OT - VA ML Season Opener !

[6pt-sika]

Saturday november first was the opener for the Virginia muzzle loading season and I had to be ready to leave the house to go somewhere else at 9:30 AM . So that morning I could only hunt about 2 hours ! Sunrise was about 7:30 that morning so legal time was about 7AM which would give me about 2 hours !

I was hunting this year with a new to me Savage 10ML with a LEupold VX1 4-12 on top . I loaded this thing with the Hornady 250 grain SST sabot and pushed it with 42 grains of VV N-110 and a CCI 209M primer . By Savage and a few other folks I have talked with this load is "supposed" to be 2200-2300 FPS out of a factory barrel .

I was up my tree and situated about 6:45 AM . And heard a couple shots around 7:10 - 7:15 . Then one that was pretty close to me at 7:20AM . My property line was about 75 yards behind me and I knew another fellow was hunting close by on my neighbors turkey farm .

I eased back down in the seat after his shot and waited . About 7:30-7:35 I heard sticks snapping in the other direction in front of me about 75 yards away . I was watching an opening in the woods and a deer trail happened to be back in there where I heard sticks breaking !

Finally I see movement coming thru the brush and see antlers coming out .

Since I was kinda in a hurry , I let him take 3 steps out and since he had his nose in the air smelling the doe urine I had on a branch about 40 yards in front him I decided to pop him in the neck ! At the crack of the rifle he hit the ground

It was now 7:45 AM . Plenty time for me to get the ATV , drag him to the house , hang him up , gut him , rinse him out , shower and be ready to leave at 9:30 AM

[6pt-sika]

Sunday morning I pulled the hide off this deer and cut it up !

When I was getting the hide off I noticed a lump , so I cut it out . It just so happened the bullet had stopped under the skin on the off side from where I shot the deer !

The bullet had passed thru the neck bone and shoulder bone ! What I found was mushroomed nicely I might add !



A view from what "was" the nose of the bullet !



A view from the base showing the jacket peeled back nicely !



And finally a kinda side view !

I have another bullet of this type I recovered from a deer I shot 4 years ago with the Knight 50 Disc Rifle and pushed with 110 grains granulated Triple 7 FFFG . I shot that deer at 130 yards and got nowhere near the same expansion however the bullet still did a fine job !

I however think that this bullet being pushed with the VV N-110 does a pretty darned good job !

[CEMENTHEAD]

6pt-sika, Congrats and great job! How ya liking that Savage M/L so far? Thanks, Tom

[mescalero1]

good job

[JerryB]

That is a fine looking deer, fat and slick.Our first ML season opened oct. 18 and I took a big deer early on the 20th. They are fine eating. Rifle season opens on the 8th of this month so I'll try again.

[6pt-sika]

How ya liking that Savage M/L so far? Thanks, Tom

It does very well on deer as you can see . On paper I shot quite a few 3 shot groups with it at 100 yards that were under an inch .

Only hiccup it's had was earlier this year when I did the early ML season in Maryland for Sika deer . I had a nice 6 pointer about 100 yards from me and I was very confident when I squeezed the trigger .

The Sika stag stood there after the shot and I started relaoding . He had been walking to the right and I had aimed in the shoulder pocket for a heart shot . He seemed a little strange and I had just about finished loading and he turned back in the direction from which he came and stepped behind a pine tree . I set there and watched the tree for 5 minutes and he never came out the other side and I didn't see him exit straight away either . So I assumed he had laid down or was dead . SO I climbed down and went to find out .

Got there and found no deer ! Also never saw any blood , but I was in the marsh and it could have gotten in the water and dissolved . Anyway I looked for that deer for 4 hours with no luck .

So I went to the truck and returned home empty handed . Next day or so I went to the range and fired the gun . I wanted to make sure I had jerked the trigger and the gun wasn't off , as I had sighted it in to suit me the week before I went to Maryland .

Anyway at the club I shot the gun as it was once then reloaded and fired again . Both bullets went in the same hole ! They were 5 inches to the right and 3 inches high

So I cleaned the rifle made some scope adjustments and shot again which was the third shot on the paper ! Then made some more adjustments , cleaned the barrel fired twice and was where I should be !

Here's the target with the holes numbered !



Now anyone that knows me well would know I would prefer to kill that single Sika Stag over the dozen or so whitetail I usually get each year ! So to say that upset me off is an understatement !

Near as I can figure that bullet must have lightly grazed his briskit or passed close enough to him for him to feel the breeze from the bullet ! Bt where he went after he got behind that lone pine I will never know !

But back to your original question , other then that little setback I like the Savage just fine !

[Ben_Rumson]

Any idea why the POI shifted so radically? Something loose?

[Ben_Rumson]

Oops .. forgot to say congrats on the fine buck you got there and congrats on the neck shot.. very fine shooting indeed!...

[6pt-sika]

Any idea why the POI shifted so radically? Something loose?

I have no clue !

I certainly do not think I smacked the scope against anything .

In a way I am glad to know it wasn't me jerking the trigger off the Sika deer and on the other hand it just burns me up to know the rifle wasn't right when I went to the woods .

I've said this many times before . I would be happier with one nice six point Sika deer I killed in Maryland then I would with the 10-20 whitetail I normally kill in VA and MD each year .