Monthly Archives: May 2019

Moose Cartridge Caliber and Bullets – Updated

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Many articles later, the most popular Moose caliber I observe is the venerable, time tested 30-06 Springfield with 180 grain bullets on your average Moose for your average Moose hunter. Moose have been cleanly killed with cartridges of lesser energy but those kills were best taken broadside such as the 308 Win, .270 Win and 7mm-08 and 6.5 Creedmoor are most common. Of course the Swede’s love the 6.5 – 55 Swedish Mauser but we aren’t in Sweden. We are in North America East in Newfoundland, Canada.

If you you-tube for bull moose kills with rifle, you will often see multiple shots taken and hits to the lung area too. Moose are hard to fall where the shot was taken.

Shot Placement – Top of Heart center Lungs as shown.

It is essential to shoot as accurately as possible. It is shot placement that kills Moose when coupled with adequate penetration and energy. Bullet construction should be such that when the bullet mushrooms and expands that it stays together as it penetrates. Bonded, Partition and All Copper style bullets are recommended. I am a fan of Nosler Bullets such as the E-Tip Solid Gilding Copper, AccuBond and Partition.

Bullet Energy – If you follow some Fish and Game recommendations used to be around 2500 ft lbs (recommended). I assumed delivered energy. Now some F & G officials suggest 2200 to 2500 ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle however I believe this is very misleading as the shooter should know his energy limits when the bullet strikes the moose at longer ranges. In the case of elk, terminal energy is recommended at 1500 ft -lbs. Moose should be more like 1800-2000 ft lbs delivered or better with velocities around 2000fps.

The 30-06 is not ideal for the largest of Moose in all situations, particularly quartering away. Shoot a cartridge that gives you the most options. If you can handle larger calibers and recoil such as the 300 Win Mag or larger then you shot options increase dramatically. Do you have to? Of course not, you may have to wait to get closer or change the shot angle. A 30-06 180 grain bullet with a Muzzle velocity of 2600 fps delivers around 2000 ft-lbs at 200 yards. So that would be a suggested max range. 

My hunt outfitter says shots are 40 to 300 yards. At 300 yards a 180 grain 30-06 delivers around 1700 ft-lbs. A 300 win mag will deliver over 2000 ft lbs at that range.

Of course if you cant handle the recoil of big magnum rifles  and cant shoot them accurately, then don’t shoot them! Note: There are many recoil pads on the market today to cut recoil in half. So before shooting these heavy recoil rifles always do some homework on recoil management. You will be glad you did!!! Pachmayr makes the Decelerator™ one of my favorites for heavy recoil.

The 7mm Rem Mag and 7mm STW, 7mm Wby Mag 7mm RUM are great on the largest of 300 yard Bull Moose as is the The 28 Nosler (.284) which spits a 175 grain out at 3100 fps and can hit the 2500 ft-lb delivered energy at 450 yards. Wow!

The 8mm Rem Magnum with 180 grain bullets can reach to 300 yards near to 2500 ft-lbs delivered enegy. Nice!

Many 338 Mags below can throw a 225g bullet to 400 yards near 2500 ft-lbs. I shot the .338 Win Mag in Africa; 338 Win Mag, 340 Weatherby Mag, 338 Rem Ultra Mag, 338 Lapua Mag, 33 Nosler or the 338-378 Weatherby Mag all do a great job.

The .358’s such as the 350 Win Mag, 358  Norma Mag, and 358 STA -Shooting Times Alaska  all do that!  The 358 STA shoots a 225 grain bullet at 3000 fps out to 375 yards at just around 2500 ft-lbs.

My .375 Ruger or a .375 H&H hurles a 260 to 300 grain bullet to 300 yards with 2500 ft-lbs and the 300 grain bullet does so with a sectional density of .299 that rates highest in penetration. The .375 Ruger and .375 H&H are geared for Cape Buffalo or 1200 plus lb Bull Moose or a 2000 lb Bison. Alaskan Guides like the .375’s around Brown bear too.

