A small side que[stion. Did the Bears find ya?QUOTE=hognuts;3255898]I run one for hunting and my primary reason for building it was because I already had an Elite Iron Suppressor for a 6.5 (ran it on my Creedmoor) I shot a spike bull up in Montana at 650 yards with my Creedmoor, the first round went right behind the shoulder and was a "through and through" shot and jellied the liver, the elk didn't drop right away and turned quartering towards me. I sent another and hit him directly in the shoulder and dropped him. Didn't think too much of it at the time. When I was skinning it I found that the second round that hit him in the shoulder (in the dense muscle tissue of the shoulder) had only penetrated about 1-1 1/2". If that had been my first shot he probably would have gotten away wounded. I wanted something with a little more gas behind it, seemed like I was pushing the limits of what the Creedmoor could do at that distance on an elk size animal.
I like how "flat shooting" the SAUM is. I am still skeptical on the barrel life claims that have been made, I have just over 800 rounds through mine and I love it, remains to be seen how many "good rounds" I get through it, but I am running the 130 Berger HVLD's and they are around 3200-3250. (I punched a hole through one of my AR 500 targets at 100 yards with it, sent 5 just dicking around, 4 of them pitted it pretty good, one punched a .264" in my steel! oops I have shot a .270 for hunting as well and there is nothing wrong with that rifle for putting down game, but it is not even in the same zip code as a 6.5 SAUM.
If you are looking for an excuse to get one, one of my favorite things about it in a hunting application, even if you have a minor ranging error, chances are you are still going to be able to put one in the kill zone if you are in the ballpark on range.
I head shot a mule deer at 560 yards in the Rubies last year at a pretty severe angle (suppressed ) Wouldn't have even tried that shot with my trusty old .270, shot a 334 bull in the Bridger Tetons with it last fall 320 yards, bull was running up a ridge away from me, put one in his spine (kind of far back, was "ambushing" him as he ran through a clearing), that round stopped him then put one between the shoulders about 1/2" to the right of his spine on second shot.
Bull from Bridger Tetons last fall. 320 yards 6.5 SAUM.
Head shot on Mule deer in Ruby Mountains in Nevada last fall. 560 yards, 6.5 SAUM
Pics from the Wyoming hunt last fall. Good luck to you all this fall, whichever rifle you have in your hands! [/QUOTE]
I like how "flat shooting" the SAUM is. I am still skeptical on the barrel life claims that have been made, I have just over 800 rounds through mine and I love it, remains to be seen how many "good rounds" I get through it, but I am running the 130 Berger HVLD's and they are around 3200-3250. (I punched a hole through one of my AR 500 targets at 100 yards with it, sent 5 just dicking around, 4 of them pitted it pretty good, one punched a .264" in my steel! oops I have shot a .270 for hunting as well and there is nothing wrong with that rifle for putting down game, but it is not even in the same zip code as a 6.5 SAUM.
If you are looking for an excuse to get one, one of my favorite things about it in a hunting application, even if you have a minor ranging error, chances are you are still going to be able to put one in the kill zone if you are in the ballpark on range.
I head shot a mule deer at 560 yards in the Rubies last year at a pretty severe angle (suppressed ) Wouldn't have even tried that shot with my trusty old .270, shot a 334 bull in the Bridger Tetons with it last fall 320 yards, bull was running up a ridge away from me, put one in his spine (kind of far back, was "ambushing" him as he ran through a clearing), that round stopped him then put one between the shoulders about 1/2" to the right of his spine on second shot.
Bull from Bridger Tetons last fall. 320 yards 6.5 SAUM.
Head shot on Mule deer in Ruby Mountains in Nevada last fall. 560 yards, 6.5 SAUM
Pics from the Wyoming hunt last fall. Good luck to you all this fall, whichever rifle you have in your hands! [/QUOTE]