Guns

Wounding factors

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

In 1989, the FBI printed a paper on “Handgun Wounding Factors and Effectiveness”. You can find a PDF here, HTML here.

Since all pistol rounds suck, what matters? Most of all, penetration.

CONCLUSIONS

Physiologically, no caliber or bullet is certain to incapacitate any individual unless the brain is hit. Psychologically, some individuals can be incapacitated by minor or small caliber wounds. Those individuals who are stimulated by fear, adrenaline, drugs, alcohol, and/or sheer will and survival determination may not be incapacitated even if mortally wounded.

The will to survive and to fight despite horrific damage to the body is commonplace on the battlefield, and on the street. Barring a hit to the brain, the only way to force incapacitation is to cause sufficient blood loss that the subject can no longer function, and that takes time. Even if the heart is instantly destroyed, there is sufficient oxygen in the brain to support full and complete voluntary action for 10-15 seconds.

Kinetic energy does not wound. Temporary cavity does not wound. The much discussed “shock” of bullet impact is a fable and “knock down” power is a myth. The critical element is penetration. The bullet must pass through the large, blood bearing organs and be of sufficient diameter to promote rapid bleeding. Penetration less than 12 inches is too little, and, in the words of two of the participants in the 1987 Wound Ballistics Workshop, “too little penetration will get you killed.” Given desirable and reliable penetration, the only way to increase bullet effectiveness is to increase the severity of the wound by increasing the size of hole made by the bullet. Any bullet which will not penetrate through vital organs from less than optimal angles is not acceptable. Of those that will penetrate, the edge is always with the bigger bullet.

So there you go. This is why calibers such as .25’s, .32’s, .380’s, and stuff like bird-shot aren’t considered ideal for self-defense, because they just can’t get down where they need to be. All pistol rounds suck, and some suck more than others.

Of course, the real important thing is accurate placement in the right spot because a deep wound in the foot doesn’t do much to stop your attacker. Must be accurate, then must penetrate, then the bigger you can make that hole the better such as with modern hollow-point ammo or just larger calibers (and cue the .45 is king flame fest!). 🙂

Note as well tho, this doesn’t just apply to handgun rounds and self-defense. When I go hunting, I need a toolset that will travel the distance and still have enough energy and ability to penetrate as deeply as necessary. Big game animals are man-sized or larger, with potentially tougher hides and structure. I won’t take a .22 LR deer hunting in the Texas Hill Country, but my 6.8 SPC with Barnes TSX bullets can do the job just fine. So can .308 Winchester, so can a lot of other proper rifle calibers. But on the flip side, you still have to worry about over-penetration or being too much for the job. Oh sure, I could hunt a deer with a .50 BMG but I’d ruin lots of meat and that bullet would keep travelling right through the deer and come to rest who knows where. That too could have lots of problems. Firearms are more specific in their application than people tend to believe, so make sure you choose the right tool.

Bottom line: consider the intent behind the tool and ensure to use the proper tool for the job at hand.

AR ramble

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

I’ve been thinking about my AR in 6.8 SPC. While it certainly gets the job done, I’d like to outfit it a bit more specifically for hunting.

The biggest change I can think of is changing the stock to a Magpul PRS. The main reason? The adjustable cheek piece. My only reserve? I need to first do some measurements and see if my kids could still shoulder it with the PRS because if they can’t, then the PRS can’t be used. The intent of the rifle is so it could be used by either my kids or me (tho primarily me).

I’m also thinking about taking the Bushmaster lower off and building a new lower from the ground-up. I figured as long as I was doing this, it’d be kinda cool if I could get the lower etched with my own design or wording, something totally custom. Any reader know of a place that does this? or perhaps in 2 parts, one that makes a good blank lower and another that could etch? My Google-Fu has been weak.

Then I think about putting the Bushy back together since it’s got the lightweight profile and turning it into a lightweight home defender. Put something like Magpul’s MOE handguard, inexpensive and lightweight. Add something like their Angled Fore Grip and figure out a solution for a light (got a light, just a matter of how to activate it), a way to strap a second magazine onto the gun (Redi-Mag/Mod?) and that could be alright. Just keep it light and minimal.

