The .338-06 and it's first kill "it's not a virgin anymore"

uad7116 · 12-04-2009, 04:50 PM

I built my .338-06 this summer and have been more than happy with it's shooting capabilities. It's a Steven w/camo stock and a a&b barrel on it, trigger adjusted by me and breaks a 2.5 lbs. measured on RCBS trigger scale, with a max load of BLC-2 and CT's 200 gr BT's I have shot a .6 three shot group a 100 yds (not to bad for a hunting rifle). I built it after reading a article about how .338's do less meat damage on deer size game than other more popular smaller hunting rounds, because the .338 bullets were constructed for larger game, you get complete penetration and large hole, but less meat damage. There was alot more technical terms in the article about how it all works but all in all knockdown power and large whole=dead and not wasted deer. I was hunting in northern Minnesota about 20 miles north of Northome MN on the third weekend of rifle season when this buck crossed the trail I was hunting about 170 yds from my stand and one shot later he was down (didn't take a step). Upon inspecting to see if the round had performed as expected it had a .338 entry wound and a quarter sized exit wound and the only meat loss was about golfball sized area around the wound and like I said he dropped in his tracks. He weighted 180lbs dressed and sported a little 7-point rack. Not the biggest deer but the first for this rifle and my first Minnesota buck, I moved up to Minnesota back in March from South Carolina which is where i lived my whole life, and all I can say is these deer are a whole lot bigger than those in South Carolina.