Finally blooded my 204, but thinking about a change anyway

[KiwiMonkey]

After a bit of hassle getting it shooting (Burris Z rings for uneven base heights and gunsmith cut off the dodgy off-centre threading and recrowned) my Savage 12-VLP is grouping around 0.5" like it should be, so I finally got to use it!

Shot up a few wild goats that were causing some damage out the back of a friends farm, good fun and a bit of free meat for the freezer

The 32gr rounds didn't seem to hit that hard on the goats over 200m, so I'll probably switch to the 40 or 45 if I keep it. But my hunting tends to involve walking up and down hills and taking off-hand shots rather than parking up in one spot for a long time, so I'll probably sell it on (happier to do that now that its working) and buy something lighter in a similar calibre. Savage American Classic looks rather nice and prices are sharp on those at the moment...

[ozfox]

Hi kiwi
i have some goats to cull on a mates farm was going to use 40,s did you chest or head shoot yours
cheers ozfox

[KiwiMonkey]

Those were chest shots, wasn't confident going for headshots on the longer ones as it doesn't take much breeze to push a bit offline and give a nasty wound while missing the brain. Chest shot at 80m was pretty instant kill even with the 32gr but I didn't have anything else below 200+ to know exactly where the effectiveness started to fall off. The 40 or 45 should be more effective on longer shots though, especially the 45 being soft point rather than ballistic tip should penetrate better.

[Glen]

The 40gr Bergers are HP's. Have you tried them to see if they will shoot for you? Might be worth the time.