Hi, Guys:
A few thoughts. Remember when P.O. Ackley, Elmer Keith and Robert Hutton wrote for Guns & Ammo? Now Bob Forker's articles are dumbed down and Col. Cooper's column is censored. Precision Shooting Magazine is excellent, but they lost their low international postage rate and a subscription costs almost 贄 up here now.
One gun writer recommended a .300 Win Mag with 200 grainers for 400 pound Saskatchewan whitetails. Give me a break! The biggest buck I've seen went 209 lbs., field dressed. My late neighbour, Doug Garden, said it was a lot heavier than his Boone & Crockett buck (175+).
When I was a pup, the best hunter around here used a .303 Savage, 190 grains at 1900 fps. Now you need a .300 RUM?
The local gunsmiths did a land office business with 7mm STWs a few years back. Then slightly used STWs started showing up in the classified and at the gunshows. Maybe the old .270 was enough gun after all. Two teenaged neighbours of mine, brother & sister, always tag out with a lefthand Savage in .270. Their 7mm Remington toting friends don't know how they do it. Mind you, another young neighbour drilled a massive 5 pointer through the ticker at 200 yards, on the dead run, last fall. Now all the guys know a 7mm Rem is too much gun for a medium sized 14 year old girl! Guess I taught my students well.
I do advocate enough gun. The .243 started showing up in this country when I was about 20. Somebodies uninvited brother-in-law would show up with one and we'd have a tracking job. A high school friend used a .25-20 and he may have well been throwing rocks!
Recoil is subjective. I had the handgun class over to the range Wednesday night and we had a ball. Six students, one a club member who was just out of the hospital and didn't shoot. (Remember, this is Canada and you need the Fed's Safety Course for a Possession and Acquisition License even if you've been coaching the Olympic team for 30 years.) 3 men, all bigger than I am, (ave. 6'5" & 240), Rosebud, who's 18 and very slender, and George, who's small for a 12 year old and very shy. I start them with the .22, a High Standard. If they want to, I move them up to the Highway Patrolman, with factory wadcutters and light handloads. If they're still game, it's up to the 1911A1 with bullseye loads. Except for Rosebud, who started with the .45. She's been trying to buy it off me for a year now. Needless to say, that put the guys in an awkward position. Anyhow, I had 2 .45 shells left when we packed up. Little George, who had only shot a pellet gun before, popped them off.
A tip: Students at this level aren't chewing out the X-ring. Save time changing targets by having one shoot wadcutters and one shoot SWCs or round noses on the same target. It's easy to see who did what. With a 35 mile drive to the range and only 3 lanes, and only one beginner shooting at a time, time is of the essence.
Bye
Jack