Aug 29, 2020 4 min read

I must confess, for most of my life I have thought how nice it would be to sit at the mouth of a cave on top of some remote mountain and give advice to others.

Now, each time the phone rings, I tend to grit my teeth and stumble toward the phone. At my age, it takes me so long to get to the phone, and I can’t hear as well these days. So, I guess, if I am going to be the advice guru, then I better give it here in the newspaper. Thus, today I am answering some of this week’s questions on reloading and ballistics.

First, the question was about deer rifles, and one of my buddies argued that a 180-grain bullet would down a deer quicker than a lighter one. What do you think? About three years ago, the National Rifle Association did a study on this very question and guess what the answer was? It was not even close. There are far more one shot kills with the 150-grain bullet than anything else. It is all in the bullet construction and how fast it expands. For example, the lighter bullet in a 06 is made for smaller big game and it expands faster than the same rifle shooting 180-grain bullets.

Then, the question was asked about hunting bear for the first time. In his arsenal, one can find a light .243 and a mixture of rifles in bigger calibers. Now don’t get me wrong when I say the .243 and like cartridges depend on speed to reach a reasonable energy level. This is because, at times, the speed of the bullet is needed to reach penetration on a bear that not only carries a fur coat but also a layer of fat that the bullet must get through. It is seldom that heavy, long-range rifles are needed on bear. Instead, it is better to carry the light rifle with a bit more bullet weight. This is also because most bears are found in the heaviest of cover, meaning short-range shots.

My next bit of advice is about the good fall bucks we are all watching. If it disappears right before rifle season begins this year, then do not blame that car driving down the road. It could happen, but my guess is it will be more likely taken by an arrow. After all, half of this year’s bucks will be downed before the rifle hunters even enter the woods.

My last question I had this week is a tougher one to answer. It has to do with rifle cleaning. My caller assumed that cleaning his rifle would speed up his bullet and cause it to hit higher. I have heard this one before so no need to go back into my cave to consult or research anything. It goes back to the saying, foul your barrel before going after that buck of a lifetime. After you clean you must shoot to check where it hits. While your rifle might hit a bit higher as the speed of the bullet is increased, it also might not. The recoil begins when the primer is hit by the firing pin. The slower-moving bullet spends more time in the barrel and the barrel is lifted in recoil, higher the longer the bullet is in the barrel. This means that in theory the bullet should exit a clean barrel faster and lower, but I can tell you from guru experience that this is not always so. I have owned rifles that hit high and others that hit low after cleaning. I have witnessed this also in my friend’s guns. So, I say, the big mistake here is not expecting the bullet to be high or low, it is assuming anything at all. Shoot the gun after a cleaning.

With firearms anything can occur, and if you live long enough and shoot as many rounds as I have, you will realize this. Then you can move into a cave and give out gun advice.