A Healthy Dose of Coues Candy

 Well I promised some recipes once I got my rounds worked up for the deer hunt.  Here is my homemade (and family tradition) recipe for Coues Candy:

For a Ruger M77 chambered in .243 Winchester.

*95 gr Nosler CT Ballistic Tip
*45.5 gr IMR 7828 (89% load cap.)
*Remington Large Rifle Primers
*Winchester Brass (once fired)

Without a chronograph, I'm estimating about 3120 fps muzzle velocity.  Nothing to be insecure about there!  This should yield about 800 ft-lbs at 500 yards and a trajectory of -39 inches at the same distance.  300 yards is a more realistic distance given my setup and ability at this point, and I should be able to deliver about 1200 ft-lbs of kinetic energy with only -6 inches of bullet drop.  Given an average chest depth of 13 inches on a Coues buck, holding the horizontal reticle on a buck's spine should deliver this little early-retirement present right to the boiler room.   I had some real trouble initially getting my powder charge to drop accurate loads, but a new digital scale and powder trickler remedied the situation and I tightened up the charges to within a tenth of a grain.   Then there was the issue of ill-seated bullets that could be turned by hand in the case - nothing that an adjustment to the resizing die couldn't cure.  It only took mushrooming a few case necks before I realized that dropping the seating die was the wrong direction to fix this aggravation.  In hindsight, building bullets has proved to be rather therapeutic, and it has helped me to weather the interminable wait before hunting season.

 Come on November 26th!