MikeHanback.com

Field Test: Winchester Super X Rifle (SXR) Autoloader

Like most of you riflemen, I have shot most of my deer with a bolt-action, all but a handful. So when I got the chance to carry the new Winchester Super X Rifle (SXR) autoloader in .270 WSM last fall, I felt a bit out of sorts, but I also looked forward to it. 

First thing you notice is the rifle’s “international” styling. I have heard it called “Euro-trash,” but it's not that bad. The dark walnut stock looks good and fit me well. Checkering is basic, but okay. I do not care for the gray, gaudy SXR logo below the bolt handle, but the W checkered into the wood fore of the aluminum-alloy receiver is sort of cool.   

Looks wise, the strange thing is the inch of gas-operating mechanism that protrudes out the black-tipped fore-end. One guy I ran in to in a camp said, “Man, got something sticking out your stock.” When I told him it was supposed to look like that he laughed. I attached a tan leather sling, which was my bad and looked awful; a black synthetic one would have fitted the rifle’s hip styling better.

To me a deer rife is a tool. I don’t care what it looks like (within reason) so long as it is dependable and accurate. My SXR was both. After bore-sighting the 2.5-10X scope, a buddy and I fired 15 shots with Winchester 150-grain Power Point loads. Look at the last 3 in the picture—super-tight and awesome, as good as any bolt gun out of the box. Factory trigger was good and crisp, better than I had expected. Action was super smooth.

The 7-pound rifle (24” barrel) carried well in the Nebraska hills, and once I got back in the swing of using a detachable-box magazine, it loaded and unloaded smoothly.

I am confident I could have killed a buck at 300 yards with the rifle, but I didn’t have too. The big muley I stalked and drew down on was only 100 yards away. I thumped him good and he tried to run. I pulled the trigger again for a fast finisher. I hadn’t done that in a while with an autoloader, and it felt good.

As I packed up my test SXR to send back, I felt a little sad to see it go. It’s different, but a shooter and I’d recommend it.

Kid Pig Shooter Faces AL Grand Jury

I doubt there is anybody on the blog who has not seen this infamous picture of then 11-year-old Jamison Stone with the monster pig he hand-gunned down in Alabama last May. As the story goes, it took him eight 350-grain bullets to finish off the 1,051-lb. porker. They had to get a tractor with a front-end bucket to haul the thing out the “hunting preserve.”

In the days following Jamison’s “hunt” (term used very, very loosely) the big pig caused a fuss. Newspapers from Dallas to NY to China covered the seemingly mythical beast. FOX News and the Today Show were all over it. Bloggers went crazy—I jumped in with 2 stupid posts.   

Jamison became a celebrity with his own website. He did interviews and was offered a part in a horror flick. A guy from Lynard Skynard wrote and offered pig-slaying congrats. Autographed posters of boy and swine sold for $9.95 (free shipping and handling).

All good things come to an end. People started digging and found out quick that the pig was not feral at all, but a pet named Fred that ate out of a woman’s slop bucket. In yet another bizarre twist, her husband apparently sold Fred to the preserve operator (for how much I don’t know).

Now for the serious news…

From an exclusive at ESPN Outdoors today: Stone this week will face a grand jury in Clay County to answer for possible animal cruelty charges. He and the four adults he trusted – who ultimately tricked him and an overeager press – are all subject to questioning, and possible enforcement. Read the whole story here.

I don’t know about Jamison, now 12, but those 4 grown men who were supposed to be supervising his “hunt” are in deep slop. 

Whatever the verdict, this will, thank the Lord, finally put this stinky story to rest.

Monster Bucks of Mass (pen-raised)

I am certain I have never seen such mass as in the top picture. The email I got last week said the buck was shot in a preserve up North last fall. The bottom picture popped up in my inbox just last night; it too was apparently shot in a 100-acre pen. The message with the bottom buck said it would score 200” plus, but no way.

What are they feeding and/or injecting bucks like this with? Protein pellets, super-duper minerals, ‘roids? I cannot decide whether these manufactured racks are pretty, cool or grotesque. I lean toward the latter. You know those wrestlers with the bulging, vein-ripped chests and biceps? In a weird way, I see these racks like that.

Another obvious question: Wonder what the shooters paid for them?

