tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post322025217084955065..comments2024-01-11T11:19:23.663-08:00Comments on Hodgeman's Thoughts on The Great Outdoors: Confessions of a Rifle Crankhodgemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07632228055641750343noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-74148553639218843562009-04-22T08:38:00.000-07:002009-04-22T08:38:00.000-07:00Good thoughts and I generally agree, especially th...Good thoughts and I generally agree, especially that time is better spent on practice and skills, rather than acquiring the latest, greatest rifle/cartridge combination. However, while "At ranges of 200 yards a 4 minute of angle rifle will place every shot within an 8” circle. An 8” pattern is well within the kill zone of almost all big game animals."- if the hunter holds 2 minutes of angle, and happens to wobble to the outer edge of his 8" circle around his point of aim, then his rifle adds another 8" of error (not going to happen all the time, but possible) then the bullet strikes 16" from point of aim, which is getting out there. Conversely, if the rifle holds minute of angle, then he's only 10" off, which can make a difference between a good lung hit and something marginal, especially on deer. Nothing can beat the confidence inspired by knowing that if you do your part, the bullet will <I>hit exactly where you're aiming</I>, not "pretty close" or "in the general area". That same confidence will cause you to hold closer (thinking "any mistake is me, not the gun") and shoot better.mdmnmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00191436711956580423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-49780516151084276992009-03-06T21:51:00.000-08:002009-03-06T21:51:00.000-08:00FWIW as to "mostly all of them work in most a...FWIW as to "mostly all of them work in most all situations", that campfire day my vriend was shooting a 6mm and I was shooting .375H&H at the same size game. Only difference in the final reckoning was my shot was louder and a bit luckier, considering the range. Most every large game animal I've ever taken has been well inside 100 like everybody else.tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14230665595988628546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-76085132859824666412009-03-06T21:37:00.000-08:002009-03-06T21:37:00.000-08:00Friend from gunsmith college and I sat around an A...Friend from gunsmith college and I sat around an African campfire (he's a native over there and lives there) with beers a few years back after a successful day of hunting. <BR/><BR/>Specifics don't matter other than we'd both gotten kills, his at about 75 and I had a bit of luck and good kentucky windage on one past 300, but later in the evening we got to talking shop and both agreed that there really hadn't been any useful innovations in cartridges since much after WW II that weren't just duplicates of something that already existed ballistically except a few rarities and some improved bullet designs and powders. I speak this as somebody that owns stuff like a 6.5 Grendel as well as Black Powder Express rifles and a matchlock.<BR/><BR/>We both are primarily fixed power and iron sight hunters too and that also came up. Our varmint guns wear 8X scopes. Big bores have express sights or a 2 or 2.5X. In betweeners wear 4X or 6X or Irons. You get better light transmission for your money every time with fixed power at the same price point and if I'm scouting for things rather than shooting at them, that's what the expensive variable spotting scope that goes all the way up to 25X I carry is for...<BR/><BR/>Ideal cartridge is one you can shoot well at the ranges you intend to take the game at that's capable of taking the game. That's different on every hunt, therefore there is no ideal cartridge.<BR/><BR/>African hunter friend of mine got tired of carrying multiple rifles and settled on using his own range of loads he was intimately familiar with in .458 WinMag for everything from antelopes to ele instead of taking a bunch of rifles along. Matched pair of rifles with quick detach scope mounts and 2 leaf express sights too. In North America he liked .270 or .300 WinMag for everything but varmints, either/or.<BR/><BR/>I own too many guns because I tend to build them and buy them, depending, and I'm usually not keen on selling, though I've sold some I didn't like at all. I take afield what seems most likely appropriate for where I'm headed.tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14230665595988628546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1275472535850559245.post-70809927490235206562009-03-06T08:40:00.000-08:002009-03-06T08:40:00.000-08:00Good post. Great thoughts. In my experience, mos...Good post. Great thoughts. <BR/><BR/>In my experience, most people have a tough time making a shot over 300 yards, and for most shooting the 30-06 is king.mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10387226895914069178noreply@blogger.com