This old Savage 99 in .300 Savage passes the “paper plate test” easily. Provided the terrain doesn’t require long shooting, older rifles like this should put meat in the freezer with no problem.
American rifle shooters have
long been obsessed by accuracy and velocity, demanding more of both than is
really necessary. Mind you, neither are bad things, although it depends on what
you’re doing. In target shooting, accuracy is everything, although
shooting disciplines and target sizes vary widely. In hunting, let’s be honest,
the vital zone of a deer-sized animal is not a small target, and it’s exactly
the same size at 40 or 400 yards. If you can consistently hit a volleyball or a
ten-inch paper plate you should have venison for the freezer. That vital zone looks
smaller and, for sure, becomes harder to hit as distance increases, but it’s
still a large target.
This is the level of accuracy that you simply must have for a serious varmint rifle, in this case Boddington’s Ruger No. One in .204 Ruger. Groups like this probably aren’t essential for most big-game hunting…but they build a lot of confidence!
Obviously, different
situations require more or less accuracy. I shoot the occasional coyote on the
Kansas farm, and we wear out the armadillos because they dig up the yard, but
an annual prairie dog shoot is my primary varmint hunting. A prairie dog is
about three inches from back to belly so, that’s the window you must hit, and
we do some of our prairie dog shooting beyond 400 yards. A one-inch group at
100 yards, what we call “Minute of Angle” (MOA) can be expected to naturally
disperse to four inches at 400 yards…without taking into account wind and
wobble. One MOA accuracy isn’t good enough for prairie dog shooting.
Helena, MT. — (January 5th, 2021) — The 2021 Craig Boddington Virtual Convention is open. This convention is Col. Boddington’s third annual online hunters convention and is important to conservation efforts worldwide. With the response to COVID restricting travel and ending brick and mortar conventions for the foreseeable future, outfitters urgently needed to connect with clients in a new way. Boddington saw a need for a simple and effective online convention to facilitate a comeback for outfitting in 2021. The continuation of hunting is a life and death situation for conservation; farms and concessions that support wildlife, antipoaching teams and rural communities worldwide rely on hunting to survive. These are good people doing good things for wildlife and Craig’s hand selected a group of carefully vetted outfitters that are committed to ethics and conservation.
Exhibitors at this virtual convention are exclusively members of Craig Boddington’s Endorsed Outfitters. ““I created this online convention to help hunters find trusted outfitters in a season of canceled conventions. Each outfitter was vetted with at least one visit and thorough research of their history. Clients can book with complete confidence. What about the personal interaction? We covered it. On each booth you’ll see a button to SCHEDULE SKYPE. Click on the button and to have a face- to-face discussion scheduled in no time. The money saved in travel can go to all kinds of efforts from anti-poaching, conservation projects, local schools and facilities. It’s a win not only for the outfitters but for wildlife and
hunters.” said Boddington.
Attendees can register to win a trip to join Boddington on a salmon
“HUNTING” trip during the Black Gold Lodge Craig Boddington 11th Annual Salmon Fishing Tournament, a safari for two to South Africa or series of prizes from African Sporting Creations.
Live seminars? They will occur via ZOOM. Starting with a live but virtual cocktail party at 6:30 CST on January 22nd, 2021 then moving on to a Q&A with Donna at the same time on January 23rd, a chat with Jim Morando and a seminar on filming hunts and gearing up for North America in 2021. Each night during the seminar week, a sweepstakes winner will be announced.
It’s important to visit the virtual show floor. It’s never been more important to fulfill your hunting dreams. All the outfitters are prepared to have one on-one conversations. Visit CraigBoddington.com to book a hunt with the best outfitters on Earth. Sign up for the newsletter to enter to win the sweepstakes. ••• About Craig Boddington: Hunter — Journalist — Author — Adventurer Craig Boddington is one of today’s most respected outdoor journalists. He spent the past forty years exploring our natural world as a hunter and sharing his knowledge and experiences in dozens of books and through thousands of published articles and essays. He’s a decorated Marine, an award-winning author, and continues to be a leading voice for conservation and ethical hunting around the world.
The two most popular actions in the U.S. must be John Browning’s Colt 1911 pistol…and Gene Stoner’s Armalite 15, long shortened to AR15 (which does not stand for “Assault Rifle”). Dozens and dozens of large and small firms make (and have made) firearms based on these actions. All self-loading actions have sharp limits on the size of cartridges they can accept. The .45 ACP cartridge was developed for and around the Colt 1911. Browning and his team must have done a good job because, 110 years later, the .45 ACP still rules the 1911 world. Although easily adapted to 9x19mm (and expanded to 10mm), the Colt 1911 frame has spawned few other pistol cartridges.
AR15 Rock River groups: Boddington’s “ranch rifle” is a left-hand Rock River AR in 5.56mm. It has served well from varmints to deer, and both availability and choices in ammo are strong suits of the .223/5.56mm.
