Load work up for another .30-06 load.

Last fall I worked up a .30-06 load with a 180gr Hornady Interlock bullet that showed great promise at the range. The end result was a quarter size group at 200 yards and a sub-2.5” group at 300 yards. It’s a load that I’m itching to try out on some cow elk this fall/winter.
I also had a box and a half of similar 150gr Hornady Interlocks, that to be honest were of no use to me just sitting in my drawer, so I decided to work up a load in the .30-06 with those. The intent of these would probably just be practice rounds but there is always the potential they could be used on an occasional doe antelope hunt or maybe a couple years when my boys are old enough for some rifle deer. I could just pick a charge and load up a bunch blindly just for practice but since there may be the potential for some hunting with it I figured I’d go through the Optimal Charge Weight (OCW) load work-up process and get a solid accurate load.
I had found a couple pounds of Hodgdon H4831, which is the same powder for the 180gr load and figured that sharing powder between the two loads would be a good idea. After consulting a number of reloading manuals and online resources I settled on a maximum load of 61.5 grains. An Excel spreadsheet helped me perform the calculations to determine the charges for the individual sets and I loaded up the series of bullets.
Once at the range I covered the target board with my paper targets. I created small targets with a simple ¾” black square at the center (in hindsight I could have probably made the square smaller because it still looks pretty good sized at 100 yards with my scope up to full power).
The first three rounds (set 1, 2, and 3) are simply to make sure that the shots show up on the paper and give you one last chance to quickly adjust your scope. So I fired the bullets from set 1, 2, and 3 at the first target. With sets 4 through 10, the OCW method calls for shooting “round robin” style, so I proceeded to shoot one round from each set and each target. I labeled each target to match the set number, so when I was done shooting the first round targets 4 through 10 had one bullet hole on them. I proceeded to shoot the second round, and then wrapped up the third round. When I was done, targets 4 through 10 each had a three shot group on them. I allowed the barrel to cool approximately 2 minutes between each shot since the weather was still relatively cool.
This is the image of the series of targets that I shot:

At home, I measured the center of each group or the point of impact (POI) and the overall group sizes. The POI is the critical information with the OCW method and I was looking for a string where the POI was very close together. My 180gr targets showed a good string where the POI between several targets was within ¼”, but this 150gr load did not show anything that I was satisfied with and I would not consider any consecutive targets as sharing a POI. Here is an image of the Excel spreadsheet where I entered in the data from the targets to determine POI and group size.

Honestly, if group size was the only determining factor I would be perfectly satisfied with anything ranging from 60.1 grains to 61.4 grains as each group was right at or just under MOA (1” at 100 yards). But group size only tells one part of the story and finding a series of charges that share the same POI results in a very forgiving load for the reloader so I decided to press on. Since I got good groupings from 60.1 to 61.4 grains, I decided to make up a series of graduated loads between 60.1 and 61.4gr to be shot at a later date at 200 yards. I’ll perform the same evaluation of POI and group size and hopefully determine an accurate but forgiving load that I can count on in those occasions where I’d feel comfortable using the 150gr bullet instead of the 180gr bullet.

Another Shed Hunting Adventure

April 13, 2015 - As we pulled into the little parking spot at the “Security Gate” the truck thermometer read 28°. Teeth chattered as we readied our gear and put on our packs. The mission for this trip was to locate sheds off several bull moose that we had observed on earlier trips, to lay eyes and boot leather on a couple new areas that look so promising from a distance and on the computer screen, and to visit several reliable old spots to just get reacquainted with them for the year.
Off we headed down “The Narrows” following the creek until one fork met with another. The creek was crossed and we began gaining elevation. The hillside was steep and the brush was thick but eventually we reached a small saddle where the terrain opened up and the mountain displayed itself before us in grand panoramic fashion. We stood in this saddle and speculated as to where bucks and bulls could potentially be located in the fall. A couple feet ahead of me on the ground lay a spent .270 Winchester casing, brown and tarnished from exposure to the elements. I picked it up and put it in my pocket, hoping that the owner of that spent round tasted success that day.
After a brief break at the saddle we began our assault on “The Claw.” This is a large, rocky south facing slope with three timbered fingers that stretch upwards from the bottom which resemble the shape of a claw on the satellite imagery.

