Hunting- By Messor- Part Three

[Messor]

Hunting- By Messor- Part Three

Rifles (actually calibers, or calibres depending where you live)

Yes, it’s the controversial subject, and for reasons not necessary to explain (gunsite, duh!) it’s all been done many times before. But since I took it upon myself to sound clever it just so happen that I must discuss this topic as well. Now when I said controversial I meant it, for it is simply impossible to discuss such matters without stepping on toes, or feet, or go as high is you like, it’ll hurt. The reason people start stepping on toes when discussing calibers is calibers are directly linked to personal choice. The second you start to second guess someone’s personal choice you insult him in various degrees of unnecessary and difficult to explain human emotion crap…thing. If you want to say it as simple as possible you say people all think they are clever, the second you tell them they are not they get mad, same goes with the caliber debates, same goes for almost all personal choice debates. Now unlike bakkies where you can say without a shadow of a doubt that a hilux is better than dacia, or a cruiser is better than a rover, simply because those are facts, calibers don’t work that way, and it will take some effort to explain why. Now I am not going into specs, yes I can tell you the case length and the average MV and the what-what, yet those are things you can Google, and not really what I am trying to discuss, I am trying to discuss the why, not the how.

The purpose of a rifle is not to kill , you can leave it on the table for 20 days and I promise you it won’t kill something, same goes for tactical pistols, for reasons unknown the reputations that precede them are a bit skewed. So if you ask whether I lost the last of my marbles …no, the purpose of any rifle is to be a platform, the platform is designed to accommodate the burning process of the propellant inside the ammunition and by various degrees of science and magic propel the bullet through the barrel into the far yonder. This platform can be found in various degrees of configurations simply because of numerous applications. Now luckily all I have to discuss is hunting rifles, so numerous applications refers to different hunting requirements, like bush hunting, plains hunting, dangerous game hunting, etc, etc. One must be clear from the start that although the means is the same, aka the purpose of the platform, not all makes are equal, remember dacia vs. hilux? And I won’t discuss that topic too much, because I am trying to teach people about hunting not bragging rights. There comes a point when a hunting rifle is build good enough to perform a function, more than that is money spend on personal preference and taste, it simply can’t enhance performance. I am talking Howa vs. Sauer, or Marlin vs. Sako, one cheap the other expensive, both capable of doing the same job but one seen in a more favourable light among humans, for human reasons. That’s all I have to say about make, the internet is full of info about the reliability and functionality of various makes of rifles, luckily here in SA you’ll never see most of them, and you only have to study the functionality of the choices given to you.

Caliber, yes that’s the one, we can talk for days, weeks, months, years………….oh wait, that’s exactly what we do here on gunsite. Would you be disappointed if I tell you we are just debating such topics for the sake of debating? Would you be disappointed if I tell you we purchase various calibers not for functionality but rather personal gratification? Would you be disappointed if I tell you the second an experienced hunter is looking for another rifle when his current arsenal is functional that choice is not based on real world requirements? You see, this nonsense I am spewing sounds awful does it not, how can I even fathom about such hideous concepts? Ok, oK, enough with the (semi) big words, I only know 5 or 6 and already used them up, let’s talk logic, something I can relate to. If you are a hunter, and you have a rifle for bush work, a rifle for plains work, a rifle for varminting, and a rifle for pests, you are covered. More likely still is that one (or all) such choices would be able to substitute for the others to near the same performance levels, scary thought. A rifle for dangerous game is not on that list, for reasons I am too lazy to explain it’s more or less a subject on its own.

Let’s start at the bottom of that list, what is a pest control rifle, well simply put it’s a .22. Yes those with more money than needed can afford stuff like 17HMR’s or any of the other cute but not really logical choices, for the average man, it stays with a .22. Now for those who don’t know, the .22 is the most sold caliber in the world, the most shot caliber in the world, the caliber for which most ammo is sold(more than all the rest combined almost), and so it’s the basis of any hunting caliber debate. Now before some broad-shoulder man with a big beard tells me a .22 is not a hunting caliber sit down and shut up. The average person who grows up in a hunting scene will shoot his first animal with it, regardless of the animal, but more, MUCH more important he will probably hunt his first animal with it, rooivink, meerkat or dassie it matters not, that will be his first hunting caliber. Since hunting is a skill formed by exercise the more you practice the better you get, and I tell you now with no uncertain terms 90% of the hunter I am today was formed with a .22. So simply put if you as an adult did not grow up hunting, and you are wondering how to start your youngsters in the hunting/shooting scene don’t ask me again, it is and will always remain a .22.

