Working at the Farm - Took a few I-Phone Pics

[Native Hunter]

That things a tack driver NH!

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Merle,

Yes, it is amazing. And, I think I am shaving my bullets almost too much at this point. I'm going to be talking to some guys soon that know a whole lot more about this than I do and getting some tips.

All I really wanted was to be able to make a deer shot possibly out to 300 yards with a ML. I think I may already be at that point with this beast.

 

[Elkaddict]

Any sense on how the bullets will perform expansion wise?

 

[Native Hunter]

Any sense on how the bullets will perform expansion wise?

I only know what I have been told by different people who have shot deer with the same setup. The expansion is devastating.

When I told him I would probably never shoot over 250 yards he recommended that I always make a rib cage shot if I wanted anything left to eat.

 

[Elkaddict]

Can’t wait for a report. That would work nicely in our biggest plot where biggest deer enter the plot 355yds from our redneck and rarely get closer than 250 before dark. While I’ve killed deer at that range with my Knight, our typical mountain winds invite too much mischief into the equation. Your set up would prove ideal. Congrats!

 

[Native Hunter]

Can’t wait for a report. That would work nicely in our biggest plot where biggest deer enter the plot 355yds from our redneck and rarely get closer than 250 before dark. While I’ve killed deer at that range with my Knight, our typical mountain winds invite too much mischief into the equation. Your set up would prove ideal. Congrats!

Thanks Elk.

We don't shoot many deer - never more than 2 in a year and sometimes none. It will take a while to build up much history that way. But, I understand there is a Facebook page where guys discuss these guns. I'm not on Facebook myself, but you might look it up if you are interested.

 

[OkieKubota]

How do you load that spitzer bullet without deforming it?

 

[Native Hunter]

How do you load that spitzer bullet without deforming it?

Johnny, the attachment on the end of the ramrod is hollow and tapered to allow for that. And, that bullet goes down so easily, it takes almost no pressure to seat it. You can easily seat it with your thumb and index finger on the ramrod. I'm so used to pushing those tight fitting sabots that it made me just laugh when I saw how easy the bullets seat.

 

[swat1018]

Love my smokeless ML!

 

[Turkey Creek]

Care to share how much the gun cost? If you would rather PM I wont blab! Probably out of my current price range, but I have always wanted a smokeless muzzleloader for a few different reasons.

 

[Native Hunter]

Care to share how much the gun cost? If you would rather PM I wont blab! Probably out of my current price range, but I have always wanted a smokeless muzzleloader for a few different reasons.

Depends on several factors. I will pm you a link to his site and you can see the prices.

 

[Chainsaw]

Excellent find Native and a great looking gun to boot. Good luck with it. With shooting like that and a calm day during Muzzle loading you could cover from one Redneck location our original 2,000 plus ft. long food plot which has been extended to be close to 2600 ft. recently. That would be a savings of two Rednecks!
In shooting targets when going for groupings do you clean the barrel between shots or the opposite of shooting a couple first to dirty it up a bit?

 

[Native Hunter]

Excellent find Native and a great looking gun to boot. Good luck with it. With shooting like that and a calm day during Muzzle loading you could cover from one Redneck location our original 2,000 plus ft. long food plot which has been extended to be close to 2600 ft. recently. That would be a savings of two Rednecks!
In shooting targets when going for groupings do you clean the barrel between shots or the opposite of shooting a couple first to dirty it up a bit?

Thanks Dave, and you asked an excellent question.

Since we size the bullets to the bore, our bullets for a dirty bore must be sized just a tad smaller than our bullets for a clean bore, However, once you shoot the gun a couple of times, the bore doesn't fowl any worse beyond that point. So, you can go ahead and size as many bullets for a dirty bore as you want to, and your bullets will continue to work - even if you shot 100+ more shots without cleaning.

Since we are using non corrosive, smokeless powder, we don't have to worry about cleaning often. My builder said he only cleans his gun about once a year. I know he shoots a lot. He would probably shoot more in one year than I would in the rest of my life.