What spurred all of this? I received a Aimpoint Comp M4s for test and eval for TacticalGunReview.com. When I have my review, I’ll be posting it to the TGR website. But finally getting the red dot of my dreams got me thinking. 🙂

If readers have any suggestions on a stock for the hunting gun, be it how well the PRS would work or how another solution might better fit my bill, or on a way to get a custom-made AR lower, please let me know.

Safety Bullet? No, not really.

/ hsoi / 28 Comments

Seen over at the Girl’s Guide To Guns, a new “safety device” called the Safety Bullet.

I’m sorry, but this is bad.

I watched their video.

  • You called a semi-automatic handgun an “automatic”. I can half-way forgive that because I know the history of where the nomenclature comes from. But calling a magazine a clip? Sorry, but no.
  • Most people use semi-automatic handguns. So in order to make your semi-automatic handgun ready for defensive purposes you must remember to cycle the action twice? Good luck with that when the flag is flying. That’s precious time and seconds lost, and what if you forget? It’s a non-standard action to undertake, and sure you can train yourself to do this so it’s truly your reflexive motion, but the precious seconds still lost to this remedial action are unacceptable. If the average gunfight lasts 3 seconds, if getting the first shot off quickly and accurately matters most, this setup is not setting you up for success…. it just sets you even further behind the curve.
  • What if the fur is flying, you forget to cycle the action twice, fire, and now all you’ve got is a glorified paperweight? There is no way you will get the gun back in action in time.
  • How about with a revolver? How are you supposed to quickly bypass the chamber with the Safety Bullet so you can quickly and immediately get your revolver into the fight?
  • I assume this is intended for a home-defense gun, not a gun you carry. But what if someone uses the same gun for both purposes? Now you’re causing that person to do a lot more fiddling with their gun than is necessary. They will have to remember to always check their gun, cycle their gun, load and unload, replace rounds, take out “Safety Bullets”. There’s just too much handling here, and with all the ammunition manipulation this is just asking for a negligent discharge (which runs counter to the intent of this device).
  • Why would a youth or intruder have access to your gun in the first place?
  • Oh, I don’t like the inventor/demonstrator muzzle flashing the camera, nor his finger on the trigger as the gun dangles about. I’m sorry, but if you cannot demonstrate basic gun handling safety, how should that extrapolate into your “safety” device and us trusting it?  Do you really understand gun safety?

I’m sorry, but there’s just too many things wrong with this device.

I browse the company website. Q&A Section:

Question: Isn’t education and training the real answer to this problem?

[…]OK, then why are we still having Accidental Shootings?  What I found after a year of reading hundreds of cases, is that most Accidental Shootings are caused by those people that did not have the benefit of a Safety Course.  Rarely do those of us who have had the education and experience get involved in an Accidental shooting.[…]

So what you’re saying is, keep the ignorant ignorant, but use my device and problems will go away! Of course, to properly use your device in a self-defense situation, that requires a good deal of education and practice… and you’re basically saying these are people who won’t get educated nor practice. I don’t know. Seems like a bad situation all around.

From the order page:

We are in no way recommending that you keep your gun loaded. What we do recommend is to lock up your gun unloaded of all lethal rounds. Keep one Safety Bullet in the firing chamber and one in the top of the clip.

Maybe that’s the lawyers and/or marketing department talking, but that’s a bad recommendation. Granted, if this is a historical gun, a range gun, target gun, hunting rifle, or any other gun that sees rare use, yes keep it unloaded and in a manner that is as safe as possible (e.g. remove the bolt). But if this is your defensive weapon? What good is an unloaded gun?

Does the device have application? Perhaps. If say I kept a gun out on display and the gun was to be for display only, I could see a mechanism like this being useful because it does lock up the gun’s action and render the gun useless, yet I could keep the gun in a “closed” manner that’s prettier for display.

This device was created with the best of intentions, but such paves the road to Hell. There are better ways of dealing with kids and guns (check Kathy Jackon’s CorneredCat.com website).

