Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 260 ftw exit hole issues

My daughter has shot a buck the last two years with my ftw 260. I have loaded sst 129 grain bullets. Shoots great, however zero blood past point of impact on both deer. I found both buck, one traveled 160ish yards, the other 130ish yards. Both deer had lungs that were completely obliterated, with no exit hole. My question.....I also have nosler accubonds loaded 140 grain, do you think I will get pass through with these bullets for a better blood trail and easier recovery? Or will I have same issue with the bullet exploding like a grenade. Both shots were around 150 yards.

I hunt with a 260 and normally shoot 120 gr Nosler BTs. I lung shoot em and can’t remember when I did not have an exit. I’d expect the accubond to penetrate even better, being a bonded bullet. I should also mention that I do NOT get exits on medium to large hogs shot through the lungs, though they always die and don’t go far.

I load the 120’s to about 2800 FPS, just FYI. That may be a sweet spot speed for that bullet, being destructive, but still holding together. That’s just a guess, since I have never recovered a bullet from a deer, so I can’t examine a ‘used’ one.

Are they 'older stock' of sst. Their rep early on was they were Too frangible.
'Supposedly' they were toughened up. ?? I don't know but have read it here.

IMO those sst are your problem. FWIW


Jerry

Have you never read anything about SSTs? Stop using them and use Accubonds, Partitions, TTSX, LRX, or anything along those lines if you want good penetration and exits.

Boy that's a loooong ways traveled... Not good in this part of the country.

Load a batch of 130 grain Accubonds and don't look back.

Or say, 125gr Partitions.

Botta Bing...

130/160 yards on the wet side thick stuff, may never find it.

Yep...

Exactly. Especially in a typical fall rain storm storm.

I'm happily using the 130 accubonds. The SST is not the bullet I would pick if an exit was of importance

Super thick here too [jungle] , even with accubonds/mono's/partitions you'll often get a sprinter that can cover 30-60 yards . 30 feet and it will take some searching .
I love the 129 sst bullets administered to the lower neck - nearly pops their eyes out - seen them bounce [pigs] they go down so fast .
Pigs can still run with their shoulders shot all to hades - deer aren't quite as good at that imo ..

I've had excellent luck with 130 Gr NAB in my 6.5x47 Lapua.

Plain old 129 gr Interlocks are awfully good on a case full of H4831

Naw it’s easy up here... 😂😂

I use 120ish grain TTSX in mine and they don’t go more than 30 yards.

I killed a pile of deer with a 260 and a 120 Speer Hot Core, all exited.

Also killed a couple with the 120 Sierra and one with a 120 NBT from a 6.5x55. Those all exited as well.

Dump the SST if it is not working and roll with something, anything else.

140 gr factory Corelokts have never failed to exit on the half dozen caribou I have used them on. Only weight my rifle likes that I have tried, so that's what I stick with. MOA and exits is good enough for me! Got a pile of once fired hulls that I'd like to prospect some 130s with if I ever get caught up enough to reload again.

Being resistant to constantly trying the latest greatest hunting stuff d'jour....
my old standby's have already been mentioned...

120 grain Ballistic Tips... 125 partition, 140 grain Partition, 129 gr SP Hornady, and 140 grain Corelokts and 140 SP Speers...

not mentioned.. 100 grain Ballistic tip...100 grain Partition ( yeah they make those), and its discontinued... by the 100 gr SP Hornady, dropped them fast also...launched all of these from a 22 inch barrel at 3350 fps, using 4064 for powder...
never had to track any of them.. even a couple at 300+ yds ( ranged) dropped at the shot