The gun came with an adjustable bullet sizing die. I caught on to that quickly when I started using it yesterday. And if you do happen to oversize a bullet, it will still fire, and the die is easy to reset so that you can start over.

There are only three things to carry hunting: (1) some bullets you have already sized, (2) some little holders of powder you have already weighed, and (3) some primer holders that you have already primed. Of course, you don't want to forget the gun.....

 

[swat1018]

The trick to most Savage smokeless rifles is a tight fit, but that's using a sabot. The harder to seat the bullet/sabot the tighter the group, in general.

 

[E_308]

How is the recoil? That is a big bullet to get to 3000 fps! Awesome rifle.

 

[Native Hunter]

The trick to most Savage smokeless rifles is a tight fit, but that's using a sabot. The harder to seat the bullet/sabot the tighter the group, in general.

Yep. I have one of those too. This system is opposite.

 

[Native Hunter]

How is the recoil? That is a big bullet to get to 3000 fps! Awesome rifle.

Thanks. Recoil is pretty hefty but really didn’t bother me. I shot it about 15 times yesterday but feel no pain from it today.

 

[dogghr]

You and your guns Native. Always a good read. So forgive my ignorance, what creates the seal with the bullet ? Go slow cause I know of patches and round balls or sabots. Pretty amazing setup you have. What is the drop at 300 yds with zero at 100, I assume not much? I shoot my ML routinely with 150 grain powder at 275 yds and I know it typically I typically eyeball crosshairs high at 16-20 in drop depending on humidity, but I don't start at 3000 fps at the barrel.

 

[Triple C]

NH...All that technical talk is above my pay grade. I've never shot a ML. I can appreciate beauty when I see it and that, my friend, is one beautiful gun!

 

[Native Hunter]

You and your guns Native. Always a good read. So forgive my ignorance, what creates the seal with the bullet ? Go slow cause I know of patches and round balls or sabots. Pretty amazing setup you have. What is the drop at 300 yds with zero at 100, I assume not much? I shoot my ML routinely with 150 grain powder at 275 yds and I know it typically I typically eyeball crosshairs high at 16-20 in drop depending on humidity, but I don't start at 3000 fps at the barrel.

Dogghr, you had the same question that I had about the seal. He explained it to me this way - the explosion makes the back of the bullet expand enough to form a seal. And, he said that he had recovered and examined enough bullets to verify that.

I don't do a 100 yard zero on any of my rifles, but if I did I think the drop at 300 with this rig would be around 12 inches. I do a 200 yard zero, because there is very little rise at 100 yards with a flat shooting rifle. Using the ballistic coefficient provided by the bullet manufacturer (approximately 0.300) and knowing the other variables, we can run it through any good ballistic program and it gives us the drop. When I zero at 200, I am 7.7 inches low at 300 yards.

In essence, this ML has basically about the same drop as a 308 Winchester with a 150 grain bullet at yardages I would consider shooting at a deer - except with the ML I am pushing a much bigger bullet.

The scope I have (along with the chart that he has worked out) allows me to dial the scope for different yardages so that I don't have to do hold over if I don't want to. If I do want to use holdover, below is the numbers out to 500 yards:

100 Yards = +1.7 (or I can dial my scope to zero)
200 Yards = 0.0 (or I can dial my scope to 1.2)
300 Yards = -7.7 (or I can dial my scope to 4.0)
400 Yards = -23.3 (or I can dial my scope to 7.1)
500 Yards = - 48.8 (or I can dial my scope to 11.0)

It's pretty cool, and I really love the gun.

 

[Native Hunter]

NH...All that technical talk is above my pay grade. I've never shot a ML. I can appreciate beauty when I see it and that, my friend, is one beautiful gun!

Thanks TC. I do like the looks of the laminated wood. I considered having him do some kind of composite, but now that I have it in my hands, I'm glad we went with the wood.

I think the smokeless MLs will be becoming more common, so you may get interested in them one of these days.