recurveman

Just switched to the .264 caliber 142 grain ABLR this year. Shot a MD in Colorado and was happy with the results. Sounds like your bullet did a great job too.

I frequently see the charts off by 50-100 FPS all the time. Plus, normally I'm always shooting well past the "published" max loads. Currently I'm shooting 54 grains of H4350 out of my 6.5 X 284 at 3005 FPS with a 142 grain bullet. That is 8 grains above suggested max and 275 FPS above Hodgdon's max speed. I hit pressure signs at 3100 FPS and 55.5 grains of powder. In my .243 with H4831 I shoot 46 grains of powder at 3100 FPS with a 90 grain pill. We ran the grains up to 49 or 50 grains but couldn't gain any velocity after 46 grains of powder but the groups did start to open up pretty good as we went up the ladder. If you want to shoot tight groups at distances over 400-500 yards a chrono is a must. Your speeds have to be really, really consistent or you will not hold a good water line. Plus, you need to know your speed for your drops/chart too. I guess you could do a bunch of load testing at 1000 yards and see how it prints but I think it is much faster and easier to do with a chrono just to see if you are close. I've just had to many loads that were 30-50 FPS different that printed great at 100 yards that I didn't even care about shooting anymore because I knew they wouldn't produce good results at longer distances. You will literally learn more about your rifle and loads with a chrono than any other piece of gear. It doesn't need to be the first piece of gear but it is a needed for good long range results.

So I bought a vortex ranger 1800 rangefinder recently. When it came out of the box it didn't range past 100 yards for some reason. I emailed customer service and told them that I have a hunt coming up and need to get this handled ASAP. Basically they had me 2nd day air the RF on Tuesday of last week and the shipped it back on Friday. My rangefinder is scheduled for delivery tomorrow by 8PM. That rocks in my book for sure. I'm leaving for my hunt on Thursday so I think it will all work out.

starting to reload...... Well if I was a hunter that liked to shoot my gun 2-3 times a year and might shoot 100 rounds a year I would highly consider shooting factory ammo. quality factory ammo will shoot 500+ yards and easily kill critters. If you are shooting 300+ rounds per year (for multiple years) AND need more accuracy then I would consider reloading. Reloading takes a bunch of time. I've probably have shot more rounds that shoot like crap out of my guns than rounds that have shot good. I've put rounds down range that have actually hit the target sideways (more than once). I can turn a MOA gun into a 4 MOA frequently. I've seen bolts of guns that wouldn't open after they have been fired (I didn't reload that ammo). Don't forget a bullet puller. you WILL need one. I love reloading and have a few pet loads that are super accurate. reloading isn't cheaper than factory ammo. Not even close. You can have marginal gains with reloading but for most hunting applications reloading isn't needed. If you dig messing with guns then reloading is a blast. My father in law is really into LR shooting competitions. He has just about everything a guy could want related to guns and reloading. If it can be measured he has multiple tools to do it. Chronograph. You have to have a chronograph. You will need to measure the speed of each shot to see if you have consistency. Plus, you will need the speed for your charts. Reloading without a graph can be done but it is tough. The vast majority of my shots are using a chrono. If I'm load developing I WILL use a chrono. FIND A RELOADING friend. Your learning curve (and stress level) will be better with help from a friend with some experience.

