Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Penetration

Do you generally prefer to have bullets penetrate fully? I've never really thought about it much,as I've generally hunted deer and rarely caught a bullet unless it was a hard angle. As long as the animal went down quick, I'm happy.

I finally got my first bull elk this week, and was a bit surprised. I was shooting a .375 Ruger with 260gr Accubonds,a bullet I haven't used before. Shooting commenced at 200 yards,and the first shot landed straight up the middle of the leg about mid chest. No reaction at the shot whatsoever. Since

I had kinda been trapped in an open wheat field with no rest,so I was shooting freehand and I'll admit that I got a bit frazzled then and sent the next to shots into the wild blue yonder. Gave myself a brief but loud talking to and settled down a bit.

He finally turned to start towards the tree line and turned to show me his opposite side,so I shot him there too. No reaction to the shot. He took maybe 2 more steps and then stood there,head down. I started to move up and got to about 100 yards to where I could rest on a tree. He was now quartered hard away so I shot him one more time, which resulted in a massive explosion of steam from the entry wound. Didn't even flinch. I watched for a few seconds,and finally he laid down.

I gathered my stuff and walked over to him. He was still making noise and kicking a bit, so I shot him in the neck,figuring it'll make it easier to take his head off anyway..

What I found most surprising was that none of the bullets exited. Now this is the first animal I've shot with this rifle and also the first time using Accubonds, so maybe this is the norm with these bullets. I'm certainly not complaining, as I could have stopped shooting after the first shot and been fine, but the lack of reaction made me second guess myself and I figured since I had bullets I may as well use em.

I've been wanting to try the tipped TSX's after seeing the stellar results others have had with them in smaller calibers. I wish now that I had cut him open to see the damage and try to recover some bullets, but it was going to be a warm day and I was a long way from home so i wasted no time. Do you think I would have had a different result with say a 270gr TSX? I should have taken better pics to show the bullet holes, you can just see the first shot in this one,and the quartering away shot. The load was 82gr of IMR4350,which shot very well.

I think it's always better to have an exit wound on game you intend to eat.
It's rare that they just drop dead, and often an entry wound won't let much blood out

Hog bull man, very nice.
I prefer my bullets to exit even though I love looking at recovered slugs. With an exit you have twice the potential for a good blood trail as well as the confidence on future shots that sufficient penetration will be available should you happen to flub a shot or if you have to send one through the shoulders. I belie the TSX would have exited in your case, as the partition likely would have as well.

As for elk showing no reaction, that has been my experience at times. I shot a big 6x7 bull one fall with a 180 from a 30/06, his only reaction was to take a step behind a big pi�on pine where I couldn't get a follow up into him. And then he commenced to stand there for upwards of 20 minutes until he collapsed. They can be tough creatures for sure.

I don't think it matters if the bullet exits or not. So long as the bullet has the ability to penetrate the chest cavity from any reasonable angle or distance,and has the integrity to break bone at either end of the wound channel, the damage has already been done to the important vitals,and the animal will die.

Elk hide is rubbery and will frequently stop expanding bullets of any type I have seen used. Breaking through that hide adds nothing to terminal effect and exit wounds don't always leave big blood trails.If it exits, fine, but I would not lose sleep over it.

Maybe I am spoiled from too many years using Partitions, which frequently(but not always) exit,so don't give it all much thought. Generally the blood trails have not been needed...common occurrence with a Partition,or any other good bullet placed properly.

Actually a couple of the biggest and easiest-to-follow blood trails I can recall, the bullets did not exit;and on one of the toughest trails, it did.....go figure.

I like total penetration. They leak more from two holes in case you need to track them. If you don't get an exit hole, sometimes only one lung will collapse. Most game animals can go a long way with one working lung before they lose enough blood to die.

Yes--moderate expansion, deep penetration. Think along the lines of Partition or TSX/TTSX. Generally a exit leaves no doubt the critter is hit. The elk may not immediately fall down, but you know it's gonna die sooner rather than later.