Just did some Googling on the product. I’m obviously late to the “whoa, this is a bad idea” party. But it seems to have come up in the news recently (maybe the company is hitting up news stations for product informercials disguised as news?) and it is the first I’ve heard of the product. There’s even a recently created website called Why The Safety Bullet Sucks. And it does seem Mr. Worley and company are avid salespeople and don’t take kindly to being rejected. Guess I’ll wait and see if they find this posting and how well they respond to it.

Practice for the weather

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

With the changing of the weather, so changes how most people dress. Colder weather mean big heavy coats, gloves, and other things that could change what and how you carry, and/or how you might access your gun.

Do you practice with these changes? Can your finger enter the trigger guard with those thick gloves on? Can you get all that coat and clothing out of the way and perform a clean and fast draw? If you’re using a different gun, are you familiar and proficient with it? If you don’t know you should find out. Fifteen minutes of dry fire in your garb will tell you much.

Barnes Bullet Performance – updated

/ hsoi

Got my recovered bullet in the mail. Looks gorgeous and is testimony to Barnes Bullet performance. I updated my previous Barnes Performance posting with more pictures, weight analysis, and other comments. Go read.

Updated: If you really want to see a neat picture of 2 expanded Barnes Bullets, click here. .458 SOCOM… mmmm.

“Naked Grandma” is the new gun

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

According to the game show, Family Feud, the (almost) last thing a burglar wants to see when he breaks into a house is… no, not a gun… a naked grandma.

I detect a new paradigm in home defense tactics.

Such high regard….

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Wow. Such high regard for your fellow man:

“I don’t think they should be able to, there’s too many people out there who make very irrational decisions, and I don’t think most people have the quality and intelligence to carry fire arms on campus,” said Jacob Wyers, a WTAMU student.

There’s so much wrong in that statement. It’s depressing.

KR Training November 2010 newsletter

/ hsoi

The KR Training November 2010 newsletter is now posted.

Prices lowered.

Some interesting upcoming classes, including a defensive knife class as well as Personal Tactics Skills, which I’d highly recommend for anyone that may have a CHL or be getting a CHL but haven’t had much “real life” training. If all you’ve done is patiently shoot holes at paper targets at the gun range but you have a gun with the expectation that you may need it to defend your life, you’d do well to get some training in more “real world” situations. Personal Tactics Skills is a good introduction. There’s no shooting (just uses plastic guns for simulation), it’s low-speed, pain-free, and conducted indoors. But it helps you get started in learning how to apply defensive tactics in real-life situations. Highly recommended.

Lots of other stuff coming up too. If Tom Givens will be back in the Spring for a shotgun course, I’m there.

 

Barnes Bullet performance

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

The bigger doe I shot on Saturday? There was no exit wound due to the angle I shot it at. Thus I knew the bullet was inside the deer and I wanted to recover it. We didn’t find it Saturday evening so I figured it was gone.

Not so!

Josh Storm emailed me this morning with a picture:

He said he found it lying on the slab where the deer was cleaned. So, we can’t know exactly how far it penetrated and where it came to rest. And tho the picture is a little blurry, you can see there’s perfect expansion, petals curled back, looks like no loss of petals. Looks great!

That’s a Barnes Bullet 85 grain .277″ TSX bullet (out of a Silver State Armory 6.8 SPC Barnes 85 grain TSX tactical load). That’s performance. I know it struck a shoulder, took care of the heart and lungs, and went in pretty deep after that. Solid performance there. The other doe was DRT but exit wound so no recovered bullet.

Josh is going to mail me the bullet. I’ll check it out more when it gets here.

But this is why I prefer Barnes Bullets for hunting. Always had solid, reliable performance with them. You can go “smaller” on the bullet than tradition would warrant for X-particular game, and things work out well.

Updated: The bullet came in the mail. Here’s some pictures:

I weighed the bullet on my beam scale. The bullet is about 85.0 grains, +/- 0.1 grain. I tried weighing it at 84.9 and 85.1 and both were not centered. 85.0 wasn’t precisely centered either but was the closest. So assuming about 85.0 grains from a fresh bullet hey… looks like we’ve got essentially 100% weight retention in addition to perfect expansion.

The only thing I wish I knew was where the bullet came to rest so we could measure penetration and perhaps path/deflection. Oh well, another day I guess.

