Experience shooting small plains game and deer with big bores?

[AZDAVE]

Nice concept of having it almost co-witness with the irons. Plus having a rear iron if Mr Murphy shows up and the red dot is somehow inoperable. Might have to look at doing the same on my 458

 

[BrownMax]

Deer shot with Mauser M98 Magnum in 416 Rigby. Handloaded 300 grain Barnes X bullet. Scope is a Zeiss HT Victory 1.1-4x20 with illuminated reticle.

This particular hunt was a driven hunt after moose and deer using dogs, as such one can expect animals in motions, and usually relatively short shooting distance (<100 meters). This Mauser fits me really well, and the scope set at roughly 1.5 magnification, with the red dot on, is just perfect for these kind of hunts! Needless to say, the 416 Rigby is not needed for the deer's or even the moose, but I don't see any reasons to keep this rifle in the cabinet all season!

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I love the rifle @BrownMax

 

[njc110381]

Thanks very much for all the replies. You've put my mind at ease, I'll give it a go. I've got 350gr Barnes TSX at the moment, I don't suppose they will open up too fast on a small deer.

To answer a couple of things that came up - getting deer stalking with the rifle was no bother. The land owners I shoot deer for have known me for a long time. They're not bothered what I use, they know I'll shoot safely so I can do as I please. Some of them find it rather entertaining just trying to guess what I'll turn up with next! The police were a little reluctant to allow it at first but I have a lot of good references to back me up.

Bullet pass through, pretty much all shooting is done with that in mind here. We're so densely populated that the use of any centrefire rifle has to be quite carefully weighed up. Some of the ground I shoot is very steep so there is always a good hill behind my intended target. It's all about the backstop and I'm lucky to live in an area known for it's hills. It's actually called the five valleys!

 

[WAB]

I took this bushbuck with my .458 Lott at about 90 yards. I was shooting 500 grain trophy bonded bearclaw bullets in federal ammo. He dropped to the shot. Meat damage was minimal.

 

[Jure]

I took my 9.3x62 this summer to stalk roe,its mid bore but anyway... I hunt area with decent brown bear population,and 9.3 just makes me feel little more comfortable. Its area with no phone signal and I hunted alone,walking thro the thick forest at 3 am in the mountain just felt wrong with 243.
I shot two bucks and 9.3 made a huge mess. But to be honest,I dont care for meat at all. I hunt with Geco softpoints,255 gr because I want instant stop on driven boar hunts. If I was hunting for meat,I would go with A-Frame.

9.3 with geco teilmantel 255 gr,152 meters. Bullet entrance above the tail,exit wound at the chest.

 

[leslie hetrick]

a camp meat doe shot with a 300 gr flat nose hornady 45-70 at 1900 fps, no meat wasted and blood trail ray charles could fallow.

 

[Paul Raley]

I echo the results of the feedback thus far . Last year I also decided to use some of my bigger calibers to hunt with and settled on using my CZ 416 Rigby and my Marlin 45-70 . I shot two Impalas , one with the 416 and one with the 45-70 . I used a 400 gr monolithic in the 416 and a 250 gr monolithic in the 45-70 .
Both animals were given shots right behind the shoulder and both only ran a few meters , both shots were fired at about 80 meters .
Meat damage on both the animals was minimal , two clean holes punched through both sides thats all .
My fellow hunters were using 260 Remington / 308 / 30-06 and their Impalas all had significant meat damage compared to the big bores .