This is the month in which Antlers will begin to shed velvet on whitetail bucks here in the Northeast. These bucks are for the most part nocturnal. I reflect and tell my hunter friends that whitetail bucks are most vulnerable to the hunter during New Hampshire’s Bow and Muzzle Loader season in early November. I took a few nice bucks a while back in southern NH on opening day of Muzzle Loader season. One of the bucks, I called with a grunt call and rattled him in too.

I had pre-scouted the area and new there was lots of deer activity. It was the early November, I entered the woods in the pitch black. Today I use a headlamp and swear by them. The air was still and the woods were silent.  I could hear me breathing shallow with my heart beat captured within it.  I took my time feeling the ground with my feet. Leaves are falling here and there as photons of light began to create a blue purple horizon.  The earth smells of musty oak, moss and sweet acorns amid the pungent spruce give way to my mouth salivating with a desire to drink the forest floor for its kaleidoscope of fragrances.  Near my hunting spot, I just remained quiet and still looking and listening to the sound of birds and morning arriving.

I had a back-pack with a small pair of rattling antlers. Around my neck was a grunt call that was mid-tone no tube attached. I have heard deep low grunts from man-made calls and do not like them. Cripe-sakes, you’d think Godzilla buck made that sound. So my thought was to tell the local deer population that I am small size buck on the prowl for a hot doe. A larger buck would step in to chase me off.  I would occasionally grunt softly once or twice every five minutes hoping that a nearby larger buck would want to check me out. As it turns out a doe came toward me and froze as she identified me as human. She swapped ends and walked away watching me over her back.

This was my chance, I thought to do a tending grunt sequence like, grunt, step, grunt and step as if I were tending the doe. At that same  moment I took out the small antlers and after 5 minutes or so I began to tine tick and fuss like 2 lesser bucks. Adrenaline was pumping as I believed that anything could happen like a buck charging in. I believed with all my being that I had the mojo of the moment but for several minutes I just sat in silence taking it all in.

Like magic, a dandy 8 point buck appeared at 25 to 30 yards and walking right at me. He swaggered toward me intent on a battle to chase off the lesser bucks messing with his doe.  He had to negotiate a small tree in his path and gave me a shoulder shot with my 54 cal. I raised and fired just as he cleared the small tree.

Smoke bellowed everywhere. I got on my knees to look under the smoke but no buck!

I have told this story before but not with the idea of mimicking a lesser buck which is important.  I marked my position and moved  forward to where I thought the buck stood. A tree behind the buck was covered with blood. Got him, my mind thought! The buck jumped to the left his tracks tell me, and made it about 30 yards and piled up. It was a great day for me in the deer woods! By the time I got the deer  gutted and to the road it was around 65  degrees and noon time. A hunter near his truck gave me and the buck a ride to my vehicle. The buck was not huge but respectable as an 8 pointer. Gonna want to do that again this fall! We shall see!

© 2016

Yesterday I received the Ruger American Rifle® – Predator model chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. The Predator is also offered in 223 Rem,22-250 Rem.,204 Ruger, 243 Win., and 308 Win.

I chose this rifle to test because I already have a Ruger American in 243 Winchester and it is a tack driver shooting sub MOA out of the Box and the retail price is just fantastic at around $430 or so dollars.

I chose the 6.5 Creedmoor cartridge primarily because I believe this round to be superbly accurate and excellent for hunting deer and elk and have lots of new brass from testing another rifle. It is in the same energy and velocity league as the 7mm-08 and .270 Winchester for velocities and bullet weights such as 120, 130, and 140 grain heads.

To begin, I test fired some 143 grain ELD-X Hornady® Precision Hunter™  rounds yesterday as well as Sierra 142 grain HPBT Match bullets. My test bed scope is the Leupold VX-6 3-18 x 44mm. I had the scope already mounted on a Leupold Integral Mounting System for Picatinny rails but it would not fit the Ruger picatinny slot distances so I had to rummage to find a 30mm set of rings that would attach, and I did.

I ran a brush through the barrel at the range and sent some bullets at 25, 50, and 100 yards. Below is the target at 100 yards. The precision trigger is set at 5 pounds and too heavy for my taste but was able to provide these groups. I will adjust to 3 pounds and retest. The Sierra match ammo was sub MOA and if you take out the flyer at low left it looks to be a 5/8 inch group. Of course we will chrono these loads and do lots more with this rifle.

