Ram Downed By Airgun!

Butcher45 · 10-09-2007, 06:43 AM

edit:forgot to say the bullets used on this hunt were made by Mark Whyte of Mark Whyte Leather Works. I used the 250 grain "Big Lube" design bullets in .454 caliber with a .32 Meplat he sent me, made from dead soft lead" http://www.whyteleatherworks.com/

I'm back from the very first Shiloh Ranch Airgun Hunt and let me tell you that I don't feel like shopping around for any other ranches any time soon. The first event of it's kind; it was a great success!
I will post more later as I got home a few hours ago at 3am and am ready for a good night's sleep. I will however say this right now. Anyone that doubts the capability of a big-bore airgun to take down big game needs to give P&P processing in Oklahoma a call. Just ask him what he thought about the damage done to the ram I shot with my .45 airgun.
When I arrived at the end of the weekend to pick up my ram meat he greeted me by saying "now what did you say you shot that ram with again?" I replied "a .45 caliber airgun". He just could not fathom an airgun causing such destruction, saying that the ram appeared to have been shot with a 30-06 producing an area of bloodshot meat on the exit wound that was as big as a pie pan.
Here is my representative Black-Bellied Barbados Ram. I felt no need to measure the horns as he is a trophy no matter what in my mind. His skull will be plated in pewter with his cape hanging below on the wall.

lovdasnow · 10-09-2007, 07:03 AM

wow, thats crazy! how fast does that thing shoot?

beardbuster · 10-09-2007, 07:16 AM

I heard those are pretty powerful. Looks like you hammered the Big Guy! Congrats on your hunt!

Butcher45 · 10-09-2007, 07:22 AM

250grainers are going about 650+fps. After I get a new breech cap it will put it out quite a bit faster (I'm guessing 715fps, maybe more) and should boost my power with a 250 grainer from 235 to around 285 ft/lbs of energy. My rifle is modified and the stock breech cap is getting blown out of proportion from the additional power, which has caused a 5/1000's space between the cap and the barrel from being blown-out that is allowing air to escape when shooting. An easy fix.

StickFish · 10-09-2007, 07:24 AM

From his slide show it looks like 700+ FPS. Weights were 175 to 200 grains on the pellets so a bit less than a 45ACP.

outdoor.spec.ops · 10-09-2007, 07:33 AM

Great Job!

Those Rocky Mt. oysters would feed a whole city!

Butcher45 · 10-09-2007, 07:43 AM

As it shoots now roundball gets 850fps, the 180 grainers get 780fps, 200grainers 740fps, 230 grainers about 700fps, 250grainers 650fps, and the 265 grainers I haven't experimented much with the fill pressures but have gotten 635fps out of them so far.
A friend of mine has the identical rifle modded by the same person with a good machined barrel cap that will put roundball out at 927fps; so that gives you an idea what my rifle will do with a custom barrel cap.
I believe the heavier bullet is more important than a few more foot pounds of energy with a lighter bullet (to an extent). Also a large meplat is key to making the most use of the power available. The ram proved that to me.

Dave Smith · 10-09-2007, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by outdoor.spec.ops

Great Job!

Those Rocky Mt. oysters would feed a whole city!

Butcher45 · 10-09-2007, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Smith

You guys think I should have had them mounted?

Jeremy · 10-09-2007, 08:45 AM

Lewis and Clark did pretty good using airguns on there little trip across the US nice to see that they still work!!!

ajfishfinder · 10-09-2007, 08:55 AM

Probably too late now but that oversized grape sack would have made a great mojo bag. Get it tanned with the hair on and put a drawstring in the top. Perfect little bag for taking your mojo and juju along on your next hunt.

Cornbread · 10-09-2007, 08:59 AM

Big bore airguns are cool especially if you are into the history of them going all the way back to the 1700s. Lewis and Clark even carried a repeating one that was believed to be able to fire a 210gr lead ball at around 500 fps. You can read a ton about the history of the Lewis and Clark air rifle here:
http://www.beemans.net/lewis-assault-rifle.htm

Butcher45 that is beyond a cool way to take that ram!

beardbuster · 10-09-2007, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajfishfinder

Probably too late now but that oversized grape sack would have made a great mojo bag. Get it tanned with the hair on and put a drawstring in the top. Perfect little bag for taking your mojo and juju along on your next hunt.

