my plan is to use this year a 1953 model 70 Winchester 30-06 i inherited from a great old friend who passed a few years ago, which i plan on using this fine old rifle ,with some grand old 30-06 cartridges and some old 40 year old Nosler Partition bullets that another great old friend gave me before he passed ,to bear hunt in northern Minnesota. i know its not obsolete but its all grand older things that will together and my handloading make it go BANG ! maybe even kill a black bear too ?
I was thinking the same thing. For 30 years my main hunting rifle has been a 1948 vintage model 70 Winchester in 30 Gov't 06 wearing a 6X Leupold Alaskan scope. With this rifle I have taken 19 Elk, 20 Mule deer, and 18 Antelope along with various other critters. 200 grain Nosler Partions loaded hot are outstanding performers on this size of critters. Last few years 180 grain Nosler Partion factory ammo has been its food but I find them less formattable than the 200's. While some in this thread may question the 30/06 as not old enough to qualify for this discussion, it is 9 years older than the 250 Savage.
I have never hunted deer with a cartridge newer than WWI, except briefly 49 years ago when a .243 tempted me. Nowadays I'm getting back into using single shots for deer hunting, and I'll probably use what I used last year: Ruger 1A in 6.5x55. Sorry, but single shot falling block Savage rifles don't exist.
you will enjoy using a single shot rifle ,i have been using for deer in my home state and out west a Ruger #1 for around 20 years ,but this year as i mention just for a bear hunt the old model 70 - 30-06 is coming out of the safe Queen for one hunt in memory of my old dear friend Harold B.
My main hunting rifle for 42 years has been my Ruger #1 in 7x57. We have taken game in three states, but I would hardy call it obsolete. Don’t think it meets Roy’s criteria for this falls hunt. I have hunted deer with my 120 year old Krag sporter. Only in the morning hunts because the peep sights in the evening, for me, can be a problem. But never had any luck with it. It still would be my candidate though.
my plan is to use this year a 1953 model 70 Winchester 30-06 i inherited from a great old friend who passed a few years ago, which i plan on using this fine old rifle ,with some grand old 30-06 cartridges and some old 40 year old Nosler Partition bullets that another great old friend gave me before he passed ,to bear hunt in northern Minnesota. i know its not obsolete but its all grand older things that will together and my handloading make it go BANG ! maybe even kill a black bear too ?
I was thinking the same thing. For 30 years my main hunting rifle has been a 1948 vintage model 70 Winchester in 30 Gov't 06 wearing a 6X Leupold Alaskan scope. With this rifle I have taken 19 Elk, 20 Mule deer, and 18 Antelope along with various other critters. 200 grain Nosler Partions loaded hot are outstanding performers on this size of critters. Last few years 180 grain Nosler Partion factory ammo has been its food but I find them less formattable than the 200's. While some in this thread may question the 30/06 as not old enough to qualify for this discussion, it is 9 years older than the 250 Savage.
You have found that 180 grain Partitions don't format as well/easy as 200 grain Nosler Partitions?
260, it is just a feeling I guess. The 200's were bone crushers. I loaded them WARM and could reliable brake down a bull from any angle. Remington 180 grain Nosler Partion loads I used last year to kill a quite respectable Mule deer buck was poor in comparison. The buck had been previously wounded and when I caught up to him the only shot I had was a quartering Texas heart shot. The bullet took him in one ham, missed any bone and war recovered under skin just ahead of the opposite ham. Actually quite poor in my book. But one instance does not prove much. I have shot a few other critters with 180's and they just didn't seem to react the same. That in itself is not a very scientific results.
Not to sidetrack the thread but I have collected recovered projectiles for years. Most were my own doing but some were from clients when I was guiding elk hunters. Everything from 22 short to 50/70 Govt. I have in excess of 100 documented recovered slugs. Then I have a large handful I was given by a wild game meat processor that I cant document. It befuddles me when experienced hunters always have pass thru's. Strange.
I'm probably going to open the season this year with a Remington 141 in .32 Remington. Not a Savage, but definitely an obsolete cartridge in an obsolete rifle.
260, it is just a feeling I guess. The 200's were bone crushers. I loaded them WARM and could reliable brake down a bull from any angle. Remington 180 grain Nosler Partion loads I used last year to kill a quite respectable Mule deer buck was poor in comparison. The buck had been previously wounded and when I caught up to him the only shot I had was a quartering Texas heart shot. The bullet took him in one ham, missed any bone and war recovered under skin just ahead of the opposite ham. Actually quite poor in my book. But one instance does not prove much. I have shot a few other critters with 180's and they just didn't seem to react the same. That in itself is not a very scientific results.
If you didn't hit any bones or vital organs, an animal that has already been shot and is pumped full of adrenaline might not react very much when being hit in muscle tissue. The elasticity of the hide probably kept the bullet from further penetration after something like 20" of penetration and energy dump.
