First deer in 2 years

[KHornet]

The wife was in the hospital last year during deer season, so had to skip. Took 5 days this year to get a shot.
Took an old, past prime 4x4 with a broken tine, and brow tine. Think the old guy was a fighter. He went well
over 200 on the hoolf. Shot was 190 lazered, 139 Hor, over 41.5 gr. 4064, in my 77Ruger, old mod in 7x57. Downhill spine shot put him down on the spot. One old deer, one old fart shooter, sort of seemed right. Had him course ground for chili and meat loaf. Don't know how much longer I will be able to deer hunt, but never get over the thrill of the hunt and the kill.

Paul

 

[Winelover]

Congrats, Paul.

Hope I can still hunt when I get closer to your age. Gets harder, every year. The shot, is the easy part.....the work comes after.

 

[JWFilips]

Paul
Glad your hunt went well! That will make some good winter meals
Jim

 

[Brad]

A basement full of cast bullets and he uses jacketed.......

Well done old man. Hope you get many more years of hunting.

 

[S Mac]

Good job Paul. Sounds like it was quite a shot.

 

[Rick]

Nice Paul, how come you didn't take that little whipper snapper SIL with you?

 

[smokeywolf]

Very good Paul. Always get a vicarious thrill from the stories of the hunt.

 

[KHornet]

Rick, Brad has been about as busy as a one leg paper hanger in a butt kicking contest.
He is a very hard worker, and he lost his deer hunting spot to boot.

Paul

 

[fiver]

I think I have some of that exact same load for that same rifle put together for Littlegirls rifle.
we done a bunch of those and a bunch of H-450 loads last spring.

 

[KHornet]

Fiver, Have shot some H450 loads, and found them to be accurate,
but have found that the 4064 load has an edge, accuracy wise at least
in my rifle. However as I consider all rifles to be female, and sensitive,
they all are different.

Paul

 

[fiver]

I'm hoping the H-450 works.
I picked up an 8 lb jug of it some time back for [jeez I don't remember the exact price] around 60-70$.
I shoot RL-19 in the X57's and the 0-6 cases quite a bit, and the 450 is right there with it in burn rate.
I vaguely remember it causing a problem in the 270 or 25-06 and figured staying with the 7x57 was a good bet.

 

[Brad]

H450 can be spooky as hell in heat. Many years ago I had a nice load for my 270 with H450 and a 130 Hornady. At 70 F it was great. Took it out to have my mom try it, temps into the 90s. About the third shot I looked and saw a primer in the magazine. Yep, case was missing one.
That ammo turned me off on H450.

 

[Pistolero]

Brad - YIKES!

Paul,

Spine shots are extremely effective. Good shooting. Congrats on staying in the game.

I have the same rifle, exactly, bought it when I got out of college and finally had some money
in 1975. It has worn a 2-7 Leupold it's whole life, and I bought a spare scope and rings and sighted them in
for Africa, didn't need it. Love that rifle. It has always done what I asked it. One shot on kudu, and elk, plus deer
and more.

Kudu and elk with 160 Nosler partiion with a hot load of W760, loaded very long to get nearer the rifling. Rem CorLokt
140 works great in it for deer, too.

Bill

 

[KHornet]

Bill, I shot my 77/7x57 in Numibia on 10 head of plains game, and had 50% one shot kills, with the same load that I shot my deer with this year. Only one long tracking session on a Kudo, that I shot to low on. Longest kill was 440 something, on a red heartabeast. The rifle has accounted for 2 cow elk (I loaned the rifle to a friend) 4 deer, 2 gemsbuck, 1 kudo, one heartabeast, 2 spring buck,a mountain Zebra, and a warthog. That is a lot of shooting and game taking for
one very pleasant carrying and shooting rifle. If I had to sell all of my firearms, (and may God perish the thought)
it would be the last to go.

Paul

 

[Pistolero]

I was able to get a good sitting position for my kudu, at about 125 yds, put the bullet exactly where
I intended, just to the right of the lower mane, in chest, as he was looking approximately my way. Three steps
and down.
My Ruger 77 7x57 was my first centerfire modern rifle, and would also be my last to leave. Here is the
rifle and my kudu. I was fortunate to be able to get good shooting positions for all my
shots at African game. Mostly sitting, a couple kneeling behind a small bush, one standing
with sticks, which I had practiced extensively in the USA before we left since it was an
entirely new concept for me at that time.

I am impressed with a 440 yd shot, never took one that long on game, great
shooting.