Deer hunting – opening weekend 2010

/ hsoi / 13 Comments

This is opening weekend for general season (gun) whitetail deer hunting in Texas.

Of course, I was out in the field. 🙂

I had such a great experience at Storm Ranch last year, I opted to go there again. My goal? If I could bag a couple does, I’d be thrilled. Meat was the goal, didn’t feel like paying for a big rack of antlers since they don’t cook up very well. 🙂  However, if some awesome monster came along, I wasn’t opposed to taking him.

The cool thing about this go-round? I took the kids.

Saturday Morning

Oldest went with me Saturday morning. He’s hot and cold about hunting. Sometimes he’s all gung-ho, other times he groans when I talk about it. But he talks about wanting to go hunting enough that I figured he needed to go like it or not (tho I think he does like it). I also figured to take him out first, because I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time with him lately. The plan was to alternate: Oldest on Saturday morning and Sunday evening, Daughter on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Youngest isn’t ready to go (he doesn’t care, and would just be beyond bored). Thing is, Oldest only committed to going Saturday morning. *sigh* Oh well, I’ll take what I can get.

I got him up around 3:30 AM, then again at 3:45, then again at 4:00. 😉  We got dressed, a little breakfast, load the car, and off we went. We get in. Casimero the ranch hand, and his son, once again picked us up. He had a new truck, but only with a standard cab so 4 people were cramped up in the front. Good thing the kids can still sit on my lap. We went to a stand, got ourselves settled in, and waited. I remember this stand well — it’s where I had “redemption” last year.

Let me just say that I’m glad I planned ahead for Oldest. I made it clear to him a few days ago how cold it was going to be, so that he couldn’t ignore my telling him to dress in layers, wear gloves and a hat, and so on. The notion of freezing his buns off was obviously unappealing, which worried me that the day might flop. So while at the sporting goods store yesterday on a whim I picked up those dry pack “hand warmer” things as well as a small propane heater. Man, I’m so glad I did. There was a freeze warning out for the Hill Country, and I reckon it was around 32º that morning. We were layered well, but still it was cold. I recalled how last year was a bit miserable just sitting in the stand bored and cold, so yeah… I was happy for the warmth and Oldest was too. . The heater didn’t make it feel like we were indoors (the blind windows of course let all the heat out), but it did take the edge off and allow us a nice way to keep our hands toasty. The little hand warmer packets were so-so… didn’t live up to my expectations, but I will say my hands weren’t as numb as they could have been. I also bought Oldest a big insulated thermos so he could bring some coffee. In the end, good purchases… we were still a little cold, but the gadgets took the edge off.

But that’s all there was to write home about. We saw nothing. No deer. Just birds. Did see an owl, which was cool. Thankfully, Oldest has been fishing enough to know there’s “fishing” and then there’s “catching”, so he knows there are no guarantees. But he was very positive about everything and told me he still had a lot of fun. I asked if he wanted to go back out Sunday evening and he said yes. Frankly, I didn’t care so much about the lack of deer; just being out there with my son was satisfying enough. We got to talk a lot, fun around, make jokes at the other’s expense, I got schooled at Doodle Jump. Sure, bagging a deer would have been nice, but as cliché as it may be, time with my son was priceless.

I will say tho… while sitting and growing mildly impatient to even SEE a deer, I realized that while I want meat, I also want to finally bag something with that 6.8. I found myself itching not so much to bag a deer, but to bag a deer with that 6.8. If a warm gun is happiness, then I have a very unhappy gun. 😉

Saturday Evening

Came home, cleaned up, then got Daughter ready for the evening hunt. Drove back out to Storm Ranch with our hopes high. Got there about 3:00, loaded into the truck, and Casimero took me out to a stand that I remember well. This was the stand where last year the feeder went off, then a bunch of horses came out and never left… I spent the evening watching horses and wishing they would go away. I was fearing another repeat of the same for there were 5-6 cows parked right at the same fence juncture. Great…. But, I spoke up about it. When I was left the ranch that morning, I spoke on the phone to Josh about how the morning went and where I’d like to sit that afternoon. I actually wanted to sit in the same location as I did last year’s first night when I got the doe. So I mentioned that to Casimero and well… I don’t know if there was a mix up in the communication, if I didn’t describe it right, if another hunter was already there… don’t know. But, we did pack up from that horse-and-cow laden location and went somewhere else.

