This morning I got an opportunity to go deer hunting - it?s been almost two years since I?ve killed a whitetail. The wind was out of the east and I knew of a good trail that would be perfect for hunting that wind. I was set up in a pine plantation that has a fire lane that?s about ten yards wide. The trail I was hunting crossed the fire lane and also ran alone the fire lane with several scraps along the trail.
I got in and set-up before daylight. Once I got my seat and video camera set up and ready, I went ahead and put on my face mask and hearing protection. With the way I was set-up, I knew a deer would be very close when I first seen it and wouldn?t be able to move putting on hearing protection.
Just as it got legal shooting light, I was about to do a video intro when I seen a deers head emerge from the tall weeds about 20 yards in front of me. I got the camera oriented toward the deer while he was hitting a licking branch and then began cocking and raising my FA83 44 mag. Just about the time I was leveling out the FA, he spotted me moving. Curious, he turned toward me and took a few steps my direction. By now, I?m focusing on the front sight and beginning to put pressure on the trigger. With the front sight settled on the frontal shot, the roar of the FA broke the morning silence! The deer buckled a little, the turned and ran - making it only 40 yards before retiring.
I?m shooting a 260gr PC Keith bullet (cast by Sixshot) over 10 gr of Unique. No where near a magnum load, but still packs plenty of punch.
A view from the deers perspective ....
The bullet struck the buck between the brisket and left front leg...
...and came to rest under the hide at the rear of his right hind quarter (at tuft of white hair)...
The bullet retained 100% of its weight and had no deformation at all (other than rifling).
The end result was a nice young buck that made some fine grilling material tonight for supper...
...video added...Disclosure:
Below is the link to my FA M83 44 Mag kill. It's video only - NO AUDIO!!!! I didn't know my battery was dead on my external mic....my apologies. You're all shooters, so your probably deaf like me and have to read lips anyway.
Spike Buck With FA M83 44 Mag 
