Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Brush busting calibers???

To me a brush gun is all about a gun that handles well in the thick stuff but the "close range deer rifle" thread got me to thinking about calibers. While I would never advocate any caliber on it's merits to bust through brush and still hit the target, is there any advantage at all in slower moving heavier bullets?

It just seems reasonable that the greater mass of a heavier bullet would be less effected by small limbs and such than the lesser mass of smaller bullets.

In theory a 300-400 grain 45/70 should smash a limb and still keep moving better than a 55 grain 223 hitting the same limb.We also have to think about trajectory though and the ability to thread the needle through the only visible hole to the target. That 45/70 won't be traveling nearly as straight a line as the flatter shooting bullet and may smash limbs not visible in the line of sight.

Obviously the 45/70 VS 223 would be extreme sides of the comparison,but do you think something like a 225 grain 358 win moving a 2400 will be any less likely to be deflected by brush than a 7-08 140 grn bullet doing 2800 fps?

Clear shot or no shot. One of my self imposed rules.

I read a article a few years back where the writer tested this theory about brush busting caliber by using a frame to hold some sticks and then shot through it with different cartridges to hit a target beyond. Interestingly, his results showed that faster spitzer type bullets had less defection than the larger, slower blunt or round nosed bullets. I think it was in a old issue of "Rifle" magazine but not sure

Any twig can deflect any bullet. There is no brush buster.

Many moons ago, but saw an article in one of the gun rags, about this subject, and they were testing the theory out, making boxes out of something like Milk Crates and filling them full of dowels, in different shapes and sizes....

This was their way of creating a 'brush hunting deflection scenario' for heavy brush...

They sat them out at a certain distance with a target a certain distance behind it... and measured how far off target they would be after the bullet being deflected by 'brush' represented by the dowels...

Tried everything for the 222 up to a 45/70....they admitted that their thoughts would be the heavier, and bigger caliber stuff like the 45/70 and 444 would be the best... based on multiple shots with each caliber and bullet weight used, and the average deflection overall for each figured out....

They were also calculating that a Round Nose or Flat Nose would be better than a Spire Point..

The "winning combo" turned out to be a 243 with a 100 grain S.P. bullet......

so they wrapped up their conclusion was that the biggest factor of any of it, was Plain Blind Luck...

I tend to think that was probably the best conclusion one could come by...

Bullet weight doesn't make much difference as far as deflection goes. I once shot a deer from 60 yards with a rifled barrel 12 gauge slug gun using a 385 grain saboted slug. The deer was broadside and my aim point was just behind the shoulder. At the shot the deer went down in the hind quarters and started dragging itself with it's front feet. WTF ? A quick finisher stopped the deer and subsequent investigation revealed 1} my first shot had smashed through that deers hips about 2' from my aim point and 2} my slug had clipped a pinky sized blackberry bramble about halfway between me and the deer. Also. High velocity isn't neccesary and isn't of much help in flattening trajectory at typical woods ranges. A .30-30 sighted dead on at 100 yards is only .5" high at 50. More important is having your scope zero'd at 75-100 yards instead of the typical 2-3" high at 100 and having it mounted as low as possible to the bore so you're not trying to remember how much below or above your crosshairs your bullet is when you have to thread it over a limb at 15 yards and under one at 70 to hit a deer at 80.

Most effective "brush buster" I've ever owned is a CS400 Echo a month before season...

You can't be doing that on public land as it's against the law and doing it on private land that isn't yours and you've been lucky enough to get permission to hunt on will likely get you quickly booted off. It's also completely useless to a still hunter, tracker or stalker. Not everybody hunts from a stand or blind.

I had a 200gr .358" RN from a 35 Rem deflect after hitting some small pines limbs I didn't see. The limbs were around 1/8" or so thick shot was 35yds.


I had a 300gr .458" bullet from my muzzle loader hit a very thick briar, well over 1/4" thick, while shooting a a doe from a rest at 60yds. I did not see the briar which was rolled up right in front of my barrel. Clean miss.


If I can't find a clear shot with no brush I don't shoot.

Sweet Jesus, another compelling story from Maurice Ottmar..

No brush busters.

I'd guess a longer, heavy for length, smaller caliber spun fast would have less deflection than a shorter, wider, slower spun bullet if something was grazed on the way. Maybe not enough to notice though.

Better to hit hair before anything else. There is a reason I like a 6x on my "brush" guns.

^^^^ with you, but just a swag.

I've shot a water filled milk jugs placed 10-30 feet up into thick growing 4'-12' pine trees. Basically shooting at the jugs as far into the thick pines as I could and still barely see the jugs. I shot them all with 140 grn 7mm-08. I never had a jug not get busted.

I don't try to shoot through ridiculous stuff but I've never worried that I had to have a deer completely in the open. I've killed a bunch in the brush and never just wounded one as far as I could tell.

Exactly. I've long been an advocate for MORE scope X's in the brush. I want to find those clear lanes.

Just remember bullets going sideways tend to not penetrate much.

Years ago a couple of ex-cops did a video on these gun myths. They used real sticks and twigs, shot through them with everything from 22 LR to 50 BMG. The target was placed around 3 feet past the obstruction and every cartridge fails to bust brush and maintain normal bullet flight. Keyholes were the norm and it was pretty conclusive that there is no such thing as "brush busting."

They tried blowing up a gas tank full of gas and couldn't get it to explode even when hit with tracers.

If I'm not mistaken, I think it was Last Chance Armor, that theses guys were developing and they produced as many recreations of shooting situations to develop their understanding of just what happens when firing guns in these conditions.

This.


Finger sized twigs deflect a 490 grain cast 45 caliber slug moving at 1200 fps.

If that cant buck brush, nothing can.

Myth imo.


As mentioned, clear shot or no shoot.

Fairies dancing on the head of a pin.

Missed a doe at 15 yards yesterday morning with a .45 Colt. Had a good view of its side as it did some unnecessary but graceful arabesques and left. Clean miss. Little sapling I couldn't have hit if I'd tried was a couple yards in front bisecting the rib cage and missing a chunk....

Round Ball ?