I got a PM from Doc Encore, (who has sadly since left us due to cancer ), where I had questioned the reason for the 350 Legend.
I bought two of them on close out since Walmart is getting out of the gun business, for $225 a piece, but strictly for rebarreling, I've done one in a 17 Fireball the the other has a 6 x 45 barrel coming...The rifles were Savage Axxis 2s.
Doug's PM told me of how he had been a member of a hunt club in Maryland, and they annually take out kids from single parent homes, to hunt on several farms owned by one gentleman in Maryland, who is one of the more financially wealthy guys in the state. This is on private property so their laws are different for this annual event this club does.
Kids are taken out one on one, with an adult, and they hunt until they get a deer, regardless of the number of days that may take. The owner of the property also supplies most of the guns and equipment for the kids to hunt, as he owns a couple of gun shops within the state also. Doug told me that they had 32 kids they were going to take out that year, and they had to supply 25 of the guns the kids were going to hunt with. They had picked the 350 Legend.
Doug told me to not discount the caliber at all. Each kid had manage to eventually take a deer, and each of the 25 different 350 Legends that they let the kids use.. ( and then gift them to the kid, if mom approves) ALL managed to take their deer within 75 to 125 yards. Working with the kids and practice, the bullets were placed in the right spot. Each time the 350 put the deer down.. no runners or blood trails to follow.
He ended his PM, with " Don't discount what that little cartridge can do!"
Sadly Doug has left us, but it was good to count him as a real friend...we were both heavily involved in Boy Scouts.
But I don't think I could get a better endorsement of a gun or cartridge than Doug gave me on the 350 Legend, and I was impressed on how it was for taking disadvantaged kids on their first hunt.
Miss ya Doug....RIP my friend!
