Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Kansas, Uncas, and the .30-40 Krag Buck

Uncas, with his 2013 Kansas Whitetail Buck and the borrowed .30-40 Krag Contender Carbine that he used.

Uncas "borrowed" the carbine from my gun case because I had to run into town and his .30-06 was in my truck.

He grabbed some rounds out of one of the two boxes of handloads that I had with the rifle, not knowing that the box he grabbed them from was the box of 130gr Speer FP "plinker" rounds I had loaded for my nephew and was going to check trajectory on while we were in KS. They were loaded to about 1600fps.

The other box had some 180gr Core Lokts in handloads and some Speer 130gr FP that were loaded to about 2600fps in that carbine. I knew that they were on at 100yds and the 180's were slightly high at that distance, but had no idea where the "plinker" loads would strike at 100yds.

When he called me and said that he had grabbed the .30-40 and some of the 130gr FP ammo, I thought he had grabbed the "fast" box, and not the "plinkers" so I told him that they were "on" at 100yds and left it at that.

At best guess, he shot the buck somewhere between 125-150 yds as the deer was walking.

High lung shot, missed ribs going in and coming out. Entrance wound, .30 caliber, exit wound, roughly 1" in diameter. He ran about 200 yds before he laid down and died.

He also killed two meat does with his .30-06 Model 70 BOSS, shooting the now-discontinued Barnes 125gr "X" bullets. Both heart/double lung shots, one at 402 yards, one at 360 yards.

It was a great time with Uncas and our friend, "Dave The Unknown Rocket Scientist".
Great food, great whiskeys, great hunting, and fantastic fellowship.

Ed

Uncle Si???




J/K, sounds like good times, congrats to Uncas!!

Well, every once in a while things just work out.

That they do, Keith.

Uncas told me that he thought something was a bit odd when he pulled the trigger and realized that he never lost the sight picture in recoil.

Ed

congrats to him!

Just plain neat all the way around. Congrats.

Great story, glad you had a great trip to our state!

Good for Uncas. That's a fine looking buck, and a nifty looking carbine. I expect that would work pretty well on hogs.

CONGRATS! to Uncas and that's a BIG buck to me.

The 130gr load was exactly what I had in mind for hogs and these East Texas Whitetails.
My youngest nephew is relatively small statured, so the carbine and those loads were designed to be just the ticket.

I also love shooting that thing. Just ask the guys at the last Sierra Vista Shindig.

Bill (Uncas) is a fine shot with anything he picks up, so it was no surprise that he killed that buck.
Two heart shot does at over 350 yards isn't an accident, either.

Ed

Ken,
That was an average three year old, eight point buck where we were hunting. We kept chasing a 10 point (5x5 for you Westerners) that we nicknamed "Bullwinkle" but we could never get within 600 yards of him. Rough guess on him was 180 points. Big body, VERY wide rack, nice heavy beams, and moderately tall tines made him look out of proportion, hence the "Bullwinkle" nickname.
We saw probably twenty "shooters", i.e.; 8 pts +, heavy beams & tines, more than 20" spread, in the ten days we hunted, and a bunch more fork-horns, six-points, broken antlered 5x2's, 4x1's, and some skinny 8pts.

Ed

Dang, wish I was seeing that many bucks I've seen a couple that will be damn nice in a couple years, but the two rumored big boys haven't showed yet.

Like the buck and the 30-40 round tho I don't have any 30-40 chambered rifles at this time. Nice Shootin' Uncas

That carbine is the result of a conspiracy between Uncas and my wife. She slipped my .30-30 barrel out of my gunsafe and Uncas had it rechambered to .30-40 Krag.
It had the sloppiest .30-30 chamber I have ever seen and no matter what loads I tried, I couldn't get it to shoot better than 4" groups at 100 yards.

Once it shed it's ugly duckling chamber, it became capable of an honest 1MOA if I do my part.

It's going to get a workout with some old Barnes 125gr XLC's I found to see what it will do with them, and I am looking for a good 200-210gr .308 cal cast bullet mould to see what the old guys were shouting about.

Ed

Ok,fine,but that is a BIG buck to me.

Them Kansas deer eat corn each summer. Seem to grow real big ones up in that country.

ED, picked up a model 98 Springfield 30/40 Sunday at an auction. Has been worked on some. Can't wait to shoot it and see what happens.

Thanks for posting this. It looks like a great time was had by all but that buck. It is still a surprise to see all that gray on Uncas, and on me when I get enough nerve to face a mirror. Good thing you haven't changed, right Ed?

I'll throw that .309 IDEAL # 308 278 572 mold in with yer' ladles,........no idea about the original mission for this one,......I got it off a table at a Tombstone Gunshow. No GC, and the sample slug (cast from who knows what) in the mold blocks weighs in @ 199.6 gr,....carries LOTS of grease.

Call it a loaner, and try out your new "Single Pour Dumpster" on it.

Not just corn, this is milo, millet, wheat, and sunflower country. Toss in the wild grasses, good water, and proper cover, and you have the recipe for healthy deer.
The does that Uncas shot tasted like the finest grass & grain fed beef I have ever eaten.

You bringing that Model 98 up for the Spring East Texas Gathering? Maybe we'll have a .30-40 shoot.

Ed

Nope, I'm just as youthful and handsome as I ever was. There is a conspiracy between Barbara and my barber. They seem to be throwing gray hair down on the barber shop floor and around the sink when I shave!

Ed