290 yard whitetail with a Savage 10ML-II

[nic58]

I opted to hunt Missouri's November general firearms season with the Savage 10ML-II muzzleloader this year. Most of our states hunters use centerfire rifles including me but I decided to change things up a bit this year and pack the Savage instead of waiting on the December muzzleloader only season.

I was able to take a nice mature whitetail this week with 14 scoreable points. I am probably more proud of this shot than anything I've ever taken before with any weapon. I put him down at a lasered 290 yards with a slightly quartering away shot. The buck ran about 20 yards and piled up quickly, leaving a nice blood trail that wasn't needed but would have been nice if tracking was involved.

The load was 60 grs. Vihtavouri N120, 300 gr. Hornady SST flex-tip bullet, Harvester short black sabot, CCI 209M primer, standard Savage breechplug using a Precision Rifle .033" ventliner. I have the Savage sighted for +3" @ 100 yds. and had to dial in 25 clicks of elevation for the 290 yard shot. I hit him in the boiler room behind the front leg about midway up and down where I always try to place my shots.

The many hours of range time and the invaluable information that I've gleaned from this forum no doubt made this shot possible with the Savage. It was a good feeling to see things come together and pay off with a long range shot using a muzzleloader. I know the PacNor barreled guns are becoming quite popular for good reason but this goes to show that the stock .50 caliber Savage can still get the job done way out there also.

[Richard]

Definitely a nice deer and a good shot. Definitely, doing your homework pays off. While your are right about the stock .50 Savage, my only problem is repeatability at those longer distances. I never had the confidence at 300 with the .50 as I do with the .45 PN. I personally believe that for all the hunters who make one of these long range shots with the .50.........there are probably a bunch more that miss or wound due to the long range inconsistency with most rifles. I am glad you were able to make that nice shot!
Richard

[jims]

Although I have subcaliber barreled Savage MLs certainly the .50 always treated me right. My daughter still uses the .50 and Tar12 has taken some excellent long range deer with his .50s. For most the .50 works well, I do not think my old eyes will see 290 yards anymore. Good shooting.

[DBinNY]

Great deer and great shot. Doing your homework pays off!

[Dave W]

Very impressive deer and shot! I still take the .50 whenever the weather is foul and do not feel I am handicapping myself in the least.

Congrats again!

[Deleted]

Nice deer and a great shot....Those .50's will get them at 300 if you know where your gun shoots.
Zen

[stubblejumper]

Well done, sounds like you had done your homework before the hunt. Congrats

[tar12]

Nic,
That is a outstanding buck! And a outstanding shot! Your preparation paid off handsomely! I have never felt under gunned using the .50 and so far the .45 is not killing them any deader! Proof positive results of getting to know your rifle intimately...well done.

[deadon]

Very nice Buck and a great shot!!!

[whyohe]

Nice deer and excellent shot! congratz

[Chris Champion]

Well done!!!

[killahog]

Nice shooting 290 yards with a muzzloader is a task few have accomplished. I am at 260 so far and hoping for a shot a little closer to 300 this year. Do you have any other pictures of the rack.?

[Jed]

Great shot on a very nice buck! That's really something to be proud of!

I see you don't have a bipod on your gun...what kind of rest were you using to steady yourself?

[nic58]

That's about the best picture of the buck that I got. I haven't taken any of just the rack. I was taking self portraits in the field using a timer on a digital camera mounted on a tripod.

I was hunting from a 17 ft. River's Edge two man ladder stand. The shot was to the side so I got down on my knees on the floor, flipped the seat up to steady my trigger arm on and rested the forearm of the Savage on the padded side rail. It was a really steady rest. I had plenty of time to do all of this as the buck didn't have a clue that I was there, especially that far away.

[zakjak221]

Nice Nick!!
I used to hunt in Mo. around Edina in NE corner.
Very healthy deer there,plenty of crops/cover and everything needed to grow big.

Mark

[w2k0311]

kudos, my best ML shot was 268 last year. Got busted crossing a cornfield for evening hunt. The deer stopped presenting a perfect opportunity to flex my Marine Corps prone pose ;D

Love that Barnes

[rick59]

Very nice buck and shooting!
I really like my Savage.
I took 2 deer this year that walked out into the corn stubble at 190yds. one had walked back into the woods before I got a shot off, I shot the one still feeding in the field and it dropped like a stone and just as I got reloaded the other came back out to see what was going on and was able to shoot that one also. It went about 75yds into the woods before falling.
Last year I took a nice 8pt. at 257yds lying on my belly at the edge of the woods with the rifle resting across my backpack.

Barnes Original (.458”) 300gr. semi-spitzer
MMP Orange HPH Sabot
Winchester W209 primer
44gr. of Accurate 5744

[swampmen]

Nice way to get r done

[tasaman]

Nice shot on a beautiful buck. I need to start looking for a place to push my targets out there farther. I know I can hit what I want at 200 as I have done it but at 290 I have no idea what the holdover would be. Well done.

[deadeye]

nic58-very nice job & gratz! i have done my .50 homework also & .45. i have very stable loads in the .50 out to325yds-1.25moa or less.just good to see a good calculated success story,signed-both sides of the fence!

[ET]

Nic58

That is a nice buck and great shot.
I find having a laser range finder is a valuable tool for unknown distances.


Ed

[northny]

Question for you, when you dialed in 25 clicks of elevations, was that 25 inches (100 clicks) or 6.25 inches ( 25 clicks) assuming quarter inch per click?

[nic58]

Jan 12, 2011 17:22:55 GMT -5 northny said:

Question for you, when you dialed in 25 clicks of elevations, was that 25 inches (100 clicks) or 6.25 inches ( 25 clicks) assuming quarter inch per click?

northny, the latter is correct. The Zeiss scope has 1/4" adjustments and I dialed in a total of 6.25" of elevation (25 clicks) and was good for a dead-on hold at 290 yards.

[ukwildcat]

Wow..great deer and shot