Ron Spomer

Anyone who’s ever shot small targets beyond 300 yards in conditions like that will appreciate the inherent challenges, but the Swarovski dS met them head on. Then, instead of just illuminating a red dot, the Swarovski dS lights up a horizontal red bar with windage hash marks at the proper locations to compensate for 5 mph and 10 mph crosswinds or 10 mph and 20 mph winds. First and Second Focal Plane Reticles Appropriately for a laser rangefinder scope with these capabilities, the Swarovski dS power range runs from 5X up to 25X, which could cause some problems like parallax and too much power for convenient use of a first or second-focal plane reticle. The dS’s onboard rangefinder reaches to 1,500 yards, but the maximum illuminated reticle movement is only good for 1,120 yards.

I hadn’t planned on hunting the world’s largest antlered red stags, tough mountain tahr, and “moose-antlered” fallow deer with the little 6.5mm everyone loves — or loves to hate. Mike Hudgins had built it in 6.5 PRC on short notice specifically for my New Zealand hunt with legendary Kiwi rancher, guide, and outfitter John Scurr of John Scurr Hunting Tours. The 6.5 Creedmoor earned its popularity by combining extremely efficient (high ballistic coefficient) bullets with minimal recoil at a muzzle velocity (MV) of 2,700 fps. Ballistic tables alone tell me I’m going to prefer it, and now that UPS has finally delivered the new Legendary Arms Works Professional II in 6.5 PRC, I can begin testing.

Hunters have been debating the terminal efficacy of large caliber, wide, heavy bullets at relatively modest velocities versus narrower, lighter bullets at higher velocities for more than 100 years. Think Sierra’s 220-grain Round Nose at 2,500 fps versus Nosler’s 150-grain AccuBond spire point at 3,000 fps in the 30-06. Wide, heavy bullets at modest velocity or smaller caliber, lighter bullets at higher velocity? And, surely, much of the appeal in a wide, heavy bullet is it’s ability to make a bigger hole or reach vials from a poorer angle.

The Ideal Hunting Bullet Hinges on at Least Nine Parameters When choosing your ideal hunting bullet you should consider: The challenge is selecting a bullet that can stand up to high impact speed/energy during close range shots, yet expand adequately at the low impact speed/energy of long range shots. If I think I might need to anchor a fleeing elk with a Texas heart shot or hit anything close at high impact speed, I want a tough, controlled expansion bullet. If a careful heart/lung shot fails and I need to anchor an elk heading north, I have the controlled expansion bullets ready to rumble.