I like the idea of larger caliber... knock'em in the dirt.... combos, but I hunt a lot of power lines, clear cut-over areas, and old logging roads, so the need for a long range DRT shot is necessary. My Quest started when shooting deer as they crossed over an old logging road from the woods and down into the swamp. If the deer did not drop in the road, then it was tough to not only find them in the swamp, but harder yet to pick the exact spot they were standing at the shot... especially in the 200-300 yd range. Those roads just looked like a looooooonnngggg tunnel or down a narrow tube with a deer standing in the middle of it. That was when I started using my 22-243AI on deer, because it was accurate enough to hit them way down there, and it did drop them on the road. And you sure don't need a deer running off through a clear cut area after being hit during the dim evening lights of the day. I have killed A LOT of deer the normal way... shot behind the shoulder... bullet passes through... leaves a good blood trail... find the deer. That has worked fine in many cases over the years for all of us, and that is okay if that is the only way it will work... but I want to open the envelope wider for a moment and make us all think for a moment that there may be something more than just the normal way.
I'm always thinking like this..." That works good... now what else might work better?"
The feeling that I'm getting from you Savoy Hunters is to use Big and Heavy for close range knock'em down kills.... or use 100-130 gr BT bullets for high speed Hydro static Lung Kills. I favor the latter because I really do think that I was born with a Western Long Range Heart, but got it's butt stuck in the East.
Dan,
As you can imagine I do a good bit of long range hunting as well.
The best combination I've found for what you are looking for follows:
Custom 7mm STW with a 29": barrel.
Bullet 160gr Nosler Accubond.
Powder WC860, Max load of WC860.
Primer Fed215. Seems to be about the only one WC860 likes.
Muzzle velocity 3400 FPS.
At these velocities the 160gr Nosler front is highly explosive, so for lack of a better word, it has a huge "shock radius". Put it any where close to the CNS and you will get enough shrapnel and/or hydrostatic shock effect into the CNS to put them down where they stand. Anytime you play at distance, you are going to have some "sub-optimal" hits. In many instances this combinations turned those into an anchored critter. I typically hold high, where the lungs meet the spine. This maximizes the likely hood of a CNS hit, while still opening up the top of the lungs so fill up with blood. Hit low, you have a solid lung shot. Hit too far forward or back, still a CNS hit. Too high, clean miss. I might loose a little more of the back straps, but, there's no perfect shot, there's always a compromise.