I don’t believe I ever sat in this spot. And to be honest, the picture cannot do the beauty of the location any sort of justice.  That picture was taken from within the stand. The stand was up on a hillside looking down at a feeder 100 yards away (you can see the feeder as a little dot in the center of the picture). Behind the feeder the hills went up and it was just a gorgeous view from that stand. Thing is, the deer could have come from any direction since trees were everywhere and paths everywhere. So we just had to keep our eyes open.

4:00… 5:00… feeder goes off. We continue to wait. Last year my father-in-law gave me a deer grunt call as a Christmas stocking stuffer. I really don’t know how to use calls, but I studied some prior to going out so… what the hey, might as well try. Oldest and I tried in the morning, but had no luck. I tried a few calls and nothing. Nearing 6:00.

Now about this time I was changing my mind about going back out on Sunday. You can only get a deer if you’re in the field, but did I really want to be in the field another day? Yes, because I wanted some deer. Yes, because I wanted to share more of the experience with my kids. But no, because I’m dead tired. I haven’t been sleeping well lately and the lack of sleep has been affecting my performance. Furthermore, with Daylight Saving Time ending well… technically it’s “fall back” so you gain an hour of sleep, but not in my case because the sun and thus the deer still rise at the same relative time, so instead of waking up at 3:30 AM to get ready I’d have to get up at 2:30 AM and oye, that’s just even more lost sleep. I was giving serious contemplation to staying home on Sunday and resting. I can go hunt later, but I need to heal my body now.

I changed the deer call to a “tending/hyper grunt”… a buck mating call, used only during the rut. I gave it a whirl. Waited 5 minutes. Gave it another whirl. I looked down in my lap at my phone, and when I looked back up… I saw her.

“Here child… here!” and I shoved my phone and the deer call into Daughter’s hands. “Deer! Deer!” I excitedly whisper. “Where? What?”, Daughter replied. I’m working to get my rifle into position. “Down there, in front of the feeder”. It was actually hard to see her with the naked eye, she blended in with the terrain very well. I had the rifle up… but ugh… I was facing south, the sun was setting, and so my right eye was getting flooded with sunlight and I couldn’t see. Reposition. Sun gone. Got her in my crosshairs. Breathe… breathe… calm down… steady… deep breath……. breathe.

“There’s another!” Daughter whispers. Scan scan scan…. ah, there. Doe. Smaller. Switch back to the first one. Damnit… she jumped inside the low-fence around the feeder. Well, that’s OK. She’s hungry, she’ll be here a while. Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

Come on… jump out. Perfect broadside shot, but I’m not going to take her while she’s inside the fencing…. tempting tho it was. Finger went to the trigger a couple of times, but I wasn’t going to take it.

Wait.

Wait.

SHIT! They just flew the flag. “Dad, it’s a bird on the fence.” Doesn’t matter why, they got spooked well enough by something. Big doe jumped out of the fencing and was looking to bolt, but she paused. OK, now or never. Damnit, another almost front-on shot… why can’t I get a broadside? well, I know the anatomy, so here goes. “Daughter, plug your ears.”

Boom!

I press off the shot. I follow through. I see the doe take off running towards me (to her 1 o’clock, my 11 o’clock). Her front left leg is moving funny so I know I got her and broke her shoulder. OK…. running behind that little group of trees, I can’t see her… I’m still following her though, my head turning to my left and oh! What’s this?

It’s the other doe.

She of course ran when she heard the shot, but only ran about 50 yards to the east, stopped, and looked back in the direction of where the loud sound came from (me). Gosh… the grass is tall, you’re down the hill and mostly hidden, but I have a perfect and clear shot on you.

Boom!

I didn’t see anything. No idea if I got her due to the terrain… she could have run and I wouldn’t know where she went. Daughter and I gave a small celebration. Daughter reported she saw the first one crash on the ground, and the second was either dead or long gone. Yeah yeah… wait before you get out of the stand. I saw no reason to wait. But I tell you, I felt like a clumsy fool trying to get out of the stand. Trying to move the chairs, trying to get through the door… I was shaking so much from the excitement, from the aftermath. I strapped the gun over my shoulder and headed down the hill.