Hiking was difficult, more like slow and painful, as we worked through the rock chutes and the thick brush. I was about one third of the way up one of the rock chutes when a small herd of elk wandered across the top of the chute above me. I couldn’t ask for a better vantage point to watch them. There were eleven elk total. One appeared to be a larger bull, he was noticeably larger than the others… several inches taller at the rump than all the other elk in the herd… and cream colored as bulls typically are. There was also a spike bull that had yet to shed his antlers. Then across the radio Jared said that he had found a small brown spike elk shed. I realized I wasn’t far from him so I worked my way down to him. On my way I found an old, crusty, white elk shed from a respectable bull that was broken and cracked. A close encounter was had with another spike elk who still retained his antlers.
Little horned lizards scattered in the rocks in front of me as I continued to negotiate the rock chutes to a small shelf where we met up for lunch. After lunch we split up again and I continued my ascent to the top of “The Claw” which would be approximately 1200 vertical feet in elevation in about ½ mile. A small series of springs was found in a small grassy meadow at the top of the chutes. It was an interesting location because it was open with very little cover around it and the hillside was still quite steep. I determined that this was where the herd of elk had slowly fed across.
I continued to the summit and began to descend down the north slope to a large bowl that contains one of my favorite little spots on the mountain. There are five ponds in this bowl, four of which will be bone dry by late summer but the fifth will contain cold clear water through the fall hunting seasons. It was over this pond that I sat on the muzzleloader deer hunt and watched a large herd of elk for several hours. There was still several feet of snow, but I was able to walk across the top of it most of the way. After negotiating the rock chutes being able to take full strides across the snow was refreshing and I covered ground very quickly. I slipped through the bottom of the bowl and up the north side following that ridge to the east. On every scouting trip last summer I was able to spot a small group of really nice bucks that would work their way under a large rock face and through a couple clumps of chaparral brush (buck brush, I’m not sure what it’s proper name is). All of my previous observations of this area had been through the spotting scope at a considerable distance. As I looked over the area in detail I was able to see the primary trail used by the deer. I took some time to find a spot that would give me a reasonable shot at anything working through those chaparrals on that specific trail.
I turned and headed north again, working into an area that we call “The Short Ridges.” The main canyon in this area runs south to north with a series of small ridges that come off that main canyon which run east to west. The ridges ultimately merge into a large bowl at the top of the canyon that forms the western side of the main canyon. I worked my way into a little spot that looked like a fantastic little spot to spend an evening or a morning on my muzzleloader deer hunt this fall. The area was heavily timbered with pines but as I reached the bottom of the small draw it opened up almost miraculously. I found a small clearing maybe 100 yards in diameter with a perfect vantage point on the opposite side of the draw to hide myself and lie in wait. It’s also in a reasonable location to place a trail camera, although it would still be a healthy hike from my access points to the north.
After working down the Short Ridge I crossed the stream and worked up the east side of the main canyon to an area that we call “The Dam.” It quite literally looks like an earthen dam… it appears perfectly flat across the top and when viewed from a distance you could mistake it for one easily and expect to see water on the other side. I sat down to take a break once I crested the Dam. From my vantage point I could glass the large south facing bowl that has become one of my favorite places to sit and glass during scouting trips and opening mornings of hunts. I glassed two different herds of deer working through the bowl, one a herd of 10 and the other a group of 13. I waited to meet up with Doug here and we worked down along an area we call “The Boobs” to meet up with Jared. The Boobs are two knolls that rise up at the south end of the dam with a small saddle between… so use your imagination to guess what they look like from a distance!
We met up with Jared and began to work back down towards the creek along the west face. It was steep and rocky descent of another 1200 vertical feet. My feet were absolutely on fire by the time I reached about the halfway point and I knew that the only relief in sight would be to make it to the bottom and some relatively flat ground as quickly as possible. I should have been smarter and carried a change or two of socks so that I could put on fresh dry socks a time or two. I was using my trekking poles more like canes or crutches at this point trying to reduce the amount of weight I was applying directly to my feet and by the time I made it to the bottom my hands and arms were also on fire.
Once at the creek bottom we slowly negotiated the trail along the creek back to the truck.

