Used the 300 win mag sendero on a decent 4x4 muley out west 300 yds, sierra 180 pro hunter. Didnt hit the spine, blew right on through his shoulders. He was dead right there as well. Came back home, missed a larger whitetail buck with same sendero. Seated behind a bipod with a standing still deer. Do not want to mention how many shots i got at him. No buck fever, steady aim, nice trigger squeeze. I decided that something wasn't right. Was not going to hunt with that rifle again until i got to a proving range to see if the problems was in the gun or between my ears. Switched to the 700ADL 30-06 with 165 speer hot cors. Leveled a nice 6x5 whitey around 150 yds. So, i got to use 4 different rifles to harvest 4 different animals. They were all quite terminal. Maybe next year i'll make sure i use the 270 on one.

 

[EastTNHunter]

Using different rifles and loads is half of the fun of hunting. I’m a tinkerer, so using one rifle and load over and over gets boring, even if it works just fine

Congrats on a great season!

 

[std7mag]

You need to get yourself a good 7mm-08, or 280 Rem...
Then you'll have all the bases covered.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Yep, you have the gun buying virus for sure. Why not make do with what you have and save your money for a trip to Africa or Alaska? I love the prairies but nothing compares to those two places.

 

[Don Fischer]

Something I've always done is generally stick to one prefered cartridge and load. That 30-30 will be fine for prairie mule deer if, you do your part! Same with the 257 Weatherby and the whitetail! In every instance it will come down to you doing your part.

My two all time favorite deer cartridges were a 7x57 I loaded with 154gr Hornady RN bullet's and a 308win I loaded with 165gr Hornady bullet's. I've killed deer with a lot of different cartridge's but time's get lean some times and there's that one rifle I have a huge amount of faith in. Both those are gone today but I still have rifle's that have served me well, my 25-06 is one of them. But these days age is creeping up on me and I'm not crazy about recoil. Also pretty much gave up hunting big game but maybe deer again one of these years. Can't handle the though of not being able to get a shot animal out! I have always disted the 243 as a big game cartridge but these days I think I would take one of mine as a deer rifle. The years have taught me that I can kill a deer right there with anything from a 22 R on up if, and only if, I do my part. Going down to a 243 I'm mostly doing to avoid recoil in a lighter rifle. And not one doubt in my mind it will work well if I do my part!

 

[grizzly63]

i have a 788 in 7-08. Shot a very mature whitetail a few years back with a 162 amax. Looked like he had been shot with a 300wm. Amazing amount of damage. Have no desire to go to Africa, just not my bag. A large bull elk is still haunting me. Maybe before I get so damned old that I cant do it would be nice. Probably done buying rifles for awhile. I think I have the range covered fairly well and they will all work. I have picked up 400 round nose for the 257 and they are not 400 yd bullets but most of my shots are within 300. I've read that they work quite well. I know they are accurate. I also acquired 500 208 amax for the 300 win mag. Three of us use this caliber and for some lucky reason, what works in my guns seems to work very well in theirs as well. I had developed a load for 208 eldm so it should work just as well with the amax. I know people say do not shoot target bullets at Big game but these things seem to do the trick. I try to aim for the lungs and avoid the shoulders but we know how that works. Some meat loss is inevitable. I don't fancy myself good enough to aim for the head.