Shooting from an offhand, standing position is can be a very difficult proposition for most hunters. While I don’t have any facts to back this up, I would guess that the average hunter would have a difficult time consistently putting all of his shots inside of a ten inch circle at 100 yards. That being the case, shooting sticks, which have been very common in Africa for years, are becoming more and more popular in the United States.

In preparation for my first trip to Africa, I had purchased a set of Stoney Point Safari Sticks to get used to shooting off sticks. These collapsible shooting sticks had two legs are made out of flexible aluminum. When I practiced with them prior to the trip, I found that the amount of flex in them made them pretty much worthless. Not knowing if all shooting sticks were the same, I brought my much-used Harris Bipod with me to assist my shooting.

On my arrival, my professional hunter told me to take the bipod off of my rifle, as I would be shooting off of sticks. When I explained that I had tried in back home and didn’t like them, he asked me what kind of sticks I was using. After I explained it, he pulled out his sticks for me to take a look at. He had three sturdy fiberglass fence posts drilled and bolted together to form a sturdy tripod. After firing a few practice shots, I found that I could quickly get on target and shoot accurately out to about 200 yards. It was a very different experience than the one I had with the flimsy sticks I had back home.

A friend recently asked me whether two or three legged shooting sticks were better. That conversation led me to do some testing, as I really didn’t know what the answer was. I decided to perform the following test: Firing three shot groups, I shot from the bench (control group), then using three-legged sticks, two-legged sticks, and off of a monopod at distances of 110 yards, 220 yards, and 360 yards. The two and three-legged sticks were made out of plastic-coated metal tree stakes with the ends wrapped with athletic tape and fastened together with a piece of surgical tubing. I used a Stoney Point Polecat for the monopod. The rifle was a Remington Model 700 .243 Winchester and I used handloads consisting of new Remington Brass, 46.5 grains of RL15, Federal 210 primers and 70 grain Sierra Matchkings. Groups were measured from center to center of the bullet holes.

Here are the results. Group sizes are in inches.

The weather conditions were less than optimal for accuracy testing as the wind was gusting from 15-25 mph from behind me between four and six o’clock. It was blowing the hardest when I fired the groups at 110 yards, which I think explains the size of the groupings at that distance. I should also note that for the most part, shot dispersion was latteral versus horizontal. I believe this is a combination both bullet drift, and the effect of the wind on my body.

What surprised me the most about this test is that I was able to shoot better with the two-legged sticks than the three-legged sticks at all distances. I was also surprised at the level of accuracy I was able to maintain using just the monopod. I was able to hold for “minute of animal” out to 360 yards with any of the rests.

One thing I did not track but that I definitely noticed when shooting was that I was able to get on target much faster using the three-legged sticks, followed by the two-legged sticks and then the monopod. In a situation where having to get off a fast, aimed shot at distance is necessary, the three-legged sticks would be far superior to the others.

While I didn’t fire nearly enough groups to consider this test to be scientific in nature, it did give me a much better idea of the increased accuracy potential of the three different types of sticks.

After trying both the 140 grain Sierra and the 130 grain TSX, I decided that I needed something in the middle. Ideally, a bullet that would hold together better than the Sierra, but that was soft enough to expand at the lower impact velocity of a longer range shot. With that in mind, I decided to try the 130 grain Nosler Accubond. I also bought a bag of Norma .270 WSM brass which replaced the Winchester brass I had been using and switched to a Federal 210 primer. My hope was that going with a standard rifle primer versus a magnum might give me a little less pressure while still giving consistent ignition and velocity. It turns out, I was right! Using Retumbo and loading the cartridges to an OAL of 3.132 inches, I got the following results:

62 gr – 3284, 3267, 3228 – group size 1.2 inches
63 gr – 3292, 3286, 3280 – group size .7 inches
64 gr – 3300, 3315, 3300 – group size 1 inch
65 gr – 3308, 3325, 3325 – group size 1.1 inches

None of these loads showed signs of excessive pressure. While I don’t claim to be an expert, I think that going from a magnum to a standard rifle primer made a lot of difference. I decided to go with the 63 grain load, now it was time to try it on game and see how the bullet performed.

The first animal I took with it was a whitetail buck. He was broadside at 350 yards. The bullet passed completely through, taking out the top of the heart. At the shot, the deer reared up on his hind legs and fell over backwards. Since it was a pass-through, I have no idea how much weight the bullet retained, but the exit wound was about the size of a dime.

The next day, I wanted to shoot a doe for some extra meat. I spotted a nice one at the edge of the woods at 250 yards. She was quartering away at about 45 degrees, so I held for the offside shoulder and squeezed. She ran about 25 yards and piled up. When I got up to her, there was no exit wound, but she did have a bump under her skin on her offside shoulder. After making a small cut, the bullet popped out.

It was a nice day and I had plenty of time, so I did a little digging in the gut pile after I dressed her out. The bullet entered her flank, went though her stomach, tore out a big piece of liver and went through most of the front shoulder, but didn’t hit the main joint.