At the truck we unloaded and took a couple of “hero shots” with each of us holding the sheds that were found.

I neglected to pick up my camera and left it on a rock near the road. With the snowstorm that has pounded the Wasatch Front over the last 24 hours I’m certain that the camera will be ruined, however I’m hopeful that when my grandparents make it up there this weekend that they will at least be able to find the camera (or somebody will return it to me) and I can salvage the pictures off the memory card.

I have a couple different things to write here today… mostly in the way of positive reviews for a couple purchases and experiences that I have made and had recently.
I have long been in the market for a handgun, I have never owned one before but several years ago took the Utah Concealed Carry class with the hope that one day I would eventually own something to conceal. To be honest, the true reason my dad, brother, and I took the class was to be able to legally carry a sidearm while muzzleloader hunting. When researching various handgun options I have always gravitated towards the revolver platform and found the .357 caliber the most intriguing because of its versatility in being able to chamber .38 special, .38+P, and .357 magnum rounds.
One of the websites that I was most impressed with while researching my potential purchase was Davidson’s Gallery of Guns (GoG). The site was simple and once I narrowed down my desired caliber and price range it was easy to make comparisons between different makes and models. The thing that I liked the most was the “Instant Quote” feature that pulled up the individual actual prices for the local FFL dealers in my area. This feature lists all of the fees, taxes, etc. and shows you the actual end price that you will pay (if you do not have a Conceal Carry Permit there is an additional background check fee). I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting to be assessed some random fees by the retailer but in the end I paid exactly what the GoG quoted me up front.
I made my order (an entry level priced BrazTech/Rossi .357 magnum 6 shot revolver for just under $300) and selected an FFL (Discount Guns & Ammo, 2140 S 1260 W, SLC). They were the cheapest and near my work so that I could simply stop on my way home when the gun arrived. I received a call from a clerk at Discount Guns and that same afternoon I stopped by their store. This was my first firearm purchase and the clerk was very helpful in helping me get the forms filled out correctly. I always worry when I go into specialty shops like this that I’m going to be treated as inferior since it’s my first time there… but all the employees were very polite and took great care of me. You hear horror stories about how some of these places treat their “regulars” so much better than the “first timers.” Based on how they treated me on my first time… they have made a “regular” out of me.
The GoG online purchasing experience was seamless and simple. My revolver was shipped immediately to the FFL that I had selected. The shipping information was included in my order confirmation and I received a call from Discount Guns on the day that I was expecting it to arrive there. I had some concern that maybe it would take a couple days to get through Discount Guns internal receiving system or whatever, and even some concern that they may just sit on my order for a day or two before calling me… but such was not the case. From everything I can tell, the shipment arrived earlier that day and as soon as Discount Guns received it into their system the clerk gave me a call.
Needless to say, I am impressed with both entities that I worked with to make this purchase, Davidson’s/Gallery of Guns and Discount Guns & Ammo. GoG is now my “go to” resource when I get the itch to find out what different firearms cost. Discount Guns & Ammo will no doubt be my FFL dealer of choice for future firearm purchases.

As part of purchasing this new revolver I also purchased all the needed components to begin reloading. Although the majority of my equipment is RCBS, I decided to try out the Hornady reloading dies because they have been running their “Get Loaded!” 2015 promotion where they offer a certain number of free bullets based upon qualifying purchases. Since I bought a die set I was eligible for 100 free bullets, so I filled out the forms according to the instructions, selected the bullets that I would like from the list (the .38cal 110gr XTPs), wrote a check, and put the envelope in the mail. The instructions stated that the redemption would take 12 to 16 weeks. My free bullets arrived yesterday afternoon, after only about three weeks… so quickly in fact that the $6.95 check that I had written to pay for shipping hasn’t cleared my checking account yet!
Hornady has definitely exceeded my expectations in fulfilling this promotion. Let’s face it, Hornady gave me 100 free bullets that it didn’t have to… and could have taken their sweet time in fulfilling this promotional order and made me wait the 12 to 16 weeks. But they didn’t, and have won me over in the process.
In short, I have had three high quality experiences recently that have exceeded my expectations. I will champion Davidson’s/Gallery of Guns as my preferred online firearm retailer, Discount Guns & Ammo as my preferred local FFL, and Hornady will always get my consideration when purchasing reloading equipment (especially as long as they run this “Get Loaded!” promotion… because I like free stuff as much as the next guy!).

