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the .375 is abit of a beast i have only shot that for a few rounds. i was shocked what it did to a target. for what i want the rifle for i dont think it would be any good as i might have people with me that might find it abit worrying if you havent shot much before just the size of the barrel is enough to put you off.
i am looking for a all round gun that isnt going to destroy what your going to shoot and i dont think that you will be shooting much mre that 200m.


going back to what chris said about the drop, i thought a good marksman would know this kind of thing about his rifle and be able to adjust when he is shooting?
not trying to be funny this is something that i have been trying to get my head around for a while. is this not why you also have the marks in your scope so that you know at about x range you need to be on a particular point?
 
Fantasy land. Save that lot for the movies. Yes sure you can have mill dot scopes and you can have intermediate bars on your scope but this is the real world not paper targets. It really matters here when you pull the trigger. Mistakes are very costly. Unless you really get a lot of shooting in, you'll never hone those skills. OK, of course it's possible, but in my view, don't shoot at stuff you aren't sure of killing cleanly. That way, yes, you get less chances maybe, but if you have ever had to track down something that's wounded and finish it off you'll know what I mean. This isn't a shooting forum of course so not the best place to have an open debate about the ethics of shooting. I don't take chancy shots and that's all I am saying. This way, I consistently kill things cleanly. If you go onto something like Stalking Directory (very good) and join in there, you will find people who not only still think that the world is flat, but that its not POSSIBLE to shoot a deer at more then 100 yards. Honestly. Suggest a 300 yrd shot and they go mental. For them. 308 is perfect.

Check out this 1296 yard elk shot. Have a look at the wound channel at the end of the film with a .300 win http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyj_A19Zo30 this was off a bench with a rifle check zeroed out to 1800 yards. It took them all day. OK extreme I know but just to illustrate it not energy, it's trajectory and you get to a point where simply aiming slightly high doesn't work. Problem is that the further out you go, the small the animal appears so you have less to aim at. It's just not as simple as it sounds. And they move too! Look at this 2000+ yard shooting. Wind is an issue as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nlTU8_iK7o

Chris
 
sorry chris i didnt mean to affend i am only asking so that i dont make any mistakes when looking into what i buy. i happen to have similar views to you on animal welfair this is why i want to know as much as i can find out about a subject that is hard to find out about if you are not in the circles. i do know its not as easy thing to do is just aim abit higher..

this is a subject that i am tring to learn about so i will ask silly questions so that mistakes do get made in the future.
i dont have anybody in the uk that can help with teaching about what i need to know and as we all know what is written in a book is different to real life.
 
hornady factory ammo

25/06 200yd zero 117g bullet 7.1" low at 300yds
308 200yd zero 150g bullet 7.9" low at 300yds

so if .8 of an inch will cause you to miss or wound then yes go for a 25/06 !

personally i use a 260 remington and have shot many hundreds of deer of all species (although the CWD still eludes me!) don't over gun your self to start with it's just not nessacery , use a 243 if you want it's legal and it will kill all the uk deer at reasonable range , personally i think it's a little light for sika and big southern/norfolk stags but it will work and i have used it.

there is nothing wrong with 308 and all this nonsense about it having a loopy trajectory is just that , nonsense ! there is faster and flatter rounds as there is slower and loopier rounds , in fact there is so much info and research available for the 308 it's incredible.

get your license then get out with someone with experience and learn , deer stalking is fasinating and sometimes frustrating but never wasted time.

best of luck !
 
Stumog, offended? Me? Not a chance. None taken. You should have a look on Stalking Directory though. Tonnes and tonnes of help on there.

tackb, I know what you're saying, but it's not my experience with .308 and figures on paper are one thing. I just put those two rounds into isnipe and with a zero of 180 yards the 25 has a drop of 8.22" @ 300 and the .308 has a drop of 10.4" Zero that at 100 (for your DCS etc) and then you get a 3" difference between the two. Do I have a .308? Yes, naturally. And I use it. It's good in terms of meat damage. But is it what I reach for when I open the cabinet? Nope.

