Long Range Texas Whitetail — Model 14 American Classic
I purchased my first and last deer rifle when I was thirteen years old…this March I will turn 57. It was a Savage Model 110 LH in .270 Winchester. While working with Savage Arms at the NRA Convention this last spring I found myself handling the Model 14 American Classic and thinking that maybe it was time that I got a new deer rifle. This rifle just feels and handles the way I feel a big game rifle should and has the features that a deer rifle needs…straight stock, hinged floor plate, smooth action and the ACCUTRIGGER. I chose the .270 WSM after shooting it when it was first introduced. I was most impressed by it’s accuracy, ballistics, down range energy and relatively light recoil.
I received my Savage Model 14 LH in .270 WSM at Thanksgiving. I mounted a Nikon Monarch 2.5-10X42 BDC scope on it with the aid of a Game Reaper mounting system from DNZ. Carrying it to the range, I sighted it in at 1 ¼” high at 100 yards which would zero me at 200 yards with the 150 grain Winchester Ballistic Silvertip ammo.
Last Saturday while hunting the rolling low brush country of southwest Texas, I spotted what appeared to be a mature whitetail buck over half a mile west. With the sun at my back I commenced cutting the distance, stopping now and then to make sure that he had not disappeared.
When I thought that I was within 400 yards, I started looking for a place to sit down. There were at least four deer on the hillside, too many eyes and too little cover for an old man to get much closer. I sat down and propped the Model 14 up on my shooting sticks waiting for the old buck to offer me a broadside shot.
Prompted by a doe that was walking away, the buck took a couple of steps in my direction and made a 90 degree turn offering me the broadside shot I wanted. I estimated the distance to be 350 yards and put six inches of daylight between the top of his shoulder and the intersection of the crosshairs and squeezed the ACCUTRIGGER.
The recoil knocked me off target but the smack of the bullet impacting bone and flesh was unmistakable. Racking another round into the chamber, I looked for any sign of the buck. After a couple of minutes, I gathered my gear and found a couple of landmarks that were near the buck when I took the shot.
The 8½ year old buck was “graveyard dead” and had not so much as wiggled after the shot. The bullet impacted the shoulder just under the spine, killing him instantly. I am not saying that my new “Long Ranger” will replace a legend like “Old Nasty” but if I am hunting deer or elk where long shots are the norm, I know which rifle I will be carrying.
Last 5 posts by Gary Roberson
- The KISS Theory on Decoys - December 22nd, 2009