© 2016

It was a Sunshine day at the Match and not too hot. Wind conditions in the morning were ideal but worsened somewhat through the day thus attention to wind flags was essential. I was shooting F Class Open with the Savage Model 12 LRP- Long Range Precision Rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor which weighs in at 11 pounds and the Leupold VX-3i 6.5-20x55mm. I am very pleased with this rifle and scope that I am testing for Savage and Leupold at a retail price of around $1100 for the Rifle http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/12LRP and $1160 or so for the Scope. https://www.leupold.com/hunting-shooting/scopes/vx-3i-riflescopes/vx-3i-6-5-20x50mm-30mm-side-focus-cds-target/

A few weeks earlier I shot this combination at the Sig Sauer “Reach for 1000”  with the new Hornandy® 143 grain ELD-X™ Match bullets with the HEAT SHIELD tip and cartridges right off the shelf. I was popping balloons at 1000 yards with them.

The most common calibers used at these matches are 308 Winchester, 6mm and .223 Remington. For 600 to 1000 yards the 6.5 Creedmoor is making lots of friends these days as trajectory is much flatter with low recoil. My vertical drop setting for 600 yards was 9 3/4 Minutes.

I was using H4350, CCI BR-2 Primers with Sierra 142g HPBT. Match bullets.  Velocities were chronographed at just over 2700 FPS and Standard Deviation for a 5 shot group was under 10 with ES of 21 fps.  100 yard groups were around 1/2 inch. In an earlier article I sent out an email this past month and Brian Litz of Applied Ballistics fame chimed back that 1/2 inch groups are all you need with SD<10 and ES as low as you can get.

Jason and I waited till 8:30 AM to register for the shoot (cost $20.00). We hooked up with Barbara Lamb and her husband Art. Barbara is an avid and excellent long range High Power shooter. Art her husband graciously offered to do Pit duty for the three of us. Wow! A big thank you to Art for doing Pit duty. Since Barbara, Jason and I were the only ones shooting F Class Open we had our own little club to the right of those shooting open sights. See below open sight shooters all wearing shooting jackets.

Setting up for open sights below.

Rifles below are in 308 Caliber. The left is Barbara’s and the right is Jason’s.

Using Barbara’s spotting scope, Jason scored for her.

Jason shooting for score below. He has worked on his physical plant as he is on a special diet as well as his shooting form. Lookin’ good!

My Savage M12 LRP in 6.5 Creedmoor with McMillan Stock below and Leupold’s VX3i 6.5-20x50mm. Recoil was easy on the shoulder! I was testing some Nosler Custom Brass and loaded them out of the box with the Sierra 142 g HPBT at 2700 FPS. I knew that I should have shot them first to fire form the brass and establish a better neck tension but time was short. I encountered a few shots that shot low believing that neck tension was insufficient in the Out-of-the Box Brass thus my score was a miss for those rounds. Lesson learned! I shot very well otherwise scoring lots of 9 and 10’s and an occasional X. As a new prone target shooter here I was otherwise pleased. I have written and tested big bore for Africa years ago such as the 416 Rigby and the 375 Ruger which I own and hand-load down for deer.

Most shooters here were older but I noticed a few young shooters. Here below is Elahh Peterson (age 21) shooting with an AR-15 with Open Sights with a shooting jacket.Elahh began shooting at Nashua with Sea Cadets once a year but Nashua F&G stole her away to shoot regularly.

All had a good time with friends sending bullets down range!

Good Shooting!

Just in time for deer, bear and moose Season, the Ruger American Rifle® – Predator is part of the Ruger American Series of no nonsense MOA accurate, light weight and cost effective! The 6.5 Creedmoor is perhaps one of the finest hunting and target cartridges ever developed for both short and long range shooting. I will begin testing soon.

http://www.ruger.com/products/americanRiflePredator/specSheets/6973.html

It was during the American Revolution that the first guns with rifling were put to the test. It was George Washington who enlisted the service of Daniel Morgan, a rough and tumble marksman, hunter and Indian fighter to create our first Military “Riflemen”.  Later to become General Daniel Morgan under General George Washington and famous for his Revolutionary war “Battle of the Cowpens”

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/battle-of-cowpens

Many folks haven’t a clue who Morgan is and I neither did I till I did this research of this American Hero with a Rifle. Amazon sells a book on him you may find fascinating.

First and foremost he was a civilian marksman with a Pennsylvania Rifle who had intimate knowledge of the trails and mountains as a hunter and Indian fighter.  Morgan was among a long list of Civilian men with such skills.