PointHunter App... a must have if you hunt multiple states!

It is pretty clear that I only cover the state of Utah on this blog. I have only ever hunted in Utah and for the very foreseeable future Utah will be the only place that I hunt (although I do have a couple of my hunting buddies that reside in New Mexico & Idaho and have an open invitation to apply and hunt in those states). Don't feel bad for me though, I have a great thing going in Utah... I have the privilege of hunting private property and hunt both general deer and elk every year. But "man cannot live on bread alone," and today's hunter "cannot live on general hunts alone."  Many of us desire an experience that we perceive as superior to a general hunt or an opportunity outside of general hunts... so we apply for limited entry and once-in-a-lifetime permits year after year building bonus and preference points. Keeping everything straight is relatively easy for me since my applications are only filed in Utah. But there is a huge group of outdoorsmen who enjoy (and in many cases prefer) hunting outside of Utah. For those who apply for permits in multiple states the Point Hunter app is a welcome tool.

The target demographic is most definitely the hunter who fills out applications across multiple states, and if you fall within that demographic this app will help you stay on top of application dates, preference/bonus points, and drawing results.   

I'd do the app a disservice my trying to summarize its features myself, so for a comprehensive summary of the apps functionality please visit the developer's official blog www.gotmytag.com.  Here you will find all you will need to know about the app including links to both the AppStore (Apple) and Google Play (Android) for you to purchase the app.

Here is the developers "How To" video posted to YouTube:


Basically, if you apply for and hunt multiple states this app is a must have and well worth the price tag of a couple dollars.

My First Shed Hunting Expedition

On January 23^rd, Doug & I decided to take the day and go do a little scouting and shed hunting.  I left the house just before 6am and stopped briefly at WinCo to pick up a couple snacks and drinks.  We met up at the Park & Ride lot at 6:30 and headed up the canyon.  We drove to where the snowplows turn around and make a little parking area for snowmobiles and unloaded the ATV there.  We piled on the ATV and rode to where we wanted to start hiking and in short order we were spotting elk.

The first elk was a lone cow feeding in a bare spot on a nearby hillside, oblivious to our presence.  Further down the canyon a large herd of elk was spotted feeding our way, but they were a long ways off and it was difficult for me to see them.  There were other smaller groups of elk to our south near the mouth of the canyon as well, and I also had difficulty seeing them.  As we worked our way along our planned route we bumped that cow & as it turned out she was with a 5x5 bull.  This 5x5 was one that I recognized from the muzzleloader hunt this past November because of a distinctive feature… his left antler was broken off.  We saw this bull a couple of times over the four days that we hunted and came to know him simply as “The Broken 5.”  I watched him make his way across the canyon, skirt within yards of a moose that we had also been watching, then make his way through the brush heading north and out of sight.

While watching The Broken 5, we began picking apart two other nearby south facing hillsides.  Within short order a cow & calf moose were spotted near the top, and just below them stood a spike elk.  This spike turned into a statue and stood perfectly still and broadside for a really long time.  I was able to snap these pictures of him (one through my binoculars & another with a high zoom camera lens).

We also spotted a group of bull elk on the south facing slope of “The Boobs.”  These were bigger bulls, as they walked through the brush grazing I could see their antlers bobbing along against the brush.  I wished like heck that I had brought my spotting scope by this point.  One bull provided me with a decent view and I was able to clearly distinguish 6 points on each antler but couldn’t determine much else in terms of making a judgment on his size. 