GIVE IT TO YOUR WIFE AS A MAKE UP BAG. :grin:

Butcher45 · 10-09-2007, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cornbread

Big bore airguns are cool especially if you are into the history of them going all the way back to the 1700s. Lewis and Clark even carried a repeating one that was believed to be able to fire a 210gr lead ball at around 500 fps. You can read a ton about the history of the Lewis and Clark air rifle here:
http://www.beemans.net/lewis-assault-rifle.htm

Butcher45 that is beyond a cool way to take that ram!

Well thank you sir.

My goal is to go back twice a year (more like three) with a crew of airgunners and document the harvesting of big game animals on video with detailed information.
Then, after a sizeable database of documentation of successful harvests of big game animals with airguns has been established, I will make a presentation to the ODFW. I should hope that they would be reasonable and recognize and validate the BigBore Airgun as a legitimate tool to hunt whatever there is to hunt in Oregon. (Yep, I think something like my new friend's .58 Air Muzzleloader busting 748FPE with a 525 grainer will do quite nicely at 50 yards on a Rosie Elk!).
Stay tuned; I just got word that a custom made .20 gauge air-shotgun with an effective range of 30 yards is now being offered to the public. !!!Fern Ridge Hear I Come!!!
Who wants in on the Air Revolution in Oregon hunting? For now there is Varmints!
I'm after Coyote and Nutria using this round right hear. Devastators are where it's at in .45 for bigbore airgun varmint hunting! NOT a big game round (to volatile). But in .45 should be fairly nice on a coyote pelt as the exit wound is the burly part and this round shouldn't have one!

Butcher45 · 10-09-2007, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajfishfinder

Probably too late now but that oversized grape sack would have made a great mojo bag. Get it tanned with the hair on and put a drawstring in the top. Perfect little bag for taking your mojo and juju along on your next hunt.

Man why didn't I think of that?

Oregon-Jet · 10-09-2007, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Shiloh Ranch Airgun Hunt

Where is this located? the Shiloh Ranch near Troy?

The Overfishin Condition · 10-09-2007, 09:45 AM

That's nuts!

Bennett · 10-09-2007, 10:12 AM

Wow, thats really incredible. I had no idea. Nice looking animal by the way too!

Butcher45 · 10-09-2007, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oregon-Jet

Where is this located? the Shiloh Ranch near Troy?

The Shiloh Ranch is located in Stonewall, Oklahoma.

Sea Saw · 10-09-2007, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butcher45

The Shiloh Ranch is located in Stonewall, Oklahoma.

Congrats on your ram .What part of the state is Stonewall in and how did you come up with the connection to hunt in Ok.

HOOKUP · 10-09-2007, 11:08 AM

canned hunt?

A big thumbs down to shooting domesticated wild animals

Butcher45 · 10-09-2007, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HOOKUP

canned hunt?

