The Killing Machine
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 8:04 am
I'm talking about my rifle of course.
Yesterday started when I couldn't sleep any more and I bailed out at 3:30 A.M. I tossed by gear bag, my Shiloh Sharps business rifle, and a dozen 45-70 paper patched cartridges into my truck and hit the road by 4:00. I headed north on I-25 and stopped at Johnson's Corner truck stop for some delicious breakfast and then cut over to Hwy 287 and up to Laramie Wyoming. From there I went west and got off at the first legal place to hunt in my unit 62 at 7:00 A.M. I saw my first group of about 6 antelope at around 8:00 and I got out of my truck moved to a location where I could get a shot if they headed the way I thought they would go. They did and I shot a nice doe behind the shoulder at around 150 yards and she looked sick but didn't drop right away. The buck siezed the moment and mounted her instantly. I examined her later and found that the angle had been more than I thought which explained why she didn't die instantly. You do realized of course that I'm talking about the shot angle right?
The next doe was slightly farther away at around 9:00 when she stopped and turned broadside. I set up my cross sticks and shot her in the right eye and the .444 diameter paper patched slug powered by 70 grains of KIK 2F exited just in front of her left ear. She did drop instantly and this attending buck ran like a scalded cat.
With 2 does cleaned and in the back of the truck I headed back towards I-80 when I spotted a group of antelope about a mile distant. I planned a route where I could park and sneaked up to the top of a ridge and sat down. Most of the herd ran out of range but one buck and doe that had been further out spotted me. All they could see was a set of cross sticks and a cowboy hat. They were several hundred yards away but the curious doe kept coming closer leading the buck the whole way. I waited patiently having plenty of time with my Sharps rifle to consider how and when I would shoot. It was about 10:30 A.M. now and when she turned sideways at my estimate of 300 yards I knew she would come no closer. I estimated the hold over and touched off a round and broke her back. She required a follow up shot when I approached but no meat was lost.
I got her cleaned and headed for Colorado and gave rdnck a call from my truck. He was pretty excited and we talked until I ran out of cell phone range. He also gave me the title to this post. I dropped off the meat at Reliable Meat Processing (Catchy Name huh?) and I got home at 3:40 in the afternoon. 3 antelpe in 12 total hours including driving time to Wyoming and back has a permanent smile pasted on my face. The business rifle I used had Orville's chamber and rdnck's rifiling button for the internals all put together by Shiloh into a magnificent killing machine!
Yesterday started when I couldn't sleep any more and I bailed out at 3:30 A.M. I tossed by gear bag, my Shiloh Sharps business rifle, and a dozen 45-70 paper patched cartridges into my truck and hit the road by 4:00. I headed north on I-25 and stopped at Johnson's Corner truck stop for some delicious breakfast and then cut over to Hwy 287 and up to Laramie Wyoming. From there I went west and got off at the first legal place to hunt in my unit 62 at 7:00 A.M. I saw my first group of about 6 antelope at around 8:00 and I got out of my truck moved to a location where I could get a shot if they headed the way I thought they would go. They did and I shot a nice doe behind the shoulder at around 150 yards and she looked sick but didn't drop right away. The buck siezed the moment and mounted her instantly. I examined her later and found that the angle had been more than I thought which explained why she didn't die instantly. You do realized of course that I'm talking about the shot angle right?
The next doe was slightly farther away at around 9:00 when she stopped and turned broadside. I set up my cross sticks and shot her in the right eye and the .444 diameter paper patched slug powered by 70 grains of KIK 2F exited just in front of her left ear. She did drop instantly and this attending buck ran like a scalded cat.
With 2 does cleaned and in the back of the truck I headed back towards I-80 when I spotted a group of antelope about a mile distant. I planned a route where I could park and sneaked up to the top of a ridge and sat down. Most of the herd ran out of range but one buck and doe that had been further out spotted me. All they could see was a set of cross sticks and a cowboy hat. They were several hundred yards away but the curious doe kept coming closer leading the buck the whole way. I waited patiently having plenty of time with my Sharps rifle to consider how and when I would shoot. It was about 10:30 A.M. now and when she turned sideways at my estimate of 300 yards I knew she would come no closer. I estimated the hold over and touched off a round and broke her back. She required a follow up shot when I approached but no meat was lost.
I got her cleaned and headed for Colorado and gave rdnck a call from my truck. He was pretty excited and we talked until I ran out of cell phone range. He also gave me the title to this post. I dropped off the meat at Reliable Meat Processing (Catchy Name huh?) and I got home at 3:40 in the afternoon. 3 antelpe in 12 total hours including driving time to Wyoming and back has a permanent smile pasted on my face. The business rifle I used had Orville's chamber and rdnck's rifiling button for the internals all put together by Shiloh into a magnificent killing machine!
I missed two bucks this morning. 
Prolly wouldn't of happened if my 44-77 was here. 
[quote="Marathonman"]I just got back from my second weekend hunt in WY this year with my killing machine business rifle. Today I filled my last doe tag and filled my buck tag and got back home in the same time as last week. Still used paper patched bullets with great success. My doe was the typical 150 yard shot but the buck I watched with his harem of does as they ran towards a butte several hundred yards distant. I swung wide trying to predict where he would go. When I sneaked over the top of the ridge with sharps rifle and cross sticks in hand I found him standing a measely 75 yards away looking back where he had last seen me. I took a quick off hand shot with the rifles single trigger and put it through his heart. Turned out to be only an average buck but I'm still very pleased! Total for 2 weekends is 4 does and 1 buck antelope.
Its nice to see a traditional load perform like it did 140 years ago. Give me some details on your load.