First Deer with 6ARC

[Rickhem]

Went out for a trip to change the chips on my trail cameras on Monday, and it was so nice and quiet in the woods that I decided to sit for a bit in one of my ground blinds made from cut logs and branches.  Had a small spike respond to my grunt call, and he was hanging around within about 50 yards for over a half hour, so decided to stay till sunset.  It started snowing which made it even quieter with there being almost no breeze at all.  At a little after 4, I got chilly, not being dressed for a long sit, and stood up to help warm up.  I noticed my rifle, which was leaning against a tree, had the objective side of the scope covered with snow.  I cleaned that off and decided to hold it horizontally, so that wouldn't happen again.  After another 5 minutes, right when I decided to leave, I caught movement out where that spike went, but it wasn't the spike.  I could see antlers right away, and sat back down to get a better rest for a shot.  He walked towards me from about 100-110 yards out and at about 50-60 yards I had a good lane, so I took a quartering towards me angle shot as he moved through that lane.  Deer reacted to the hit and ran straight towards me, stopping at about 20 yards away and stood there.  At that point I decided to get another round in the chamber, so I cycled the bolt on my Howa Mini, but the deer just slumped over and fell right there.  My load was the Sierra 85 over CFE223 at about 2950.  This didn't give the bang-flop that I hoped for, but I'm also not so sure about shot placement since he was moving when I shot.  
Anyway, it's first blood for that setup, and I'm happy with the results.

[CZ527 Guy]

Congratulations! What barrel length on the Howa?

Thank you for sharing.

[Rickhem]

Congratulations! What barrel length on the Howa?

Thank you for sharing.

Mine has the 20" one that they call the "heavy" barrel.  If you're familiar, it's not that heavy in relation to other manufacturer's varmint barrels.  It's a profile that I've seen called a "heavy sporter" profile in other places, and for a hunting rifle, it's a nice compromise.

I bought the barreled action from Brownell's, then got the VGM stock from Stocky's to put it in.  I swapped out the bottom metal and magazine with the Jefferson Outdoors blind mag bottom metal, and it wears a Vortex Diamondback 4-16 scope in Talley rings.  For an inexpensive barreled action, it ended up costing more than I thought it would to finish out, but those were my choices.

The rifle will hold three rounds in the blind mag without issue, and while I can get a fourth in there, the bolt won't close without stripping that top round and chambering it.  My practice is to load three in the mag, drop one into the chamber, then press down the rounds in the mag while closing the bolt over them.  That gives me four rounds in the rifle, plenty for deer hunting.