I did say that I didn'want to get into a deeply technical argument on a Landcruiser forum, so I am not disagreeing, but I come across a lot of people who wish they hadn't bought a .308 as their first and only rifle. I don't think it's a beginners cartridge. 7mm-08 might be a better choice.

No I haven't shot CWD either. Not sure I can afford to at current prices. I know someone who paid £800 for one. WTF? Not had a 260 rem, but would consider it as my 7mm-08 needs re barrelling.

Chris
 
I don't disagree with your opinion , just some of the facts. And less than 2" difference is still unlikely to be a miss? I lifted that data from the hornady website by the way.

308 is a great round and yes I own one and have shot a lot of deer with it , including the furthest deer I've ever shot ironically ?

I have used I snipe and found it less accurate than ballistic fte by the way when compared to actual field data? give it a try if you haven't yet?

800 nicker for a CWD !! Crazy !!

If you reload then the 260 could be for you ? But if not then the factory offerings aren't great ?
 
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Hey Andrew, you're still with us. That's good. Yes, I agree with that - oh and I have a 7mm rem mag too. Love it. but I think, to reiterate, all of those rounds will kill just about anything that walks, there was a famous elephant shooter who used .243 - but my point was about trajectory. If you have time and know the distance to the watering hole you can adjust, but when you are in a position, sneaking about on a moor perhaps with failing light looking for that elusive stag, judging distance can be very very difficult. In a case like that (not uncommon to me) I'd rather have something that shoots flatter. Then there is one less element of doubt in the equation. Break out the 7 mm!

.375 kick hard? Come on, man up Andrew.

Chris
Yes, I'm still alive and kicking!:icon-biggrin: Apologies to Good Old Boy for the thread-jacking here!
For me, the bottom line with the calibre/trajectory debate, which Chris is saying too, is that IF you know the precise distance to your target AND you know exactly what the bullet drop over that distance will be with your bullet weight/load combination AND you can make allowances for elevation, wind etc AND you are able to shoot precisely to your point of aim, then almost any calibre will do for you.
On a flat plain, the difference between 250m and 350m is difficult to determine for most people without a range finder - but the difference in point of aim for most calibres is 10 inches or more. All else being equal, a flatter trajectory is preferable.

Yes, Chris - I admit I do not particularly enjoy firing a 375:angelic-pink: Large calibres guns are also heavy to carry around all day, especially if its sunny and hot. Having said that, I am toying with getting a 416 as there is a strong possibility of hunting a bad-tempered 1ton African beastie with vicious horns in my future:violence-sniperdar:
 
I've not shot dangerous game andrew but i'm told by those that have that when you do it for real the weight and recoil isn't even noticed your much more worried about being mauled/stomped/gored !
 
my location seems to have disappeared from my avatar - im in Spain so not too sure about the legal restrictions on caliber for deer - red & falow deer here i think- .this apart the law here is quite different - lamping for example is a criminal offense as is hunting after dark, baiting etc..A shotgun is the all round gun here - plenty of game birds , rabbits & hare and of course wild boar.Hunting is big business here with organized "batidas" - drives - taking place most w/ends in the season .dogs are used to drive the boar towards a line of guns who then open up like the Mexican army in butch cassidy & the sundance kid......!On my land i have a two streams both of which have pools where the wildlife come to drink & well worn tracks leading down to them so a hide seems to be the most straight forward solution as the object is to control the population as well as provide venison.thanks for all the contributions for those of you interested in hunting in Spain take a look at this http://www.ibexhuntspain.com/ban/aboutus.php
 
I've not shot dangerous game andrew but i'm told by those that have that when you do it for real the weight and recoil isn't even noticed your much more worried about being mauled/stomped/gored !