Right, varminting, what the hell is a varmint and why the hell do you need a rifle for it. A varmint is not something the average city person needs to be concerned about, they are small animals that causes financial loss to land owners by unfortunately doing what they were designed to do. I say it’s unfortunate because there is no other way ,many forum members make a living from killing such critters, a problem humans created by destroying natural habitat and introducing livestock animals like sheep, regardless a problem humans must now control. Now I am not going to give you a lesson in varmints, go Google them yourself, but we need to talk about the calibers used for such applications none the less. If you ask anybody what is a varmint caliber people will start with a .22 and end up with a .243, now that will cause great distress among many hunters simply because they have been hunting with their 243 all their lives. So forget the title, rather focus on the design of such cartridge. It’s usually a small projectile propelled by a case holding enough powder to propel it fast enough to reach the said critter and blow it till kingdom come. Yes the cartridge is designed to kill, make dead, destroy, f@ck em up you name it, and with most calibers it does this function rather well.

Now obviously you will ask me why we are discussing such calibers for hunting, and the answer is simple, more animals are killed each year by calibers starting with a 2 then all the rest. As such there is a good chance that youngsters will have their first non-varminting aka true hunting experience with such a caliber. Be it a .222 or a 243 they kill antelope rather dead, rather well, they are frowned upon for one reason and one reason only, take a guess before reading the next line. They are frowned upon for the fact that not every person can operate them correctly. A 22-250 does not cause meat damage, yes it’s small and fast but it does not cause meat damage. The person shooting the antelope on the shoulder with a 22-250 is causing meat damage. The experienced oke shooting the antelope behind the shoulder still blows a big hole in the animal, but not one that cause any meat loss, just death. Take the following line as you will, a 375 H&H with 300gr bullets cannot put a springbok down faster than a 55gr bullet fired from a 22-250, never, If you haven’t seen it for yourself take my word until you do. With any of these “varmint” calibers lights are switched off faster than buttons are pushed, always have and always will. The inherent danger of non penetration because of poor shot placement should not reflect negatively on the caliber, but rather the shooter. But we all know shooters NEVER take the blame, always the caliber, bullet, wind, sunshine, snowflake you name it, but never the caliber. Ok, that said, since I am not preaching to the experienced hunters, perhaps I should state the truth. Use these calibers to home you skills with, but they should not be your normal hunting caliber if you are not a good shot or experienced hunter, their margin of error on “poorer” shot placement will always result in “poorer” terminal performance.

Ok, plains calibers, there is only one, the .270, done with this section moving on.

Ok, ok, chill, just joking, let’s look at the mechanics of plains shooting and then discuss the requirements. Now a plain is a big open space of nothing and the animals that roam the plains often require a different method of shooting them. Now since we are not discussing stalking but calibers the only parameter that needs to be discussed is “controllable recoil”, yep, that’s it. Now what is controllable recoil, dunno, you tell me, since it’s relevant to the specific individual, and as such different for everybody. The fact is for plains shooting the faster you shoot a projectile the less it’s affected by wind and gravity, meaning less wind drift and flatter trajectory, resulting in less hold over and shorter time of flight. For dummies it’s the difference between “me point, me pull trigger, animal fall over”, as opposed to “me see, me wonder how high to aim, me worried about wind, me need a drink”. Yes for all logical purposed the faster you can shoot a projectile the less you have to worry about external factors. Now that is nice and all but make no mistake, Newton’s third law is a female dog. And that law says the faster you shoot a said projectile the more it shoots you back. Meaning there becomes a point when the advantages of having a flat trajectory is overshadowed by hearing loss and limb amputation. And since any rifle must be controllable by the operator it’s imperative that the operator first explore his sensitivity to recoil by shooting all weapons he can find his hands on, and then determines where his threshold lies and what caliber lies beneath that. An example would be someone shooting a 338 magnum and his buddy shooting a 7x64 Brenneke. The first oke closes his eyes in anticipation of pain and hopes he hits the target, the second keeps eyes on target in anticipation of success, which would you reckon have the greatest chance of success? I tell you now the performance differences of all plains game calibers is extremely marginal when it comes to terminal performance. It’s only when we are talking the super big antelope like eland where it’s better to shoot it with a big gun, since shot placement at distance is not something we can always guarantee, and I personally would rather shoot an eland on the shoulder with a .338 than a .270. Where a 270 on the lungs is more than adequate of putting down an eland, but first you have to get it there.

As you can see, power is nothing without control, the best advice I can give newbie’s is use the caliber on the limit of your recoil threshold, not over, on. That will give you the best balance of power, trajectory, and terminal performance. With experience comes wisdom, and grey hair, and knee problems, but at least you’ll know what’s good for you or not, and you can stay within your threshold. Now last but not least in this section, and I don’t want to make the bos-maplotters angry, it’s harder shooting at distance, it requires more practice and more ammo, more barrels and bigger pockets in the same animal class. So if you don’t have the funds to fully train and keep your shooting level up with your (insert uber magnum here ) then you’ve got the wrong caliber. You must be able to feed it, practice a lot and have money left to actually shoot something, think of that before you buy.

