? about 10-12 lb Rifles

[FSU_Seminole]

Do any of you guys watch Jeff Foxworthy & David Morris on their new show "Bucks of Tecomate"? It comes on Versus on Friday evenings & a couple of times on Saturday.

They had a segment on their about rifle caliburs & rifle weight. Morris said that if you hunt the Tecomate ranch you need a "big gun". Guys who use off the shelf light weight rifles aren't good shots past 200 yards. He said in order to shoot accurately past 200 yards you need a 10-12 pound rifle with a scope power that falls anywhere between 16 up to 20 or 24 & a steady rest. He said too many people wound deer with little guns.

I disagree with the part about light weight guns. All of my guns weigh between 7 and 8 lbs. My 7mm mag weighs a little over 8lbs "scope included". I have no problem hitting what I want to hit out to 200 yards, I'm confident with it out to 300 & my highest power scope is a 12.

So what is he talking about? Custom made guns? Who makes a 12 lb rifle?

[deerslayer79]

Totally agree with you,my A-bolt in 7mm Weatherby mag weighs 9lbs with scope and 26in medium weight barrel,and it has a 10x on it.200yds is gravy and if all is in order,I would try a 300-350+yd shot.There are a few factory guns that go 10lbs and over,Savage,Remington,Tikka,Browning,all have a heavy type of rifle,then tons of custom gun makers like GAP,Jarret,Dakota,and Patriot Arms,75% of their guns weigh 10-13lbs.They are out there but I too believe his words were a little off the mark.

[wtnhunt]

Have seen parts of that show before, but have not seen that particular show you are talking about.

Morris said that if you hunt the Tecomate ranch you need a "big gun". Guys who use off the shelf light weight rifles aren't good shots past 200 yards. He said in order to shoot accurately past 200 yards you need a 10-12 pound rifle with a scope power that falls anywhere between 16 up to 20 or 24 & a steady rest. He said too many people wound deer with little guns.

Is this comment directed at people hunting only the tecomate ranch or in general? Seems like a kind of ignorant statement there to me. Plenty of deer killed with .270's that would fall well short of his 12 pound mark, well out beyond 200 yards each and every year.

[Strut10]

I can see what they are getting at. But they are off the mark a bit.

All other things being equal, a heavy-barreled gun should be more accurate than a thin-barreled one. Harmonics, heat dissipation, etc. 1000 yard match guys ain't shooting #1 or #2 contour barrels.

However..............200 yards??????? Gimme a freakin' break!!!!! My 7-STW weighs under 9 1/2 lbs. (and it has a buggywhip barrel) and it'll shoot accurately 3 times that far!! My .375 Weatherby is 8 1/2 lbs. and is tremendously accurate. My kids' .308's are these little pencil-barreled things and will both shoot close to 1/2" at 100 yards. So lightweight, thin-barreled guns WILL shoot.

As far as wounding deer with little guns..........what calibers are they calling "little"?

[WABS]

I saw that segment as well. The question of accuracy aside, they are hunting strictly out of an elevated box blind. The most lugging around of that gun they have to do is from the ATV to the top of the ladder. How accurate are you going to be after you've hoisted that cannon to the top of one of the mountains out in Montana. There are always trade offs. This is where everyone has to be careful about making broad general type statements about hunting and shooting strategies for their part of the country. LOTS and LOTS of vastly different terrain and hunting situations out there. It may be what works for them in their hunting situation, but most of the big game hunters out West are probably laughing at them. Seen a lot of good 300-400 yard shooting done with a synthetic stock large caliber rifle.

[FSU_Seminole]

I can see what they are getting at. But they are off the mark a bit.

All other things being equal, a heavy-barreled gun should be more accurate than a thin-barreled one. Harmonics, heat dissipation, etc. 1000 yard match guys ain't shooting #1 or #2 contour barrels.

However..............200 yards??????? Gimme a freakin' break!!!!! My 7-STW weighs under 9 1/2 lbs. (and it has a buggywhip barrel) and it'll shoot accurately 3 times that far!! My .375 Weatherby is 8 1/2 lbs. and is tremendously accurate. My kids' .308's are these little pencil-barreled things and will both shoot close to 1/2" at 100 yards. So lightweight, thin-barreled guns WILL shoot.

As far as wounding deer with little guns..........what calibers are they calling "little"?

I think he was referring to the weight of the gun. I'm not 100% positive but I think thats what he was talking about.

I'll have you to know though, they do use magnum rifles a lot on that ranch. Foxworthy uses a 300 win mag at times. Marlee Schwartz the lady who killed that huge 180 class deer on 1 of the realtree DVDs. She's no bigger than a flea & she shoots a 300 Ultra mag.

[johnf]

I'd be happy to get my 6.5 lb 243 out and show them what it can do at 300 yards.

Never use "Never" or "Always" when it comes to scientific questions. I learned that in the 5th grade.

[doubleA]

Here in South Texas, there's a few ranches along with the Tecomate that require 30 caliber or larger magnums in order to hunt their property. I dont totally agree with this as we all know that shot placement is the main thing and cartridge used is secondary but it's their call, they have that right. I do know guides want you to drop the deer on the spot either on a road, sendero, foot plot, feed pen. No one wants to track deer that run off in mesquite and cactus thickets over run with rattlesnakes and other things that want to stab, poke, cut and scratch you.

[wtnhunt]

I do know guides want you to drop the deer on the spot either on a road, sendero, foot plot, feed pen. No one wants to track deer that run off in mesquite and cactus thickets over run with rattlesnakes and other things that want to stab, poke, cut and scratch you.

That is interesting, guess those places probably dont allow any archery hunts?

[WABS]

What the Tecomate segment talked about was that they wanted their customers to have a heavy gun (I don't remember them saying anything about caliber). That they only allowed their customers to take shots using a steady rest, inside 150 yards (may have said 200 they were throwing numbers out back and forth), with the deer perfectly still standing broad side. If they would have left it at that that they were doing this to ensure one shot kills on their managed property that would have be fine, but they went on to basically say that shooting anything different than this was borderline unethical, and they didn't specify that this was only in TX or similar desert type terrain. At least that's how I interpreted what they were saying.