865 yard Bull

bigngreen

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Joined
Nov 24, 2008
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8,955
Location
SW Montana
It finally came together!! It's been hard to come by an elk this year, no one has killed a cow and guys are only finding single bulls and the roads have been pounded, never seen so many hunters in this area!! Decided to go to a basin that is untouchable by four wheeler and has everything an elk needs. Got set up on the rim and you could tell it was game on, deer and moose were moving so I got set up and went to get some ranges and couldn't find my range finder :rolleyes: so after searching my buddy headed down to where I was sure it had to drop out. I stayed up on the rim in case something came out and sure nuff 9 head of elk worked up out of the timber so I started working over a little Bushnell range finder we use for bow hunting and I got a range so I set up and punched my data in and cranked it up and sent one, it was not even close and clearly the range was bad. The elk didn't care and continued feeding up the basin and I finally got several good ranges of a tree that was just up the ridge from them so I plugged in 865 and sent a 165 Matrix to the bull as he put his head down to feed, the impact was hard and shook his whole side but I could see it was likely solid liver and back of the of lung but he could only take a couple steps and was just trying not to fall but I thought I would send an other one but I was amped up and not thinking to use my reticule and I just held it of and put one just in front of his chest but that got him to try to move down hill, he was almost done but it looked like could do the quick step of edge of the little ridge he was on so I lined back up this time using my reticule put another one through his shoulder and lungs laying him flat out stone dead :D

My buddy finally got back with a functional range finder, he missed the kill so I let him help pack it out, had to quarter him out and pack him up and out but not to bad, well worth it even though he's not a big bull but he's legal and finally did one in long range! Very happy with the performance of the 165 Matrix from my 270 WSM, flat smoked him with both bullets exiting and the hit through the shoulder blew through the center and blew a good hole through his lungs doing a great job, he was dead on his feet with the first shot which blew a fist size hole through his liver and the back of the of lung.

This is the first LR kill for my first self built rifle as well, rifle spec are 270 WSM on a Savage short action, 1-10 twist Lawton barrel with mini Muscle Brake shooting 165 gr Matrix bullets at 3053 fps, hit him with 1657 ft lbs of energy at 2127 fps. I've put a lot of work into getting this ball rolling and after breaking my ankle last year I didn't know if I would be able to hunt elk like I had been prior but I was GTG, and hauled him out just like the good old days but maybe a little more cautiously than used to. I'm still stoked!!!!!

First pic is over looking the basin and the white dot is where he took the first hit and the second one flattened him. The second one is my dinker bull but I'll take it proudly!!



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Congrats! There's got to be a huge and well earned extra sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in the fact you "did it yourself" from the ground up.

Even without that the first long range kill is a great accomplishment.
 
Nicely done! And now you really know how much to appreciate your good equipment (rangefinder).
 
bng,

As I look out the apartment sliding glass door, I C SNOW! A nice heavy straight falling snow. Oh that I were in the mtns.:)

You done good, my man!

Typical guy thing.....regarding the range finder thing.:)

And a great bull you have. Gimme a 400 class @ 200 yds or yours at 865, the 865 guy, environmental conditions considered, is going down every time. All of the work you've done in preparing for this shot with the concluding success is way more "show offee" than a living room full of antlers.:)

Sure wish those bullets would hold up to another 400 FPSgun)

PS: Was explaining to the wiffie about your hunt. She asked what made you so special. Duh... I explained how you learned machining, made your own rifle, tested and practiced and showed the image of your rifle and the dot. I said you ranked right up there. She responded "not quite deity." I replied, "right up there.":cool:
 
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Excellent job starting from scratch!

You have a lot more to be proud of than the guys on TV with their rifle handed to them, dopped, ranged, dialed in, etc...

Chalk one up for Matrix too.

-- richard
 
thats awesome and I am jealous! im hoping to get a long shot on a cow this year. Congrats! I have come to the realization that any more its about the shot not the animal for me. ill gladly shoot something small at 900 and be just as happy or maybe more so than i am with a big set of antlers at 200 yards
 
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