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Got a smallish buck this morning here in South Dakota. 631 yards, standing shot from the tripod. I was able to move through some cedars to get as close as possible. Once in place, it took about an hour and 45 minutes before I was able to take the shot. He had about 20 does he was guarding from a really small buck. Lots of eyes looking around! Every time I'd get lined up, a doe would walk behind him. Then he took off chasing that little buck for about 20 minutes or so. When he came back, he sniffed one doe and then immediately turned sideways. He went straight down at the shot. It was a beautiful morning!





Bob

Well done Bob...nice antelope...

Nice!!

Nice buck!!

Good 'lope.

Nice buck Bob and fantastic shooting!

I know (having shot it) the rifle but I'm sure others would love to hear details?

I hope we can break bread next month! I'll be there exactly 1 month from today!!!!!

bobcape, nice goat, great shot! memtb

Dang, Bob - nice shootin'!

Looking forward to it. The rifle is a custom 700 in .260AI. This is the 3rd barrel on this rifle, all the same chambering. I usually get 3,500ish rounds. Probably could go more but I end up wanting to change to different contour, length, manufacturer, etc. I shoot it suppressed. 142gr Hornady ELR-X at 2942fps. It's a very dependable rifle.



(Those are loaded with A-Max bullets in the picture.)

Bob

Congratulations

Bob
Congrats on a great shot and nice buck. Curious what the entrance and exit was like with the ELD? Also internal damage? Meat damage?

Very well done! Congrats!

I didn't take any pictures of the bullet's path. I should have. He was a little bit quartering towards me at the shot. Entrance was about 4" behind the left shoulder and maybe 7" from the top of his back. So upper third, front of chest. His ass end dropped at the shot and he tipped over stiff legged right were he stood. He never lifted his head again. Exit was between the last two ribs, but didn't break either one. Exit in the hide looked about the size of a ping pong ball. After skinning it out, the exit hole was actually slightly larger than a silver dollar. The lungs were both trashed and the diaphragm was punctured on the exit side. The brisket meat near the exit was a little blood shot. Maybe a baseball size area.

I have shot thousands of A-Max bullets thru this rifle. The ELD-X bullets fly so close to identical that I use the same data for both bullets. Until,the ELD-X's came out, I always hunted deer and antelope with the A-Max bullets. With only one data point it's hard to say for sure, but I would have expected more blood shot meat and probably no exit with the A-Max at that range.

Bob

That is great shooting, Bob. I think the ELDX are proving to be pretty good bullets. I know a guy that shot a cow elk at close range with a 6.5x55 AI and it performed well.

I drove over to Wyoming yesterday morning to hunt with Keith (EH76). I had two non-resident doe antelope tags and he had his buck tag to fill. The goats are really bunched up, bucks and does together. We probably saw 6 or 8 groups with 50 or more goats each. We both filled our tags yesterday. Here are mine.



It was really windy all day. It's Wyoming, it's always windy! For both of them, I waited until they were broadside with their butts into the wind. That way I can dial the elevation and keep the horizontal wire on the neck and then I hold off of the neck for wind and that puts the crosshairs in their chest. If the winds dies or drops, instead of a hit in the neck I get a hit in the high chest.

The bigger one I shot at about 9:00 from prone, at 507 yards I believe. We guessed 20 mph 4:00 wind. The bullet hit centered top/bottom, front/back in the neck. Impact velocity should have been about 2235 fps. The same specs as above: 2942 muzzle velocity, 143gr ELR-X. Entrance was just a bullet hole. Here's the exit after centering the spine.



The second, smaller doe was at 377 yards with close to 30 mph 5:00 wind. Velocity should have been 2407 fps. Hit was just a little high in the neck and closer to neck/body junction. Exit hole.



Both antelope dropped at the shot and didn't raise their heads. So far I've only shot these three animals with the ELR-X. All three died quickly. All done with antelope now. Good times!

Bob

Nice work Bob... how's Keith getting along?

He's doing well!

Bob

Thanks for the report on the new ELD-X Bob; I have a box of 178s for my -06 & 200s for my .300 Weatherby that I'm looking forward to testing.

Those does really make fer great eating; glad Keith is doing well he texted me a pic of his buck he got w/ his 6.5x47L pretty sweet!

Nothing as much fun as pronghorn hunting camp!