My wife's first elk

[Johnny blade]

Great job, way to cool under pressure!

 

[scooterf79]

Congratulations!!!
Awesome story....I'm not sure I could've held it together myself after rounds did that ....lol
Scooter

 

[sierracharlie338]

Such an awesome story and congrats to you both! Sounds like it was well earned!!

 

[gopherslayer]

Lifetime supply. A couple of drops go a long ways.

One heck of a story to tell at the watering hole.

 

[Coldfinger]

Hello everyone ! We just finished up our hunt in Colorado, first rifle. My wife got her first elk, a 5x5. She nailed it at 320 yds, one shot after an exciting beginning. We spotted the bull real early before shooting light in a meadow. Got as close as we dare on foot, crawled on hands and knees for final 50 yds. I left my browning xbolt 7mm rem mag lay in weeds as i wanted to film the shot and it was awkward with rifle in one hand and camera in other. We made it to a rock we could kneel behind. I took off my sweatshirt for her to lay her browning x bolt on for padding. She took her time , got steady. She was shooting a 6.5 prc with 124 hammers. The elk turned broadside...she squeezed....click. I thought...no round in chamber. Wrong. She did everything right. She ejected the round, no mark on primer. Crap. Tried 2nd time....click. third time click. I took her bolt out and put it in my shirt, blew on it, wrapped my hand around it to thaw it out. We had left the rifles in the truck overnight. Kim put a new magazine in. I put the bolt in. She aimed....click. thank god the elk was still grazing. We atleast had a very small dent in the primers. Our guide crawled back retrieved my 7 mm for her to use. Now she's only 5' 2", I'm 6'4". My rifle was set up way long for her. So she stretched out with the butt down her arm, not on her shoulder. Kinda funny she thought the scope was going to nail her head. But she aimed, sent the 143 hammer. It hit the elk, double lung, it trotted 30 yds toward us. And stopped. The guide and i were whispering.....hit him again. Kim was watching through the scope. He was facing us so she didn't shoot. He started wobbling....fell over. Total of 5 seconds from shot to on ground. We both shoot suppressed so we heard the hammer hit with a big whop. The round went completely through him. I was so dang happy for her. She had put in a bunch of hard miles on the last 2 hunts to get him. I was real impressed with how cool she stayed under pressure of the rounds not going off. We both use the same scope so the looking through the scope was exactly the same. I was glad we practiced a ton over the years.View attachment 305935
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Congratulations that's awesome! What is the conclusion on bolt? I wish my wife would hunt, I did get her to shoot a 150 yard gong with my sons 6 creedmoor, it's a start!

 

[central iowa couple]

Ok....been out in the fields since a bunch of guys have commented. I read all of your responses to her. She feels pretty special with all of you congradulating her. Thanks for all the kind words. We hunted in the Buena Vista area. Good luck to all of you going out in the next few weeks. Both of us were kinda disappointed we didn't get to kill one with her 6.5 prc and the 124 hammer hunters. But....again any elk is a trophy... including cows. All of them are earned. When you think of it ...what percentage of hunters have tagged an elk......any elk? In out town of 5000 here in iowa i can only think of 6 or 7.
I believe my bolt problem was moisture.
Thanks again for all the kind words to my wife....best shooting site out there!

 

[central iowa couple]

Great story and great elk. I've had one click, no-bang experience myself with a tiiiiny little dent in the primer. Mine happened at around 100 degrees with a Mk V .300 Wby. Never figured it out and it never happened again. Maybe some sand stuck somewhere? The next round went bang just fine.

I avoid any kind of lube in the bolt except a very thin layer of oil on the lugs. Cold can mess stuff up and a few sub zero goose hunts tell you all you need to know about certain kinds of oil.

Interesting ejector marks on your brass. I assume they're X1 reloads?

You're quite observant. They are reloads. Actually 3x . I was using re26 with the hammer hunter bullets. Ran them up to pressure signs. Backed of by 1 grain. Everything was going good. Then i forgot them in the truck at the range for a 10 minutes or so. Inside of truck was real hot. I shot them and wondered what was going on after 2nd shot. I then turned on the ac in the truck. 20 minutes later Everything went well after that. Lesson learned. I think re26 doesnt like temps over 120. Just a guess on how warm the brass was. Nothing scientific

 

[Carbine Kid]

Hello everyone ! We just finished up our hunt in Colorado, first rifle. My wife got her first elk, a 5x5. She nailed it at 320 yds, one shot after an exciting beginning. We spotted the bull real early before shooting light in a meadow. Got as close as we dare on foot, crawled on hands and knees for final 50 yds. I left my browning xbolt 7mm rem mag lay in weeds as i wanted to film the shot and it was awkward with rifle in one hand and camera in other. We made it to a rock we could kneel behind. I took off my sweatshirt for her to lay her browning x bolt on for padding. She took her time , got steady. She was shooting a 6.5 prc with 124 hammers. The elk turned broadside...she squeezed....click. I thought...no round in chamber. Wrong. She did everything right. She ejected the round, no mark on primer. Crap. Tried 2nd time....click. third time click. I took her bolt out and put it in my shirt, blew on it, wrapped my hand around it to thaw it out. We had left the rifles in the truck overnight. Kim put a new magazine in. I put the bolt in. She aimed....click. thank god the elk was still grazing. We atleast had a very small dent in the primers. Our guide crawled back retrieved my 7 mm for her to use. Now she's only 5' 2", I'm 6'4". My rifle was set up way long for her. So she stretched out with the butt down her arm, not on her shoulder. Kinda funny she thought the scope was going to nail her head. But she aimed, sent the 143 hammer. It hit the elk, double lung, it trotted 30 yds toward us. And stopped. The guide and i were whispering.....hit him again. Kim was watching through the scope. He was facing us so she didn't shoot. He started wobbling....fell over. Total of 5 seconds from shot to on ground. We both shoot suppressed so we heard the hammer hit with a big whop. The round went completely through him. I was so dang happy for her. She had put in a bunch of hard miles on the last 2 hunts to get him. I was real impressed with how cool she stayed under pressure of the rounds not going off. We both use the same scope so the looking through the scope was exactly the same. I was glad we practiced a ton over the years.View attachment 305935
View attachment 305936View attachment 305937View attachment 305938View attachment 305940

Sorry, I just could not help myself.
Third pic down. They both look happy with a big smile on the Elk.

 

[OrionsStar]

Thats Great! Way to go wife! Calm under pressure and a great shot with a new rifle! So glad she did not get scoped too!
Jim

 

[memtb]

Yeah....i have never cleaned the bolts before. I will try that. Thanks for the advice

Congrats to your wife......way to stay with the program! "Cool under fire" is a good thing!

Yep.....clean bolts and lubrication that "will not" get highly viscous in cold temps. Graphite works well in extreme cold....zero and below! memtb

 

[Rifleman97]

Always good to see some other central Iowa folks on here! Very few long range folks in Iowa. Congrats!