Before America was born, families of the 13 colonies, for survival sake, needed to be skilled at hunting, reading sign, and shooting of wild game, predators and fend off native Indian attacks. It was the Pennsylvania Rifle that gave them an edge for  long distance, a tool to  maintain their Freedom. It was the Mountain men of the 13 colonies territories in the mid 1700’s that embraced the Pennsylvania Rifle many call the Kentucky Rifle. It was created for Mountain men headed to new land called Kentucky. The first rifle that had grooves or “rifling in the barrel.  It was the civilian marksmanship skills and the Pennsylvania rifle created by German and Dutch immigrants which led to such a long range rifle.

It was from the Civilian ranks from birth that Marksman that made the difference in Battle. Do you remember Alvin C. York who with his marksmanship hunting skills and courage given him by God, handily used his marksmanship to aid in defeating the German Army of WW I.

It was from civilian marksman hunter ranks that Rob Oneill of Seal Team 6 below was created. It was Rob Oneill that killed Osama bin Laden.

It was from civilian marksman hunter ranks that Marcus Luttrell of Seal Team 10 was created.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Luttrell

In time of war it was Civilian Marksmanship that brought a rapid end to battles in the Revolution, WW I, WW II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanisan and today to kill Osama Bin Laden.

Below American Sniper Chris Kyle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kyle

So Civilian Marksman and Hunters be proud and if you enlist or are called to the nations service you will add those civilian hunter and marksmen that have stood tall in behalf of the nation in times of war. In the meantime learn your marksman, woodsmanship, hunting and survival skills as they will serve you well in this ever changing world.

Last week as you know, I shot at the Sig Sauer Academy using the Leupold VX-3i 6.5-20 50mm CDS Riflescope (Target). I was shooting 8 inch balloons at 1000 yards. The clarity and crispness of the balloons at that distance was unbelievable. It is easily one of the finest scopes on the Planet and it is made in the USA. More below on the VX-3i. The add is very cool. Check it out!

Nashua High Power Match Score Cards July 9th at Nashua F & G with new .308 Criterion Barrel was tested in Jason Hale’s previous article.

Below is Jason’s first 3×600 Prone shoot score cards. 20 shots for each  of the 3×600 matches that day. Each line represents 10 shots for score, Max score for each shot is 10 points with the X being the very center of the bullseye. In the first card you see s1 and s2 and are non scoring practice shots. The 95 means 95 out of 100 as a possible score and the 3 represents the number of X’s. Now you can read the rest of the score cards. His rear rest was a squeeze bag in this case and made it more difficult. Not bad for his first 3×600 shoot. We are awaiting how he placed in the shoot.

I am looking forward to the Reach for 1000 training at the Sig Sauer Academy this July 19th with my son Jason who has already taken the class but desired to attend with me as a father/son event. I have already competed at Nahsua’s  300, 500 and 600 match with my AR-15 and 77 grain Nosler Bullets and calculated bullet drop tables after measuring bullet speed with a chronograph. Now with the 6.5 Creedmoor we have lots of bullet weight for the caliber, store bought Hornady 143 grain Extremely Low Drag Hunting Bullets (see the article inside). They are not tack drivers but sub-moa never the less in my rifle so I should be able to easily reach the 1000 yard mark… and a lot more if it was available.  The velocity spread is wider as I measured with my Chronograph so I expect some vertical stringing at 800 and 1000 yards They do not allow hand loaded ammo. I will report back after the course.

I am taking the course because professionals are teaching it and want to see what new things I can learn from the Pro’s.  Cost $300 + 150 rounds of store bought ammunition. We shall see if the cost of training was worth it?

The training includes:

• Zeroing and Grouping at various distances.
• Precision Shooting drills
• Improvised shooting positions
• Field shooting 100,300,500,800 and 1000 yards.
• Preventative Maintenance, inspection and safe storage.

Required Equipment

• Hard Cased – Precision scoped rifle w/sling – I am bringing the test Savage Model 12 Long Range Precision Rifle with a test Leupold 20 MOA picatinny rail and test Leupold VX-3i 6.5-20x50mm scope with fine duplex crosshairs
• Spotting Scope – A Leupold Sequoia 15x – 45x
• Rangefinder – Leupold test RX-1200i TBR/W Good for the activity? We shall see?
• Rifle cleaning equipment – bringing 2 full length cleaning rods w brushes and brass jag tips, Butches bore shine, and cleaning pads.
• Field Note Book and Pencils
• Clothing suitable for training in any weather. With Poncho if necessary
• Hydration System – Test with 3 liter Camelpak Thermopak back pack from e-bay
• Sunscreen and Bug Spray
• Hat with brim
• Wraparound eyewear, polycarbonate lens or no shatter prescription.
• 150 round estimate of ammo.

See  below for update.