Pick one rifle. I would choose your 6.5 X 284 and get really good with that one gun ( I also own a custom 6.5 X 284) It will kill everything in the lower 48 with ease. You don't need to shoot sub MOA to have fun spending time in the field and hunting. A stock remington 700 (or other favorite brand) will shoot 500 yards out of the box all day long. Everyone is WAY to caught up into the gear right now. The key really is spending time in the field. Most people spend to much time working for money so they can obtain gear. Instead they should be spending money on fuel so they can be out in the field. That is where the best time is spent. Kids are an adventure. We took our girl on her first camping trip at 6 weeks old. When my boy arrived he just followed suit. Kids LOVE all this outdoors stuff. You just have to make sure that they are warm and take time to let them do "kids stuff" when you are out on your adventures. They will have a blast picking flowers, throwing rocks at tanks, building forts, collecting all the various crap off the forest floor and bringing it back to came.........then wanting to take it home like a new puppy. My kids like fishing and are just getting to the age where they can hunt. I just recently shot a deer and my wife shot an elk. We process our own meat and the kids helped us the best they could. They think it is fun and will ask a ton of questions. Just takes a little time and you will have a good helper. Relax about hunting too. You don't have to scout 51 weekends a year and hunt 1 weekend a year. So do a little less scouting.....or zero scouting. Who cares. Get out in the field and have a good time. Maybe you will shoot something and maybe you won't. It will probably matter less than you think. Then when you have more time you can apply yourself more to the sport. Again, it is more about getting out in the field then anything else. Just get out when you can and have a good time. Oh one last thing. This is a great time to collect points. Me and my wife collected points for a few critters. Now we are going on some killer hunts because we really didn't have the time to do the hunting we wanted too. We did some left over tags, bow hunts, fishing trips, camping trips, and just collected points. Now we have time and money and can really enjoy the hunts. Its been a blast. You will get there.

I had 3 of us using ON X in CO this deer season. One was a Samsung and the others were I phones. My battery life wasn't great because I didn't put it into airplane mode. I had an extra battery pack and it worked pretty good if I needed it. I had access to power every night so I just plugged in my phone each night and made it through the day most of the time. I was amazed at how many people we ran into that were using ON X. Crazy. It was the first trip for my buddies using the software and it took a day or two of using it and then they loved it. None of use even bothered with a GPS. My kids won't even know why we carried a GPS in the old days.

Here is something to think about. Find someone that has actually hunted with a crossbow. I've had a buddy or two that have hated hunting with them. They are not a gun or bow and using them in the field is a different beast for sure. Not saying anything bad about a crossbow but my buddies didn't realize how big a pain it would be to actually hunt with them until they had to hike with the bow for more than a 100 yards. getting through the woods with them is very different that we are used too. Just something to think about.

I think it will go over better than you think. There are 3 groups of guys. First group is a guy that shoots a sub moa hole at 100 yards and is confident that he can now shoot 1000 yards with his $6,500.00 custom gun and the same amount of money spend on optics. That guys is very dangerous and you got to see him in action the other day. Second group is a guy that shoots out to longer distances and realizes that it is really hard to shoot past 400-500 yards and you need a superior skill set to shoot past 600 yards. These guy will likely cap off their effective range off at 400-600 yards and will work to get closer if the critter is past that range. The third group of guys shoot a bunch and they are probably more into the shooting than that hunting. They live to mess with guns, reloads, shooting and everything that has to do with shooting a long distance. This group has a chance of consistently (not just getting lucky) of hitting a target past 600 yards with only one shot.......not needing a box of ammo. There are very few guys in this group. Personally I don't know one that fits in this category but I'm sure there is a guy or two on this website that fits into this group. I put myself into the second group.

I've got a custom 6.5 X 284. Right now I'm getting 3005 FPS with a Nosler accubond long range 142 grain bullet using 4350 as the powder using a 21" barrel. I ran it up to about 3100 FPS but that is when I started running into pressure issues.

super cool. I will always be listening for that noise now.

I do like the thought of a stiffer barrel at the same weight. The guy I use to chamber my barrels doesn't chamber PR barrels. I PLAN on only shooting the gun once......PLAN....... Though for load development I think it is much nicer to have a stiffer/heavier barrel. I had a heavy palma barrel for awhile and that was nice to shoot on a bench because the recoil was nothing and the barrel didn't walk that much. A 14# rifle wasn't a blast to hunt with though.