We found the first doe. about 25-30 yards from where she was shot.

But we didn’t stop to take pictures then. We flagged where she was, then went searching for the other one. I knew her general location, but with all the rain we had this past year, the grasses were pretty tall and plentiful… figured it would be a lot of scouring around. A little bit of searching and we found her. There was a splotch of blood on the ground, and from how the deer was laying, all twisted up, we deduced she was DRT and never took a step.

I talked with Daughter a bit about how she felt, what she experienced. She was excited, it was thrilling. I talked to her about being thankful, about giving respect and thanks to the deer for giving their lives to nourish ours… and Daughter finished the sentiment by saying then when we die, we go into the ground, feed the plants, which then feed the deer. And the circle of life continues. 🙂  While we waited to be picked up, I phoned Wife to tell her the news. Her take was that I placed my order (“I’d like two does, please”) and God served it up. And how.

Casimero came to pick me up. We loaded the deer, went back to the cabin area to clean them. Daughter was feeling tired so I asked if Casimero could clean them because he’s amazingly fast at it (I’d take twice as long, at least). While he did that, I got to talk with Josh and catch up with him. Another group of folks was in for the weekend to hunt and the had a campfire going. Daughter went over there to warm up. I admit, I was a little nervous about Daughter going over to a campfire with a group of strangers… not that they’d do anything, but I had no idea who was there, if they’d be nice and accepting of a little girl coming over or what. Turned out to be great tho, since Daughter got to meet Lauren who was so welcoming and kind to Daughter, as well as the other group in for the weekend. Everyone was so nice to her, they all talked for a while. I eventually wandered over myself and chatted with everyone. Seems this other group saw 8-10 bucks during the day, a dozen hogs…. so that’s where everything was! 🙂  We stayed and talked to everyone for a while. Makes me think that one of these times I need to just stay the weekend; sure it’s a 30-45 minute drive so it’s nice that I can sleep in my own bed, but gosh if the camp isn’t part of the fun of the experience.

Daughter was fading, so it was time to head home. Two deer in the cooler. Earlier I wasn’t sure if I was going to hunt on Sunday, but having 2 in the cooler? I figured I could rest on Sunday and head back out to hunt another day. I spoke with Oldest about it and he’s cool with it; we’ll go out again together, just him and me.

When I got home, I washed all the quarters and put them on ice and water. I’ll let them wet-age in the garage for a couple of days then take them to Johnny G’s for processing. The fun part? While I was cleaning things up, Wife came out to the driveway and brought Sasha. Oh… I guess a primal nerve got struck with her. She’s never smelled deer and so much fresh flesh and blood, but she was mightily interested. I had a couple chunks of the fresh venison flesh that I set aside, and when I was all done cleaning things up, gave Sasha the chunks. She wolfed them down. When the deer were cleaned, I had them keep all the organs they could (that which wasn’t blown all to hell). Got a heart, a liver, a couple kidneys. Going to cut them up today and make another “stew” for Sasha. She’ll love them. 🙂

Gun (and other) Geekery

What would this entry be without a little gun geekery.

I shot these two deer with my rifle chambered in 6.8 SPC. It’s a mild franken-gun, with the upper being a Wilson Combat 6.8 and the lower from a Bushmaster, and the trigger a Rock River Arms 2-stage match trigger.. The scope is a Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40mm with a standard Plex reticle on their P.E.P.R. mount. I used Silver State Armory 6.8 SPC 85 grain Barnes TSX tactical load for ammo.

Interesting on the ammo. On the second doe, the bullet passed through. Hit in the front shoulder, exited out the side. On the first doe tho… there was no exit wound. Now, her heart and lungs were sufficiently destroyed, the shoulder joint was blown… but where did the bullet come to rest? There’s a lot of deer it had to go through (remember, it was an almost front-on shot) so the bullet came to rest in her somewhere… just… where? Don’t know. We didn’t find it. It could still be in the meat somewhere (tho I didn’t find it), or in the carcass that is now buzzard and fox food somewhere on the Storm Ranch property. If the bullet is in the meat I have, I’d love to recover it. But the bottom line for me is… it shows the impressive performance of Barnes bullets.

