Shooting a Big Game Rifle from the Unconscious mind, possible? Best be 30 or 35 caliber.

[Mustangs Rule]

I first read about this in the mid 1970’s. It was in an article about the famous elephant hunter K.j. Bell of African fame. He did these shooting exhibitions at birds diving into and out of Nairobi falls for fish They were going something like 80 MPH and with an open sight rifle he was hitting what seemed like an impossible number, maybe 18/20.



I got intrigued by the idea and over the past half century of hunting and shooting here it what I learned.



First it can happen and when it does it feels like no other shooting experience I have ever had.

I have had my Belgium Browning now for 55 years, buying it as a College Graduation present for myself used in 1970. It cost a whopping $180 with a fixed 4x scope. I had to made payments. To put that into perspective, the total cost for four years of tuition from 1966 to 1970 for full time enrollment was $400 to attend a State University.



For so many many years it was my only rifle for all Western hunting from Alaska through the lower western states.



It fit me perfectly, I used low scope rings, low power scope and I shot it all winter on a snowshoe biathlon course, with endless 30 cal light lead loads. And I did it with a 2.5 x fixed scope. The four power I took off, keeping it sighted in for big game season.

Also, I used it with the 2.5 x fixed scope during the summer for hunting wild boar in the barely fields.
The lower power scopes are better. The more your sight picture looks like what you normally see, the easier it is for your mind to "just do it"! Simple reticle too.



I wanted the 2.5 for close up shooting on big boar in the tall grain but also made amazing shots with it at running boar. Even a double from prone with the 2.5 scope taking two boar, one at 375 yards standing and the second at 400 yards running. These distances were range finder measured and one shot each. No thought whatsoever.



I recall just not believing what I had done. I had been using that rifle then for over thirty years then and the same thing was happening with it’s sister rifle, a custom 35 Whelen built on an FN Belgium Mauser with an identical stock, action weight and trigger pull. I was using endless downloaded lead .358 pistol bullets for practice too.



In the middle of my shooting/hunting life I bought a 1954 made standard weigh Model 70 in a 270. It was my antelope rifle when I lived in Wyoming where most of my shooting was more controlled. I never felt that shooting magic with it. Never shot it to the equal of other rifles using lead downloaded bullets.



About 25 years ago, to meet the needs for bad weather I bought a stainless Sako Finlight in 308 and a stainless Model 70 in 6.5x 55 swede. Over time I retired the Browning 30-06 and sold the 35 Whelen.



So, for the past 20 years I have mainly switched over to those two rifles.

To my amazement with the Camp Perry Powder, which was designed for the 308 i get more velocity with the same bullets as my 30-06. Being 308 I can shoot it endlessly with 30 cal lead downloaded bullets bought in bulk for peanuts.

With those ultra-low Sako rings I have been shooting it with a 2.5 x scope and after about ten years that sense of shooting magic was beginning. Lots of snowshoe time hunting rabbits. I believe that the lower the scope is, the more natural I can shoot with iy.



Soon I have a three-week cow elk season coming up. I will begin it with my 270 while the elk are out in the open grasslands but when weather gets bad, they will be taking cover in the thick, more confined, well treed canyon habitat. Then the 308 Sako will be with me, with its ultra-low rings, 2-7 scope, and 170 grain Lapua Naturalis RN all copper bullets. So, kind to meat, such quick kills.



That will be the rifle of choice for the rest of my hunter's life. It took maybe 15 years, countess low velocity lead loads and hunting small game for that magic to really come on fully, then when hunting big game, at reasonable distances, I shoot without any thought, being accurate, and so fast too, with full confidence even on reasonable shots at moving game animals, just like I was with my old Belgium Browning Safari rifle in 30-06 that i bought 55 years ago



MR

 

[Forelix]

When you have absolute, unshakable faith that your rifle and cartridge will humanely take the game when you do your part, it removes a massive variable of doubt from your mind. For many hunters, especially those pursuing large, tough game like elk, moose, or bear, a .30 or .35 caliber cartridge provides that bedrock confidence.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

When you have absolute, unshakable faith that your rifle and cartridge will humanely take the game when you do your part, it removes a massive variable of doubt from your mind. For many hunters, especially those pursuing large, tough game like elk, moose, or bear, a .30 or .35 caliber cartridge provides that bedrock confidence.

I really appreciate all you said and how you said it, especially in this age of "pip-squeak" calibers fired at extremely long range.

In my above post about my upcoming cow elk hunt and my use of the .270 Winchester caliber, i failed to mention one important factor.

The regulations also allow me to kill any yearling elk, and that is the game animal I seek out. I am 77, and usually still hunt alone. Recovering the meat from a yearling elk is the maximum I can handle by myself anymore. Also, I get the very best meat.

Were I to be hunting a mature large elk of either sex, then I would be going with either my 308 or 30-06 both offering a 165 grain Barnes TTSXBT going 2,900"/sec and keep my max range to 400 yards,,MAX,,,though I have never needed to shoot an elk father than 200 yards.

I like to stalk.

Confirming all you said, I do not choose calibers, that kill "surprisingly" well for their small size. I do not want to operate on a platform of surprise and hope, which are not genuine strategies.

Some years ago, when I was still young and strong enough to deal with a full sized elk, I squeezed the trigger for what would have been a perfectly placed double high lung shot at a large cow elk at 200 yards that was walking ever so slowly

At the micro second after i fired, she just hopped over something. My 30-06 165 grain Barnes TTSXBT bullet struck her in her hip, but had enough power and penetration capability to take out both hips. She went down and stayed down.
If only one hip was hit she would have been able to run away in what soon would have been darkness. I shot her in the last few moments of legal light on a cloudy day.

High chance I would have lost her.

Robert Ruark of African fame said it correctly long ago, "Use enough gun", for any field possibility.