recurveman

One piece of advice. The hunt is a month long and if you guys are getting frustrated it would be a good idea to head home and regroup. This is a once in a lifetime tag. Many guys get frustrated and shoot a ram even though it isn't what they wanted. Reach out to as many people as you can and see if you can't find some information or helpers. Take your time and find the right ram.

Been shooting the 142 grain 6.5MM bullets out of my 6.5 X 284. Probably put 100 bullets down range so far. Shot a mule deer in CO this fall at about 100 yards. BANG FLOP. Performed very well. In through the lungs and out the back shoulder with an exit wound that was substantial. I would say the results were very similar to a Nosler ballistictip. Did load development the last few weekends at 500 yards and kept a pretty good water line in some 10-15 MPH winds. Shot H4350 down the tube and my speeds were really consistent depending on the load. I don't have it dialed in yet but I feel confident that the bullet will be plenty accurate and perform well on critters.

Thank god. I was really, really thinking about buying them and now my issue is resolved. Dodged that bullet!!!!!!!!!

I have heard of that from many guys that are building wildcat rounds and trying to push speed. Have never seen it and by the sounds of things it is over and done with in a flash. Kind of cool. One of the biggest challenges with really fast wildcat rounds is finding a bullet that will perform at the given speed. Even if the bullet does stay together will it perform on critters at the given speed? I guess it doesn't matter if you are just shooting targets but it can be a concern if you are wanting to shoot fur. Keep at it. Sounds super fun and the groups you got with the ladder test look great considering the different weight charges........signs of a forgiving cartridge.

Wildcats are fun and a PITA. When everything is all said and done most of the time the wind call is really what makes or breaks the shot at the longer ranges.

I'm thinking about buying one of these rifles in 280 AI, Does anyone have any experience behind this weapon? The reviews are mostly good with a few that aren't good at all. Any info would be great. Also does anyone have experience with the 280 AI cartridge? Thanks,

I saw the green stocked guns on gun broker this weekend. I like the looks of them a ton better than the kimber camo. I think that camo just looks stupid. Good to know they have made some "fixes" to their issues. We do some basic gun smith stuff too if we need to make the gun perform better.

So I'm looking for a really lightweight rifle. The ascent is 5# 6 oz (in 280 AI) and the bergara is 6# 4 oz. I was actually considering the .308 Acent so the rifle would get down to 4# 13oz. But I think the 280 AI might be the best choice.

I honestly prefer a really good pad. On my November WT hunt I had a tripod stool in my pack. After the weekend I used it once and really didn't need to but I figured since I carried it all weekend I had to use in at least once. That piece of gear won't be in my pack if I'm leaving the road.

I have both the 1850 and 5200 bag and love them both.

I have the same scope and had the same issue. I got lucky and noticed it before I needed the gun and could zero my gun again to verify. This scope will be leaving my life shortly.

Go put your hands on this product before you buy it. I went to Outdoorsman's in Fountain Hills and looked through them about a year ago. The BTX is absolutely awesome but it isn't for everyone. When you put your hands on it I'm sure you will come to a conclusion that works for you. While you are there you should look through some bino's. Bring a stack of cash too.........You will need it!!!!!!!!!!

This info above is very spot on. I would follow his advice very closely.

Just for reference. If my ammo velocity was off from shot to shot more than 20 FPS I might just throw the ammo away and start over. If you want to shoot past 400 yards your ammo velocity needs to be MUCH closer from shot to shot than 100 FPS. That is absolutely a horrible speed spread. If you can get the speed difference to single digits even better. Remember the charts are only as good as the info you put into the charts. If you chrono reads a different than actual speed (I've seen multiple choro's be 50+FPS different than another chrono on the same day) then the info is wrong. One of the biggest influences on a change in point of impact that I have seen is a change in elevation. If your elevation is off by a few thousand feet then your point of impact and your dope will be off. At one time I shot a buddies rifle for him and determined his drops. I sighted in at 200 yards and then dropped back to 400 and then 600 yards to see how much drop the load actually was going to show. Once I knew the drop in inches I could figure out what yardages his BDC's were at in his scope. Quite a bit different than advertised. Always verify and if the chart doesn't match reality then throw the chart away and use the drops you actually had in the field.

