MyEagleNews.com
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
The working
class Magnum
he 7mm Rem Mag has a
in the Magnum craze, off ering
lot going for it.
an aff ordable rifl e and ammuni-
The title spot for this
tion for those who wanted Mag-
accolade has always been the
num performance without pay-
subject of dispute. Many — and ing premium prices. But how
with good reason, too — would
does it meet or beat a .300, you
arbitrarily assign the
ask?
.300 Winchester Mag-
So similar in fi eld per-
num the No. 1 spot
formance are the 7mm
here. If you have a
and .300 Magnums that it
.300 Magnum of any
would be pedantic to try
sort upon which you
to demonstrate any real-
may dote, you proba-
istic diff erence between
bly don’t need to read
them. What one will do,
Dale Valade
any further, frankly.
the other will eff ectively
In my mind, how-
do. The .300 Win Mag
ever, the 7mm Remington Mag- — which came along in 1963
num is the working class mag-
— pitches a 180 grain bullet to
num. Without completely
about 2950 fps while the 7mm
dulling your day with ballistics
Rem Mag makes 2900 fps with
fi gures and summarized history, its 175 grain bullet.
I hang my claim solely upon all
Tomato, tomahto.
the 7mm Magnum has to off er.
The real noticeable diff er-
The .30 caliber has always
ence to me is in recoil. For
been America’s darling, and
whatever reason, all else being
as my readers know, given a
equal, the .300 to me dis-
choice, I will take a .30-06
plays an uncomfortable level
every time for the proverbial
of recoil, especially from the
all-around hunting rifl e. But in
bench. The 7mm Rem Mag,
choosing a runner-up, the 7mm providing the same ballistic per-
Remington Magnum gets the
formance as the .300, to me is
nod without hesitation.
much more pleasant to shoot.
The .270 and .308 Win-
Now, in an apples to oranges
chester are both standouts in
comparison we could delve
the same capacity but don’t
into the .300’s ability to shoot
have the versatility off ered
heavier bullets or the higher
by the 7mm Magnum. I sup-
ballistic coeffi cient of the .284
pose we could nitpick and off er caliber, but we won’t. As I said
up for consideration the .280
at the outset, if you’ve found
Remington or even the Ackley
Shangri-La in the arms of a
Improved version.
.300 Magnum, good for you,
Fine cartridges that they are, they are fully capable rifl es.
neither has attained the popular-
I myself am a dyed-in-the-
ity of the 7mm Rem Mag, and
wool .30-06 fanatic. That being
therefore both rifl es and ammu- said, were I to set out to buy an
nition are much more scarce,
all-around rifl e and I wanted a
especially if one does not wish
Magnum, the 7mm Remington
to handload.
Magnum would get the nod. It
Many of the same features
really is that good!
which endear the .30-06 to me
Are you a fan of the 7mm
can also be said of the 7mm
Rem Mag? Do you prefer a
Rem Mag. The ubiquity of
.300 Win Mag? Write to us
rifl es and ammunition, man-
at shootingthebreezebme@
ageable recoil, superb accuracy gmail.com and check us out on
and knockdown power, and a
Facebook!
versatile range of useful bullet
Dale Valade is a local coun-
weights are the biggest draw.
try gent with a love for the out-
Introduced in 1962, the 7mm
doors, handloading, hunting
Rem Mag was a fi nal contender
and shooting.
T
SPORTS & OUTDOORS
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
A9
Lady Panthers take Round One
Volleyball team defeats
Sherman to advance
in state tournament
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
PRAIRIE CITY — The Prairie City
volleyball team was down three starters
for their home matchup with the Sher-
man Lady Huskies in the opening round
of the OSAA Class 2A state volleyball
tournament on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
But that did little to aff ect the out-
come of the match as the Lady Panthers
defeated Sherman 3-1 in front of an
energized home crowd to advance to the
second round of the state tournament.
All four games in the match were
fi lled with scoring runs and rallies
as both teams looked to extend their
respective seasons for at least a couple
more days. Game scores for the match
were 25-17, 25-23, 19-25 and 25-19.
