Rem Spartan 7.62X39 opener harvest

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onondaga posted this 17 November 2018

7:45 AM 11-17-18 on my season opener today I harvested a young healthy spiked Whitetail 167 lbs dressed. The shot was on a walking Buck at 72 yards. Deer was partially blocked by a tree when I shot but had been following it with my scoped Spartan on my Triggerstick monopod and it was a briskly walking Deer. I took the neck shot and the Deer blasted over and down spraying blood. I was seated in an elevated box stand. He looked up a moment and his head went down dead.  Bleed-out was very heavy from my Ranchdog 165 gr wide flat nose gas checked bullet in #2 alloy at 2050 fps. Taken in Farmersville, NY. It was an easy downhill drag in open high hill hardwoods, less than 100 yards to the truck after field dressing. Dropped him off at Buck and Doe in Amherst, NY for butchering and vacuum wrap on the way home.

My hunting coat didn't do so well and was covered in blood and guts. It is in the dryer now! I finally used my new WR Case Green Apple Bone Copperlock pocket knife field dressing and it was a pleasure to use.

Good luck to you all!

Gary

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harleyrock posted this 20 December 2018

Good shooting, Gary.

I have only killed 1 deer with bullets I cast, and that was a pure lead round ball from a muzzleloader. I usually shoot Nosler Ballistic Tips but this year I plan to harvest 3 deer with cast bullets.  One with each of the cartridge rifles that I load cast bullets for:  Winchester M1892 in .357 Mag; Winchester M70 in 7mm Mauser; and Winchester M94 in 30-30 Win.

I also shoot from an elevated box stand with no shot over 150 yards (a food plot 115 yards the most likely shot).  Your 167lb. field dressed spike weighs more than the largest on the hoof deer I ever see here in the Florida panhandle.  

Our season started the first Saturday in December and goes till the last of February with virtually no limit to the number of deer you can take( I say virtually, I think it may be 1 per day but there are a lot of days in our season.).

Tom Stone

Lifetime NRA since 1956, NRA Benefactor, USN Member, CBA Member

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onondaga posted this 20 December 2018

Yes, the Deer here are large as Whitetails go, we also have Black Deer considered a different species. My largest Whitetail recently was 207 dressed, a 7 point a few years ago. Been to Florida many times and have seen your Deer, frankly, my Pine Martins are as big as Florida Deer!

The calibers you want to try with cast are straight forward, just prioritize around bullet slide fit to the rifle chamber on loading. 7mm has the lowest selection for molds. I'd recommend chamber casting and determining the 7mm bullet size if you can. The Lee C285-130-R is usually large enough. It is a round nose but for hunting, I'd recommend hollow pointing it with the Forster HP bit in a drill press on loaded ammo.   Forster large HP bit:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/371968/forster-universal-hollow-pointer-1-8

The tool self centers ammo excellently with a drill press if you don't have the Forster trimmer and is very consistent to the depth you set. I use it on Lee's C312-185-1R that I shoot in 30-06.

Gary

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onondaga posted this 03 January 2019

Congratulations on the buck. I see a lot of good eating there. Playing devil's advocate here I guess but my thoughts on the longer shots on game with cast is do what they used to always do. Go big. I'm thinking .35 and up for deer and such. Millions of buffalo dropped to lead bullets and often at distance. If you don't have a big bore then you now have an excuse to get a new gun!  Marlin 45-70 or .35 Remington? New Henry single shot?

Thanks dualsport,

That spike has been delicious, I just had a venison steak, pepper and onion fajita with our local Bison brand french onion dip!

I do have a lovely big bore that I shoot more than any of my rifles and have taken Deer and Bear with it. I wanted to try the 7.62X39 Spartan because it has equal powder volume to the 30-30. I've been very happy with that bargain single shot rifle, it was under $200 new! My big bore is at the other money end, it is a Colt Sauer Grand African in .458 Win Mag and I load it at medium 45-70 level with the RD 350 FNGC at 1700 with H4895. It flattens Bear to 150 and Deer to 200. I have been trying to coax my grandson into getting a Henry 45-70 lever-gun just so I could play with it, they are lovely, and offered him $200 toward it. But he has been happy borrowing my other big bore, an NEF Ultra in .500 S&W Mag that is a little hotter than a 45-70. The only Bear we got this year were on trail cams. Sad Face emoji! I have made up my mind that If I'm healthy enough to hunt next season, I will use my sweet shooting Kit built Traditions 50 cal Flintlock with the Lee 320 gr REAL. I did a step by step build along post on this forum about the Traditions 50 Flint.