If I had the tag I would hire a guide. The unit is big and deer are not running around everywhere.

So here is my piece of advice. Go shoot your gun and adjust the crap out of your scope and see how it shoots for you. Then you will know. I've seen scopes that have to be at a specific power for the BDC to work. I've seen it where it has to be at max power for the BDC to work. Personally, I will shoot my gun at the distances I might shoot in the field and see how my equipment works for me. There are tons of critters missed or wounded because guys did a ton of internet research and didn't take the time to go bust primers and see what actually happens in the real world. I own both the FFP and SFP scopes. I really like the SFP scopes with the BDC in the reticle for most practical hunting applications. Not always the best for shooting out past 600 yards but for killing most critters it does really good.

We had one gun that showed a bunch of pressure at well below the suggested max grain weight load. I believe were were 4-5 grains below max and had serious pressures and we weren't getting nearly the speed we should have been getting either. Super weird and never did figure it out. We checked everything we could think of. Neck diameter, no go gauges, shoulder spacing, different powders, bullets, primers, ect. We shot lots of bullets out of the gun but never got where we needed to be. Crazy thing. Gun was super, super accurate with just about everything we shot down it but we couldn't get velocity out of the gun. It was a 6 - 284 and we couldn't get .243 velocity out of the gun without a bunch of pressure.

Let's put it this way. Right now me and my father in law are buying custom ground reamers and having custom die sets made for wild cat cartridges. We completely understand pressure signs and if anything I'm usually well below what I consider a max load. When I ended up 8 grains above max we started at the suggested minimum loads and went up .5 grains per load (with a chrono) until we started seeing pressure signs. Once the bolt got a bit sticky and we started seeing the extractor mark we were done. The max for my gun/load was actually 1.5 grains higher than my load. For a total of 9.5 grains higher than the suggested max load by the book. It has been my experience that .1 grains of powder doesn't take the load from good to bad. Normally it takes the better part of a 1 - 1.5 grains to go from good to bad. Normally I will see pressure signs coming way ahead of time flat primers, raised firing pins marks, shinny extractor marks, sticky bolt, ect.

Just switched to the .264 caliber 142 grain ABLR this year. Shot a MD in Colorado and was happy with the results. Sounds like your bullet did a great job too.

I frequently see the charts off by 50-100 FPS all the time. Plus, normally I'm always shooting well past the "published" max loads. Currently I'm shooting 54 grains of H4350 out of my 6.5 X 284 at 3005 FPS with a 142 grain bullet. That is 8 grains above suggested max and 275 FPS above Hodgdon's max speed. I hit pressure signs at 3100 FPS and 55.5 grains of powder. In my .243 with H4831 I shoot 46 grains of powder at 3100 FPS with a 90 grain pill. We ran the grains up to 49 or 50 grains but couldn't gain any velocity after 46 grains of powder but the groups did start to open up pretty good as we went up the ladder. If you want to shoot tight groups at distances over 400-500 yards a chrono is a must. Your speeds have to be really, really consistent or you will not hold a good water line. Plus, you need to know your speed for your drops/chart too. I guess you could do a bunch of load testing at 1000 yards and see how it prints but I think it is much faster and easier to do with a chrono just to see if you are close. I've just had to many loads that were 30-50 FPS different that printed great at 100 yards that I didn't even care about shooting anymore because I knew they wouldn't produce good results at longer distances. You will literally learn more about your rifle and loads with a chrono than any other piece of gear. It doesn't need to be the first piece of gear but it is a needed for good long range results.