A big thumbs down to shooting domesticated wild animals

Domesticated wild animals? Well, I think your on the right track; just going the wrong direction (in more ways than one). I was always under the impression they were more "wild" domesticated animals. That has been what I have found.
I will reply to this last post by addressing two different aspects of this hunt.
We will start with the exotic rams and goats.
I came to this hunt primarily to meet and bond with fellow airgunners from across the country (and a couple from Denmark) in a place where we could hunt big game legally with our airguns. A tie for second was to test the ability of my airgun to take a larger animal than I can hunt here in Oregon and to hopefully take a hog. I also thought a lot about if I wanted to shoot a ram or not, as everyone has always told me it is rare to find them to be much of a challenge wherever you hunt them to tell you the truth.
I packed a very large cooler with me to this hunt with the optimisim that I had a chance at somewhat filling it with some good meat to bring home and share with my family and friends. I shot the ram on my second day of the hunt. I had an opportunity to take the type of ram I limited myself to taking before I left for this hunt without hitting any others and I took it.
I did not know if I would have an opportunity to shoot that particular Barbados Ram again as they huddle together pretty tight and there were only two Barbados in the crew. I chose to take Barbados because I was told they taste excellent when prepared properly and that they tended to be a bit warier than other ram species.
I really, really did not want to return to Oregon with un-answered questions as to the capability of my airgun to cleanly harvest big game. Lot's of people tell me about their successes big game hunting with airguns but it isn't the same as seeing the performance for yourself.
I can rest assured that any question in my head as to the capability of my airgun to take big game has been answered loud and clear which allows me to proceed forward with my efforts to legalize air rifles for big game in Oregon with the knowledge I am promoting a tool to harvest game animals that works. I now KNOW that it works extremely well and I have a good amount of ground meat and steaks along with a little tender loin to enjoy with my family and friends.
So Mr. Hookup,I guess you think I should have gone to the grocery and bought some lamb that was pumped with hormones and raised in a small cage in some warehouse and slaughtered the way they do it rather than shoot an animal that lives in the woods like animals tend to enjoy. If you buy meat at a grocer, you have no room to talk. That is because ALL of those animals are domesticated from originally wild animals and are shot in the head with a .22 or hit with a sledghammer and such.
If you do shop at a grocery you are eating domesticated "wild" animals that have been shot. Precisely what you are giving the big "thumbs down" for. You just aren't shooting it yourself and the animals don't live nearly as good as the one I shot AND WILL EAT WITH PLEASURE. Have you thought about that, Mr. Hookup?
I also have a beautiful skull to plate with pewter and a cape to put on my wall simply as a reminder of the great event I was fortunate enough to take part in and the friends I made there.
I shot a ram and it accomplished a few of these things for me at once; none of which was the desire for a tough hunt. Deal with it.

As far as the hogs are concerned they were anything but domesticated and a truly challenging hunt. One 200 pd. boar I was lucky enough to see displayed the most wary behavior I have ever seen in any animal in all my 36 years.
If it was a canned hunt; how come I had only one shot opportunity on one boar the three days of hunting? If I wanted a sow instead; guess what? Only one shot opportunity on those as well. It certainly wasn't due to a shortage of hogs, either.
So as far as the hogs are concerned, if you call that a canned hunt then I really don't know what to tell you other than you are ignorant of the hunting conditions and the wildness of the hogs on the Shiloh Ranch (these ain't no pen-raised zoo hogs with teeth removed for their cutters to get bigger that look like they just took a bath and got released to be slaughtered. The hogs at the Shiloh Ranch are all completely 100% WILD from that area. That is the challenge I was out to experience, and that is what I got. I am very happy about it and will do it again as much as I possibly can.
I hope my reply to your post was to your satisfaction, Mr. Hookup.

Oh one more thing. A big thumbs-down for hunters dissing other hunters who hunt within the law

. Just whose side are you on anyways?
Oh yeah. The rams.

Cornbread · 10-09-2007, 01:01 PM

I am all for getting high powered air guns legalized during rifle or muzzle loader season for large game. (go ahead flame away on me for this one but high powered air guns for big game dates back to the 1700s so I see no issue with using them during muzzle loader season as long as they conform to the same regs on no scopes or fiber sites, single shot, some sort of minimum energy requirement etc.)

I just wish I could afford one of those bad boys.

Quaka Wacka · 10-09-2007, 01:20 PM

Congrats on the hunt. How loud is that thing? And dare I ask what the setup cost you?

Butcher45 · 10-09-2007, 02:27 PM

Gun=$550 got a deal as it was already modified with a $250 tune that I got for like $65 as stock ones are like $480 (yep I got a deal) However there is now another airgun customizer that is offering a lot more power in a cheaper package producing like 380 or so fpe with a 350 grainer! This is the rifle I would recommend to anyone right now and will be picking one up myself. It is by far the best deal in obtainable air rifles there is.
To give you an idea of just how powerful that is; I shot my ram with a 250 grainer that had about 238fpe behind it.

