savage 110 LRH 338 LM

[RC20]

30-06 was the caliber growing up though we had a 270 as well (I don't think any game was taken with it until my younger brother started hunting with it 10 years ago)

With our history and the WWI and WWII history and being seriously into that as well as the Model of 1917s, 30-06 was a natural.

Oddly I hunted with a 7mm Rem mag (when I was doing it) but that was influenced by my brother having one.

All said and done a good 06 would have been fine, never got anything from the 7mm other than some shredded meat that the 06 would not have done.

I made one long shot that with the 06 trajectory would have taken the Moose down, we wound up chasing it through the boonies for 3/4 of a mile before we caught up with it.

I didn't get into target shooting until about 8 years ago (serious type seeing what I could do).

That is when I found that the 308 had superseded the 06 years before and was in turn being superseded by the 6.5 and 6 calibers.

Now there is a 30 caliber target round because it makes a bigger hold and that may win the match.

[std7mag]

Not so sure that 7mm Rem Mag tears up meat any more than the 06' does.

Hit small buck at about 175 yards using a Savage 110 in 06' with 165gr Nosler Ballistic Tips.
I didn't realize that he was standing slightly quartering away. Good hit on near side. But hit shoulder on the oposite side. Picked deer up and literally threw it. I could put my fist through the destroyed shoulder.

Seems these days people feel the 06' is "not an efficient cartridge". People are stuck on the 308. That and the flavor of the day, the 6.5mm Manbun.

[RC20]

Laugh.

I think my issue was bullet choice and velocity. 7mm being a fair bit higher.

Mostly it was torn up and not blown up so I just cut around it and it was burger or stew.

No matter how I angled, I alwyas clipped or went through the far shoulder though the shot was behind the near shoulder.

I think 250-350 yards was the longest shot I made (I did not pace that one) and that is still honking for a 7mm.

My brother made a moving caribou shot out at 450 paced, nice shot and he had run 100 yards to cut the angle and get the distance down.

[stagpanther]

300 gr berger hybrids came in today. Very impressive looking bullet--I have a bunch of eld's to test first--but look forward to seeing if I can find the "right mojo" with these bad boys.

[std7mag]

Ooohhhhhh.....
Shiny....

That's not their VLD Hunting. Which bullet is it?
From my experience, the orange box VLD Hunting like to be close to the lands. Mine liked them 0.005" off the lands.

[stagpanther]

Ooohhhhhh.....
Shiny....

That's not their VLD Hunting. Which bullet is it?
From my experience, the orange box VLD Hunting like to be close to the lands. Mine liked them 0.005" off the lands.

It's their "elite hunter" bullet--which is probably code for long range competition bullet; but is still OK to use for hunting. I've noticed their "comp ready" bullets often come in yellow boxes. This one has a G1 BC of .814 and a G7 BC of .417. Haven't done the actual math yet--but at a glance it looks the highest SD bullet yet that I've bought in 338. I also bought their comp bullets in 30 cal for my 300 win mag.

Their hybrids I've noticed generally have the center of pressure slightly more forward (meaning the secant ogive isn't as long) which I think, among other things, makes them a bit easier to cycle in a semi-auto; I've noticed the "pure" vld's are very touchy to get to work well in an AR action.

[stagpanther]

Got my first "real" day of shooting my new savage 110 in 338 lapua. Wasn't ideal conditions--in the teens with wind-chill probably right around zero (last night it went down to 4 below in northern Maine). Winter is still going strong here.


After leveling the receiver and putting a bubble level on it--I attached the scope mount and leveled the scope to a plumb line hanging in my yard. I'm not exactly sure how good the bubble levels are--one is made in China--though they seem to agree with each other. This was my first day shooting with the levels on this rifle--to be honest I went nuts checking my levels when sighting in the target, I spent a lot of time correcting cant in the rifle and having to move the rest frequently. I guess I'll need more practice/patience.

I was testing 230 eldx's driven by H1000; most of the groups were around MOA or slightly under--OK for conventional close ranges but definitely won't cut it for longer range shooting.


Something really weird happened about half way through the test with a mid-power load (92 grs). Accuracy of the previous groups had been very close to the 3/4" target dot. The first shot of the 92 gr group was a bit right--but then the next three shots impacting far right of the POA (wasn't any change of how I was holding the rifle). My first thought was Drat! I must have a loose mount or rings--but when I went out to the target I found that all three shots went through the same hole. I corrected left and all the rest of the groups had proper windage, though the precision dispersed back out to just under MOA. The wind, though strong at times, was almost dead-on at 12 o'clock so I don't think that could account for the shift--especially at only 100 yds.







It's nice to dream about "what could have been"--but that tantalizing 3 shot group measures under .15 MOA.

[stagpanther]

Just read this interesting article obviously I'm allowing the rifle to shift as a result of my hold (or lack thereof). Pretty interesting how the author seems to suggest the common cross arm unsupported forend technique inherently introduces instability.

[1stmar]

Interesting article stag. I recently watched a youtube video recommending a similar approach to holding the scope for light rifles. He actually rested his arm over the top of the scope. There sure are a lot of good shooters using cross arm holds though.

[stagpanther]

There sure are a lot of good shooters using cross arm holds though.

To the best of my knowledge, that's the technique used by most of the world's better shooters; but they may be using rifles that they have tuned out all the inherent movement related to the foreend. What happened to me yesterday I'm certain falls within the realm of the kind of movement this guy is talking about. Although the felt recoil is minimal, all the way up to max power loads--pretty amazing, really--I'm still getting a fair bit of muzzle rise, possibly before the bullet exits the muzzle even, even if for no other reason than the induced movement by the trigger pull. It's all good, that 3 shot group tells me when I get my stuff together this will be an awesome long range shooter for me.

[stagpanther]

The impacts of the eld-x were pretty interesting, I can't tell for sure what they would actually do in a hunting scenario--but my guess is that if you shot anything at close range most of the meat within a large radius would be turned to jelly and blown out a large exit wound. I had a target box filled with snow set up in front of my usual target berm which is also covered in about 2 feet of snow and ice. After going through the box filled with snow, the back of the box would have an exit hole of 2 to three inches and by the time the 4 shot group was done a trench would go all the way through the snow and frozen dirt berm (I did have backstop behind my main berm) behind the target, so I had to move the target box after each group. Roughly 40 yds or so beyond the berm I could see where the bullet (or what was left of it) continued on through the snow, generally a pretty straight path from POI.I feel sorry for the jehadi that gets hit by one of these cartridges.