Well I like to practice out to 600-1000 yards. Problem is I keep getting to close to the animals. Longest shot to date was 450 yards on a cow elk in CO a few years back. She dropped like a rock. Shot a WT down south at 406 yards. Hit exactly where I aimed. Other than those two shots I've only shot past 200 yards once. All my archery kills are under 35 yards. I guess shooting a long ways is cool. I think getting closer is even more cool. The biggest issue is the guns and range finders today. I know a ton of guys that shoot a sub MOA group at 100 yards and then say they are ready to shoot out to 1000 yards with their custom gun and super cool range finder. If someone spends even a small amount of time shooting long ranges they will realize that a sub MOA gun really is a very small part of the equation for hitting a target out past 600 yards. I like being ready to shoot a very long shot. Not sure it would every really happen out in the field though. I think hitting a WT past 600 yards is really, really tough to do on the first shot. Keep in mind that deer frequently are moving, getting a rest in a prone position is tough, conditions are changing, getting a solid range, change in elevation, ect. Lots of variables change the POI out past 600 that will easily cause a miss. I really echo what the OP said. I like to shoot longer ranges to work on my skill set but in reality my max hunting range is probably in the 600ish range depending on external variables and the situation.

Do you have your heart set on the 6.5 CM? Reason I ask is many of the 6.5's are as accurate or more accurate and push much higher velocities. I personally don't understand the excitement behind this cartridge. If you are looking for strait accuracy the 6.5 X 47 is probably the most accurate 6.5 in the line up with quite a few close runner ups.

Dont be afraid to go a little shorter too. I put a new 21" (from 26") Brux #3 contour barrel on my 6.5 X 284 a few months ago. Shooting the 142 grain Nosler accubond LR bullet and getting 3005 FPS. Didn't really loose any speed to be concerned about. Though I did loose 5" of barrel weight!!!!!!!!! Honestly I would like to know the actual weight difference between a proof research barrel and a steel barrel of different tappers at the same length. Wonder what the weight difference would end up being in the end??????

Not excited about shooting a match bullet at deer/elk. I used to shoot the berger bullets out of my 6.5 X 284 and didn't care for the results on fur. Though it did kill paper really dead. Switched to the 142 grain nosler long range accubond. I have shot pretty good groups with them but haven't had the right conditions/time to really test the bullets like needed. They will shoot well under MOA right now without trying. I'm sure they will do better. Most guys are coming off the lands .100 or so.......seems like a long ways to me. I'm .20 off the lands currently and my groups are sub MOA. Now for the important stuff. Whacked a mule deer in CO with the bullet last week. I was very impressed with the results. It knocked the deer into the dirt and it didn't even twitch. Shot the buck right behind the shoulder on entry and exited through the shoulder on the other side. BANG FLOP. The internal damage was great too. I had the berger bullets go through a few to many animals and not do enough damage but the ABLR bullet dumped plenty of energy into the critter. The ELD - X bullet does look interesting. I would like to put them on a scale and take a few measurements. The Nosler ABLR bullets are not in the same league as the berger bullets when it comes to consistency. Time out busting primers will tell me more over the next few months about the consistency of the ABLR. Bought 500 new pills so I need to figure out how to make them work. currently I'm shooting plenty of grains of 4350 powder getting 3005 FPS with the ABLR bullet. Here is what I did to find my max pressures. I loaded up cartridges up with .5 more grains until I hit max. Took me about 15-20 rounds and then the bolt started getting sticky and I shut it down. Then I did a ladder test with about 10 loads below max going in .4 grain increments until I saw the powder weight I wanted to shoot. I'm not at max but I believe I'm the last node before max. My guess is you are leaving 100-200 FPS on the table. You might as well take it. That is why you are shooting that cartridge. So, I would go find max and work down from there. Now my father in law shoots long range competitions. Typically they don't shoot the node just below max. They shoot the second node below max. They might give up 50-75 FPS to gain some consistency and maybe some barrel life, recoil, brass life, ect. For me..........I say burn it down. I won't ever burn the barrel up anyways.

We used to use parsnips. The deer loved something a bit different. Personally I hated feeding the deer. The deer habits really changed once everyone started feeding them. When a deer would come to a bait pile they would be scared to death and it would be almost impossible to draw your bow to shoot them. Worst part is if you didn't feed the deer then you wouldn't have deer on your property. Deer would be better off if baiting was not allowed.

