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| A comment Gun companies are victims of their own success: they must continually offer new calibers for us to buy. Gun scribes write articles and stories for a living: they need to have something new and wonderful to write about. I feel that has spawned the current trend toward Mega-thumping calibers, which are probably the worst choices for the average hunter. My age may be showing, but I grew up reading Jack O'Connor. Based upon what I read, my first “had to have” rifle was a Sako in .270 Winchester. After a few hundred rifles in almost as many calibers, I no longer own that .270 but I still believe in the O’Connor philosophy: “In most cases a moderate caliber rifle that becomes second nature to the shooter is far more deadly than the massive big caliber guns.” |
There
is a need and a place for the “boomers”. If your
prey has teeth,
claws or weighs more than a small car and wants to kill you, carry the
biggest caliber you can handle; if not, consider a
caliber with a milder manner. Having observed the owners of these
slammers
at the range, I see many of them shoot with their eyes closed. Shooting
a gun with which you are comfortable, you will be
able to make confident, well placed shots. With the correct bullet
and proper shot placement, you will make clean kills. The truth is
that the best scope and custom rifle may look good in a gun cabinet,
but the total package is only as good as the marksman
behind the trigger. Shooting
a rifle that you can’t handle or shooting at extreme ranges
is a
sure way to wound game. Accurate shot placement not only is the key
to successful hunting, it fulfills our commitment to conservation and the proper use of
the natural resources.
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