I found myself last fall in a situation where none of the rifles I was fooling with all summer shot the way I wanted them to for deer hunting. For a fall back I decided to pull one of my Remington 700 308's out of the safe and check it out at the range with some Hornady 180 grain round nose reloads sitting on the shelf. It shot 5 shots consistently into 1.25" groups and fed smoothly and reliably. I checked the ballistics. Sighted in at 1.25" high at 100 yards it was 1.25" low at 175. No need to touch the scope at any range I would have a shot.
I took it hunting in November.
I shot a doe out of several in an open field in the morning. She dropped in her tracks. She was perhaps 80 yards away. I don't think she was 100 yards away. The Hornady round nose shredded the heart and part of the lungs.
I shot a buck in the afternoon. He walked out of the woods, down to a road and down the road in front of the blind. He was less than 25 yards away, the closest I have shot a deer with a scope set at 6x, which was not an issue (no time to fool with the scope anyway). At the shot he bounded away for about 50 yards then veered off the road and collapsed in a heap. The bulled shredded the lungs.
My host looked at the evidence as the deer were field dressed and said, "That bullet really does its job!"
Then I have to confront my rifle looniness. There is no rational reason to mess with my other rifles. For the deer hunting I have left (assuming I don't win a lottery) I only need this rifle and the Hornady 180 grain round nose loads.
The only reason to mess with some of my other rifles, changing stocks for chassis, changing scopes, trying out different bullets and loads, is that I want to.
GrimJim