The fi rst game of the match saw the
Lady Panthers fall behind early only to
regroup and take a 9-5 lead, forcing a
Sherman timeout. Sherman would score
fi ve unanswered points following the
timeout to take a brief 10-9 lead.
But the Lady Panthers would regroup
again, going on a 9-3 scoring run to pull
ahead 18-13, forcing the Lady Hus-
kies to burn another timeout. The Prai-
rie City girls would ultimately close out
Game 1, winning the contest 25-17.
The second game started much like
the fi rst with the Lady Panthers jump-
ing out to an early lead only to have the
Lady Huskies rally and tie the game at
11. Prairie City would score four unan-
swered points following the tie before
Sherman went on their own run to take
a 17-15 lead and force a Lady Panther
timeout.
The Lady Huskies would lead by as
many as three points in the late stages of
the second game only to have the Lady
Panthers again claw their way back into
the contest and force a Sherman timeout
after tying the game at 20. The teams
would trade scores following that tim-
eout before the Lady Panthers scored
the fi nal two points of the game to win
25-23 and take a commanding 2-0 lead
in the match.
Facing the end of their season, the
Lady Huskies jumped out to an early
10-4 lead in the third game, which led to
Prairie City needing to spend a timeout
in an attempt to halt the early Sherman
run. Prairie City would outscore Sher-
man 10-3 following the timeout to take
Prairie City students rush the court in celebration following the volleyball team’s 3-1
victory in the opening round of the 2A state volleyball playoff on Wednesday, Oct.
26, 2022.
Prairie City sophomore Josie Horrell
serves the ball during her team’s open-
ing round state playoff matchup with
Sherman on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2022.
a brief 14-13 lead.
Sherman would be persistent, how-
ever, retaking the lead and pushing their
advantage to 22-18 to force another
Lady Panther timeout. The timeout did
little to change the dynamic of the third
game as the Lady Huskies went on to
win 25-19 to set up an all-important
fourth game.
Game 4 was again a game of runs
and rallies as the Lady Panthers again
built an early lead only to have Sherman
fi ght their way back into the game and
tie the score at 6-all. A 13-7 scoring blitz
following the tie gave the Lady Panthers
a 19-13 lead and forced a Sherman tim-
eout with their season on the line.
This time, it was Prairie City that
was unfazed by the attempt to stifl e their
momentum. The Lady Panthers were
able to maintain their six-point advan-
tage through to the end of the game
and close out the Lady Huskies 25-19,
prompting the Panther student section
to storm the court to celebrate the open-
ing-round win with the team.
Prairie City seniors Kat Ashley and
Laken McKay spoke about the energy
of the crowd and playing their last vol-
leyball game in front of the Prairie City
fans. Both Ashley and McKay said it
“felt great” to have the fi nal home game
of their high school volleyball careers
end in a win.
The energy of the home crowd for
this game is something that stood out
to Ashley, who noted that the environ-
ment for this game was diff erent than
anything she’d experienced in the years
prior.
“I have to say that the last four years
have defi nitely not leveled up to what
the energy was tonight. We had the foot-
ball boys, we had the community and
we had everybody here supporting us
and cheering us on, and I think that’s a
huge part of trying to work as a team
is having that support behind you,” she
said.
McKay agreed, saying that the fans
have never been as “jacked” as they
were on Wednesday night. When asked
if the crowd helped propel the team to
their fi rst round win, both responded
with a resounding “yes.”
Prairie City head coach Jordan Bass
said she felt “super proud” of her young
team’s eff ort. “They all came together,
they all did their jobs. That was some
of the best defense that I’ve seen from
most of our team all year, so that was
really exciting to see them do that at a
really critical moment,” Bass said.
Bass also spoke about the raucous
home crowd at the game, echoing what
her seniors had said about the crowd
previously. When asked if the home
crowd’s energy helped propel her team
to victory, Bass responded, “Defi nitely.”
“Volleyball is huge game about
energy, so when they have their home
crowd, it can make a diff erence for
sure,” Bass said.