From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For what they're worth, here are my thoughts . . .
If you have been shooting big fallow bucks in the rut, you have probably been
encountering animals that are, for hormonal reasons, tougher to kill than at
other times of the year. But the .270 Win with the classic 130gr bullet
really ought to be amply powerful. (Personally, I find it an unduly noisy
and harsh cartridge for any UK stalking situation - one of my least favourite
calibres!! ;-) .) I have shot a lot of fallow with the .243Win with Norma
100gr bullets, and been very happy with its results; and a professional
stalker friend uses the same round to cull upwards of 100 fallow annually.
When the Rep. of Ireland laws limited us to nothing bigger than centrefire
.22s, I found the 5.6x57mm RWS with the 74gr Conepoint bullet very
satisfactory.
A last-gasp 30-yard dash after a heart/lung shot is not excessive for any UK
deer, and a rutting sika might well have gone 200 yards! The only way to be
absolutely sure of dropping them on the spot is by an anchoring shot - i.e.
into the neck vertebrae, or elsewhere on the spinal column so that the spinal
cord is severed, causing paralysis. But this requires very precise bullet
placement, and fallow bucks' necks are swollen and enlarged in the rut, as
are those of red and sika, and can offer an awkwardly large target.
The only .30 calibres that really make sense in the UK are the .308 Win and
the 30-'06 Springfield, but the latter is too much gun for most deer and also
for many shooters. The 6.5x55 Swedish, the 7x57 Mauser, the .260 Rem and the
7mm-08 Rem all have good claims to be ideal all-round UK deer calibres.
Colin
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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