I’m also happy that the 6.8 performed so well. This is my first kill with the 6.8 and it did great. I’m certainly looking forward to loading those 95 grain Tipped TSX bullets and using them exclusively for my Texas hunting needs.

The gun was zeroed to be 1.5″ high at 100 yards. That worked well. The first doe was at about 100 yards and the second I’m guessing 125-135 yards. There was only the occasional slight breeze (5-10 MPH at far most). Everything performed well and did what it was supposed to.

In other geeky stuff… notice in the picture I’m wearing a white shirt? There was no camo wearing in the afternoon. I know… wearing camo is the way things go. It’s part of the tribal aspect of the event. But come on. Siting in a box blind is all the camo needed. I might not wear white again since it’s kinda reflective and visible. Camo has a place, but I’m not going to get religious about it.

The deer call. Who’s to say. It was evident these does were hot, so did that “excited buck mating call” bring them in? Or were they just aware of the feeder and came out of habit? Who knows. I’ll continue to practice calling.

Sum

It’s evident from speaking with some long-time hunters that I’m in a different place than they are. They’ve been at it a while and generally only want to shoot “that big one”. They want something different from I want. I want experience: I’m now up to 4 whitetail deer in my lifetime, and the fact I got to shoot 2 in row? Wow! I want meat in the freezer. I am a little impatient. I am not picky. I want to give my kids an experience I never had growing up, and just like fishing vs. catching I know that it’s sometimes better to catch a little bluegill quickly than to sit all day and never catch Big Bubba Largemouth, if you want to capture their interest. Sure I’d love to bag that big buck of a lifetime, but why? For the stories, for the experience. Well folks, right now I’m having one heck of a fine experience as it is, so I’m good.

What made me most happy? My shooting. Yes as soon as I saw the doe my heart rate went up, my breathing went up, I started to shake. I calmed myself. The two shots I took? They were calm, steady, true. Bullet went right where I wanted. I had to make quick decisions, and decisive shots, especially on that second one. My mind was made up to take two deer if I had the opportunity, so when it arose I didn’t have to think if I wanted to do it, I just acknowledged the situation, assessed if I had the shot, and since I did I took it (had plan, executed it). To be able to make such a shot quickly, calmly, accurately, and decisively felt good and reassuring of my skillset. This has extrapolation into other areas.

I’m happy with how things turned out. The gun performed well. The weather was fantastic. I love how Storm Ranch is so close to home, but being buried in the middle of the ranch you have deep stars and absolute silence (other than someone else’s gunshots ringing out in the distance). I got to spend good time with my kids. I got to provide some true free-range organic meat for my family to be nourished by. Folks, life is good.

I again want to thank Josh Storm, Casimero and his son, and everyone at Storm Ranch for again making for a good time. I want to also give special thanks to Lauren for being so kind and friendly with my Daughter. We’ll be back.

And now… to rest. 🙂

Updated: I edited the post slightly to add in some details of things I forgot to add the first time around.

Updated 2: On the big doe, due to the “hit from the front” angle, there was no exit wound. Thus the bullet was somewhere inside that deer. I wanted to recover it but we couldn’t find it. Well, I just got an email from Josh Storm. He found the bullet! He said it was lying on the slab where the deer was cleaned. He emailed me a picture:

I reckon he took the picture with his iPhone, since it’s a little blurry. But you can still see that 85 grain .277″ Barnes TSX expanded perfectly! Petals all curled back. Looks like no loss of petals either. THAT is Barnes performance. THAT is why I love Barnes bullets.

I do wonder where it actually ended up inside the doe. That is, how far did it penetrate, especially after hitting the shoulder. I do know the heart and lungs were demolished. While trimming out the right backstrap, I saw a hole in the ribs right next to the spine and wondered if that might have been where the bullet ended up. We’ll never know exactly.

Josh is going to mail me the bullet. I expect no loss of weight (or negligible), and for it to look picture perfect…. as long as it makes it through the US Mail without a hitch.