SOLUTION - BUY ANOTHER GUN SAFE!!!!!!!!! YOUR WELCOME.

How much experience do your wife have with shooting a rifle/shotgun? If the answer is very little I would get her a cartridge that is in a short action. I think most hunters use way more caliber than they need. I would error on the light side. Think in terms of .243, .308, 7mm08, ect. If she is comfortable with bigger guns I would consider bigger rounds like the .270 or maybe a 30-06. No need to go any bigger. I wouldn't worry about weight that much. Lighter guns recoil more.......plus, you should be carrying her gun anyways. Heavy guns will also be more accurate. When the nerves are going a lighter gun moves around more than a heavier gun. Don't be afraid of weight. I'm not a fan of muzzle breaks. They require hearing protection and that doesn't always happen in the field. By all means shoot a smaller round and don't use a break. We have shot many, many, many elk with a .243 and I've yet to have one come back to life. Heck my wife just shot an elk with a 42# bow and that elk tastes great. The guns/bows my wife shoot are fit to her. I think it is very important to have the gun fit to the shooter. She has a .308 and a few 20 gauge shotguns that are her LOP. The comfort and absorption of recoil will be dramatically different if the gun fits her. Practice, practice, practice. I don't know your wife's experience level but I'm guessing she is a novice (which is super cool). Your biggest issue isn't the gun/weapon. Girls don't typically grow up like boys. We had a BB gun in our hands starting at a very young age. We got used to shooting birds, cans, frogs, rocks, windows and everything else. That taught us how to shoot using a variety of different rests or freehand. Your wife probably doesn't understand how to use a tree, hood, pack, kneeling, sticks as a rest. I've spent tons of time setting up cans and having my wife shoot all sorts of stuff getting used to just acquiring the target and hitting it. Actually being able to shoot the gun in hunting situations is by far and away the biggest issue I've seen when getting a woman ready to hunt....... Another huge consideration........keeping her warm. If they are cold you are going home or wish you were going home. I've had a great time hunting with my wife......she has killed buffalo, axis deer, many WT deer, pig, cow elk, bull elk. but it does come with a grip of challenges.

The only thing you need to know about wind drift. Don't pee into the wind. Everything else will just work itself out.

been using ON X maps on my I-phone for about a year. LOVE IT!!!!!! I download some maps before hunts and have my phone, GPS, maps and camera all in one. The biggest issue is you might want to put your phone on Airplane mode if you have poor cell coverage. It will eat your battery searching for service if you don't. You can also import way points from google earth into On X . You can also use your desktop and place way points on the desktop and they will sync to your phone. It is a great tool.

I always get a lion tag. Last year I got to put the sticky sides together. Lions are in every part of the state. High or low it doesn't matter. Lions are everywhere. If you are going to do any calling ever make sure to have a cat tag. FYI - they think different that other predators. Put up your call and look down wind. Normally I flank the wind so I can barely see the call and I make sure I can see better down wind. If you are looking upwind..........the lion will be at your back.

That kids was a STICK for sure. At one time we were working together to catch YFT. He was throwing a popper and I was throwing a surface iron in the same exact spot. It would dive them crazy and we would watch the YFT blow up on both of our baits. That kid was probably bent more than any other person on the boat. What a blast.

a discontinued cut on contact slick trick.

The answer is it depends. Personally I look at the charts and see where the energy hits 1000 foot pounds. If it drops below 1000 foot pounds then I think that load should not be shot at deer sized critters. I would think in terms of 1500 foot pounds if you are shooting animals bigger than deer. These are just guidelines but they are what I use for hunting.

The answer is it depends. Personally I look at the charts and see where the energy hits 1000 foot pounds. If it drops below 1000 foot pounds then I think that load should not be shot at deer sized critters. I would think in terms of 1500 foot pounds if you are shooting animals bigger than deer. These are just guidelines but they are what I use for hunting.