UPDATED: 28-Point South Dakota Monster Buck

Was going back through a mountain of old emails and found this giant that had been buried in my inbox for 2 months. What the heck was I thinking not posting it sooner--this is one of the biggest, baddest bucks of 2007. You will never see a more killer set of brow tines, huh?

From the little bit I think I know, the guy shot the 28-pointer with his bow at 10 yards. The lucky fellow supposedly farms ground near Clark, SD.

The way monster bucks fly around the Internet these days, surely somebody has seen this animal before and has more info. Please let us know.

UPDATE Wednesday Jan. 30: Thanks to Jeff for finding this link to this monster: http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=0,62719

Some highlights from the story:

Barry Threadgold got one cam picture of the buck and was shocked at the size of it. A monster for those parts (about 100 miles west of the Minn. border).

That morning last fall he heard a grunt behind his stand. He grabbed his bow as the giant walked within 10 yards and posed broadside. "I didn't have much time to pull back and let the arrow fly, but I did it and I didn't have time to get nervous even, so it was pretty exciting," Barry told Keloland TV.

Best part of the story: Barry was supposed to take his daughter to daycare that morning, but he begged his wife to let him go hunting instead. As part of the deal, he had to give up deer hunting for the rest of the season. With that giant down, he was probably good with that!

No report on the buck’s score. I scored the picture 3 times and came up with an average of 196”, dang what a gnarly one.

Coolest Double Drop You'll Ever See

A loyal blog reader sent me this picture, knowing my fascination/obsession with you know what. I have no idea of the story behind it. I can only say, pretty damn cool.

Smile, Scumbag! (trail-camera thief fixing to get busted)

How one man could steal another man’s tree stand, trail camera, whatever is beyond me, but it happens. I am most happy to report that one thieving scumbag from Florida is fixing to get his ass busted in the next few days. 

I read at Outdoor Pressroom that when the genius went to swipe a trail cam off a tree, it snapped his picture and beamed the images back to the rightful owner’s email account. I bet (hope) our bad boy doesn’t even know it. He’s probably sitting around, swilling cheap beer and admiring his hot goods (God only knows what else he’s got stashed) until the law shows up at his door.

It was one of those fancy high-dollar cam units that beam images of deer back to your computer. You don’t even need to leave your office to scout a buck--or nail a poacher! From what I gather, the owner has turned the thief’s mug shots over to the authorities. I don’t know what more they need; an arrest should be imminent.

I noticed one guy’s comment to a news story posted about this in a FL paper. He pointed to our criminal genius and wrote: “Here’s your sign.” I thought that was pretty good.

New Jersey Doe Hunt--Another Piebald!

Guys in a New Jersey hunt club were out doing drives and culling does and look at what they got--told you this was the year of the white deer (and one blue one). I showed the picture to a buddy, one of the most hard-core hunters I know. My if-it's-brown-it's-down friend emailed me back: "Don't know if I could have killed that thing, it's pretty man." What about it, would you have shot it?

Rambo's Bow, What Brand Is It?

OK, thanks to Jim for finding and sending this much better photo of Rambo's bow. Now, what make/model is it? If you still don't know, ask your archery buddies.

Gruesome Shed-Hunting Find: Well-Pit Buck

Hey Mike: This picture is from about 10 years ago. We had been shed hunting all day to no avail and decided to check out the other side of a road. There was a 2-acre lot of brush along the road where an old house used to be. Walking around the old foundation I saw this old well. We looked, and lo and behold, this buck was down in it! Our first thought was that someone poached it and stuffed it in there. We pulled it out but could find no bullet holes in the deer. The only marks on its body were several scratches on his forelegs, like maybe he struggled to get out.

BTW, I’ll send you some drop-tine shed pictures later. Last year I found 106 sheds and 3 of them had drops. One had two! Thanks, Robert (aka SHEDHEAD)

Email me more interesting and/or gruesome shed discoveries to post.

John Rambo's Bow?

Anybody going to see the new Rambo flick this weekend? If so, tell us what kind of compound bow(s) he is shooting. In this picture some guy's bald head is blocking most of Sly's bow/riser, but you'll get a better look at it on the big screen. (Looks like he's shooting w/finger tab, which is cool, you don't see that much anymore.) Also, in one of the trailers I saw, looked like he was bowfishing w/longbow? Was the flick any good? Heard it was pretty gruesome, with a death toll of 236 or something like that.