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Joined: Mar 2020
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OP
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Posts: 299 |
What calibers and bullets have you hit elk but never recovered them? Be honest now. What do you attribute the failure to?
Life is too short to hunt with ugly guns.
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Joined: Dec 2008
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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What calibers and bullets have you hit elk but never recovered them? Be honest now. What do you attribute the failure to? Since when is not recovering a bullet a failure?
I was thinking the other day how much I used to hate Bill Clinton. He was freaking George Washington compared to what they are now.
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 13,606
Campfire Outfitter
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I think he means never recovered the elk. and round and round we are about to go......
Beware of any old man in a profession where one usually dies young.
Calm seas don't make sailors.
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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If the Elk walked or ran away? 99% of the time it was not the bullets fault, what are you looking for an excuse?? Roi7
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 33,719 Likes: 2
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 33,719 Likes: 2 |
What calibers and bullets have you hit elk but never recovered them? Be honest now. What do you attribute the failure to? Since when is not recovering a bullet a failure? Read again...
Conduct is the best proof of character.
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,336
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,336 |
More than likely bullet placement is the problem, not bullet construction.
Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,385 Likes: 3
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,385 Likes: 3 |
What calibers and bullets have you hit elk but never recovered them? Be honest now. What do you attribute the failure to? Since when is not recovering a bullet a failure? Read again... Ed, in the English language, the reference to them applies to the first noun in the sentence, hence the reference to bullets and calibers. He needs to make the question more clear.
I was thinking the other day how much I used to hate Bill Clinton. He was freaking George Washington compared to what they are now.
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Joined: May 2017
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Only failure to recover the bull was with a .35 Whelen 225 gr Trophy Bonded Bear Claw at about 240 yards. Tracked sparse blood for over a mile and lost the track. It was obviously poor shot placement as every other critter I shot with that load only went a few steps, if any. I have never recovered a Barnes TSX or TTSX bullet, but all the critters went down immediately. Happy Trails
Life Member NRA, RMEF, American Legion, MAGA. Not necessarily in that order.
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 19,085
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 19,085 |
Bullets don't fail. Using one of the wrong construction, pushing them too fast, and error in shot placement usually is culprit 99% of the time. All human failure
Last edited by saddlesore; 05/18/21.
If God wanted you to walk and carry things on your back, He would not have invented stirrups and pack saddles
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 330
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 330 |
Game that didn't bleed were all misses...i assume. Game that bled and "got away" were bad shots...i assume. Theres no way to actually know what happened in the first two scenarios. Game that died and i actually recovered a bullet...well, the bullet worked i guess. That said, there have been numerous posts about bullets working and not working on the campfire. I have recovered elk that had been shot in previous seasons and lived and elk that i shot but thought the bullet should have behaved..."better". Pictures of bullets recovered from elk that were shot in a previous season and lived until i shot them... https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...mium-bullets-needed-for-elk#Post15625911
Last edited by Centennial; 05/18/21.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,238 Likes: 11
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,238 Likes: 11 |
This has been hashed out Ad nauseam, but here goes again: I've hit 8-10 elk on the shoulder/shoulder blade with 6.5 mm 140 hunting bergers. I only lost one but had to run down a few others and finish them off with head shots. Once I got them home and cut up at least two had a spiderwebbed cracks on their scapula from where the bullet hit and didn't penetrate, just like how a rock chip spiderwebs a windshield. I now wish I looked more at the other elk shoulders blades, and took pictures.
John Burns has me half convinced it is my particular barrel being hard on the bullets and not the bullets themselves, as I am having 147 ELDs from a few different lots explode in mid air with the same rifle and sub 3000 FPS MV, 1/8 twist ballistics.........I dunno but it has made me wonder.
My only other experience with bergers is from when the hunting VLD first came out several years ago, out of some sort of .300 caliber round some guy I was guiding had. They were less than impressive on elk as well, but they were also the first generation.
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14-0
Only bull that made it out of sight was hard quartering to me, showing his left side. The 180 grain Partition hit him pretty far back in his left lung, nicked a lobe of his liver, then traveled above the gut to lodge in front of his right femur. He made it about 75-100 yards. I recovered the bullet.
Partitions, Core-Lokts, Eld-x.
300 Wby Mag, 7mm Rem Mag, .30-06, 7mm-08.
Obey lawful commands. Video interactions. Hold bad cops accountable. Problem solved.
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
Member #547 Join date 3/09/2001
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Campfire Tracker
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I've never lost a game animal that was hit where it was supposed to be hit.
But, I have had what I consider bad bullet performance. Yeah the animals died.....
I shot a really big buck in Va, last muzzleloader season.
I was using a 250gr Barnes TMZ....just like the TTSX. MV around 2100. Shot was 60 yards.
Punched him through the shoulders and center punched the heart. Obviously didn't go far, but the exit wound was identical to the entrance wound.
Looked like it didn't open at all.
Not to sure I'm going to use them this ML season.
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Campfire Tracker
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I would be willing to bet that 99.9999% of elk that are lost after being shot with hunting bullets are lost due to either poor shot placement or poor tracking skills. Today's bullets are very effective and if placed in the vitals will kill any elk that ever lived.
You get out of life what you are willing to accept. If you ain't happy, do something about it!
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Campfire Tracker
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS Rio7
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Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 299
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OP
Campfire Member
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Posts: 299 |
My point exactly. It is not usually the bullet that fails but the man behind the gun. Cup and core bullets work just fine if you put in them in the proper location. The only surprise was no one attributed it to hitting a twig or brush deflecting the bullet. No need for ad nauseam.
Life is too short to hunt with ugly guns.
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Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 2,141
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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If the elk was “never recovered” you don’t know what happened. Bullets only fail if they do not meet claims made by the manufacture.
Last edited by smallfry; 05/18/21.
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Joined: Sep 2009
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 46,247 Likes: 1 |
None.
284 160gr accubond
308 200gr partition
338 225gr barnes x 338 250gr partition
375 235gr barnes x 375 250gr barnes x 375 300gr partition
cup and cores are for locals.
Trump Won!
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,390 Likes: 4 |
I've never lost an elk that I hit but I have had a bullet come apart. 180 gr AB out of a 300 WSM. It hit a rib and blew up. I found the jacket inside the ribs on the far side and later found the core in the heart. I can see that if it hit a leg bone but not a rib. I really lucked out with that little bit of lead in the heart. It was enough to ground him within 10 yds.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I've had consistent failures with three 180 grain Nosler Combined Technology slugs on elk launched from a 30-378 at an average velocity of 3,385 fps. Right in the kill zone and the slug never makes it to the far side of the body cavity. Obviously its coming apart, but none of the elk have complained. Did not get an exit wound on an Alaska moose either.
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