35 Rem - 16 Pt. double header

[86er]

Almost a year ago my friend called and said there was an old half of a gun in an estate he was settling. It was a Remington Model 8 barrelled action with no wood, no sights and seized up. There were also some assorted buttstocks in the estate but not one for the Rem 8. I bought the gun for spare parts to my 81, and I took a stock that I could fit on the 8 just so it had a buttstock. This turned into a project since I loved the 81 and the 8 and this 8 was also in 35 Rem caliber. I fit the buttstock, got the action apart and made a few parts and fixes, bought a rear sight from e-bay and collaborated with a gunsmith to make a front sight base and put a front sight on. Not only did the rifle work, it works well and is very accurate. I purchased a fore-end wood from an auction and the rifle was complete. A little research revealed it was made in 1909 and left the factory that year headed for Texas. Now I wanted to hunt with it in a traditional way. I loaded up my boys and we headed out for a few days of hunting. My friend Albert lets us hunt on the property he manages which is a quality deer management ranch of 3600 acres. This trip though, the owners of the ranch and their family are there and they are doing their hunting. Albert still pulled through for me by letting me hunt some property that is outside the deer ranch but owned by the same family. It is a few hundred acres of narrow property that follows a creek. They bought it to run diesel pumps to route the the water for irrigation. The good news was that I could shoot any deer, buck or doe, where inside the ranch I would be limited to cull bucks or untagged does. Inside the ranch I'd be in a spacious blind overlooking a food plot or feeder. Out on the creek I would be still hunting and looking for deer in the meadows. The whole thing worked out great really because I much prefered to take the Remington rifle out and still hunt in a traditional manner. I got dropped off where the creek goes under the road at 6:20AM. The instructions were to follow the trail to the first clearing and watch it as the sun comes up. If no deer appeared within an hour I should follow the creek and look into the small meadows that are cut along the mile and a half of creek. I loaded the Remington with handloaded 200 grain Core-Lokt's going 2000 fps out the muzzle. It was very foggy with a light rain and it was nearly 50 degrees on a full moon, so I was not that optimistic. I found the first meadow and waited until sunrise. Nothing seemed to be there but it was difficult to see even with binoculars. I moved along to the next meadow. There was nothing there, but a few hundred yards ahead I saw a deer cross the trail. As I got to the spot where the deer was another deer came from behind me and parallelled me for a few yards until it crossed into an opening. It was a small buck. I followed the deer into the opening and saw the first deer I had spotted, also a buck. They began to feed on the grass in the meadow and were soon joined by several more deer. Peering through the binoculars I could see that all 8 deer were bucks of about the same size and age. I was thinking about shooting one when I noticed a bigger deer coming straight in. It had a swagger, and the different posture made it obvious it was a mature buck. It was still foggy and hard to see more than 100 yards without binos, so I let the deer come in. Then I saw another deer in the trailway 150 yds out. It was clearly the biggest but it was hung up and would not come in. I moved to get closer and got within 85 yards of the other deer but they began to look my way as if they sensed something. I decided to take the second biggest buck and leave the big guy that was still hung up out there. I settled the open sights on the deer's chest and squeezed gently. The shot broke and I saw the deer drop it's head and kick it's back legs before running for the brush. Deer ran left and right, about half and half. I had followed the deer with the sights but lost it at the last moment. When I put the gun down for a second I could see the deer standing right at the edge of brush. I aimed again, a longer shot and a little harder to judge in the fog. The crack of the rifle and the whoomp of the bullet striking were consecutive. I reloaded and wandered over to the brush. Just inside the brush I saw the buck lying dead. As I pulled him out I looked to my left and noticed another deer lying there! I had shot two bucks! Both deer were 8 point although one is 4 1/2 and has a 15.5" spread while the other is a 1 1/2 year old with an 11" spread. Luckily, Texas is generous with the tags that come with the big game license so I was still within the limit even after taking both. The 200 gr Core Lokt bullets went 18 inches and 24 inches respectively from entry hole to exit in a straight line. Both had exit holes a little over a nickel in diameter. I am happy with the cartridge/bullet/load performance and the rifle. It was a cool feeling to be able to use a 101 year old rifle in a traditional manner and get so lucky!

[Tycer]

That's awesome! And a great big smile to boot.

[shooter]

Nice shootin'!! I wish I'd had half that luck this season . Oh well, still got a few weeks left to bag one with horns. Neat story, neat rifle, and good hunt.

[dr walker]

Way to go Joe!
I agree it is cool that you were able to get that old gun fixed up and back in the field.
Nice looking deer.

[Old Savage]

Joe I am enjoying your reports and particularly the ones on cartridges like this that are not done very often and since yours are reports and not stories for magazines they carry more real info - thanks.

[Griff]

Congrats Joe. A pair of good lookin' deer!

[FWiedner]

That guy on the left looks kind of narrow upstairs. Not sure he'd be 'legal' in one of those counties where they've imposed antler restictions, or does that even matter on a game ranch?

Healthy looking deer. I love .35's.

Well done, Joe.

[M. M. Wright]

86er,
That is SO COOL!

We are having our Holiday doe hunt here in Oklahoma so I took my 1910 mfg 94 SRC to the woods. Didn't shoot anything but it was nice just carrying it around. Oh, it's a 25-35.


M. M.

[86er]

These deer were not on a ranch or in any way contained and the County does not have antler restrictions, just a two buck limit.

[C. Cash]

Wonderful and congrats Joe on all accounts: the rifle and the deer. Gotta love those 35's!

[Nath]

Very nice Joe, I tips my hat off to ya.

N.

[Dave]

Great story! Way to go bringing that rifle back from the dead and nice shooting!

[J Miller]

Congrats on the bucks. I loved the report about refurbishing the rifle and the hunt.

Joe

[Paladin]

Impressive, thanks for the report.

[Mike Rintoul]

Nice deer. One of the reasons we've never offerred 35 Rem cartridges is that it is one of those calibers that is hard to improve upon. The original 200gr - 2000 fps combination has been getting it done for a century.

[rjohns94]

well done Joe. very kewl rifle. nice shooting.

[O.S.O.K.]

Retro hunting! Congrats!! Nice score.

[Bogie35]

Nice deer. One of the reasons we've never offerred 35 Rem cartridges is that it is one of those calibers that is hard to improve upon. The original 200gr - 2000 fps combination has been getting it done for a century.

+1 Mike!

HOWEVER, it would be even nicer to buy it from a wonderful company like yours. Also, I think a hard-cast Saeco #352 (245 gr.) at 1800+ would be nice!

bogie

[Bigahh]

Nice Story, and looks like some good Venison for the Freezer !

[RIHMFIRE]

very nice....congrats..

I have'nt seen a buck yet this year...