The AR15 action is also
not new. Developed in the 1950s, it is fast approaching retirement age. Formal
acceptance of the AR15 and its “final” cartridge by the U.S. military
came in 1963. That cartridge was “Cartridge 5.56mm Ball M193, already released
to the public as the .223 Remington. Then and now, the .223 is a great
cartridge. It is not as inherently accurate as the .222 Remington, but the
military specs required more velocity. This led to the .222 Remington
Magnum…which led to the .223.
Old-timers (including me!) lamented the loss of the M14 and its 7.62x51mm (.308 Winchester), more powerful and offering greater range…at cost in rifle and ammo weight and recoil. Right or wrong, the deal was done, and for decades the AR15 platform and the 5.56mm/.223 Remington were inextricably linked. However, there has been much recent development in “AR-compatible cartridges.
Across the country, it’s deer season! For some the best of the season is behind us, but for most American hunters the best part of the season is yet to come. This depends on where you live, depending on the season. Which, in turn, depends on local weather, deer densities, and management goals. Limits are based on the same! My friends in the Deep South tend to have amazingly long and lavish seasons, usually with multiple bucks allowed and lots of doe tags.
Brad McCarty 2019: Brad McCarty took this old, downhill buck from a Texas-style tower blind in Boddington’s largest food plot. At about 175 yards, this was one of the longest shots of 2019’s charmed season. Using a 6.5mm Creedmoor, his buck was down on the spot!
In the West and Midwest, we’re usually not so blessed. Deer densities are lower and the populations are more fragile. A “one-buck” license is more common. Whether you’re in South Carolina (where, uniquely, some counties still have no limit on bucks). Or, in Kansas, where we are a strict one-buck state, it makes sense to make every buck tag count. But it really doesn’t matter: The odds are with the deer! Whitetail or mule deer, there is no hundred-percent deer hunting in North America!
Dan Guillory 2019: Dan Guillory’s 2019 Kansas buck was the best of the season. Although genuine tracking was not required, this buck probably ran the farthest of any 2019 buck…despite a perfect lung shot with a 7×57.Continue reading “SHOT AT DEER- BY CRAIG BODDINGTON”
Just after sunset we came around a bend in the trail. The pig was standing in deep shadow under an oak, good-sized, solitary, probably a boar. That’s about all we could tell, and that was enough. Donna’s shot looked good, but the pig rolled into a little depression just out of sight. Donna and our rancher friend, Tony Lombardo approached and immediately backed up…fast!
44 hog: This ugly hog was taken in a wild melee with dogs using a Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum. A big, open-sighted revolver is a great choice for hound hunting where shots are sure to be close, but not versatile enough in many situations.
The first shot was fine, but the pig didn’t accept that and was almost on top of them before it dropped to a quick second shot. It was not exactly a close call, but several exciting seconds! In fading light, we hadn’t appreciated that this was a really good boar, burly and heavy, with four inches of thick, sharp tusk showing above the gum line.
AG110923: A good-sized Texas porker, taken with a Winchester Model 71 in .348. Big-bore lever-actions are dramatically effective on hogs and fun to hunt with, but the aperture sight on this rifle limits range and, more importantly, becomes almost when the light goes.Continue reading “PIG POWER by Craig Boddington”
The lever-action is part of our heritage, as American as apple pie, motherhood, and John Wayne. In rifle tastes, many of us have gravitated to super-accurate, flat-shooting rifles; others to adaptable, fast-shooting (and also accurate) semiautomatics. I’m okay with these, but as I grow older, I find myself circling back to lever-actions!
A very good blacktail buck, taken with a Winchester M88 in .308 Winchester. Though not designed for lever-actions, the .308 has been chambered to a number of lever-actions…and there are few things that can’t be done with a .308.
The Winchester 1894 and Marlin 336 alone account for ten million rifles! The majority of these, thus the majority of lever-actions, were chambered to .30-30. Although mild by today’s standards, the .30-30 remains a fine deer cartridge!
No lever-action is an extreme-range platform. Depending on which action or model, lever guns are hampered by some combination of pressure limitations, action length, two-piece stocks, tubular magazines, and sight restrictions. Over time, many of these problems have been solved, or at least mitigated: All Henry, Marlin, Mossberg, and Savage lever-actions can easily be scoped, as can all Winchester 1894s since 1982, when “Angle Eject” came in. Historically, blunt-nosed bullets with poor aerodynamics had to be used in tubular magazines. Hornady’s Flex-Tip bullet with compressible polymer tip solved this, instantly improving ballistics.
Boddington used a Winchester M88 in .358 Winchester to take this Shiras moose on a tough-to-draw Wyoming permit. Although definitely not fast, the little .358 is a powerful cartridge that hits hard with little recoil.Continue reading “THE VERSATILE LEVER-ACTION? By Craig Boddington”
Here’s a riddle: What cartridge is faster, more powerful, and shoots flatter than a 6.5mm Creedmoor…with similar recoil? And, is chambered to more rifles, with a wider selection of factory loads and component bullets?
