Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .240 bullet choice

Basically.

Camp rules were established to discourage someone from taking a shot at a trophy WT beyond the demonstrated ability of that shooter with that gun. It makes sense.

And, it seems to work pretty well. I was working with a hunter this PM, helping him get his equipment performing right. It also serves to demonstrate to the shooter just how far he should or shouldn't be shooting.

With my 6.5-284, I can take a shot up to 400 yds., as I have demonstrated what I can to with that gun. I have previously demonstrated that gun will shoot 4 1/2" at 600 yds. But at this property, 400 yds. would be a long shot. It's hard to evaluate a rack at extended range. Now, if a hog showed up, that's a different story. I was lining up on an 80 pounder with the 6.5-284 this evening at 300 yds., when the hog stepped out of the shooting lane. Probably never knew how close he or she was to a trip to the skinning shed. I had a solid rest in the box stand and the Jewell is set pretty light...

DF

Sure am happy I hunt my own place.

I wouldn't have been able to shoot the hog I killed at 125 yards last Saturday. It's over 500 yards to the corner of the cutover I was watching.

Yeah, I agree with that.

I hunt another property with a good bud and it's quite different. He and I are the main ones who hunt this tract and we know what needs to be shot, what doesn't, etc.

When you have a group of hunters coming into a property, sometimes rules like that are a necessity. From what I've seen, larger the number of hunters, the more rules that seem to develop.

And, nothing happens in a vacuum, as they say. Rules usually address a past mess up, trying to prevent mess ups in the future.

DF

Why not?

DF

I don't have a spot to qualify the rifle I was using for a potential 500 yard shot.

I wouldn't want to crack down on a nice WT at 500 yds, if I'd never shot the rifle at a 500 yd. target, wasn't sure where it hit at 500 yds.

I may be misunderstanding your point.

DF

I wouldn't shoot at 500 yards either unless I'd practiced it a bunch.

It's just that on the stand I sat, there exists a potential for a 500 yard shot. So the way I understand your club rules, I would have had to prequalify my rifle at 500 before I could sit that stand.

Not to sit on that stand, but to take the 500 yd. shot.

I was sitting on a stand this PM with 1,100 yds. potential. I ranged it with my Zeiss Victory 8x45 T* RF binocs. I'll leave those to John Burns and company.

DF

OK. Earlier I believed you confirmed my thought about being able to even sit such a stand.

I guess what we have here could be summed up by that famous line by Strother Martin in the movie, "Cool Hand Luke".

Strother Martin, playing the the Warden, told Paul Newman (Luke), "What we have here is a failure to communicate".

I plead guilty to failing to communicate...

DF

Simple misunderstanding, no sweat.

I'm trying to get more of my camp members to come out to the shooting club to figure out what they and their gear can do under controlled conditions.

I try to help my club members all I can. I set up a spotting scope, which they seem to appreciate. I get a lot of questions, which is a good thing.

The target posting exercise does help build awareness of shooter/rifle performance and builds confidence. Our guys are mostly professional types, which means they're generally pretty competitive. All that works together for a positive outcome. The most problems we have are with guests.

DF

Did I miss your test of the Scirocco?

Yeah, no SSII test, not yet at least. I got side tracked trying to see what the .240 would do with 105 gr. Scenars.

I got pretty disgusted with the .240 and took the 6.5-284 to the woods, following a sub MOA test target at 400 yds. I almost got a 300 yd. shot at a hog, but fate intervened on behalf of that porker. That lucky hog decided to step out of the shooting lane just as I was lining up the shot.

There's always a next time to test SSII's on WT's and maybe kill a hog...

DF

Here's a photo of the .240, HS Precision SPL (HS 2000 LA) in an unpainted McM Hunters Edge. It's wearing a 3-9x40 Conquest in the photo. The gun now has a Bushnell 6500, 2.5-16x42, which works great. The 6500 may stay on the gun, I haven't decided.

I ordered the stock, unpainted, to fit and glass. It will go back to McM after hunting season for brown paint with black specks.

DF

Another report, looking for an ideal bullet match between .240 velocity and optimal performance on chest shot WT's.

Yesterday PM, I shot a 125# doe at 175 yds. with a 90 gr. SSII at around 3,400 fps. I was in a box stand, right elbow on the side window, forearm holding hand resting on the front window, a very steady set up. The Bushnell 6500, 2.5-16x42 was set at full powder. The shot broke perfectly with the 2.75# trigger. .240's don't recoil that much, but enough to lose my FOV. When I looked up, deer were running everywhere and I saw a flashing white tail in the wood, going directly away from where the doe had been standing. I couldn't see her on the ground and assumed she had run.

As I approached the place where she had been, she was lying in a shallow drain, about 10 yds from where she should have been. Her white belly was facing away from me. Lying in the drain and without a visible white belly, I couldn't see her until I was pretty close.

The SSII made a nice entrance and a nice exit. The lungs weren't messed up that much, but enough to kill the deer quickly. I would like to see a bit more destruction in the chest.

I think the 90 gr. SSII is a good match for .240 velocity. I would not chose it for a .243 at 3K, chest shooting WT's. I don't think there would be enough destruction. This bullet may be too "hard" for that use. On bigger bodied game, it would probably do great.

I have some 90 gr. NAB's that I may try. I'm guessing they'll be somewhere between the overly volatile 90 gr. Scenar and the harder 90 gr. SSII.

I finally found a 100 gr. NPT load that will shoot 1/2" groups. It's with 58 gr. Ramshot Magnum, the first powder to perform that well for me with 95 gr. or 100 gr. NPT's. JB used Magnum with E-tips in his excellent American Rifleman article, "The Other 6mm's". The 85 gr. NPT is a tack driver at 3,500 fps. in my .240 and would probably be more destructive than the heavier Partitions at slower speeds. The 100 NPT may end up on my short list for all around Louisiana WT hunting. I will check it out.

DF

DF,

Glad to hear you found a good load for the 100 gr Partition. It will prove itself to be all you will ever need! Flame something with them and report back...

Yeah, I was really relieved to find a high performance, 100 NPT load.

Those ole Partitions have for sure stood the test of time. My hunting buddies hold them in highest regard. It just took a while and a lot of combos to come up with this load. Thanks, also, to JB.

Then, there was the crisis of my dwindling Magnum supply, down to 1/3 can. And wouldn't you know, that seem to happen to the powder you're needing.

Well, happy ending to that story, I found an 8# jug of Ramshot Magnum at Powder Valley, thanks to a tip from Dustylongshot, on the Norma Powder thread. My powder should be here this week.

DF

I just like shooting for money. Call me greedy I guess