Thread: Velocity
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Old May 14, 2000, 07:07 PM   #3
Art Eatman
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Join Date: November 13, 1998
Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA
Posts: 24,798
A direct answer would be "Not much". I'll hit the highlights a bit, fully agreeing with Paul B.'s comments.

The whole idea revolves around "clean kill". So, generally, scopes are better than iron sights. For the average shot on the average white tail, a .30-'06 is really more than you need. However, this assumes you don't shoot into a ham, or just break a leg, or gut shoot the deer.

With a heart/lung shot, or spinal hit, even the pipsqueaks will kill a deer. Bigger and faster typically means a shorter time/distance in tracking of a wounded animal.

If you hunt from a stand, and your common range for a shot is 25 to 75 yards, a .30-30 is enough cartridge. If what you own is a .30-'06, you can load down a bit for more comfort when you shoot.

As a generality, there is little point to loading to the max. Lemme say this about that, though: I shoot relatively few hunting loads, which I do load to the max. I won't burn the throat of the barrel with, say, ten or twenty rounds per year of "hot stuff". I hunt in open country, so I want all I can get.

For loads which I shoot a lot, I'm gonna load down just a bit under max, solely to extend my barrel life.

Probably, just sorta guessin', the best load is one which is maybe 100 or 200 ft/sec under max, and gives the tightest groups off the benchrest. After you've determined that, forget the benchrest and start working on your shooting skills from the various common positions. Offhand, sittin' on a rock, a bit awkward in a tree stand, that sort of thing.

Hitting exactly where you're aiming makes up for a lot of feet per second.

Regards, Art
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