Personal best Doe

[oldsnow]

Got in the stand about 3 o'clock yesterday, air temp around 24 with
light west wind. This stand is on a 20 ft. wide logging road with some tall
grass patches on it. It has thick young pines on both sides of the road, with
a 4 foot ditch paralleling the road. You can see 200 Yd's. up the road and 400
Yd's. down the road. I am shooting a Savage muzzleloader and smokeless powder,
with a 250 Gr. Hornady SST.
At 4:45 a nice deer came out of the ditch upon the road and stood broad side
to me looking away from we, it was about 50 Yds. past my 200 Yd. marker. I put
my scope on 10 power to make sure it was a doe. When she looked at me I saw
only ears on her head.
Then I pulled the trigger and she disappeared into some tall grass. then a
deer came out of the ditch and went back into the pines. I walked down to were
I last saw her, thinking that I am going to have to track her, but not this
time she was laying in some tall grass. It was 81 paces back to my 200 Yd.
marker, I am thinking about 275 yd. shot.
Here are some picks of the deer and the bullet. This bullet hit her right
shoulder and came to rest under the skin on her left flank. The bullet
retained all but 10 Gr's. of it weight. I keep hearing that this gun will kill
at 300 Yd's. but I think that is the limit.

i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/oldsnow/Doe1-21-08012.jpg

i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/oldsnow/Doe1-21-08005.jpg

i142.photobucket.com/albums/r101/oldsnow/Doe1-21-08017.jpg

[whyohe]

hey nice doe!! what load are you using? the velocity must have come down a bit. those SSTs are pretty explosive especially when they hit bone, but that is at closer range too.

[ozark]

Good doe, good write up, good shot. Congratulations.

[oldsnow]

Whyohe I am shooting 43 Gr's. of IMR 4759 with CCI magnum primers. With this load I think the 250 SST is about out of gass at 300 Yds.

[wilmsmeyer]

oldsnow,

You would probably be in the 2300 fps range with the load you mentioned. At 300 yds you'd be around 1,300 fps with the 250 SST. If you consider sticking a 4 inch barreled .44 mag into a deers ribs and pulling the trigger, you'd hardly say the load was out of gas! That IS the equivalent of what you hit the deer with.

These guns have plenty of power at any range you can hit a deer with reasonable precision. Penetration only increases, as you saw, as velocity comes down to the lower levels....(within reason...and 300 yds is within reason)

Nice shot, good result. For closer shots, I would like the same terminal performance you got....which would mean a tougher bullet.