matemike
Well-Known Member
A little history on the rifle: I bought it because my family used to own a moose hunting lodge in Alaska but we have sold it. There is still opportunity for me to go hunting there since we're friends with the folks who bought it, but being honest I see there being much fewer moose trips if any at all nowadays. Basically I almost sold the big Mark V as I don't have a use for it anymore.
I hate letting a rifle sit in my safe and never use it for it's purpose. I just had to see how it would do on my most hunted game, Texas Whitetail. My buddy owns a 550 acre high fence ranch and he needed some deer management done. Thought this was a great opportunity to see if the rifle were truly overkill or not. Using the Weatherby factory 200 gr Nosler ballistic tips. (discontinued round)
The first evening I shot a spike at 100 yards. DRT. Clean pass through both shoulders. The exit wound was about the size of a silver dollar. Chest cavity was mutilated. Honestly the devastation was not too bad compared to what I was expecting. I've seen my 7 mag do much more damage on a number of deer. Only one shoulder on this deer was not worth keeping. Still got the forearm meet off that side though.
The second day I shot an 8-pt cull buck at 246 yards. DRT. Very clean kill. After he was loaded from the Ranger onto the cleaning stand I noticed that not a drop of blood had dripped into the Ranger bed. The bullet had not passed through on a shoulder shot. I found most of the jacket buried in the opposite side hide. The deer's chest cavity seemed to have more damage than the spike had, but WOW! I was not expecting to have ever seen the 338-378 Wby not make a pass through on a thin skinned Texas white tail. Both shoulder's meat were 100% salvageable. In the pic below you can barely see the entrance in the left shoulder and the recovered bullet jacket in the second pic. It weighed 90.4 gr out of the original 200 gr.
Third and final deer shot was a doe at about 120 yards. DRT. (these deer are not about to run or even take a step). Another clean pass through with about a silver dollar size exit wound. I might have shot that deer about an inch or so high in the shoulder because the front tips of her back straps were encompassed in the chest cavity mutilation.
Turns out I love this round for deer hunting. The gun is a beaut. It travels well on ATV's, in and out of deer blinds and she shoulders well too. I was always thinking this rifle would be a burden to carry all day and that shouldering it in the real world hunting situation might be a little cumbersome. I was wrong. Love this rifle. If there has to be one draw back it is the blast and recoil. I've been scope-eyed by smaller hunting rifles and I know this one could do it. So I was always "worried " about it, although I never even noticed the recoil when hunting. (shooting 20 rounds at the range is a different story, my shoulder hurt after that). So, because of the muzzle blast, I was making myself and my buddy take extra steps to don ear protection before each shot. Management hunting meant there were not going to be any rushed or non-ideal shots, so we had time to protect ourselves. Not sure if every hunting situation presents that opportunity, and especially if I have my kid in the blind with me, I would not want to take a shot without ear-pro with this rifle. So it might not be an "every situation" hunting rifle, but it worked beyond my expectations this last week.
Happy Hunting!
I hate letting a rifle sit in my safe and never use it for it's purpose. I just had to see how it would do on my most hunted game, Texas Whitetail. My buddy owns a 550 acre high fence ranch and he needed some deer management done. Thought this was a great opportunity to see if the rifle were truly overkill or not. Using the Weatherby factory 200 gr Nosler ballistic tips. (discontinued round)
The first evening I shot a spike at 100 yards. DRT. Clean pass through both shoulders. The exit wound was about the size of a silver dollar. Chest cavity was mutilated. Honestly the devastation was not too bad compared to what I was expecting. I've seen my 7 mag do much more damage on a number of deer. Only one shoulder on this deer was not worth keeping. Still got the forearm meet off that side though.
The second day I shot an 8-pt cull buck at 246 yards. DRT. Very clean kill. After he was loaded from the Ranger onto the cleaning stand I noticed that not a drop of blood had dripped into the Ranger bed. The bullet had not passed through on a shoulder shot. I found most of the jacket buried in the opposite side hide. The deer's chest cavity seemed to have more damage than the spike had, but WOW! I was not expecting to have ever seen the 338-378 Wby not make a pass through on a thin skinned Texas white tail. Both shoulder's meat were 100% salvageable. In the pic below you can barely see the entrance in the left shoulder and the recovered bullet jacket in the second pic. It weighed 90.4 gr out of the original 200 gr.
Third and final deer shot was a doe at about 120 yards. DRT. (these deer are not about to run or even take a step). Another clean pass through with about a silver dollar size exit wound. I might have shot that deer about an inch or so high in the shoulder because the front tips of her back straps were encompassed in the chest cavity mutilation.
Turns out I love this round for deer hunting. The gun is a beaut. It travels well on ATV's, in and out of deer blinds and she shoulders well too. I was always thinking this rifle would be a burden to carry all day and that shouldering it in the real world hunting situation might be a little cumbersome. I was wrong. Love this rifle. If there has to be one draw back it is the blast and recoil. I've been scope-eyed by smaller hunting rifles and I know this one could do it. So I was always "worried " about it, although I never even noticed the recoil when hunting. (shooting 20 rounds at the range is a different story, my shoulder hurt after that). So, because of the muzzle blast, I was making myself and my buddy take extra steps to don ear protection before each shot. Management hunting meant there were not going to be any rushed or non-ideal shots, so we had time to protect ourselves. Not sure if every hunting situation presents that opportunity, and especially if I have my kid in the blind with me, I would not want to take a shot without ear-pro with this rifle. So it might not be an "every situation" hunting rifle, but it worked beyond my expectations this last week.
Happy Hunting!
