Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Overkill

Not sure if this is the right forum, but what is the most overkill rifle you have used on any game? This morning, I shot a squirrel with my .375 h&h. It was sitting on an stump, the 300 grain full metal jacket prvi partizan hit about an inch away from the squirrel but it still killed it. There was several splinters of wood clean through it! The stump was also semi rotted contributing to the wood flying... Your stories here!

Many years ago, I used 250 grain Sierras from my 338 Win. Mag to shoot a deer. Deer was at 150 yards. First shot, perfectly broadside thru the lungs. Deer didn't move. Second shot, 4 inches from the first. Deer walked over and laid down and died. Very little expansion. No bones hit. I concluded that I had too much gun/bullet for deer. That was the last time I used my 338 on deer. YMMV

I shot a 70 pound pig with a Lazzeroni Warbird but it only killed him dead, not over-dead.

I shot a bat on the side of a tree with a 30-378 (Borrowed).

For years I only used a 6.5x55 for all hunting. Rabbits, grouse, bear moose and at that time everything was a head shot. Not that good of a shot now.

Randy

Any pics of that one John?

All very nice, I can't imagine that bat went far john!

Probably the most "overkill" was when I was about 12 or 13. Shot a sitting hummingbird with a .44 magnum pistol.....just to see if I could hit it.

Even though it was a "marginal" hit (just barely creased his head) the said bird died on the spot without even kicking. I concluded that a 250 grain .44 caliber bullet at 1300 fps was "adiquite" for humingbirds......and still hold to that opinion.

grouse with a 270win hit a little low and all I found was 2 wings and feathers laying it the road.

overkill is only a minor sin.

416 wby on antelope.

I shot a little harris antelope squirrel a couple of years back with fast moving 52 gr hollowpoint from my .223 from a range of maybe 25ft.(he looked like he was going to charge )
I literally found two stubby legs and nothing more. None anywhere.

For those that never have seen one Harris antelope squirrels tip the scale at a massive 3 to 4 ounces.

this year me and my buddy were deer hunting and on our way back we shot two grouse in the head with a 170gr corlokt from my 30-30. both were clean head shots. tooks their heads clean off!!!! on shot was at 60 yards and the other shot was at 3 yards. they tasted very tasty with not meat damage. i think the trusty 30-30 is my new grouse gun.

That'd be 400 gr Hornady softs from my 416 Rigby on a hog culling exercise on a friend's ranch. Also a 308 Win on francolin in Africa.

Mine is kinda like heavywalker's. I body shot a grouse with a .264 Win Mag (3500 fps impact). Just a great big "poof". Found the head and wings and not much else. I showed the video a little while back that a friend, who had his camera out, I thought was waiting for me to pose. I didn't realize he was videoing me trying put things back together for the picture.

I watched someone shoot a Red squirrel with a 45-70, loaded with 350gr Hornady Interlocks at about 2100fps muzzle.

I once shot a canecutter aka swamp rabbit with a 12 guage slug. The result was that I didn't have to field dress it.

I took a grouse with a head shot from a 270.

I have only ever received a single letter insulting my published work and that was after I reviewed the .338/378 before it was a factory round in the early 90's.

I always culled using the test rifles so there was adequate bullet testing medium included and one particular reader considered the review an act of overkill on the feral goats, pigs and other stuff I killed with it.

Can't please them all.

JW

I have killed lots of prairie dogs with the .375 H&H and .45-70, and lots of ruffed and blue grouse with cartridges from the .30-06 to .388 Winchester Magnum.

But the only incident of real overkill was a ruffed grouse shot with the .338 Federal. All the other grouse were shot in the head or neck. I tried to do this with the .338 Federal, but there was a tiny branch in front of the grouse and the bullet (200-grain Federal Fusion) hit that first and apparently either expanded or tumbled. Not enough was left of the grouse to bother eating.

I also once dead-entered a flying bobwhite quail with a 12-gauge at about 6 feet. The quail were in a brushy draw and the shots had to be QUICK. When this one flushed maybe 20 feet away it flew toward me, but I was so keyed up that I shot anyway. The result was two little wings floating down to the ground.