270 lineup-light: Left to right: .243 Winchester, .260 Remington, 6.5mm Creedmoor, 7mm-08, .270 Winchester. All of these are great deer cartridges, but the .270 is far and away the fastest, most powerful, and most versatile of the group.
At the moment, it’s not true to say that everybody wants a 6.5mm Creedmoor. Right now, everybody wants whatever is ideal (or marginally suitable) for defending the hearth and home against virus-ridden zombie hordes. But I have to believe both happy and sane times will return, and we’ll spend more time thinking about hunting seasons past and looking forward to seasons ahead. I assume the Creedmoor Craze will continue, and everyone who wants a new hunting rifle will be longing for that amazing phenomenon, the 6.5mm Creedmoor.
.270-general purpose: Left to right: .270 Winchester, 7mm-08, 7mm Remington Magnum, .30-06, .300 Winchester Magnum. All of these are acceptable elk cartridges, with the .270 and 7mm-08 good minimal choices, but fully adequate at moderate ranges. Continue reading “Why not a .270?”
Legend has it that the .17s originated in Australia, during a time when they were overrun with non-native foxes, in pestilence plenty, but still with value on the fur market. The advantage to the .17 was, on fox-sized animals, the tiny, frangible bullet, pushed fast, would enter, do its work…but not exit, leaving the pelt intact except for one tiny hole.
The African Cape fox is similar in size to American foxes. All of the .17s are excellent for this class of game because the light, frangible bullets rarely exit and do little pelt damage. The rifle is a Marlin in .17 HMR, the rifle Boddington keeps handy on his Kansas farm.
The idea migrated to North America in the 1960s, with American wildcatters developing numerous .17-caliber cartridges on various small cases. In 1971 Remington necked down the 223 Remington case to create the 17 Remington. It is still the fastest factory cartridge, propelling a 20-grain bullet at 4250 fps.
In this Wholesale Hunter Blog Craig Boddington discusses older rifles and compares the quality and value of older rifle Vs newer ones.
Modern factory rifles are amazing, complete, reliable, and more accurate than ever before. In today’s dollars, basic bolt-actions, are more inexpensive than ever before. There are dozens of good models under $600, and some excellent new bolt-actions available for little more than half that. Almost invariably, most basic bolt-actions wear synthetic stocks, free-floated barrels, rust-resistant metal, and push-feed actions. No problem, they work and shoot well. And, of course, I shoot them, hunt with them, and write about them.
This custom .270 Winchester by Joe Balickie, on a left-hand Carl Gustav action
However, my personal
tastes run much more to good old walnut, mated and carefully fitted to blued
steel. These features are available in new rifles of all action types. But
you’ll pay more for them. It comes down to manufacturing costs. Synthetic is
less costly than wood…and requires less hand-fitting and final finishing. Other
action types, whether lever, semiauto, etc., are generally more expensive than
basic bolt-actions; and controlled-round-feed (Mauser-type) bolt-actions are
costlier than push-feed actions. Again, manufacturing costs: Number of parts,
raw materials, and both machining and assembly time. Just the way it is!
A vintage .300 Savage on the California Central Coast. Rifle choices are somewhat regional; the Savage 99 was extremely popular on the West Coast and are seen on most used-gunracks. Used Marlins may be more common in the Upper Midwest.
Today’s factory rifles are, on average, more accurate than I thought possible when I started shooting. American hunters and rifle shooters have long been obsessed with raw rifle accuracy, probably more today than ever before because of the growing fascination with long-range shooting. How much accuracy is really needed depends entirely on what you intend to do. Bench-rest and thousand-yard competitors need all they can get, and so do varmint hunters. Most big-game hunters probably have more accuracy than is truly necessary—but it’s a wonderful confidence builder to know that your rifle is capable of producing teeny, tiny groups!
257 Roberts group: There’s no telling exactly what load a given rifle will shoot best…and it may not be the load you prefer to use. So far, Boddington’s Dakota .257 Roberts produces its best groups with Remington 100-grain round-nose Core-Lokt, not the most ideal hunting load for a flat-shooting cartridge. This rifle needs handloading and will get it!
That’s a valid reason to demand extreme accuracy—and it’s amazing how many of today’s basic, inexpensive factory rifles deliver. I think this is because, with modern manufacturing, factory tolerances are tighter than ever, with more consistent barrels. When I was a kid, we figured a factory bolt-action that produced 1.5-inch 100-yard groups was pretty darned good. Rifles shooting one inch and better were cause for bragging. Today it’s amazing how many factory bolt guns retailing for less than $500 will consistently produce one-inch 100-yard groups.
