Well, I don't know if anybody remembers, but I started a thread about performance of the 165 gr hpbt on game sized deer and up. I had previously shot a Blackbuck in the shoulder at 160 yds, and the bullet split in two, killing it like a lightning strike. I thought to myself, If this bullet will come in two on an amimal of this size, what would it do on bigger critters? I got to do some testing the other day on an Axis buck and a fallow doe at 50 yds.
The performance of the bullet was horrible. On the buck, I double lunged him and he ran about 40 yds and died. Only one drop of blood to track with. If my guide had not been with me and seen where the buck had run,it could have turned into a 2 hour tracking job. (It was some thick stuff he had run into) I then shot a Fallow doe at the same distance where her neck joined her body. The shot was a little high and back, so it was essentially a very high shoulder shot. The instant the bullet hit bone, it exploded, crippling the deer and leaving it suffering.
I had to shoot it in the head to put it out of it's misery. So although the load out of my .308 delivers match accuracy, target shooting is all I will use it for. Yeah, it killed the animals, but overall I am very disappointed with the bullet performance. I will try to work up a load with H4895 or Varget behind a 130 gr triple shock. Had I been using that bullet, both deer might have been DRT. I would have at least had a blood trail. The doe would probably never known what hit her. Instead, she suffered unimaginably for about 2 minutes. Way to go Sierra! The techs said it was one of their toughest bullets. Horsesh#&!
The reason I posted this thread in the "Ask The Gunwriters" forum is because it is a follow up thread. The original thread was asking a gunwriter about this bullet.