 

Gary

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 04 January 2019

... just rambling here ... but if i were going to put together a " meat " gun ... i would go with a 35 Whelan, non-Ackley etc., and probably on a Ruger 1 or an older rem. 721, Winny 54, or Win. 70 action ... for hunting a green mountain barrel would do just fine, and a 12 twist even if i had to go up $cale on barrels to get that twist ...

ken

 

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Scearcy posted this 17 November 2018

Congrats Gary. You will remember this for a good while.

Jim

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bjornb posted this 17 November 2018

Great post and great shooting Gary!

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Brodie posted this 17 November 2018

Good going Gary,  I wish I had been able to take my big game with cast this year,  maybe next.  Again, Congratulations.

B.E.Brickey

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delmarskid posted this 18 November 2018

Good for you Gary. Every time I get a deer I tell myself "S##t, I could have killed that with a cast bullet." I'm just chicken I guess. I hunt farm land and I might get a long shot .

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onondaga posted this 18 November 2018

Delmarskid,

The killing power of wide flat nose cast bullets is easy to promote. This is right where he went down hard with a red cloud blasting out his neck. Bullet entrance was where the top center of my cheek-piece is and was 3o Cal. Exit was over 1.5" same place other side.

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/46479673_10212943624217683_2391393479235207168_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=50e325d93e070b25f9f42baeefaf8e1 f&oe=5CB033D7

That odd thing in picture bottom is the foot of my Triggerstick.

Gary

 

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delmarskid posted this 18 November 2018

That is a nice Spike buck. My concern with cast would be too much distance. I may get shots past 200 yards or they may be 30 feet.

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onondaga posted this 18 November 2018

delmarskid,

Your distance concern is only a matter of selection to me. There are no shots past 100 yards from my Farmersville box stand in that forest, and the Spartan X39 is easily humane to 150 yards with my load. My nearby Lyndon camp while also heavily wooded offers open down hill meadow shots below the pond. I use a different rifle for that. I hunt there sometimes from a ground blind on the pond dyke. My Sako Forrester .308 with the Lee CTL-160-2R at 2250 fps with H4895 also groups the same 1" @ 50 yards and is humane well past 300 yards to a 10" Deer vital. I took one buck at a lazered 310 yards in the meadow. That bullet is pointed and not a spectacular killer but it does the job at 310 yards.

You don't have enough rifles !!!!! My grandson's Savage 11/111 in .308 Win. also does that well with a similar cast load.

Say, I don't have any rifles that shoot cast 3" @300 yards, but you know what, the Deer vital is 10" and I can hit that with the Sako.

Incidentally, that Spiker I just took with the Spartan, his stomach was filled with corn. He was a thief!

Gary

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harleyrock posted this 31 December 2018

I have the Lee C285-130RF  Soup Can, a flat nose bullet 6 cavity mold that was originally a group buy, but I got mine from Midsouth Shooters Supply.  I use Ben's Liquid Lube, a variation on 45-45-10.

Lifetime NRA since 1956, NRA Benefactor, USN Member, CBA Member

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David Reiss posted this 01 January 2019

A belated congrats. Nice job Gary. 

David Reiss - NRA Life Member & PSC Range Member Retired Police Firearms Instructor/Armorer
-Services: Wars Fought, Uprisings Quelled, Bars Emptied, Revolutions Started, Tigers Tamed, Assassinations Plotted, Women Seduced, Governments Run, Gun Appraisals, Lost Treasure Found.
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dualsport posted this 03 January 2019

Congratulations on the buck. I see a lot of good eating there. Playing devil's advocate here I guess but my thoughts on the longer shots on game with cast is do what they used to always do. Go big. I'm thinking .35 and up for deer and such. Millions of buffalo dropped to lead bullets and often at distance. If you don't have a big bore then you now have an excuse to get a new gun!  Marlin 45-70 or .35 Remington? New Henry single shot?

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delmarskid posted this 04 January 2019

Gary, I had a Rossi single in that cal that shot cast for squat. I'm glad you have a good one. I have a 375 whelen imp that I had built for cast bullet hunting. I should use it.

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onondaga posted this 04 January 2019

Gary, I had a Rossi single in that cal that shot cast for squat. I'm glad you have a good one. I have a 375 whelen imp that I had built for cast bullet hunting. I should use it.
Delmarskid,
I enjoy taking brutalized rifles and making them shoot cast well. I took a $50 eroded throat and muzzle dinged Chilean Mauser that was brutally arsenal converted to 308 aeons ago, fixed the crown, polished the bore, throat fit it for cast and it shoots 1" @ 50yards with cast now but is unfortunately just too ugly for me to carry.
You could make your Rossi really shoot cast well if you wanted to, it is better than a Chilean Mauser!!!!
Gary

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