bigbrother is doin'' all that braggin' whilst (as they say in the U.K) shootin' in that heavy PA atmosphere. No wind no mirage and a calibur as big as the head on those stick pins.
I'm disappointed about the fickleness of the tommy. I've been there and done that. I've gone through several of them. Never lost game. Made some really bad shots though. From the bench being reall cautious I could keep consistent. Offhand hunting they strung up and down, mostly up. Shot a couple of deer in the back strap. Bummed me out.
RE: the stick pin thing. Was shooting a BR match back in the 70s. Was shooting a 40X 222. So was my shootin buddy. We were building a couple of good groups @ 100. We were the last to shooting, using all the time and really working it. Ken shot his shot, I knew he did well from the sound of the crowd. I was on, and you know when you are on. A fly lands on my target. I shot. The crowed moaned. Group was about inch and a quarter.
The targets came in to the judges. Ken's went in the 3s. They asked what happened to me. I asked what was the color around the hole. They looked again and said "red". I just grinned.
Would always rather shot meat than paper.
Besides the 6.5-06 or 6.5-284 if the smith says the ol' 721 can be made to feed ok. The smith has been shooting elk with the 6.5-06 for 30 years and has probably shot nearly 30. He swears by the 120 gr bullet but doesn't go beyond the 500 yd mark then only if he has to. Last one was 420.
The 6.5 will be my son's gun. He's a wuss on the recoil side.
Also going to have a 338-300RUM put together by another fella. Long bbl, break, and all that stuff. Gonna reach out and touch......
PS: Look at that muley on the muley page. Think its the nicest one I've seen.