Not to sidetrack the thread but I have collected recovered projectiles for years. Most were my own doing but some were from clients when I was guiding elk hunters. Everything from 22 short to 50/70 Govt. I have in excess of 100 documented recovered slugs. Then I have a large handful I was given by a wild game meat processor that I cant document. It befuddles me when experienced hunters always have pass thru's. Strange.
What is so befuddling/strange about a pass thru? I wouldn’t expect a well placed Partition traveling at 3,000 fps to remain in an animal the size of a Whitetail. I also don’t understand your comment about 180 gr. Partitions being less formattable than 200 gr. Partitions.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Hunter S. Thompson
Not to sidetrack the thread but I have collected recovered projectiles for years. Most were my own doing but some were from clients when I was guiding elk hunters. Everything from 22 short to 50/70 Govt. I have in excess of 100 documented recovered slugs. Then I have a large handful I was given by a wild game meat processor that I cant document. It befuddles me when experienced hunters always have pass thru's. Strange.
What is so befuddling/strange about a pass thru? I wouldn’t expect a well placed Partition traveling at 3,000 fps to remain in an animal the size of a Whitetail. I also don’t understand your comment about 180 gr. Partitions being less formattable than 200 gr. Partitions.
I've killed bull elk and a bull moose with both 180 grain partitions and 200's. I was into 200's for a while and killed a bull of both species with that batch and then I switched to 180's for whatever reason and killed a bull of both species with that batch of ammo. The results were identical.
With a well constructed bullet like the partition if you hit something hard with it the results can be spectacular. If you just hit soft tissue...not as spectacular. I wouldn't expect a 180 grain partition that's built to knock down reinforced concrete walls to perform impressively on the soft tissue of a mule deer. A regular old cup and core bullet in that application would have almost certainly performed more satisfactorily.
And I don't find anything at all strange about pass throughs. Every bullet loosed from a firearm at a game animal under field conditions is unique. There are so many variables you cannot account for when picking a firearm or load. There is no one size fits all.
"You cannot invade mainland America. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass" ~Admiral Yamamoto~
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. ~Thomas Jefferson~
Well, I usually know what I'm going to start with by now. I finished the Savage Slam last year. I think I might start with the Ruger #3 I got from the estate of our old friend, 7X57 Steve. It's a custom 25-35 that he said was one of his favorites. It is a shooter. I sent my Malcolm scope out to e restored. If it comes back in time I'll stick it back on the 1912 22HP. I took a nice 8 point for the slam with it, but I used the tang sight. Now I want to take one with the Malcolm.
I have always wanted to shoot a deer with a Remington Rolling Block 7X57MM with a 30" barrel. Last one I saw for sale in that configuration was priced $1500....
My cousin is egging me on to whack one in PA with my 5.6x35R (.22WCF/.22Hornet), German kiplauf, 5 pound break open single shot. Legal in PA, but it would pretty much be a stunt shot. 55 grain lead bullet at 1800-2000 fps. Joe Martin has shot it and I had to make sure it was in the gun case when I went home.
Those rifles were very popular at one time for Alpine roe deer stalking.
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
My cousin is egging me on to whack one in PA with my 5.6x35R (.22WCF/.22Hornet), German kiplauf, 5 pound break open single shot. Legal in PA, but it would pretty much be a stunt shot. 55 grain lead bullet at 1800-2000 fps. Joe Martin has shot it and I had to make sure it was in the gun case when I went home.
Those rifles were very popular at one time for Alpine roe deer stalking.
I've killed deer with alot less Gary, go for it!
_______________________________________________________ An 8 dollar driveway boy living in a T-111 shack
I have always wanted to shoot a deer with a Remington Rolling Block 7X57MM with a 30" barrel. Last one I saw for sale in that configuration was priced $1500....
I had a Model 1902 Remington Rolling Block military rifle from some Central or South American country back in the mid-1980's. I bought it somewhere in the Atlanta metro area in 1985 while doing a summer internship during my MBA program. I fired it a couple times when it was tied into a tire and I crouched down behind a large tree with a long string tied to the trigger. To say that the headspace was excessive would be an understatement, as each fired case had a near seperation expansion ring around it. Needless to say, I never fired it from my shoulder and I sold it as a wall-hanger after I plugged the chamber with Cerrosafe. JOC ranked the surplus Remington Rolling Blocks along with Carcanos and a variety of pre-1898 style Mausers as rifles that he wouldn't recommend, but after having one, I thought that he was either ranking the Remington unfairly high or the pre-1898 small ring military Mausers unfairly low. Well, on second thought, maybe the Spanish-made SR Mausers deserved to be ranked down with the Remingtons.