Obviously your bull didn't didn't run off like the proverbial scalded cat, and hung his head at the second shot--both of those are indications he's sick and probably not going to live much longer.



Limited experience with Accubonds on elk, a lot of experience with Ballistic Tips and a range of other bullets. Based on the AB experience, they perform a lot like BT's. And yeah, it's often not as readily apparent if they're hit (and yeah, a lot of guys are gonna say Ab's perform "just like Pt's"--I be skeptical on elk).

If you had done a "bullet necropsy" on the bull, and seen just how far they penetrated, and what bone/tissue they hit and/or passed through, it would have certainly given you a better idea of bullet performance.

Casey

I prefer exits.

I've also found that 'bigger' bullets are more prone to be caught in critters.

The best blood trails begin with "L" - liver, lungs, or legs. A liver shot is awfully close to the paunch so it is hard to suggest though it may make an excellent blood trail. A leg shot will likely make a good blood trail - and long- but it may never become terminal. A solid lung shot will bleed well though perhaps be largely contained inside the ribcage. The best blood trails are short blood trails - which result when an animal is hit well- and will often produce a solid blood trail via the nose.

Shooting again is never something I've regretted when animals are large. It's much better to "admire the shot" when the animal is laying dead and you can see that number two was unnecessary.



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You made two comments in your post which caught my attention. First, you mentioned you shot your bull in the middle of the chest. Your were photos don't show much. You also said you didn't "cut him up."
You may be surprised just how low the heart and lungs are inside the chest cavity. I'm guessing your bullet went through the top of the chest cavity. Also many of the animals I've taken which I thought were broadside were actually quartering away to some extent or another. Remember, animals don't stand in a straight line and their bodies are usually twisted and contorted because they are standing on rough ground and preparing to move.
How did your bull get "cut up?" Therein is your information.
Since you missed your second and third shot, I suggest that you consider using a lesser cartridge with monolithic bullets. I just returned from 30 days in South Africa and Namibia. I used a 270 with 130 grain Barnes & Bitterroot bullets. 28 of the 29 animals succumbed to a single shot thru the top of the heart. One required a second shot. 27 went 45 yards or less. Shot placement with a great bullet always gives these results. I don't consider the bullet you used to be great but that is just my opinion.

Love those dark antlers. Personally, I think penetration/exit wounds are over-rated.

I ain't got a reason to use a 375 anything on this continent.

Funny about the angles, I've shot some stuff and was later amazed at how different an angle the critter was to me than I thought.

Penetration is NEVER over-rated. I'll take a bullet that pencils through as opposed to one that don't make it past the shoulder.

Not me, I love bullets that don't make it past the shoulder. Yep, that's what I said all right.

I've killed 4 elk with 180 and 200 grain 30 cal. Accubonds all 1 shot 3 pass thru's, your Elk was most likely dead after the first shot .

Hi carlo,

I shot a huge (900lbs+) last Sunday with a 160 grain Partition fired from my 7MM Rem Mag. It was through & through with a huge exit. I didn't have to fire a second shot.

I always prefer through-and-through shots.

I agree. Anything in the '06/.308 Win family will do the trick.

CONGRATS ON A FINE ELK!
every elk and every hunt is different, but the one factor I read I think a bit odd, is you stated you hit the leg mid chest, and go no reaction"the first shot landed straight up the middle of the leg about mid chest. No reaction at the shot whatsoever."
the reason I find that a bit odd is I've spent some time hunting with a rather similar 375H&H carbine, and I've always seen a rather marked impact reaction

375 H&H, loaded with 80 grains of WW760 under a 270 grain hornady and a 215 federal primer has worked in my sako carbine for decades, its my go-to heavy timber carbine most years, in fact most of the guys in our elk camp refer to that carbine as " THUMPER" because several guys swear it knocks elk silly

I much prefer exits

Me too, I'll pick the path to the vitals, animals seldom offer it up, nice bull XX.

Let's see some pix.