January 3, 2001
Charles Kelsey
Leved Cartridge Company
P.O. Box 21
Georgetown, TX 78627-0021
Charlie:
I am writing to you to
tell you what a great product you have in the 175 grain Devel Sabot. I had
heard about them from some friends at the shooting club that I belong to.
After talking to you on the telephone, I was quite excited about trying them.
They arrived the day
before our firearms deer season here in Michigan. I went to the range to
sight them in, and was quite surprised at their performance.
During our deer season, I
use a Remington Model 700ML in .50 caliber, with standard Remington #11
caps. The weapon was sighted in at 100 yards with Thompson 240 grain XTP
sabots, using 100 grains of clean shot powder. When I read the directions
you sent with the Devel 175 grain sabot, it said to use 120 grains of
powder. I was a bit concerned about the kick I might be in store for, so I
was a bit uneasy when I fired it for the first time...
SURPRISE!!!!, no
kick. Now I hunkered down to try to be as accurate as I could. I
found, every shot was exactly 3.5 inches higher than the 240 grain sabots, and
printing one on top of the other. Still being a bit uneasy, I decided to
leave my scope where it was, and adjust accordingly if a buck came into range.
The
next day was "Opening Day," November 15th, and with all of the pride,
excitement, anticipation, and fear, I headed for the woods. It was about
8:00 a.m., when one of the fellas I hunt with, called me on the radio to ask if
I could see the deer headed my direction about 200 yards in front of me? I
informed him that I already had the scope on it and was waiting for it to come
within range, hoping to place a good shot. I could see that it had horns,
but could not be sure how big it was. Finally the thing stopped about 80
yards in front of me, and just stood there. I could see it was at least a
four, five or six point, but it was facing me and I'm not real excited about a
straight on shot. Finally, after what seemed like two hours, the deer
turned slightly, and I put the cross hairs on the front shoulder and fired.
Charlie,
the deer flipped over backwards in the field, and I could not see it in the
three foot of weeds, but the weeds were moving. I sat there in the tree
stand loading the weapon again while watching the area the deer went down, and
to my surprise it did not get up. When I got over to it, I looked for the
hole I'd made. It was right where I put it. The sabot had entered
just in front of the right shoulder, and had exited at the lower end of the left
ribs. The sabot had gone completely through the deer, and had left a nice
.50 caliber hole that bled profusely.
Hooaah!!!
Opening day was a success...
The next morning,
November 16th, was a bit more relaxed, knowing the first day had put some meat
in the freezer. Same scenario, same tree stand, same Devel sabots,
although not as "On Edge." About 8:30 a.m., I was staring
at the open field thinking about the previous day's adventure, as well as the
conversation you and I had had about the sabots, when something caught the
corner of my eye to my left.
I'll
be damned if it wasn't another deer, with antlers, again. I could not
believe my eyes. This thing was standing in the edge of the woods staring
in my direction. Then I realized the wind was coming from my back and this
deer had scented me. I could not get a shot through the brush, and I was
afraid to move. It slowly turned and started through the woods to my left
over the knoll. I grunted with my grunt call and it stopped. It
started to turn slightly, but kept moving away behind me. I grunted again,
and it turned a bit more. Again, a bit more, until it was behind me about
100 yards or more, but still moving.
Through
the trees there was going to be a tough shot, and I knew it. Finally I
anticipated about where it would cut through a pair of big oak trees, and I
waited. The buck came into that opening, and I fired.
The
smoke from the weapon blinded me for a second, and I couldn't see the
deer. Had I hit it? I scanned the woods till I saw a bit of white in
the woods on a knoll to my left. Immediately the radio blurted, "What
the hell are you doing over there, killing all the deer out here?" from the
other two hunters I was with, who were about 500 yards away and could only see
the smoke. I was still staring at the white blotch in the woods, trying to
see if it was truly the deer. I decided to climb down and see.
When
I got over to it, it was a seven point laying on the ground. I looked for
a bullet hole or blood, and there was none. After looking a bit harder, I
found I had hit where I had aimed, just behind the elbow. When I field
dressed the deer as I did the six point, I found no lungs. The Devel 175
grain sabot had caused them to explode. I also found the exit hole on the
right side which was the same, straight through. After I paced off from
the tree stand to the split between the two trees that I shot to, I found out it
was 123 yards.
Now
for the bad news... My 15 day deer season was over in two days!
I cannot say enough
about the Devel 175 grain sabots. They were everything you said they were,
and more. They performed not only better than the expanding sabots I had
been used to, but the knock down was something else, and with "No
Kick." I still cannot believe the first deer, the six point,
flipped over backwards from the hit. What a difference...I'm definitely
sold on them. And I already have been talking to everyone I can about
them.
I
believe if a product does what it said it will do, it means only one
thing. The people behind the product have done their testing, and their
data is pretty straight. In these sabots I believe not only that, but the
old saying, "You get what you pay for," is true. You
surely have a product that will take all of us "One shot"
hunters into the next millennium....
Many thanks again,
Charlie. Enclosed with this letter you will find a picture of my two
deer. If anyone has any questions about the Devel sabot's performance,
please feel free to give them my name and phone number.
Respectfully,
Stephan L. Slane
Erin Arsenal LLC
(734) 475-2113
