Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Failed bullets

AGREED

This is pretty much one of those “gotcha” questions! Many will “claim” that, if the animal was recovered.....it wasn’t a failure.

My take on this is a bit different. When the shooter/hunter expects a bullet to perform as advertised, at velocities for which it was designed, and it fails to do so ....... I see it as a failure! The majority of hunters do not perform extensive bullet testing in ballistic gel or a homegrown test medium, and rely upon the manufacturer’s bullet description!

Once upon a time, I used a bullet on thin skinned game, deer, antelope, bear (Black), and elk......which was designed for a large, medium bore cartridge that would/could be used on potentially dangerous game in Alaska and/or Africa. Yet, the bullet would completely disintegrate after impact on small, thin skinned game......deer, bear, and elk. Yes, 2 of 3 animals were recovered after a quick decisive kill. However, these were broadside shots, which could have just as easily been accomplished with a .223 Rem. The other animal, which was shot at a steeply angled, “raking” shot requiring deep penetration.......was lost.

Yes, I should take the blame for “not” realizing that these bullets were inferior after the first animal taken, finding that the bullet had disintegrated .......failing to exit a small, thin-skinned animal! But, being young and dumb.....I “wrongly assumed” that a heavy, large caliber bullet, from a prominent, highly regarded bullet manufacture, designed for a cartridge recognized as a cartridge/bullet to be used on potentially large, dangerous game ......would “not” completely disintegrate on any animal!

So you make the decision.......was this bullet failure or not? memtb

Are you sure it didn't tumble first, and not open due to tumbling?

Out of how many elk kills? That could make difference I guess.

The bullets that have disappointed me have done to much damage not to little damage. Rio7

That’s a solid point.

My ol buddy has a log book of every elk his father and himself have taken with location, range, etc since the late 50’s. They were pretty regular elk killers with each of them taking 2 elk quite a few times when they hunted both Idaho and Oregon, with some Wyoming in there too. No failures per se. Some of the recovered Bullets (180 Partitions from a 30-06, 300 Win and 300 Wby) look like hell but they were all pretty much either caught in the far side hides or big bones.

It’s a helluva track record with over a 100 elk at this point.

I know a guy who has hunted elk every year that I am aware of since the early 80s, maybe even earlier. I am pretty sure he has killed one elk. A raghorn bull in about 1994 IIRC.

.270 Win and Wally World special ammo at about 50 yards. That's 40+ years of elk hunting with zero failures too.

Badass.....

RIO7 is that the going in or coming out side? i saw one shot that looked like that with a win. silver tip in a 270 130 gr going in on a 100lb doe . it ran about 175 yards . had some small cuts in the heart from bone shrapnel

44mc, Exit wound, 180 gr. core lock, on a 210# white tail buck , 30-06 , Rio7

[quote=RIO7]

44mc, Exit wound, 180 gr. core lock, on a 210# white tail buck , 3006.
Wow that is overkil

What was the range?

PintsofCraft, As I recall about 150 yards. DRT Rio7

Surprisingly explosive. Rough job on the skinners.

I’d call that a failure too, unexpected for that bullet, in some ways.

Been reading thru this thread pondering what I’d say would be a bullet failure and what I wouldn’t. I guess, personally, I’d categorize a bullets failed performance as ‘unexpected performance’ given velocity & range. I think I remember Mule Deer relating a story about a Speer of some caliber that shed its core & failed to penetrate a small deer or antelope even tho he’d had great luck with the same bullet over a long period of time. (Forgive me if I’m wrong).

So my logic: If a bullet pencils even though it expands 99% of the time that’s a failure. If a bullet like Rio7 shared, grenades, that’s a failure given the reputation of the CoreLokt bullet.

Overall I’ve been of the opinion that unless I’m calculating impact velocity, most of my failures or sub-optimal results are on me. Just sayin. I think most bullets are well tested and our ‘reloading or other creativity’ creates perceived failures.

Anyhow, just my .02

Yeah, definitely have to be careful with years hunting and numbers actually taken.

"Nosler Partition"....................The Original Fail Safe.

That’s about right.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Yup^^^^^^^^^^^

Sounds like an interesting fella.

That's lots of work. I'd like to talk to him to understand the decades of commitment. Maybe it wasn't that much commitment?

He just enjoys being out there. His commitment has been average I'd say as far as the actual effort put into a hunt.

He's had his chances I know...both archery and rifle. A fair amount of opportunity has come his way but there was always branches or something else in the way that deflected the shot (archery shots at least) or something else that happened. Many of his opportunities where he didn't take a shot I know others here would have tried, but his ethics prevented him from doing so. He's old enough now that he doesn't get real into it but does still does go every year with his son.

He certainly hasn't been one to just sit around camp and drink beer. I have never seen him touch alcohol.

What is the matter with a neck shot down fast miss it runs . You shoot at a target it has a little circle of about 1 inch you put 3 in it at 200 yards neck shot no