I met Fred Burger of Burger Knives and Sword Canes in RSA, hunting on the property
of a friend who lives near Kruger Park. He was hunting with a 7x57, 175 RN, std load.
The owner of Highveld Taxidermy who handled our heads and hides showed me a
very nice old Oberndorf commercial .275 Rigby which he had taken everything with,
including two male lion and a rhino !!!!! All with 160 Nosler partition, except the rhino,
with a bullet called "Rhino" made in RSA, apparently a monolithic brass or copper
solid. Not sure I'd use the 7x57 on a lion or rhino, but it can be and has been done.

http://www.swordcane.com
https://www.highveldtaxidermists.com/
http://rhinobullets.co.za/solid-shank/

 

[fiver]

the 7mm's have a ton of sectional density.
I don't remember a bullet staying inside anything I have ever shot.

 

[KHornet]

Bill, Very nice Kudu. A little bigger than mine. My gemsbucks were a different
story. Had booked for 2, and the first was a crooked horned cow. The PH did't
want me to shoot it, as he said it was strictly a meat animal. I countered with
"But who has a non typical gemsbuck?" and he said go ahead. The next day,
I took a second one that would make the book if I had registered it. As to the
440+/- shot on the heartabeast, I would not have taken it, if the PH had not said
"hold even with the top of the head". I did, and it was a bang flop. By the way,
the PH's rifle was a 7x57, on a 98 Mauser action.

Also by the way, that is a fine
looking mustache, every time I tried to grow one, it looked comedic. My rifle
for years sported a K-4 Weaver, but a hunting buddy of mine (former Sq.
commander) recommended a Minox, 3x9 which was on sale, and now is atop my
77. Great glass with excellent retacule.

Paul

 

[Pistolero]

Hellaciously hard to get that beast to the truck. Very rugged and 36" boulder & tree strewn
terrain, cut in half and put two long poles thru all our belts strapped around it, and
six guys stumbled and fell for 175 yds up and down with half. Then back for the repeat comedy
act for the second half. Those are some big animals. Measured about 1/4" short of 50".
I had several heads that would have been record book if I cared. Wife's gemsbok
is 39", looks really nice on the wall. Never saw a non-typical gemsbok. Do you have
a picture?

Lots of serious folks in Africa use the 7x57 for everything. Minox has a good reputation,
but I have only looked thru their binoculars.

Thanks for the compliment on the moustache. I am amazed to have someone
come up and comment on it about once a month or so. Been wearing it since the
70s, way better now than when I was 20.

Fiver - I only recovered two of my bullets in Africa. Both were the .45-70 Rem
405s, one from a straight frontal shot into the chest of a zebra (found it back in
the HUGE intestines - like 7 - 8" diam, icky green) and one on the shoulder bones of
a large wildebeest, against the hide on the far side after breaking both shoulders.
All the 7mms were gone, and the two .44 Mag Keith 250s that went through warthogs
were not even close to stopping.

A friend recovered two of my 175 Horn RNs from a zebra and a wildebeest, all others
of her six animals were gone. She got six for six shots, again a Ruger 77 in 7x57,
175 Horn RN at 2500 fps. They dubbed her "sniper Granny" around the dinner
table at the evening meals. Other hunters there at the time, at the dinner table,
shooting with .338 Win Mags were regularly wounding
game, taking hours to track it down. Go figure.

I loaded 7x57 140 TSXs for the safari outfit owner and he recovered one from a
kudu, broke both shoulders, under hide on the far side. Looked pretty close to the
photos in the ads. 200 yd shot backing up a client who had wounded everything
else he had shot at at 100 or shorter, so Peter was there "backing him up" on the
longer range (and more expensive fee) kudu - he told me he fired on the hunter's
shot to guarantee he didn't have an unhappy customer. Customer missed, nobody
mentioned anything, just happy to have his hunt completed.


Bill

 

[fiver]

I can imagine some of the story's many of those guides can tell.
one of the guy's here in town used to guide up in the Selway back in the late 50's into the mid 70's.
I got to know him pretty well in his later years and would take his grandson hunting and such all through his H.S. years.
[which worked out well since he knew everyone in town and could get permission to hunt on all kinds of property around here]
but when I'd go visit him, he would almost always tell me a story about a hunt he guided.
many of them involved story's in the later years when the magnum rifles started becoming more popular.

 

[Pistolero]

I know most American hunters do not know the African antelopes, but a picture just
about like this one (I took this one) that I saw online years before is why I wanted
to hunt Africa. This is a kudu, about like a longer legged, lankier elk. This was the
siren song that pulled me to Africa. I encourage anyone who can put off that new
PU for a couple of years by driving the old one, putting the payment money into
a safari is a truly memorable hunt for anyone who loves hunting.

'

This is not my pic, below, but shows the beautiful front mane.



This shows the overall shape of the animal better, again, not my pic.