Magnum Fever......

[CactusCurt]

With my "once in a lifetime" elk hunt just a month away, it is time for my beatings to begin.

The nature of the country will present shot distances that will test anyones ethical standards. So like most I'm compelled to drag out a magnum that shoots farther than any of us should; in my case my trusty 7mm STW. The old saw about killing on one end and crippling on the other comes to mind.

I have been around the 7stw since it was still a wildcat. I have had mine for maybe 20 years? Anyway, here she is in a lineup with the 7-08 (a very polite round for us older folks), the 25-06 (my favorite round for deer sized critters and fast and accurate), and the 7 stw (80 grains of powder in each shot). Sigh.

First world problems.

[Dave Grubb]

Better you than me pal

I have messed around with a few of those "killers" and find no fun in that at all.

A friend of mine, who is a Weatherby nut----and I mean nut----could not believe that I was going to go moose hunting with my beloved 7 mm Rem Mag. Not enough gun! Not enough bullet weight----you CANNOT kill an animal of that size with that damn thing.

Good thing that moose didn't hear that council or he might have tried taking at least one step

Just for giggles---I have yet---after 45+ years to recover one bullet---they either go out the other side or blow up. In the case of the moose, the bullet entered at the base of the chest, centered left to right and went up to his spine and disintegrated. (he was standing far above me and head on)

Did I mention that I'm a wuss

[Blue74]

When I was a younger man I would take it out to shoot targets. But now that I'm older and the shoulder isn't what it used to be and the cost has gone $$$. I'll just look at it.

[Dave Grubb]

I used to do a lot of custom reloading for various people and I had dies for those "elephant guns"---so I would load them---but that wasn't enough for many in that crowd and they would bring me their gun so I could work up loads---and set-up their rifles while I was at it. I ended that a long time ago----fellow, if you want a gun like that you need to be comfortable shooting it-----you are on your own---I'll load em---you shoot em

[CactusCurt]

My STW is no fun at all to shoot - but it shoots remarkably well. I have a 300 WM with a muzzle brake that I shot for years (probably why I dont hear so good - but that could be the 500,000 trap targets too) and its pretty tame by comparison. No brake on this guy - I dont like the blast. So I suffer through the recoil. Oh, and I broke my right collar bone about 10 years ago (on a honda 50 if you must know, no there is no video) so that feels good also.

Hey blue, I have your guns big brudder. If I was in the thick stuff the 375 might get the nod.

I always wanted a 257 wby. But a 25-06 AI does damn near the same thing with a lot less. Now I want a 280 AI.

[Dave Grubb]

What ever you take----good luck

....and if you are like me---I have never felt recoil when hunting

[CactusCurt]

And its always a good time for a reloading rant. So this time it's the internet and the range of reloading "data"and for the most part just noise. But I cant help myself so I still look.

Turns out the alliant powder I was using became rumored to be sensitive to temperature extremes. The good news is they make a new powder - for $34/lb, so it's back to the reloading bench. Oh, and in the process I decided to look at the new load data and it turns out that the loads I have been using have now been revised so what I have loaded up is on the warm side of the scale.

The good news is that the guy I shoot with has a chrono, so I can see exactly how hot. I have never fooled with one before so this shoud add yet another variable in the galaxy of random data points in my minds reloading garbage pail.

The good news is that we can get powder and primers again. Even my walmart has .22's again.

[CactusCurt]

I have not had an issue with recoil while hunting, but I know a couple of guys who wear the crescent over their eye. One was my doctor who was hunting with my dentist (who retired because he lost full function of his hands). He did a pretty poor job of stitching in the field and the doctor gets to explain his frankenstein scar.

So thats my big concern - my ability to contort like I used to. It's tortuous for me to shoot prone, seated, or kneeling in the field. And I never did shoot that well offhand so this should be interesting.

[Truckman]

I can only recall one instance of being bothered by recoil...I was invited to a charity sporting clays event (my one and only try at the sport), and was loaned a nice Browning 20 gauge O/U...I did OK with it for a while barely feeling it when I fired, but at the end of the day, 100 or so rounds, I was anticipating the recoil so much, I could hardly hold the gun...Good thing I didn't get loaned a 12 gauge......Ben

[CactusCurt]

Sporting clays are fun. Our big days shooting trap were our 500 bird marathons. Those were handicap events so most of us knotheads shot 3 dr shells Your "front" arm would get tired, your cheek was a little beat up and you coughed like a smoker.

But there is no finer smell than a federal paper target load.

[Dave Grubb]

I can only recall one instance of being bothered by recoil...I was invited to a charity sporting clays event (my one and only try at the sport), and was loaned a nice Browning 20 gauge O/U...I did OK with it for a while barely feeling it when I fired, but at the end of the day, 100 or so rounds, I was anticipating the recoil so much, I could hardly hold the gun...Good thing I didn't get loaned a 12 gauge......Ben

I have not traded many of my hunting guns----but one came and went with no fan fair at all. In the early 70's Remington came out with a light weight 20 ga pump. This gun was not a downsized 12 ga---the entire gun, including the receiver was designed for the 20 ga loads. The stock was maple to save the weight of walnut---I reserved the first one in the door at my dealer.

When I got it, I took it to a trap shoot to get "comfortable" with it---the damn thing was hateful It didn't stay around long enough to get a place on the wall!

[wacojoe]

O.K., Curt, I have to ask: why go on “your first elk hunt,” when you posted pics of them in your back yard? Too hard to get permits? You like long shots to make it sporting?

[CactusCurt]

It’s considered a once in a lifetime permit because of the statistical unlikelyhood of ever getting another chance to hunt elk in this game management unit for this particular hunt (a rifle hunt during the rut before the archers).

I have taken several elk but mostly with a bow or muzzleloader. This is actually the second time i have ever hunted elk with a rifle. But there is tremendous pressure to make the most of the opportunity to take a big bull. I won’t likely ever have a chance this good again. So my summer has been pretty much consumed with scouting and gear prep. Since we built the cabin we don’t go camping much anymore so my gear is darn near antique. I know , first world issues.

[CactusCurt]

As for the shot distance matter, much of the unit is in a 15 year old burn with elk feeding pretty much everywhere. You could literally shoot a mile if you wanted to. My self imposed limit is 500 yards. But if you evere get the chance to see a really big bull, that could go out the window. Prepare for worst case and hope for best.

[CactusCurt]

By the way this hunt is in eastern Arizona so it’s about 6 hours from my door to the woods. I had 19 “preference points “ (think years)and still only had somewhere in the range of a 5% chance of being drawn (someone was kind enough to point out to me that I have a couple thousand $ invested in licenses and application fees over that 20 years). Because of the competitive nature of “trophy hunting “ these days the demand for these high quality opportunities means that most ordinary people will never get a chance to see what i get to this summer/fall. I don’t like what is happening in the hunting world.