When handled properly, a .375 or .400-class rifle has a very tolerable recoil, and shooting 10 to 20 rounds in a session is not a problem. Of course these are not plinking calibers... But they are easy enough to shoot that one can get proficient with them. Rifle weight between 10 and 11 pounds is a good balance between "heavy enough" (for recoil), and "not too heavy" (to carry it all day).

Calibers above that are usually unpleasant to shoot, unless the rifle is seriously heavy. And a rifle weighing 12 pounds or more is not something you want to carry around the bush for any length of time.

And yes, when you are actually shooting at something big that may or may not want to knock you around a bit, you have a sufficient number of things on your mind to totally distract you from such mundane thoughts as "how does my shoulder feel"...
 
my location seems to have disappeared from my avatar - im in Spain so not too sure about the legal restrictions on caliber for deer - red & falow deer here i think- .this apart the law here is quite different - lamping for example is a criminal offense as is hunting after dark, baiting etc..A shotgun is the all round gun here - plenty of game birds , rabbits & hare and of course wild boar.Hunting is big business here with organized "batidas" - drives - taking place most w/ends in the season .dogs are used to drive the boar towards a line of guns who then open up like the Mexican army in butch cassidy & the sundance kid......!On my land i have a two streams both of which have pools where the wildlife come to drink & well worn tracks leading down to them so a hide seems to be the most straight forward solution as the object is to control the population as well as provide venison.thanks for all the contributions for those of you interested in hunting in Spain take a look at this http://www.ibexhuntspain.com/ban/aboutus.php

Its pretty much the same here in Froggy France - sometimes, they actually hit something other than each other! shot guns are the norm, with balls - 2 or 3 to each shell. Hunting liscense easy enough to get, but I dont want to be standing there in a line in all weathers waiting for something to run towards me! I would rather go stalk a deer or pig.

Steve
 
planning to do the DSC1 this summer,
thinking about a 6.5x55 swedish calibre at the moment, mainly for Roe, but also foxes
 
Don't have a 6.5. It's popular, I know. Honestly if ALL is was ever going to shoot was fox and roe, I'd just get a .243. It really is ideal. Nice and flat, great to shoot. Cheap to feed, inherently accurate (ie just not a fussy round like some) and more than up to the job with very little meat damage. Plenty about too.

It's actually a varmint cartridge in truth and people forget that. But, American varmints are the size of roe deer! It will effectively and legally shoot any deer in the UK. So why doesn't everyone just have .243. Well you can catch a shark on fly tackle, but if you were going on a shark fishing trip, it's not what you'd take. If I am going on a hind cull, I take something suitable. But if I am stalking roe with a .243 and a hind pops up as a target of opportunity, I would certainly take the shot if it was right. But I have the luxury of one or two rifles to choose from. If I was going to shoot roe, red and foxes and could only have one rifle I would not buy a .243.

I know I have said I don't like the .308 that much and I don't - my choice, but in relation to rifle shooting in the UK, a .22 rf, a .243 and a .308 would be just about the ideal package. OK I'd swap the .308 for something like the 7mm-08 or 7mm Rem. Is 6.5 the perfect all round calibre if you could only have one rifle? Well it could be.But not if you don't intend to shoot anything bigger than roe.

Chris
Chris
 
forgot to add, a couple of friends into red deer shooting as well, so I would want something with power for reds too, as i would be bound to want to join them once i have shot a few Roe.
thats why i was thinking of a 6.5 as an all rounder, based on talking to shooting friends.
I have too many other hobbies e.g. skiing, kayaking, mountainbiking! as well as the LC to have funds for a range of rifles!
 
I have lots of hobbies too Andy and I never deny myself anything.

Just practise the following -

"No you can't have some shoes"










Kids, eh? Don't know they're born nowadays.

Chris
 
more likely to be "no, you cant have another mountain bike or skis" with my wife! not shoes...
she also shoots an airgun!

and no kids :)
 
Yes, that's it. Just keep saying 'No kids' and you'll be fine.

Chris
 
Not going to see any deer going around shouting like that Marius.

Wrong film. You need Sniper! More nonsense. But fun.
 
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