Big Redhead;
While I can't be certain if it was my experiences with the 220gr. Hornady you were thinking of, I'll repeat them for you.
I was shooting them out of a .308 Norma and my records show they were doing a fairly pedestrian 2615fps out of it, so not that awful far off of a hot '06 load.
The first test was an immature bull moose that ended up being quite close to 400lbs carcass weight. At about 125yds the bull took off for areas with less people around and was going a good clip when the first bullet nicked the right scapula, then broke a rib, tore a 4" hole through the upper lungs, broke another rib and then lodged in the left scapula.
While that rocked the bull visibly, he just shifted into another gear. I took up the chase and after a bit of a sprint fired another into him which raked through his liver, then through the lower part of the left lung and lodged in the ribs.
The combined bits of the first bullet weigh 110gr, with the largest portion weighing 89gr.
The second bullet weighs 126gr.
I see that I noted in my hunting notes that there was a lot of tissue damage but that I was a bit disappointed by the lack of penetration.
Then 10 days later I shot a first rack whitetail buck that went about 90lbs with the same bullet.
The shot was about 75yds and was a front on shot that hit the right sternum/spine joint area. My notes saying it then wrecked 3-4 ribs as well as travelling through the top of the lungs, then breaking 4 more ribs at the back of the left side.
It was one of the very few times in my hunting experience that an animal was physically spun nearly 180� when hit.
The interesting thing on this little buck though was that the recovered bullet core only weighs 58gr. I can't seem to find any indication that I found any of the jacket material, so it must have gone into the lungs or perhaps into the stomach.
Anyway on balance and based upon those two animals I ceased using that particular bullet. While I do concede that the tissue damage was impressive and both animals were recovered quite easily, I was as noted earlier, hoping for a bit more penetration out of them.
According to my notes I switched to 200gr Partitions for a bit in both the Norma and the '06 I had at the time. I didn't test them on a lot of game actually, but my notes indicate that on at least one whitetail buck they showed marked improvement as far as penetrating ability went.
Hopefully that was some use to you sir. All the best to you and good luck on your upcoming hunts.
Regards,
Dwayne
