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That is a pretty good description of what I've read in other places. I am going to take some surgical gloves, but hadn't thought about those kevlar fish fillet gloves. Good suggestion!

I do have a lopper and if the guys that are taking me don't have one already I was going to bring mine.

03Lightningrocks wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 7:24 pm
The Enfield sounds like it kind of has some meaning. I would go with that one but I am a little superstitious about hunting. LOL... a little extra good karma never hurts. Just a few more weeks. I bet you are excited.

My FIL never hunted with it, but yeah kinda. I won't be able to go out until December. My wife and I are taking a motorcycle trip in three weeks and riding the Natchez Trace then coming back through northern Arkansas through the Ouachita NF & Queen Wilhemina SP. My friend and his brother will probably go next month early in the season and then take me later. The next time I could go would be Thanksgiving weekend, so that's out. It'll probably end up being December 12-13.

Good and a little surprising day at the range today.

I did find some heavier rounds, Winchester Super-X 180gr Power Point, and tried those out against the Hornady 150gr SST rounds today. Surprise, at 100 yards the 180gr rounds were around 4-5 MOA, while the SST rounds were about 1.5 MOA. I shot 5 rounds of each. I shot the 180gr rounds first. Four of the 180gr rounds were to the right of the bullseye and only one slightly on the left. The wideness of the the rounds was mostly vertical. I did come back to fire additional rounds after firing the 150gr just in case it was due to a cold barrel starting off. It did not get better with these rounds.

Two of the the 150gr SST rounds were in the bullseye and one other touching. One was just outside and the 5th about 0.5-1.0 inches away. I was surprised and very happy with the Hornady SST 150gr rounds.

I also took my Enfield & K31 Swiss rifles. 150gr for the Enfield and 174gr for the K31.

I was also surprised with these two. The Enfield managed about 2.5 MOA all 2-3 inches high and 1.5-2 inches right. That's manageable. Just aim 2-3 inches low left.
The K31 managed about 3 MOA with all rounds to the right. Three rounds from 1-3 inches high. The other two rounds were even at 1 & 2 inches right. I'd say this rifle was also manageable since it is within 3 MOA.

So, now the dilemma, which rifle?

1. .308 at 1.5 MOA with the Hornady SST on a scoped rifle that weighs in at a whopping 14.4 pounds?

2. Enfield, that belonged to my father-in-law and weighs in at a comparatively svelte 8.8 pounds.

3. K31, bought from a forum member a few years ago that also weighs in at 8.8 pounds.

I'm told that we are able to nearly drive right to the stand, so it doesn't sound like I'll have to carry the rifle far from the truck. I'm really torn between my FIL's Enfield and the AR-10 (.308). I guess my main concern is going with something that is at best 2.5 MOA when I have something else about 1.5 MOA with a lighter round it shouldn't that good with that is scoped with an illuminated reticle I could be more confident with at dusk or dawn. Is 2.5-3 MOA good enough to take a chance with? The guy that is going to take me said they haven't taken one over a hundred yards. I might find myself with one around 50 yards that I could hit a 1.5 inch area with. Good grief!

03Lightningrocks wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:19 pm

C-dub wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 4:06 pm

AndyC wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 1:26 pm Just a heads-up, which I sincerely hope turns out to be a non-issue.

If heavier rounds become available I'll try those out. I'm sure you and TAM are probably correct, but this is what I have at this time. I won't be able to get to the range to find out for two more weeks anyway, so maybe something else will pop up. I don't have high hopes due to everything being so crazy and coming up on hunting season anyway. I'll take my K31 and Enfield when I do go out. If I'm not able to find any heavier rounds and these don't do as well as the older rifles on iron sights I'll go old school.

So far, my biggest concerns in no particular order are as follows.

1. Being able to reliably hit and take a deer humanely.

2. Being able to field dress it. I don't want to shoot one and then not follow through and make my friend do it for me. I'm sure the would, but personally that would suck for me.

I'm fine working on people. I can put my mind where it needs to be for people, but I've never hunted. I'll take some of my lab gloves with me and I think that'll help me get in the right frame of mind to be able to do that. If I get there and don't think I can do that I may not take the shot. We'll see when the time comes, which will probably be early to mid December.

By old school do you mean musket or further back to a spear or club? You can jump out of a tree on it's back and choke him out as well. Much less meat damage this way.

I have gutted so many deer it does not even phase me. I don't really ever remember it bugging me. But gutting a person might be harder on me. I guess it would just depend on how mad they made me.

Seriously though. Darn near any of the guns you mention will do just fine. If you have good vision, you could easily hit your mark out to 100-150 yards with open sights. Just practice the shot at the range. The kill spot on a deer is about a 12 inch area. It is a pretty easy shot to make.

If you can work on people, a deer won't bother you at all. Maybe watch a few good internet videos on field dressing a deer. Some wet wipes will come in handy for wiping the blood off your hands and knife.

Not that old school. Just iron sights if the lighter rounds don't work as well as hoped for. Although, iron sights will still have to work better than the .308 light rounds if that's all I'm able to procure for that rifle.

