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Well, I never said a 416 was an ideal elk hunting rifle. I said I wouldn't hesitate to shoot an elk sized animal with one. For some one to say that a 416 wouldn't have enough penetration on an elk at 300 yards is sheer folly and just shows their ignorance.

I do 99% of my hunting with handguns. I have killed deer, bear and mountain goat. The longest shot I have ever taken was a deer at 300 yards. I had burned a lot of powder that summer preparing for a goat hunt and knew I could make that shot. From a 12 ¾” Contender, with a rock solid rest, I broke that deer’s shoulder blade into three pieces with a 165gr Nosler Ballistic Tip from a 309 JDJ (444 Marlin necked down to 30 cal) and dropped it where it stood. The bullet destroyed the lungs and took out a rib on the way out the other side. If a 165gr 30 caliber bullet will do that at the lower muzzle velocity of a single shot pistol barrel, then a 416 on an elk would be the same.

I also shot a mountain goat with the same gun at 200 yards and he never took a step. Those two were the longest shots I’ve ever taken. I mush prefer to get close. Heck, I shot a black bear at 7 yards with a 44 mag…that was the most incredible rush I’ve ever had. I love getting close, so I am not advocating long range shooting all the time.

I can always tell when some one has no experience shooting animals with what would be considered “too much gun” for that animal. Their reaction is always the same…”Geeze, is there anything left?” or “Must blow them to pieces” or something similar. That is absolutely, positively, 100% not true. Not even close. I’ve shot white tail deer with my 416...just for the fun of it, to take it out on a nice day…and the meat damage is less than a 30-06.….or a 308 or 30-30 or any other “normal” deer round. The entrance and exit holes are finger sized and as they say, “you could eat right up to the hole.” Most bullets for the bigger rounds are tougher and don’t expand much on lighter game like deer.

Case in point…a short range shot with the 416. Big bodied white tail in Pennsylvania that I shot while visiting family. Range of not more than 40 yards. Load was a 325gr Barnes X-Bullet. The buck almost fell at the shot, but managed to stumble badly about 20 or 30 feet and went down. When we butchered the deer, it was an eye opener to some of the folks in camp who think like you do about meat damage. They simply couldn’t deny the evidence in front of them. We lost very little shoulder meat. I’ve seen more bloodshot meat from a 30-30.

As far as shooting dangerous game at long range, you are absolutely right…I would never shoot at game like that at over 100 yards. Since I normally use handguns, I like to get close…that’s the fun of it. I like to get within 50 yards or so I’d say my average shot distance overall would be about 60 yards or so.

I also agree with you on the internet…for all I know you could be a 16 year old kid on mom’s computer…for all you know, so could I. I take everything I see online with a grain of salt. What I was referring to when I talked about Weatherby people sharing their hunting results was not from what I heard online…it was from friends I know who hunt with the rifles. One had a 30-378 and another a 338-378.

I got a good chuckle at your comment about suggesting I read some computer program to “wake me up to the realities of big game hunting.” Now that’s funny! I prefer to get my reality at the range, not from some paper chart or ballistic computer program. Range time is the reality check, not sitting in front of a computer or reading a magazine.

By the way, we have our share of dangerous game right here.

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"Life's too short to hunt with an ugly gun"

U.S. Coast Guard, retired