My .243 is never to step foot on South Uist again...

[Junswo]

I was so excited to finally have an outing with my Sako 85 Finnlight in 308... and for it to be in South Uist!! For the rut!! We went for a pre-trip sight in...and WTF...the PPU, that on initial firing had seemed very solid on accuracy, couldn't hit an A4 sheet of paper twice in a row!!! On the day we head off no less... so I decided to take old faithful: my Sako 75 s/s in 243... with the five-shot-ragged-hole shooting Winchester Super-X 100g.

After 2 ferries, and 8 hours of driving, we went to zero with the stalkers. It was a bit windy, 20mph crosswind, and at 100 yards it pushed the 100g soft point 5" left... a little more than I expected, but not out of the ordinary...

Then, day one of my two days stalking, not 500m up the hill and we stumble across an incredibly wide, perfectly symmetrical 8 point buck... 150 yards...wind felt a little stronger than at zero...held left of boiler room (front of chest)... pulled the trigger... miss!!!!! Stalker says aim left... a foot in front of him... MISS!!!! The lucky buck ran off...

We walk to where he stood, and for about 50 yards of the walk, the wind whipped over the hill from our left, nearly blowing us over at points... Now I'm no expert, clearly but I would never had thought that wind would push that 100g piece of lead the length of a big red stag!! And over such a short distance! The 243 was swiftly packed away, and the old mans 270 came out...

We trudged on for two days of the hardest walking I've ever done, heard roars echo through the glens. Stalked a 15 pointer from 700 yards, crawling open ground for hours... only for him to get spooked by a another buck before we were close...

Had a pair of youngsters wander to within spitting distance as we made our way up the last ridge of the day... the damn things weren't the least bit afraid, they walked up from 50 yards...to 30...to 15...to 10!!!! Walked around to our right, spooked and bolted...

It was a week to remember...and I hope to go back again next year...and the next...and the next the people are kind, the fishing was great... the stalkers were superb!!!

And I did end up with the beautiful 12 point Royal that had spooked those young bucks, so I can't be too upset!! But the old 75 will never see the Hill of South Uist again...

 

[diverdave]

Great write up, sounded like fun.
I had similar experience a few years back, but with the 3006. A deer had been face shot on another estate, and our stalker had spotted it (long story, written up here years ago) and we spent the afternoon trying to get close enough for a shot, the herd of hinds were really skittish and it was an all afternoon stalk. The wind was howling 50+ mph and conditions were terrible, and the closest we could get was 360 meters, it was the flats of caithness and there was no cover. The stalker sold me to just hit it, and to aim at its ear height, directly above its haunch! I did exactly as told and the injured deer fell in is shadow. When we got up to it i was stunned to see it was shot at about the perfect spot - pure fluke or skill of the stalker who guided me, who knows, but when i got back to the hotel and spent some time on the computer, checking the various ballistic data his guestimate was about spot on.

 

[Junswo]

Thanks, felt the need to share/gloat! so chuffed with it all! I’d not really heard much about the stalking on the isles, but it’s unreal… imperial stags as far as you can see!! It was so much fun, and since the stalker was as wrong about the wind as well as me, and the deer wasn’t injured, I’m happy to chalk it up to a learning experience. The end result of the trip helps too

I had a similar one with a fox that appeared on a Roe deer stalk, 286 yards… “aim 5 high”… perfect shot, followed by “hmm…good guess!” haha
No wind there though.

I think I’ll have to buy a few boxes of ammo, and head out to the hills here, to see what the wind & distance actually does!

Missed face shot seems like a terrible thing leave and not follow up… makes a good story for you to finish off though…360m good samaritan act!!

 

[RCS Deer Management]

Simply changing caliber would not have turned that miss into a kill shot.

 

[finnbear270]

Simply changing caliber would not have turned that miss into a kill shot.

Everyone gets to miss once in a while.

 

[RCS Deer Management]

Everyone gets to miss once in a while.

I know that, it's obvious. but I was saying its not caliber choice that caused him to miss.

 

[Benji53]

Wind effects ever caliber no matter how big or small congratulations on a great stag regards Benji

 

[Junswo]

I’m not saying the miss was down to the calibre at all, I take absolute responsibility for the miss, and I’m glad it was on an 8 point cull and not a chance of a lifetime imperial stag

I just wasn’t prepared for the wind to take as much effect on the projectile, over such a short distance. Would a heavier grain bullet not have been effected less by the wind? like 165g 308 vs 100g 243?

And I still love my 75 .243, it’s taken a fair few Roe now, that little vixen, plenty of Rabbit…I wouldn’t blame rifle nor calibre for my miss.

And thank you Benji, I think it’ll make a nice addition to the wall… not sure how many more like that the mrs will let me put up!!

 

[liongeorge]

You will find that the wind drift on a 243 100gr will be almost exactly the same as that of a 308 165gr particularly at that range. Put it into a ballistics calculator. I,m afraid not the fault of the 243, sounds as though you may have given it a bit too much. With 40 mph it would be less than a foot. Congrats on the stag.

 

[turner.jc1]

If you want better bullets for wind drift you need to be looking at BC, but i'm guessing you already know this tbh. At 100 yrds there's going to be very little difference between anything regardless. Real world results can and do vary from paper however, for example your factory ammo (assuming you use it) is probably going significantly slower than claimed, and claimed BC is similarly dubious. Perhaps you have a short barrel too? At any rate well done on your trip, you obviously enjoyed it! For what its worth there are far better cals to use than a .243 on Red deer, so at least you won't be doing that again in a hurry! My main concern would be diagnosing the issue with the 308. Are you any the wiser?

 

[Junswo]

hmm, I see… I had assumed mass would make the 165g a little steadier in the wind… And the miss was past the back end of the beast: as in, it travelled the foot to the front of it, then the length of the body, THEN missed passed the back end!! But it’s by and by. I’ll have to do some reading up on ballistics etc. And get out (including when the wind is up) to know my rifle a little better, take it for the lesson it was.

And to be honest not taking the 243 is as much about the stalkers saying they didn’t think it was ideal for Reds, and I got the 308 for larger species, so it would be silly not to use it for the larger UK deer!

I haven’t managed to get out again yet with the 308, it’ll have to be the weekend really, as we are pretty much dark by the time I get out of work (sunset is 17:45 already up here). But I’m hoping it’s the ammo…she’s relatively new, and there aren’t any signs of bore wear, pitting or damage of any kind.

I may seek advise once I’ve given her a run through.

And it’s a full length barrel on the 243, 22” or whatever it is…

 

[Flatbadger]

I am not familiar with where you shot, but have you considered that the wind my not have been in a horizontal direction and the wind drift could also of had up and down in it so you could have missed high or low.

 

[Junswo]

Very possible indeed. And not something I'd considered before, thank you for the insight. I'll definitely be more aware of the wind next time, and just how big a role it can play.

And for reference it's very similar to Scottish highlands in landscape and weather (although it is wetter and windier in general, being an island).