My wife and I will be heading to Colorado next fall on an antelope hunt and I want to load some ammo this winter that I can practice with starting next spring. She'll be shooting a .243 Win and I plan on lugging my 7mmRM around. Does anyone have any load recommendations for a good long range load for these rifles, that won't blow the goats up? Thanks for your help.
Antelope round suggestions?
- Thread starter Big Game
- Start date
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
I'm going to go against the grain on this one.
Accuracy more than bullet comosition counts big time in speed goat hunting. They have a small boiler room target and long range shooting is more the rule than not.
My experience with prairie goats is that pound for pound they have more gumption and willpower to carry on than most any other game with a marginal hit.
Personaly I would not recommend any of the bullets designed for heavy boned -thick skined game. Unless they hit a substatially large bone on an antelope (not much of that), they will just cause a small tru & thru hole simillar to mill. hardball. If you are hunting with no tracking snow, those little buggers can go a long ways in a short time and be hard to recover with a non fatal wound.
My choise would be a bullet that expands easily, even one that fragments somewhat as it only needs to penetrate 2" to be in an antelopes boiler room and it will do fatal damage to the important parts.
Even tho they are thin-skinned ,I would probaly use one of the so called "match king style" bullets that will shoot a 4 or5" group at 400 yds. with the chosen rifle.
Accuracy more than bullet comosition counts big time in speed goat hunting. They have a small boiler room target and long range shooting is more the rule than not.
My experience with prairie goats is that pound for pound they have more gumption and willpower to carry on than most any other game with a marginal hit.
Personaly I would not recommend any of the bullets designed for heavy boned -thick skined game. Unless they hit a substatially large bone on an antelope (not much of that), they will just cause a small tru & thru hole simillar to mill. hardball. If you are hunting with no tracking snow, those little buggers can go a long ways in a short time and be hard to recover with a non fatal wound.
My choise would be a bullet that expands easily, even one that fragments somewhat as it only needs to penetrate 2" to be in an antelopes boiler room and it will do fatal damage to the important parts.
Even tho they are thin-skinned ,I would probaly use one of the so called "match king style" bullets that will shoot a 4 or5" group at 400 yds. with the chosen rifle.
When I lived in Sask. I was lucky enough to go for Antelope down by Swift Current area. Dam wide open spaces, virtually nothing to hide yourself in or against, so you need something long and flat shooting. I used my Ruger 77 in 7mm Rem mag. Hit the large doe quartering away, with a nice clean entrance , but on the exit area there was about a 6 " hole and most of the heart and everything around it was hanging outside the cavity. I love my 7mm, but it really looked like way to much gun, at least at that time. I was shooting 150 accutips. Right gun, wrong bullet.
I have taken 4 speed goats over the years (3 bucks and 1 doe) all were shot with a 257 AI using 85gr and 100gr Nosler Ballistic tips. ranges were 300 -500 yrds all were shot in the boiler room and all droped in there tracks. You don't need deep penitration on goats you need rapid expantion.
Try shooting 90gr Nosler Ballistic Tips in the 243 for practice and then switch to the 90gr Nosler Accubond for hunting. You can do the same in the 7mm with 140gr Noslers. Cheaper practice rounds with the Ballistic Tips and then load up some Accubonds for hunting.
notsorichguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- The city that rhymes with fun
I've taken 3 antelope with 95gr nosler BT.
Clean kills and good performance with a lot less meat damage than with a .270 or a 7mm.
YMMV
Clean kills and good performance with a lot less meat damage than with a .270 or a 7mm.
YMMV
Thanks for the replies, lots to consider for the .243. Are most people under the opinion that the 7RM is to much gun for antelope even loaded with a 140 grain bullet? Is there a smaller grain bullet available for the 7mm that will work without doing lots of damage? I'd use the .243 as well but it's short stocked for my wife and doesn't fit me well.
I have shot a lot of Antelope over the years and am old enough to have hunted when some years you could buy supplemental licenses. My favorite rifle for them was a .257 Roberts with 100 gr bullets, a 25 -06 would be even better. A 6.5x55 would be dandy, or ... I know a chap who raised his family on Antelope, his favorite was a 44/40!