It's been a little while since I've stuck my hands in a person or worked on a cadaver, but I've never cut one open myself. I had a job to do and just did it. This may turn out to be the same. Who knows? I do like animals better than most people in general and that might be what's giving me concern.

AndyC wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 1:26 pm Just a heads-up, which I sincerely hope turns out to be a non-issue.

If heavier rounds become available I'll try those out. I'm sure you and TAM are probably correct, but this is what I have at this time. I won't be able to get to the range to find out for two more weeks anyway, so maybe something else will pop up. I don't have high hopes due to everything being so crazy and coming up on hunting season anyway. I'll take my K31 and Enfield when I do go out. If I'm not able to find any heavier rounds and these don't do as well as the older rifles on iron sights I'll go old school.

So far, my biggest concerns in no particular order are as follows.

1. Being able to reliably hit and take a deer humanely.

2. Being able to field dress it. I don't want to shoot one and then not follow through and make my friend do it for me. I'm sure the would, but personally that would suck for me.

I'm fine working on people. I can put my mind where it needs to be for people, but I've never hunted. I'll take some of my lab gloves with me and I think that'll help me get in the right frame of mind to be able to do that. If I get there and don't think I can do that I may not take the shot. We'll see when the time comes, which will probably be early to mid December.

I think I can call today's hunt a success. After my online search last night I determined that Academy might be my best option to find one of the hunting rounds.

Score! Academy in Lewisville had one 20 round box of Hornady 150gr SST and the Academy in Highland Village had two. I have three boxes to recheck my 100 yard zero and make sure I can hit where I want with some consistency. Hopefully, that will only take 3-5 rounds and then I'll have plenty for hunting and some spares.

AndyC wrote: ↑Sat Oct 03, 2020 10:37 am For hunting, I'd likely use the Hornady SST bullet.

That is one of the rounds I was finding yesterday that if I can find I'll get some and try it out at the range for accuracy and repeatability.

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2020 11:54 am Try a box of 165 grain Federal Fusion. I haven’t shot any of that in a long time, but I used to get about 1MOA accuracy out of it in the 1:10 barrel on my R700. Your AR10 barrel has a 1:10 twist, so you might get similar accuracy out of it, and the Fusion line was designed for soft-skinned medium sized game .... in other words, deer.

Alternatively, you could try some of the heavier 180-185 grain ballistic tip hunting loads from other manufacturers.

I'll see what I can find and try it out. After a cursory look around this morning there doesn't seem to be much of those in stock. In addition to the regular insanity we've been going through the past 6 months I'm butting up against hunting season looking for hunting rounds.

This rifle was setup for the SK 175gr and I've done 1moa on steel out to 400 yards with it. My friend that'll be taking me says he and his brother have taken deer there the past few years less than 100 yards, so there shouldn't be any issues we can't get a good angle.

I was wondering about the lighter rounds. Maybe I'll pick up a box or two if any are available and try them out with the 175's at the range first.

Sorry for the left turn.

Now, it looks like I'm going to be able to use the rifle I'm the best shot with that is also suitable for hunting deer. This got me to considering whether or not the ammo I have is suitable for this task. I have 175gr Sierra Match King 7.62x51. It is a hollow point, so I'm thinking it is good. Or should I try and find something with a soft point in a lower weight?

The Annoyed Man wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 6:52 am Is the place where the coating flaked off located on a bearing surface, or is it just on some part of the carrier body that's not in friction contact with other surfaces? If it’s not in contact with other parts, it might be cheaper to just let it go and see what happens. If it is in contact with other parts, then maybe the guy who did the plating in the first place could be persuaded to take another stab at it.....maybe even for free.

Well, good news and not so good news.

I took it out to get a picture of where the damage was and post it for all to see. I couldn't find what I was remembering. That is, obviously, the good news. It also means that if my first hunting trip takes place that I'll be able to use this to take my first deer without having to get a new BCG and with certainty that I can hit where I want to safely take the deer down humanely.

The not so good news is that now I need to go through every other rifle to find which BCG had a flake missing. That's not a huge undertaking, but it still bothers me that I thought it was this one and don't remember which one it actually is.

I guess I'm not looking for a new BCG. Now to get to the range. I haven't fired this rifle in a year or so because I thought there was a problem.

I think I've mentioned it once or twice in other threads. The BCG on my rifle I got from TAM a few years back appears to have a little flake off the coating missing from the BCG. It happened a while back and with other things going on I never replaced it. Then things got crazy again and no one had any in stock. Well, after finding some Swiss ammo last week I started checking sites again for BCG's and it looks like several are in stock. So, I'm asking for recommendations. I've never bough a single part like this and am not sure which way to go. There are so many choices. What are some of your favorites or any to stay away from. Primary Arms alone has about 20 that are in stock. GrabAGun only has 4 in stock, but one that I've seen (https://grabagun.com/aero-aprh100185-30 ... boron.html) is one of those.

AERO PRECISION COMPLETE BOLT CARRIER GROUP .308 WIN NICKEL BORON

This looks nice. What do ya'll think?

EDIT: What about titanium BCGs like this one?
https://www.dksportinggoods.com/parts-g ... p250028300

Anyone use a titanium BCG before?