Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots What chambering for woods deer in contender carbine?

Nice one.

Where's the armpit of the Midwest? That's a new one.

Arkansas?

Indiana. Boring place.
Something in the water too.
My area, intellect inverse to income.
Yeehaw.

Tiny hunting spot. Saw a 4 pt and doe and nothing else on the opening morning. Got down to check for sign, looped back and saw him up ahead in decent timber section. He was within 75 yards of the Jeep and along a decent road. WTH he came from?

Saw a 100" 8 the next day, laying on ground with log headrest. Pushed a 140+ " past my bud, but he super picky on shot selection (won't do a thread the needle or take a neck shot).

Hopefuly I'll stick something decent with recurve this yr.

Love gun hunting, but a 125" net means I can give this stuff up and golf instead (another sport I'll suck at)

I'm happy with the .35 rem, but the to deer I popped, neither dropped at the shot. One went maybe 75 yards, straight line to drop (no spin out). The other ran 30 and high speed into a large fallen log and fell on her back dead. That one had no exit, I tried to get the 200gr Hornady to upset by clipping onside shoulder. Looked like a 2" endmill went through lung/liver. Biggest chunk o' bullet was maybe 50 gr. See where it dinked rib right ahead of diaphragm but stayed inside. The buck it made an OK exit (entrance in the pic).

No I don't expect my deer to drop at the shot, like all those other guys on other forums report. So far the round has performed for me similarly to shotgun slug kills. Less recoil and more trim/ergonomic package though.

Not unhappy with my choice. Started due to finding the bbl for $175.

Cartridges are trimmed to meet deer rifle spec (.35 cal min, 1.16-1.8 case length).

I'd love a 125"+ by recurve, or a 170" + net by gun.
But if 120-130" deer are coming by, I'll fill my freezer with them. Have eaten a lot of deer way smaller.
Tasted just fine.

May hunt bow opening of gun, we had a better one slide through the thicket 2nd day.

16.25" bbl.........just a little funky.
Kind weird seeing muzzle when slung.
Think 18.5" would have been perfect.

Based on the .35 pistol velocity figures I've seen, you're not losing much with the short tube. I would be concerned about he balance, but you've fixed that.

Nice little rig.

FWIW when I started out with a 357 Max I was shooting 180 gr XTP's at 2000 fps. I butcher my own deer so I get a chance to see what the bullet did inside. Deer died so ya can't really say the bullet failed, but at 2000 fps what I found was no exit hole, bullet nearly flattened out and jacket and core seperated. I backed the velocity down to 1700 and they work perfect at that velocity, usually exit or against the hide on the far side and still together. Accurate and mild shooting to boot. The Speer's have to jump pretty far in my rifle and are not accurate so I never shot a deer with one. Partition HG were awesome but no longer available. I think the Swift's would be great if you can find some, but expensive.

Shooting golf balls at the 75 yard bank at the range, taking a knee (in factory stock form) was a nervy deal, let 'er go on the 3rd or 4th pass.

Benched it shot fine.

1st yr I hung a bipod off the stud to help if for offhand. Worked but obviously was just a patch.

So it got the epoxy and 7.5 shot after season. Indeed it worked fantastic (and was dirt cheap fix).

I may go to a laminate stock set, but if so will have to drill and epoxy some lead bullets in the forearm to get it tamed back down.

Offhand golf ball shooting at 75 is a piece of cake. In fact when I shot the buck last yr, the gun was super solid on his shoulder (even after I had to boogy a bit to catch up to him). Bullet hit right where the crosshairs were.

Really was torn on the 16.25.........for looks. Said I was gonna rebarrel a #1 if I didn't pop something OK with the TC.

Little rifle has endeared itself to me

The gun is heavier than before, but still light enough that I drag it coyote hunting when the walks get long.

18.5" .222 barrel might mean a whole 'nuther TC rifle.

Little rigs are addictive.

A 30/40K or a 375JDJ will do everything you would want.