Hog Hunter first shot first kill

[Tx308]

Ordered my Savage Hog Hunter in 308 Win on wednesday. Picked out a scope for it on thursday while the rifle was still in transit. Decided on the Nikon Buckmaster 3-9x50. Leupold bases with Burris rings. Was waiting at the gunshop on friday when the delivery man showed up. Had bases, rings, and scope mounted and bore sighted.

Was supposed to get out in time on opening day (yesterday) to be in the blind long before dawn but my hunting buddy had a minor family emergency and I wasn't able to settle into my spot until about 1pm.

No sign of any wildlife,not even a sparrow until a doe came walking in hesitantly at around 6:30pm.

At this particular location the average shot the last two years has been in the 20-50 yard range. There are a very few open slots which offer a clear line of fire out to roughly 100 yards. As I had not had the chance to get the Hog Hunter sighted in properly I took one of my friends Savage model 10s in 270 along with me just in case the only available shot was a longer one. Luckily she stayed in my shorter range area and I was able to get a good sight picture behind her left shoulder and took the shot. She ran about 50 yards and laid down. Exit wound on right side slightly elongated and just smaller than a half dollar. Used Federal Fusion 150gr.

The only thing I did to my Hog Hunter prior to the hunt was clean it and load it. Hell of a way to start breaking her in - first shot first kill. Can't wait to get to the range to sight it in properly and get in some of our more open hunting spots.

http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag17/Tx308/CameraZOOM-20121103184900294_zps031fc5ec.jpg

Sorry to be so long winded but in the intrest of full disclosure I must add that this is not only my first Savage rifle, but also my first personally owned centerfire hunting rifle. And this is only my second deer ever,first was an 8 point buck last year.

[helotaxi]

Nice looking doe there. Congrats!

I just got my first deer ever on Tuesday. Despite carrying my 19 year old Savage all over creation as insurance against the requirement of a long shot, we were in heavy forest when we finally saw a deer that was legal. Accordingly, I was carrying my Marlin 308MX. As it ended up, the shot was inside 25yds and a 160gn FTX through the heart took care of business.

The lesson learned from 3.5 days of hunting and walking at least 20 miles in the mountains above 8k' is that my older wood stocked Savage needs a serious weight loss plan. I didn't really realize how dang heavy it was until I swapped it out for the little lever gun.

[thomae]

Tx308: Congratulations and nice job! I have sad news for your future: Your kill per shot percentage will never be better than it is right now. You'd better quit while you are ahead!

[helotaxi]

Yeah, and heaven forbid you actually zero the rifle!

[r3dn3ck]

so what was the delta between point of aim and point of impact? I've in the past known my scope was jacked in the middle of a hunt and lacking tools did a dead-eye guess down the barrel and made a 60yrds shot but it took 3 rounds and a patient buck. The reason I ask is the guns I've bought with bore sighted scopes have been uniformly off by a foot or more at 100yrds.

Nice job, looks tasty.

[Big Old Boy]

tx308. it's funny that you would go hunting with a gun that was only bore sighted, I hope to never be in the woods near you, good luck.

[Nandy]

Now, now guys... We dont know the op proficiency or level of knowledge about guns and I say this without no intent of offending him. You will be surprised how many people I have encounter that believe that a bore sighted gun is sighted properly and dont know of harmonics and all it takes to deliver that projectile from the barrel to the target and hit where intended.
tx308, congratulations on your kill. I am glad for you and the deer that the bore sight job got you close enough. I have boresighted many guns in my life (mine and friends) using lasers and I can assure you I have never had a bulls eye on the first shot. I had them in paper all the time, close by 3 or so inches but I have always had to zero the gun in paper.
Good luck in your next hunt.

[fourts]

tx308. it's funny that you would go hunting with a gun that was only bore sighted, I hope to never be in the woods near you, good luck.

I agree!!! Wow that is just poor judgement, to take a chance like that.

[essar9]

I agree!!! Wow that is just poor judgement, to take a chance like that.

