im re thinking the .284 Winchester at the moment, not the AI now.
You see im hunting quite high country a lot with this Kimber on back pack hunts and such, im noticing a lot of the shot oppertunitys are from the fatter side of 200m out to 400m , further if you wish, but big valleys and crevises can really limit in how close you can get without being on their face and that can seem 'thick' , whereas it seems open from the other side...
its always pretty windy up there too, so even though shooting across a gulley, the wind thru it may be fairly 'hooking' , so I am thinking having higher velocity with a better 150 grain bullet would be more suited.
I have had a bad run of two good Deer where I stuffed up the shot, one a Ranking shot which must of been off , drew blood but even on some back up shots on the run we weren't able to hit / find the deer..
the latest was a surprise , in the moment shot on a Stag what had spooked an ran directly away, as it slowed an turned to the left I thought i'd put on right in the boiler room just behind the shouilder... I followed up after I thought it stumbled... but I had givin it too much lead and most likely 'pulled' the shot with the lightweight rifle off hand..
but no blood on running marks for almost 200m had me doubting my shots with adrenaline (as I was on the minibike for ease of travel to base camp).
the stumble was litteraly him dislodgin a rock from the earth as he made a dash..
Not that this has much to do with the Calibre / Cartridge .... its just the Deer come out of the thick into the opens, I think the 7m08 can be a bit slow of a killer, lacking hydrolic shock on the big Sambar stags, meaning they are likely to Run a distance - maybe up too 200m well hit-
so I am thinking along the lines of 2 holes for insurance.....
2800fps with a pretty stout 150gr sounds pretty good for longer-thru- wind shots and putting decent smack down on the deer..
hhhhmmmm.
I wonder if the Twist rate from 708 suits the 284 however!!




























