44 http://www.riflemagazine.com Rifle 305
set for the ammunition; Hornady
Precision Hunter with 143-grain
ELD-X hunting bullets. Like the
SST, the ELD-X is essentially a
plastic-tipped version of the reli-
able InterLock Spire Point, though
with an even higher ballistic coef-
ficient (BC).
We first sighted in dead-on at
100 yards, where almost all groups
measured under an inch. Then we
shot at 300 yards while activating
the laser, which lights up the correct
LED dot for a measured distance.
Some of the scopes needed a little
tweaking at 300, but not much. My
rifle grouped four shots into about
1.5 inches, about an inch high but
2 inches right, due to a mild left-
to-right breeze.
I hunted with my old friend Holt
Bodinson, and since he needed
to get back to his Arizona home
quickly due to drawing a Coues’
deer tag, we agreed he would
shoot first. Our guide Dwayne was
a transplanted North Carolinian,
who had adapted very well to
western mountains. Before dawn
the next morning we hiked to the
end of a long ridge, glassing the
canyon below while the sun rose
behind us. Quite a few mule deer
were seen, but not the deer.
As the sun rose higher, Dwayne
decided to try the next canyon
north, and we were hiking the
flat-topped ridge between the can-
yons when a mule deer buck ap-
peared, walking slowly away at
close to 300 yards. Holt was a lit-
tle behind us, and when Dwayne
and I glassed the buck it obviously
qualified; a big-bodied, gray-faced
old deer with a single-fork ant-
ler on one side and a cluster of
finger-length tines on the other.
We waved Holt up and he rested
the rifle’s forend on his daypack.
The buck spotted the activity and
stopped, quartering away. At the
shot, it kicked its hind legs like a
mule then staggered 25 to 30 yards
before falling. At 311 yards, the
bullet hit right where Holt placed
the LED dot, in the middle of the
left ribs.
Back at camp, Dwayne andWEAVER RIFLES
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