I agree. He got lucky. It's almost the same as closing your eyes before pulling the trigger.

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk 2

[thomae]

It's almost the same as closing your eyes before pulling the trigger.
Wait! What?

Oh.

No wonder my groups are all over the paper.

:rolleyes:

[irondog54]

Ok we have a neophyte shooter who has just blooded his Savage rifle. CONGRATULATIONS!! You are lacking some leadership and mentoring,
Which you should seek out. Go to the range and talk to shooters and hunters
And keep learning, you will do fine. Again, congrats!

[1ShotKing]

I think some of you guys need to relax a little bit. From my personal experience most bore sighted rifles are within 4 inches of the bull when sighting in. I have seen this time and time again. The vital area of a whitetail deer according to an online resource is approximately a circle 10 inches in diameter. The OP said the typical range of shots in the location he hunted in is 20-50 yards. Therefore he should be within 2 inches or less of his intended point of aim which is definitely sufficient for deer hunting. I am not saying it is the ideal situation which of course it is not. Just saying it's not as bad as you guys are making it seem.

1ShotKing

[r3dn3ck]

clean humane kills are not guesswork. There's no relax in that. This is a standard that we hold ourselves and each other to and it serves us well to do so. Just because he did something which is inherently silly and might feel bad when told that does not mean that some carapace of understanding is required that prevents us from noting that his decision was wrong and unethical. We can at the same time (and have) congratulated the OP on his luck and at least moderating his shot distance to something you could do without much in the way of a sighting system.

There's no need for even handedness at all in this case. Simple truthful assay of the deeds sufficed and he needs nobody to come to his defense over this. He did a wrong and he got told so and should understand that, regardless of the eventual outcome. He also did it well anyway and got told that too so it's not a simple ego bashing here. It matters not one bit that the shot was lethal or that almost any shot would have been eventually lethal. It matters completely the amount of needless suffering that is liable to be inflicted on another creature when such decisions are selected from those available. Poor decision making and lacking impulse control are not known to be conducive factors in hunting and they're not popular with hunters or non-hunters.

[Tx308]

Thank you to all the responders. You will all be happy to know that my Hog Hunter is now dialed in properly.
Spent yesterday morning at the range trying her out with 3 different loads. 150gr Federal Fusion, 150gr Rem Core Lokt PSP, and 180gr Winchester. After a few fouling rounds I took 2 shots with the federal 150s and was able to dial in. Best group of the day was with the Rem 150s, 1.25" e-e minus dia. This being my first range outing with the HH I must say that I am extremely impressed with both rifle and scope. FWIW I was shooting off a Caldwell 7 rest, a product which I cannot recommend (but since it was a 'hand me down' from a friend, I won't complain to loudly).
And for those interested, it was 3" left and 2.25" high prior to adjustment.

Sent by high speed racing turtle via Tapatalk2.

[Tx308]

Oh I forgot to mention the 1.25" group was a 5 shot slow fire group with the 2nd round fired discarded from the measurement. I flinched. I wish I could call it a flier but I knew it was my fault as soon as the trigger broke.

Sent by high speed racing turtle via Tapatalk2.

[irondog54]

Save your brass! You might be reloading later.

[Tx308]

Iron dog - Got my order from Midwayusa today. Its been 17 years since I've reloaded and then it was exclusively handgun. Loaded everything from 9mm up thru 44mag. 10mm and 41mag were mostly for personal use, everything else was sold or traded to supply my 'addiction'.
Got surprised with the day off today so I spent it studying up on rifle reloading and prepping my 308 and 223 cases.
Didn't realize how much I missed reloading. And **** its good to be back to it. Looking forward to working up some good hunting and target loads.

Sent by high speed racing turtle via Tapatalk2.

[243LPR]

That's gonna be some goood eatin'.

[Big Old Boy]

looks like you were close with the bore sighting. congrats nice tender deer, I have not reloaded in years it is relaxing for me.