My Newfoundland bull fell after the first shot with my 375 Ruger with 300 grain Nosler AccuBonds in less than 10 seconds. It was a quartering toward shot smashing the front shoulder, fully mushrooming, wrecking the lungs and piled up on the skin on the far side while still maintaining 80% of its weight. Note: I shot him in a snow squall in near whiteout conditions in a 20 mph wind in my face at 100 yards (wind chill below zero) .  His rack was small but a big body! I decide to take him as I did not want to hunt a full week in these conditions. My friend Oliver, on the left,( just turned 80 years old before the hunt) took a cow at 200 yards with his 7mm Rem  Mag. the next day. He too was not willing to hunt longer than he had to in these conditions.

The 45-70 does not meet the 300 yard criteria but a great close Moose killer for years.

The off-the-rounds in the .400 class are often designed strictly for dangerous African game and can be used on big Moose but are not necessary. Of course if you hand load then you can load the 458 Win Mag down to equal the 45-70. It is the same caliber. It’s your hunt! Have Fun!

Good Hunting!

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Revolutionary War Pennsylvania Flintlock at 150 yard Target- Updated

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As most are aware that I have been shooting my “self built top-of-the-line kit” 50 cal. Jacob Dickert Lancaster Flintlock (from Jim Chambers Flintlocks Ltd.) of late for fun and experimentation to improve accuracy and reliability. I have named the rifle Cricket

Just prior to this article I had to open the flash hole a bit to 1/16th inch on Cricket to improve reliability of ignition in the deer woods. I now have 100% ignition. Heaven forbid a flash-in-the-pan and no bang and no deer! The accuracy of this rifle has been great but I wanted to experiment with a slightly thicker patch to get better spin on the 50 cal. 177 grain round ball to see if I can tighten the groups a tad. I was getting 4 inch groups at 75 yards with 0.015 Wonder Lube patches  and 90 grains of FFG.  I purchased some 0.018 Wonder Lube Patches a few weeks back and at 50 yards bench rest I cut the x on the target with my first shot. Yes Open sights that I created! I was so thrilled! My nephew said, looking through his scope that he couldn’t see the hole. He looked everywhere except the dead center. I stopped shooting so as not to jinx the next shots and helped him sight his Ruger M77 in 7 MM Rem Mag for a Texas Wild Pig Hunt. A week later I took the Flintlock back to the range and decided to go for 100 yards and then 150 if all worked out. There I met Vince Natale a club member that was just crazy about Flintlocks and their Revolutionary war history, just as much as I was. We talked and talked. Vince said; I will spot your 100 yard shot! My rifle kicked, and Vince shouts, great hit, high in the bullseye. I said, well I purposely aimed a bit high figuring for some bullet drop. Ok, lets move the silhouette target to 150 yards, I said eagerly. This for target only as it has insufficient energy for deer hunting at that range.

The 2 Shots struck the target low but grouped at 4 inches. Vince was very impressed. I needed more data.

UPDATED

Not enough for a real group, I went back and shot again this week with sunshine and little wind. My point of aim (See Below Target) was the upper bullseye at 150 yards and measured the drop at the lower edge of the bottom target at 17 inches at the lowest and average drop for the group was around 14 inches. I put the front sight level with the notch at the rear using 90 grains FFG and a .490 Hornady round ball patched with a .018 wonder lube patch (.45 to .499) patch diameter. The bullets were tight to load in the barrel than normal but achievable. The barrel was swabbed with a saliva spit patch and dry patch using both sides of the patch after each shot. I shot 4 shots for group and they look to be grouped about 6.5 inches apart in the lower left target. I adjusted the rear sight a tad to bring the bullets closer to center line and lifted the front sight just above rear sight and took a shot. You can see the bullet hit the lower target in the upper left quadrant about 2.5 inches left of center and 7.5 inches low. I drew a picture of what it looked like as I sighted the rifle.

I played with some assumptions using JBM Ballistics Software after finding some on line data (http://www.namlhunt.com/traditionalmldata1.html) for 50 cal Tennessee flintlock with a 41 inch barrel  mine is 44 inches) and they chrono 1861 FPS Muzzle Velocity with the same round ball (est BC 0.068) and 90 grains black powder and a .015 patch. That bullet drops 12 inches at 150 yards says my JBM software and at 200 yards it drops 31.7 inches and has 276 ft-lbs of energy. At 300 yards the bullet drops 111 inches and has 188 ft-lbs of energy.