After this twenty minute or so glassing hiatus, we began to work our way down to the creek bottom.  Just a couple hundred yards before the creek bottom the terrain leveled out into a nice little shelf.  We crisscrossed this shelf in search of shed antlers but were unable to turn anything up in spite of Doug’s “Spidey senses tingling.”  The last hundred yards or so down to the creek bottom were very steep and I debated long & hard about actually going down there because of what it would take to get myself back up out of there on the way out.  But, I found a nice spot where the snow was deep and slid on my butt to the bottom… it was actually quite fun.  I negotiated the stream crossing and began to pull myself up the hillside in front of me.  This was a southwest facing slope and was completely void of any snow, but the fine gravel that littered the slope turned my progress quickly into a “two steps forward, slide one step back” type scenario.  After covering a couple hundred yards, this side of the canyon also flattened out and became much more negotiable.  Doug and I had gotten separated as we scoured the shelf for sheds and we ultimately met back up about halfway up this hillside.  I searched every little clump of cedars, and followed every set of moose tracks for several hundred yards but to no avail… shed hunting was seeming to be more of a search for a needle in a haystack or at minimum a witch hunt.

I found Doug holed up in one of these cedar clumps and we stopped for a quick sandwich.  As I neared his position I noticed an unusual object strapped to his pack.  He’d picked up a beautiful mule deer shed, a very fresh one at that… the blood on the pedicle was still bright red and wet.  We hadn’t seen any deer that morning but we knew that the shed was jettisoned by its owner not long before Doug came across it.  If my novice estimate of antler measurement is remotely close I would estimate this to be a 160-170” buck… a fantastic specimen on a general unit regardless of score for sure.

We continued to work up the hill after lunch and shortly we had worked our way to a spot where we could clearly see a new area that we desired to explore that we have begun to call “The Claw.”  From this vantage point we spotted four moose on the most southeastern part of The Claw.  Again, we regretted not having the spotting scopes.  The moose were just far enough away that we couldn’t tell through the binoculars if they were bulls that had already dropped their antlers or very large cows… an assumption was made that at least two of the four were bulls due to their comparative body sizes.  While admiring these moose, I was able to locate two additional moose in a little spot I call “Short Ridges” and both of those moose were also comparatively large.  Doug went so far as to describe them as robust… which was the genesis for the new names of these two moose as we began to call them “The Robbie’s.”  I then spotted another group of elk way over on The Boobs that were bedded near the top under some cedars.  All were young bulls, 5x5s and smaller.  It’s not a great picture at all but the elk were bedded in the cluster of trees to the right of the peak in this picture.

Another couple moose were spotted and we watched them for a good while before deciding it was time to start making our way back towards the ATV.  Doug & I again split up and I made my way back to the creek bottom nearly retracing my steps from the climb up. 

I again reached the creek and negotiated the crossing, but the snow had warmed just enough that the firm snowbank that I had used to cross part of the stream gave way underneath me and my right foot plunged into the icy water.  The first words through my head and actually verbally expressed out loud would have likely made a trucker blush… I’d have to make it all the way back up to the top of the mountain in snow that reached knee deep with a pantleg that was soaked to just below the knee and a boot full of ice cold water.  My only choice was to just keep moving.  I didn’t want to negotiate the steep slope that I had slid down on my descent earlier that day so I went a couple hundred yards to the south and found a set of moose tracks that seemed to make their way up to the shelf where the terrain flattened out a bit.

From there I tried to stay just slightly on the southern aspect of the ridge climbing back up to the ATV because there was much less snow and the sun would at least help to keep my body warm.  I checked every little clump of cedars and again followed random tracks for a while but didn’t come across any sheds lying on the ground.  I made it to the top and waited for Doug.  In my haste (ok… really it was more like desperation) to get to the top I was moving pretty quickly, so I ended up being about 30 minutes ahead of him.  He had decided to take a similar route staying on the southern aspect but walk up the ridge just to the north of me.  He ended up coming across a moose shed in his path, so he added that to the lashings on his pack.

We made it back to the ATV, then to the truck, and headed down the canyon.  Even though we didn’t see a single deer while out hiking we saw several hundred deer coming down the canyon.  It was a fun hike & just nice to get out and hike around seeing some new country.

At the end of the day my GPS read just north of 6 miles of hiking, while my FitBit had registered 23,000+ steps!  The GPS was more accurate on the distance compared to the FitBit, which had logged 11+ miles… there was a considerable amount of stumbling and shuffling around in the knee deep snow that day! 

I was extremely grateful for the ski poles that I had thrown in my truck almost as a secong thought that morning.  All of my previous hiking had been without assistance of trekking type poles and it is safe to say that these poles will an inclusion to the gear list for all future adventures!