Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Lee J. Hoots claims .270Win not an adequate mule deer round !

I just finished Mr.Hoots article in the latest "Rifle" magazine. He writes about his idea of the perfect mule deer round and rifle. He makes one of the most astounding statements I think I've ever read. He wrote,"The 130-grain .277 bullet is not potent enough all the time for the biggest mulie bucks at ranges beyound 200 yards. Even 150-grain .277 bullets are marginal". Everyone is welcome to his own opinions but not his own set of facts. Mr. Hoots what were you thinking? That's just plain dumb.

Yep, the 300WSM is the prefered choice for deer now days. All you guys with Bobs, 243, or even `06s are risking major harm in place of a quick death on game with your pop guns.

Was it a n April issue? As in April Fools article?

I dont' know anything about Mr Hoots.

No such luck. It's in the May issue #244. He showed up after John Barsness left.

WOW, I guess that I was Hallucinating when I saw a 130 grain 270 bullet exit an Elk I guess they are not as tough as Mule Deer

It will be a couple of weeks before my issue arrives up here, but one can generally always remember that not all gun writers or editors have lots of experience actually hunting or shooting stuff.

Some that I have met and visited with, like John Barsness and Phil Shoemaker, turned out to have actual experience and knowledge. Others are possibly quite good at wordsmithing...

Having shot a few mule deer with cartridges smaller than the .270 (were I an actual gun writer, I would have inserted "venerable" in front of ".270" here. ) I find the notion that the .270 with 130 gr and 150 gr bullets is "marginal" to be pretty suspect.

YMMV...

Dennis

Hoots wrote for Western Outdoor News for a short while in Southern Cal., never really had any outdoor Savy just came out of school, I see he still hasn't learned anything, no surprise as it takes a special person to be a Gunwriter, time afield,understanding guns and how they work and so on, we have seen enough imposter's and wanna be's,, where will the next JB's come from?, don't throw away your works from Bob Hagel, Ken Waters, Finn Aagarrd and our JB, and the other Good ones,cause I'm afraid it ain't gonna get better.

That's some funny stuff. It's a freakin' deer!

This could be about the funniest hunting/shooting article I never read................this guy for real?

What a hoots. Some one should have told that to the mule deer I have seen have a confrontation with this exact bullet. I had no idea that a deer could die of fright so quickly.

Hoots is simply awful. Sorry if that offends anyone. This isn't the only devestatingly dumb article he's written, by the way.

I don't know about the funniest, but it sure reveals a lack of intelligence, common sense and experience. In light of the excellent selection of bullets and loadings available today, perhaps it is just plain old stupidity.

One more good reason to have let my Handloader and Rifle magazine subscriptions expire. That's kind of sad because I had subscribed to both since their inceptions.

M Bell

Or maybe not so good.

I would hope they would have at least one ability...

Dennis

Poor old Hoots...we already did 5 pages on that article last month. I didn't realize the online version came out so far ahead....But still, the article is pretty good humor and worth revisiting.
Lee J is a Hoot!

i read somewhere of an often used tactic by writers - which is to "stir the pot" by writing something unusual or out of the ordinary in order to draw attention to themselves. i seem to remember it increases "readership" for a while. true or not i don't know, but mr. hoots might be just pulling our legs.

I'm sure he has a good explanation...
Won't pay to find out.

Glad he doesn't scribble in Handloader.

Whew, I'm glad I am not the only one who hated that article. I did not want to keep reading it but I had to. Kinda like looking at a wreck. It's funny, last month John Haviland said you could kill an elk with a 257 Roberts and this month you need a 300 WSM for "big" mule deer.

Lately I have been reading some old Rifle and Handloader magazines. I saw in Rifle No. 223, January 2006 there was a poll of Rifle readers. It states the average number of firearms the average Rifle reader owns is 66. If Dave Scovill know us Rifle readers are gun nuts, why does he let articles like Mr. Hoots get published?? I sure miss reading Barsness articles where I could learn something.

I thik Mr. Hoots is smokin something. I've been shooting a 7MM-08 for everying but elk the past few years. I never knew how wrong or under gunned I was.

That's it!--Hoots is JB's alter ego!



Casey