Hill Pump and Scuba Tank I got in another airgun deal; pretty much for free as they were thrown in on a sweet deal with another air rifle of mine which is in the process of becoming a .25 putting out around 85fpe when completed; perfect for small game. Hill Pump is the best on the market and costs around $275 =to fill your tank with all the air you are willing to put the excercise into.
You can find all kinds of deals on scuba tanks to make filling quick and easy. There are also fancy Carbon Fiber tank set-ups that hold about 9 times the amount of air as a regular scuba tank for about $300-500 bucks.
The initial investment is costly but it will be returned over time as you need no powder, primer, or casings for the life of the gun (and the shooter!). Just dead soft lead bullets. And you can always sell the powder burners that will inevitably gather dust in your closet once you get turned on to bigbore airguns. They just won't be much fun anymore once you have a bigbore airgun.
Anybody that wants one; I can hook you up with a variety of big-bores. Just drop me a PM.
I am planning a return trip to Shiloh that will probably be a big-bore airgun type of affair and it will probably be open to about five hunters. This place books up real fast so if you are interested; hop to it! I would love to have another Oregonian or two along for the next hunt!
Cornbread? Anyone that has an agreeable personality and loves to hunt: what say yee? I will have another big-bore by that time if you don't have yours yet.

RogueFishr · 10-09-2007, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Butcher45

A big thumbs-down for hunters dissing other hunters who hunt within the law

.

Congrats on your hunt. And, I agree. Why post on someone else's thread, and bag on them, for a LEGAL hunt? If you don't like it, don't read the post, or start your own thread. This kind of stuff is why so many people don't post here anymore...

RF

Killertraylor · 10-09-2007, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Overfishin Condition

That's nuts!

Cornbread · 10-09-2007, 07:30 PM

I'd go but I am still recovering financially from a really ugly divorce and child custody battle. The guy who taught me how to make my own wood and or bamboo arrows for my longbow used to love going to shoot exotics on a place over in eastern Oregon. I don't think it exists anymore though. Anyway ever since he told me how much fun he had hunting pigs over there I have always wanted to try it and doing it with an air gun would be really fun. Give me a couple of years to get all this paid off and my accounts built back up and then hit me up and I would definitely go.

For the nay sayers I know the people who run Shiloh ranch and both of them are hard core traditional bow hunters with very high ethics. It is definitely not a canned hunt. Cheryl is very active in the traditional community and definitely doesn't believe in canned hunts. Their place is much much bigger than many farms or hunting leases people hunt on in the south east and Midwest. If you kill a pig there you earned it. They are supported by not just the traditional bow hunting community but other places like The Bowsite etc. While I have not hunted there myself (I know the owners from traditional bowhunting events not from hunting their ranch) I would not hesitate to do so.

Northwest Pest · 10-10-2007, 09:39 AM

Very interesting....thanks for the info and the post.....and of course your animal!

Tilla · 10-10-2007, 10:49 AM

I'll be darned, I didn'y know about these airguns. But air wants to travel the speed of sound, about 1100 fps, I imagine it accelerates as it goes down the barrel. What limits this speed is any mass and resistance that is over the critical back pressure ratio of 53% of the primary pressure.
So what pressure are these guns capable of?

CombinationLicense · 10-10-2007, 11:41 AM

Butcher45 - Nice job and thanks for posting about your experience. I consider myself pretty well versed in firearms technology but have zero experience with high power airguns like you're using. It is a very interesting topic to say the least and hearing about your successful hunt just made it all the better.

BTW - Nice rebuttal to the "Canned Hunt" comment. I was waiting to see if someone would make a comment like that and your response was very well thought out and logical, IMHO. High fence hunting for exotics, cervids or game birds might not be for everyone but it certainly has a place in the scheme of things. Within the confines of the law, of course.

Again, nice job and thanks for teaching me something new.

"CL"

Butcher45 · 10-10-2007, 12:49 PM

I would like to thank the members of ifish for supporting me in my airgunning endeavors. It is my goal to see the day that big game airgunning is made legal here in Oregon. I dream of hunting big game in my own state with an airgun.
I hope to have things together enough for the next time to go after a Fallow Deer. I saw two trophy-class stags while I was there this time (once!). That will be quite a step up in size from the ram with the Fallow Stags weighing 200-300 lbs, does around 150 I guess. I intend to have at least one more big-bore air rifle by then.
These airguns are enough to keep the powder-burners in the closet to be forgotten about. Serious fun!
Again thanks for all the support Ifish!
I believe these are the Fallow Stags I saw. Beautiful animals.

BUTCHER45