So I bought a vortex ranger 1800 rangefinder recently. When it came out of the box it didn't range past 100 yards for some reason. I emailed customer service and told them that I have a hunt coming up and need to get this handled ASAP. Basically they had me 2nd day air the RF on Tuesday of last week and the shipped it back on Friday. My rangefinder is scheduled for delivery tomorrow by 8PM. That rocks in my book for sure. I'm leaving for my hunt on Thursday so I think it will all work out.

starting to reload...... Well if I was a hunter that liked to shoot my gun 2-3 times a year and might shoot 100 rounds a year I would highly consider shooting factory ammo. quality factory ammo will shoot 500+ yards and easily kill critters. If you are shooting 300+ rounds per year (for multiple years) AND need more accuracy then I would consider reloading. Reloading takes a bunch of time. I've probably have shot more rounds that shoot like crap out of my guns than rounds that have shot good. I've put rounds down range that have actually hit the target sideways (more than once). I can turn a MOA gun into a 4 MOA frequently. I've seen bolts of guns that wouldn't open after they have been fired (I didn't reload that ammo). Don't forget a bullet puller. you WILL need one. I love reloading and have a few pet loads that are super accurate. reloading isn't cheaper than factory ammo. Not even close. You can have marginal gains with reloading but for most hunting applications reloading isn't needed. If you dig messing with guns then reloading is a blast. My father in law is really into LR shooting competitions. He has just about everything a guy could want related to guns and reloading. If it can be measured he has multiple tools to do it. Chronograph. You have to have a chronograph. You will need to measure the speed of each shot to see if you have consistency. Plus, you will need the speed for your charts. Reloading without a graph can be done but it is tough. The vast majority of my shots are using a chrono. If I'm load developing I WILL use a chrono. FIND A RELOADING friend. Your learning curve (and stress level) will be better with help from a friend with some experience.

Pick one rifle. I would choose your 6.5 X 284 and get really good with that one gun ( I also own a custom 6.5 X 284) It will kill everything in the lower 48 with ease. You don't need to shoot sub MOA to have fun spending time in the field and hunting. A stock remington 700 (or other favorite brand) will shoot 500 yards out of the box all day long. Everyone is WAY to caught up into the gear right now. The key really is spending time in the field. Most people spend to much time working for money so they can obtain gear. Instead they should be spending money on fuel so they can be out in the field. That is where the best time is spent. Kids are an adventure. We took our girl on her first camping trip at 6 weeks old. When my boy arrived he just followed suit. Kids LOVE all this outdoors stuff. You just have to make sure that they are warm and take time to let them do "kids stuff" when you are out on your adventures. They will have a blast picking flowers, throwing rocks at tanks, building forts, collecting all the various crap off the forest floor and bringing it back to came.........then wanting to take it home like a new puppy. My kids like fishing and are just getting to the age where they can hunt. I just recently shot a deer and my wife shot an elk. We process our own meat and the kids helped us the best they could. They think it is fun and will ask a ton of questions. Just takes a little time and you will have a good helper. Relax about hunting too. You don't have to scout 51 weekends a year and hunt 1 weekend a year. So do a little less scouting.....or zero scouting. Who cares. Get out in the field and have a good time. Maybe you will shoot something and maybe you won't. It will probably matter less than you think. Then when you have more time you can apply yourself more to the sport. Again, it is more about getting out in the field then anything else. Just get out when you can and have a good time. Oh one last thing. This is a great time to collect points. Me and my wife collected points for a few critters. Now we are going on some killer hunts because we really didn't have the time to do the hunting we wanted too. We did some left over tags, bow hunts, fishing trips, camping trips, and just collected points. Now we have time and money and can really enjoy the hunts. Its been a blast. You will get there.

I had 3 of us using ON X in CO this deer season. One was a Samsung and the others were I phones. My battery life wasn't great because I didn't put it into airplane mode. I had an extra battery pack and it worked pretty good if I needed it. I had access to power every night so I just plugged in my phone each night and made it through the day most of the time. I was amazed at how many people we ran into that were using ON X. Crazy. It was the first trip for my buddies using the software and it took a day or two of using it and then they loved it. None of use even bothered with a GPS. My kids won't even know why we carried a GPS in the old days.

Here is something to think about. Find someone that has actually hunted with a crossbow. I've had a buddy or two that have hated hunting with them. They are not a gun or bow and using them in the field is a different beast for sure. Not saying anything bad about a crossbow but my buddies didn't realize how big a pain it would be to actually hunt with them until they had to hike with the bow for more than a 100 yards. getting through the woods with them is very different that we are used too. Just something to think about.