Coosa, what caliber do you use for deer? I shot the 10" 7 MM TCU wildcat cartridge competitively and it was incredibly accurate. In developing the loads for our guns, a buddy, Russ, and I shot them with a 6x extended relief scope off sandbags. Russ could shoot 5 shot groups at 100 meters that were sub half-inch. In competition, we were limited to leaf sights. I don't think the round was suitable for deer, at least back then, because the 7 mm bullet wouldn't expand at the velocities we shot. I had a custom unlimited gun built on the action by Vern Juenke, a gunsmith in Nevada. It shot a rimmed European cartridge. It was a tack driver with his custom adjustable peep sight on a 14" barrel. Gil
Gil, I have killed all the deer with a 7x30 Waters barrel and a Burris scope on it. I could never attain the type of accuracy you are getting with the 7TCU, but it would shoot 1" groups off sandbags. The gun was not the weak link - that would be me. But I did get several in the 150 to 175 yard range when hunting out of a tripod with a rail around it for a rest.
I have thought of trying to find a 7 TCU carbine barrel to make a first deer gun for my grandson. But I don't know how old he will need to be to be able to easily cock the gun.
