Aorangi pack, rifle & bullet terminal performance test
Hi Guys,
Got some new gear recently so went off to the hills for a meat hunt with my mate Jon to give it a bit of a test.
Bought a Winchester .270 off member 257Weatherby on the forum and after a bit of zeroing decided to give some 130 sst's a go.
I'd also grabbed a Hunters Element 'Boundary' pack and was keen to see if it ticked the boxes for weekend missions.
3 hours in with two deer seen on the way, we set up the fly camp just as dark was falling. We quickly shot up a side creek next door to see if anything was lurking... which it was, just not in the creek... animals crashed away through the bush on both sides of the creek, with no chance of a shot. Might have been a bit late.
Anyhow back to camp for some tucker and a good rest. Was quite a mild night but I have noticed my Macpac sleeping bag is starting to underperform for a '-5deg' comfort level bag. Great! Another bit of gear that needs updating.
Early next morning we split up with Jon bush stalking his way to some promising bench clearings while I try my luck in last nights creek. Stalking up to a large slip I realized I'd need to gain some elevation to see the entire face. No sooner than I'm settled in, but a Red hind walks out browsing midway up the slip edge at around 250-300yards.
Getting the Boundary pack into position to shoot off with my legs hanging off the back side of the ridge for a prone shot, I was hoping my range estimation skills weren't too rusty after leaving the range finder at home (this was supposed to be a bush stalk wasn't it!?)
At the shot another hind appears below. My hind collapses with the shock but regains her footing on the edge of a little bluff, but she was looking a little unstable. As I'm about to chamber another round, she tumbled sideways off into the bush below.
Crossing over, the other hind mills around very confused and takes a full 15mins before heading off when she finally spots me walking up below.
After a brief search tracing the blood/lungs I find a very dead 2-3yr old hind at bottom of a shingle shute.
The photos tell the story of the SST's performance, but in short, the shot was a bit high, busted one rib, blitzed the lung on that side, bored a 30mm sized trail through the other side before passing through another rib with a 40mm exit wound. Bulk internal bleeding and massive bruising to the rib cage on the exit side.
Quite pleased really as with the shot going high she could have gone a bit further with bullets I've used in the past. Must of been closer to 250 yards.
After a butcher up and cooling the meat (which was in excellent condition) I loaded up the pack and head back to camp feeling quite satisfied with the Winny and the bullet performance.
Walking out at the end of the trip the pack distributed the weight well & even with my rifle strapped to the side, it didn't feel lopside weighted which I was quite surprised with. It feels like a quite a small pack but then when you start filling it up you realize there is quite a bit of adjustability which adds plenty of volume. I even threw in a shopping bag full of collected rubbish some clowns had left at the fly campsite.
I do need to sort out which straps I need and don't need though. The pack comes with straps in all sorts of places, which gives you a lot of options for modifications. I end up chopping and changing my gear quite a bit to get it right for me so I'm going to do a 'strap-cull'. It's a good start and I'm looking forward to some more opportunities to put it through its paces.
Good weekend and thanks to Jono for showing me his old haunts.
Cheers
Tim
http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/.../Haurangi6.jpg