For hunting whitetail deer modern day experts suggest approximately 1000 ft-lb minimum as an energy guide for deer and with that said,  I should limit shots at around 30 yards with the 50 cal round ball. Ridiculous! Of course we know that deer are taken out to 100 yards with round ball every year but data says the average shot here in New England is around 40 yards or so. At 50 yards most traditional muzzle loaders of the past achieve just over 800 ft-lbs at 50 yards yet these older muzzle loader flintlocks and caplocks have been cleanly killing deer size game beyond that 50 yard mark for centuries. Just use some common sense!

Good Shooting!

 

Flintlock: Understanding Flash-in-the-Pan no fires and simple fixes.

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The ubiquitous Flash-in-the-pan or No-Flash-in-the-pan was coined perhaps around the time of the American Revolution or likely earlier. For me, as a hunter, this is intolerable. Here in New  Hampshire, Deer are not as plentiful as our southeastern states, so having a flash- in-the-pan no fires in the deer woods is no fun!

But it need not be so!

My fix was simple after tons of internet research, changing my flint grip from leather to lead helped but it was to drill the touch hole to 1/16 inch or 0.0625. This is slightly larger than the original touch hole. See the website below. Also do not cover the touch hole with priming powder! My shot groups at 75 yards are around 4 inches with open sights. I don’t expect to exceed 50 yard in the local deer woods but a steady rest bipod or tree branch will help.  

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/drilled-touch-hole.27721

My Flintlock (Cricket) is a true Lancaster Pennsylvania Rifle of Jacob Dickert fame, some call it the Kentucky Rifle of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett fame.

Here, after a shot it looks a bit dirty, like this but you can see the touch hole larger to 1/16 inch which appears to have cured the ignition problem. Others instruct to run a spit (spit saliva) patch after each shot and then a clean patch. That works for me. Black powder residue is very dirty and cruddy but works the best in a Flintlock and patched round ball. Save the Pyrodex for your in-line muzzleloader.

I built this rifle from a very high end kit from Jim Chambers Flintlocks Ltd. My Flintlock came with a threaded device called a threaded touch hole liner and named White Lightnin’ to improve ignition by which the flash of powder in the pan would ignite the main charge in the barrel. The original hole itself is smaller than 1/16 of an inch.

My Flintlock is basically new (70 rounds fired) and had as many ignitions as I did of flash pan misfires. Cleaning the barrel and vent hole was done at every shot and even then had misfires. If the hole itself if not placed correctly with the pan, it is a problem but can be resolved. My touch hole was placed correctly, as far as I can tell but still misfired so I drilled the hole to 1/16 inch and basically cured the ignition problem to a large extent.  Every rifle is different. Some experts open the hole right away to 1/16 inch others shoot it till it widens over time. As a deer hunter I want it all the time. The touch hole can be opened further, see the website above but if too large will cause loss of pressure and slower ignition time, delaying the ignition. The great thing with a touch hole liner is that it can be replaced.

Good Hunting!

 

Samick Sage Takedown Recurve – Out-of-the-Box – Balloon Shoot

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Traditional archery is a great way to begin shooting bow and arrow. My oldest grandson just turned 13 years old. He has had starter bows for children in the past and loves to shoot.  He is a big and tall boy at 5 ft 10 inches already. I purchased two new Samick Sage bows (one for me) in 45 lb weight at 28 inches draw, a shooting glove/arm guard and some right hand helical fletched xx75 aluminum arrows.

http://www.lancasterarchery.com/galaxy-sage-takedown-recurve-bow.html

Out-of-the-box the bows were mighty handsome! The laminated wooden riser was machined expertly and the limbs are laminated maple and fiberglass. Instructions for installing the upper and lower limbs were easy.

The bow came with 2 brass string knocking points and a nice stick on rest that alignes with the riser hole for a plunger known originally as a Berger Button.

At $119 dollars this is a bargain and a great value!

We use the bows traditionally to shoot target at 20 yards and chase and shoot floating/ moving balloons with Judo points that keep the arrow from burying itself in grass.

What a great summer fun time chasing balloons at various ranges on  my back lawn.  All in prep for hunting game! My grandkids in the back yard below.

 

Good Shooting!