By Ray Tribble

April 27, 2016

It was mid November 2002 and I was lucky enough to draw the late season Area 100 Wyoming Mule deer tag. With ten tags issued at that time for that region I was going to very selective of the buck I was going to try and harvest. I had already tested the 180 grain SST from my 300 WSM Browning A-Bolt Hunter on two Caribou in Ontario, Canada in September of that year and knew that is was not accurate, but deadly on big game. I was walking between a water hole and burn area south of Powder Mountain, Wyoming late one afternoon when I saw a white Mustang (horse) on the ridge above me. He was four or five hundred yards away and I was watching him in my binoculars when a set of horns passed between the horse and me. I lowered the binoculars a few degrees and was immediately impressed with the buck that was browsing the sage tops at 240 yards in front of me. I popped out my shooting sticks and rested the cross hairs on his shoulder and fired. The buck stumbled and ran maybe twenty yards as his front legs were slowly collapsing below him. The bullet had struck its mark and lay resting under the skin on the far side. It weighed 135 grains and I still have it cast in a resin block with all the information typed on a sheet of paper inside the clear plastic time capsule.

Although I have recently replaced started loading the new ELD-X in place of the SST, I still use them for both target and hunting.

Once again, thank you for fine reloading components!