The recovered bullet weighed 81.6 grains, which is 62.7% of the original weight. The total penetration was somewhere between 1.5 and 2 feet.

The next bullet I tried was the Berger VLD. All loads used Winchester cases, Federal 215 primers and RL25. All cartridges were loaded to a C.O.L of 2.955 inches. Starting at 60 grains of powder, I had the following results:

60 gr – 3058, 3086, 3065. Group size was 1.2 inches
61 gr – 3072, 3108, 3100. Group size was 1.6 inches
61.5 gr – 3115, 3100, 3100. Group size was .7 inches
62 gr – 3137, 3167, 3182. Group size was 2 inches
62.5 gr – 3205, 3197, 3159. Group size was 1 inch
63 gr – 3220, 3236, 3220. Group size was 2 inches

At 63 gr, pressure once again became an issue, so I stopped there.

With the Berger not delivering the accuracy or velocity I was looking for, I tried the 140 gr Sierra Gameking with the same components.

61 gr – 3145, 3167, 3155. Group size 1 inch.
62 gr – 3267, 3292, 3308. Group size .8 inches.
63 gr – 3300, 3333, 3333. Group size 1.5 inches.

At 63 grains, the last round blew primer.

With a coues deer hunt scheduled in Mexico, I loaded up a batch of the 140 gr Gamekings with 62 grains of powder and headed south.

On the fourth day of the trip, I found a nice 3X3. After missing him at 315 yards, I finally sealed the deal, hitting him not once, not twice, but three times at 435 yards. How that little deer took all those shots is beyond me. Even at that range, the damage done by that soft of a bullet was significant. All three bullets passed through with large exit wounds. There wasn’t much left of the cape…

Out of all of the different calibers of rifles I’ve owned, the various 6.5′s have always held the most interest for me. Especially fast 6.5′s. The various 130-140 grain bullets available in this caliber have always struck me as having the the perfect combination; high B.C. and high Sectional Density, enough weight to kill deer sized game effectively, yet light enough that you can launch them really fast without punishing recoil.

When Winchester introduced the 300 WSM in 2001, my first thought was that the case would make a great platform for a 6.5 wildcat. Like many ideas I have for projects, this one stayed on the back burner for several years. In 2004, I finally took the plunge and decided to build something. The basis for the rifle was a stainless MRC1999 action to which was added a 24 inch stainless Lilja barrel with a 1:8 twist. The barreled action was then sent to Lone Wolf Riflestocks to have one of their Kevlar and carbon fiber Summit stocks fitted to it. When we got it back, entire action and barrel was Duracoated in black and a Leupold 4.5-14X LPS was installed.

With the rifle built, it was time to put some ammo together. Using Lee dies, I ran a bag of Winchester 270 WSM brass through the resizing die and trimmed them for length and neck turned them. With the brass prepped, it was time to start experimenting with powder. I had already decided that the Barnes 130 gr TSX was the bullet I wanted to use. My hope was that I could come up with a load that would launch this bullet at close to 3400 fps.

I started with H4831 and RL22 in my initial loads. Using 270 WSM load data, I backed off the minimum charge by a few grains, then loaded up three rounds at each .5 gr increment. Much to my surprise, I found that my starting loads showed considerable pressure signs. Back to the drawing board.

I took the rifle back to my smith and had him bore out the throat to allow me to seat the bullets out as far as the magazine would allow. With some additional case capacity, I decided to try a slower powder, RL25.

The next weekend found me at the range to try again.

My starting load consisted of:

Winchester 270 WSM Brass, trimmed to 2.095 inches and neck turned
62.5 grains of RL25
130 gr Barnes TSX
Federal 215 Primer.
C.O.L – 3.172 inches

My first three shots grouped about an inch. The chronograph gave me the following velocity readings: 3384, 3427, 3401.

It was the velocity I hoped for, but I could tell by looking at the brass that I was at higher pressure than I wanted to be. With an antelope hunt only a couple of weeks away, I loaded twenty-five more rounds, backing the powder charge back half a grain and sighted in. It was off to Montana to see how it performed in the field.

On the second day of our hunt, I spotted a nice buck on the side of a bluff with a herd of does. The rangefinder said 385 yards and the wind was still. Taking a solid prone rest over my pack, I centered the crosshairs a few inches below his back and squeezed off a round. A fraction of a second after the boom of the rifle, I heard the smack of a bullet hitting meat. He dropped in his tracks.

While the load was doing what I wanted it to do, I went back to the drawing board with two goals: find a lower pressure load and do it with a softer bullet that would perform at the greatly reduced velocity between 300 and 500 yards.

On my 2006 safari, we were given permission to hunt in the Fimbiri camp at Lemco. As the sun was setting, we came over the top of a ridge and spotted this kudu. I only had a couple of seconds to decide whether or not to take the shot. George made up my mind for me when he shoved me out of the truck with orders to “shoot that kudu!” I didn’t have time to wait for Tyge to get setup on the camera and the sun angle was terrible. I did manage to make a pretty good offhand shot on him as he stopped to look back at us.