Enjoyed thet....
I was pretty much that same guy...hit a pie plate at 100 yds and go kill chit....but I did have a bolt action Springfield with a crappy old scope...killed a ton of deer tho....
After many years of the typical reloader cycle, I feel I have come full circle....I went from starting out with a 30-06 to the magnum craze to small fast stuff like 220 swift and 6-284.. I scored a sako in 30-06 that I replaced the pad with a thicker one and was amazed how well the rifle fit and aimed....after hunting with it a few years i became one of my favorites..it's never missed...not even a follow up shot...
Then I picked up a custom husky in 06 here on the fire with a longer than normal stock...I went vintage with that one..mounted a Lyman 2.5 post on it...killed a nice buck at 150 yds last year...off hand...I was amazed how the post just rested on the heart and I touched it off and flop...
Neither one of those rifles have been accuracy tuned with hand loads...although they bothe will shoot an inch with my standard 06 load...
My son is a crack shot with a rifle...I have had him shooting since he was very young..he is 32 now...when he was about 18 he had bought a pre 64 few in 06 and was deer hunting with it...using my standard 06 loads I shoot in everything...I was blocking a timber he and his cousin was walking out...I had watche 2 coyotes from about 1/2 mile away with binoculars..when the boys came out the coyotes took off. He shot them both ..first one at 200 paces trotting second on at 250 at turbo run....before the next season he started his own reloading and was trying to work a load for that rifle and could only get about 1 1/2 out of it....he can't bring himself to hunt with it .he lost confidence in it....sad really...but he will come around....a rifle that you can hit a running coyote with at 250 yds will certenly work for deer and elk...