This Precision Hunter™ ammo from Hornady features “the 143 grain  ELD-X™ bullet and carefully selected propellant and primer to deliver match accurate hunting ammunition.”  Every gun is a bit different in how this ammo shoots. Below I tested it for bullet speed. It is advertized to shoot 2700 fps at the muzzle but does not state barrel length. I assume a 24 inch barrel but I am shooting a 26 inch barrel and as advertised it was 2700 fps plus my two extra inches of barrel making it around 2738 fps give or take. Nice!

I left the zero as it was from shooting Sierra 142 grain HPBT target bullet traveling an average speed of 2706 fps. Below are Groups 1 thru 4. Cold barrel shots are very different 1.3 inch group and high. I made no changes and shot groups 2,3, and 4. G 2 was 0.73″, G3 was 0.53″ and G4 was 1.45 inches.

Population Standard Deviation, σ 9.66
Variance (Population Standard), σ2 93.44
R range=28

Mean (Average): 2738.6

This is good for hunting but I need to try these again in a separate experiment. At 100 yards these should all be within an inch. Need to test again in a clean rifle and may be the rifle. . Group G1 was shot out of a cold barrel as in hunting. Only G2 and G3 are sub-MOA. All will mushroom and kill game from close to far as slow as 1800 fps up to 2660 fps.

G4 shot should have all been together as in G2 and G3. More experiments planned soon to see what the problem is.

UPDATE

Cleaned a scrubbed the barrel July 4th and took to range. All shots are sub-moa varying from 0.97 inches to 0.25. This factory ammo is excellent for hunting out to 600 or so yards.

© 2016

The NEW Leupold VX®-3i 6.5-20X50mm CDS Target Scope from Leupold and Stevens is an improved version of the VX-3 where I verified that the power dial is much easier to turn, especially with gloved hands in the field. https://www.leupold.com/hunting-shooting/scopes/vx-3i-riflescopes/vx-3i-6-5-20x50mm-30mm-side-focus-cds-target 

With a 30mm tube it draws light in like a magnet from the 50mm Objective Lens and its Twilight Max Light Management provides maximum brightness in all colors and intensifies contrast on the range and in the field. The tall turrets are designed for ease of use and visibility to change windage and elevation setting on the go. The scope does not come cheap, its MSRP is $1169.99 but I have seen it for just under $900 on-Line. You get what you pay for. This scope is capable for long range hunting and varmint and comes with its famous dual erector springs so it can take a beating with a big bore rifle. Setting the Zero on the turret is easy to do with the provided Allen wrench. This wrench is very small indeed so keep it in a safe place. Each turret has three Allen screws to loosen to free the dial so it can be turned to Zero as seen in the photo below. I have dialed in a 600 yard solution and turned the elevation dial and fired Hitting just out of the bullseye on the first shot. The adjustments are crisp with a felt and heard (audible) click and right on.

In the image above you can see the elevation turret with the Allen wrench sticking out and the side focus on the left with hash marks. The Side focus really aids it creating a sharp image. At 600 yards the F Class target X ring as seen through the scope is as clear as day so you can count the points on an Elk just as easy from that range. Leupold scopes are really rugged and can take the abuse of hard hunting.

From the website above Leupold states: “America’s favorite riflescope just got better. VX-3i brings legendary Leupold Gold Ring performance to a new level. Twilight Max Light Management System provides maximum brightness in all colors and intensified contrast across the entire field of view. Dual Spring Precision Target Adjustments perform with match grade precision and when paired with the Custom Dial System (CDS) long range shooting solutions have never been easier. The 30mm maintube dramatically increases windage and elevation travel while the side focus adjustment makes fine-tuning parallax effortless. The easy turn power selector can be quickly turned, even with gloves on while watertight seals ensure fog free performance for a lifetime.”

“Versatile magnification ranges and an attractive new look make the Leupold VX-3i riflescopes ideal for virtually any hunting situation. The aggressively redesigned power selector is easy to grasp and turn and allows the shooter to quickly verify the power setting even with gloved hands.

The Twilight Max Light Management System delivers the highest average light transmission in all colors with emphasis on the blue and red portions of the light spectrum for exceptional low light performance and contrast in all conditions.

Edge blackened lenses reduce diffusion and glare to improve resolution and contrast. Second generation Argon/Krypton gas more effectively resists thermal shock and the dual spring precision adjustment system ensures match grade repeatability and strength.

Top it all off with DiamondCoat 2™ external lens coatings for scratch resistance and you can see why the VX-3i is the first, last, and only name in riflescopes. As always, each Leupold Gold Ring riflescope is factory tested to be the ultimate in ruggedness, reliability and absolute waterproof integrity. Covered by the Leupold Full Lifetime Guarantee.”