Two more Kills for GunNut Guns- Pics

[Battle River]

I was able to take these two Wt bucks on my hunt at camp Wainright last week. hunting was tough with -30 windchill and we walked all day pushing bush and generally trying to stay alive. We get two eithyer ### and one anterless tag so I pretty well was shooting, given the opportunity. The first buck was pushed out onto a pipeline 300 yards away and I knelt down, turned the VariX 3 to 10 x, put x on backline and proceeded to spine said deer in his tracks. I guess the 6.5-06 has decent dowrange ballistics afterall, Right RickF!
The next buck was also pushed onto a pipeline and presented a front quartering shot at 280 yards and two shots to the chest anchored him on the spot. a great hunt with a great 3 man crew.

Rifle is a Gunnut legend, as it was created by RickF and passed though Toller and Casull into my arsenal. I use RickF's standard load of 53 Gr Re22 and 125 gr Partition. I realize it is close to a 25-06 or a 270, but I still marvell at the downrange accuracy, pointability and handling of the rifle, a Kimber M89 rebarrelled to 6.5-06, a Pacnor 25" tube with extra stockwork by Bill Leeper.

 

[scott_r]

Great looking deer!! Sounds like you've also got a good taste in rifles

 

[Demonical]

Good story. Tough hunting, you did very well. Congrats from Demo.

 

[Battle River]

BTW we checked the tracklogs on our Rhino GPS's and came up with 42 km walked in 3 days.

 

[cbabes]

You look like you had fun even in -30! Congrats!

 

[fester]

cool pics, and I thought our -2 was cold

 

[fogducker]

nice job well done...but it looks fu fufufufufufufu coooooooooooolllllld..brrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[taffman]

You sure earned those deer, enjoy your pepperettes and jerky. Nice to have bragging rights this go around, good shooting.

 

[BC Bigbore]

Nice bucks and beauty rifle, congrats (nice snot-cicles too )

 

[RickF]

Hey BR, just saw the post!

It looks like you had a great hunt. I'm really glad you are still enjoying the 6.5-06, and even more so that it is being used like it was intended. It's probably the best field rifle I have ever used.

I had a good year myself. No moose, but I did manage to get into a face-to-face at 30' with a nice grizzly. Lucky for one of us, he chose to go the other direciton. I did have the 358 Norma in hand, so it was probably lucky for him.

Then a couple weeks back I got a decent whitetail as well. I was watching a field as light was fading fast at the end of the day. I saw him going through the brush on the other side of the field. Through the binos I saw a main beam with nice mass, 4 points plus the eyeguard.

I dropped the binos, and when he got to a small opening in the trees, whacked him. 277 yards. A bit of a surprise when I walked up and picked up the head out of the snow to admire the rack! A hell of a 5X2.

It's hard to believe they can break off a bone like that over an inch across.

 

[Northman999]

Wow, great post and pics and rifle. One of these days I'll get my hands on a 6.5-06 as well.

 

[Battle River]

Update: I boned out the deer last night and located a Partition. Entered in neck area, travelled though front end, vitals liver ect and ended up in hide in opposite hip. Weighed 95 gr, which is common for my experience with a partition. What was really interesting was shooting this rifle at -20C. Sound resembled a branch cracking not a boom. During Pre hunt 1: am discussion with hunting partners, who shoot 7mm Wby and 7mm RUM, they were not impressed by the 6.5-06 concept and extolled vitrues of the land cannons for 300 yard+ shooting. After buddy missed two shots at 400m and 320 m, and my shooting VERY lethal, there was a conversion to the 6.5-06 concept. I have to keep remembering the minimum holdover required with this combo, as it prints about 1.5" low at 300 yards. the correct ballance and intangible "feel" make this a super long range rig. my only regret as usual is not using it enough this year.
These are the last two bucks taken with this unit

 

[RickF]

Nice performance from the partition! No surprise of course. If I wasn't such a gunnut, I never would have sold that rifle. Treat her well.

A few years ago I had a similar conversation with a hunting partner. He was talking up his 300 Win, and took a lot of fun putting down my old 257 Roberts. The fact that my 100NP handload shot flatter than his 180 factory load was lost on him.

He was less glib when I took my deer at 320 yards and he missed his at just under 300. Had nothing to do with the respective cartridges but it did prove to him that you don't need a cannon to shoot a whitetail.

 

[bruteman]

Congrats.