Right, finally we are at the bos-maplotters, and I really don’t see what the fuss is about. At the average distance people hunt in the bush I can throw MOA with a rock, or shoot on smell alone, or skin the animal alive depending how much teeth it’s got. Hunting in the bush is not just easy it’s just not challenging, and thus you would be better off just camping or drinking, much more fun. Sorry, the article is becoming long and I had to wake you up somehow, feel free to laugh at yourself if you took me seriously. I wonder if I need to say anything more than “slow and heavy”, should I, what do you think? In the bush you are not bothered by trajectory, shots are taken at close range so you don’t need speed, in fact you just need something that can hit hard at close range without blowing the animal up. Unless you are hunting rooibok then you might as well just blow them up, they are non edible for the average karoo oke, with meat like bleshoenders. Ok, more fun over, I would think that if you intent on hunting the bush the same rules would apply than for plains shooting. You already know you are going to want to shoot slow and heavy, the actual choice would be governed by the same concerns. Concerns would be can you handle the recoil, can you afford to shoot it, is the ammo readily avail, etc etc. Now bigger calibers make bigger holes, depending on bullet use of course, slow and heavy translates to deeper penetration and less meat damage up close. This is important for bush hunters because unlike plains game animals where you can actually take follow up shots, or see the movement of the animals, in the bush once the animal runs it’s out of sight, and if it doesn’t go down and doesn’t leave a good blood spoor how do you track it?

In this regard I must say bushveld hunting is a fascinating subject, and clearly illustrates the gist of this article. Surely if everybody wanted to use a logical caliber suited to bushveld hunting then everybody would shoot a 45-70 Gov, or the sort, yet they don’t. No people use the 7x57, 308, 303, 9.3, 375, etc etc, many even use the 30-06, good grief! The truth in this illustrates that they all perform the same action, rather well, and that the terminal performance between them is rather marginal, even when regarding the great variety of bullets used. Dead is dead, striving for more than that is pointless, the same goes for HOPING your caliber is enough. Well, is it, is your caliber capable of killing the animal you are aiming at, sure it is, if you don’t believe me I’ll come and shoot that animal for you with your caliber, even if you want me to shoot an eland with a .222, I’ll do it, easy. No my friends the question must rather be if your caliber will provide the adequate penetration with the specific bullets to penetrate the animals vitals for the angle YOU are aiming at, or indeed perhaps the only angle you might have or get a shot at. Such is the great conundrum, hindsight is another female-dog when you have to pay for an animal you took a shot at and couldn’t locate afterwards. Go back to my caliber using argument again, use the caliber that will provide the best penetration with the said ammunition without blowing the animals up or dislocating your shoulder. If that is a 7x57 fine, if that is a 416 fine, just don’t BS yourself into believing you are the “great white hunter” when in fact you are bennie the bartender from benoni. Honesty goes a long way in using the correct caliber for individuals, and more often than not many get it wrong. They feel peer pressure from hunting buddies and make the wrong choices. Like for example : Hey Messor, what would the best bush caliber for me be? Messor :Well I use the 577 nitro but if you can’t find one I guess the 505 Gibbs might work. No people, just no, peer pressure should be left with cars and drinks, and bodily measurements of the female species. Killing stuff is serious so your friends should support you in making the right decision if they are your friends.

Ok, that is enough for calibers, you can go into a lot more detail but that would be a pointless discussion, as hunting success is 90% shot placement and 10% caliber. No caliber can make you shoot better and no caliber can make you hunt better, some are better tools for a said application and some are better suited to the individual, but never better for Mr. X, better for you.

Next time we might talk about what to feed the caliber, or how to aim with the said caliber, or …….but that’s next time. Last month of summer is upon us, swim a bit, fish a bit, do your firearm studies at night when it’s cool and the beer stays cold longer.

Until next time, be safe, shoot straight.

[TStone]

Entertaining read. Thanks.

Ok, that is enough for calibers, you can go into a lot more detail but that would be a pointless discussion, as hunting success is 90% shot placement and 10% caliber.

True, but unfortunately ignored by a lot of people.

[Antlion]

Great info as always, thanks for the write up.

[marshy]

Thanks for taking the time to write that up. Thoroughly enjoyed it and think a lot of newbie hunters should give it a read.

By the way, I own a 270

[TStone]

By the way, I own a 270

Pervert.

[Messor]

Pervert.

He could have gone and bought himself an overrated caliber, you perhaps know of any such thing?

[Jacko]

"Bosmaplotters" ... * falls off chair laughing hysterically. *

:-)

[TStone]

He could have gone and bought himself an overrated caliber, you perhaps know of any such thing?

Yup, got one meself. Deadly as any 7x57, or .308, or...

[Maroelas]

Nice write up Messor

[Messor]

Yup, got one meself. Deadly as any 7x57, or .308, or...

Don't worry.

Read an article from a bloke called Messor in the hunting section, he'll explain to you that shot placement is paramount and you can get away with the marginal caliber in question