Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Preferred bullet performance

The 143gr Norma Bondstrike ammo shoots so good in my Sako 6.5 PRC I haven't even loaded anything for it yet. Bullet/kills remind me of the accubond and that's high praise.

Yep. The vast majority of resident westerners in states with long seasons aren't hunting for six weeks at a time. Unless a person is retired or has their own place to hunt right out their back door, (the latter of which doesn't cover all that many hunters), then the committed sorts are hunting weekends and holidays, or taking a few days to a week off work. The not so serious types are hunting something like opening day and Thanksgiving. Some of that is due to life getting in the way of hunting, but other factors like distance to huntable ground is also a major factor. Kinda difficult for a guy from Alzada to travel back and forth to the Cabinets for a sheep hunt every weekend of the season. For those who might not be aware, that's something like a 700 mile drive without leaving the state of Montana.

And regardless of how much time I have or dont have I am not taking a marginal shot.

I agree, a gut shot is a gut shot, busting a buck or bull in the flank, last rib or even on the butt with enough horsepower and bullet construction to penetrate angling towards and wreck the vitals is not marginal, in fact, I shot a Cape Buffalo on the butt with a 400gr 40 cal solid, the bullet was found in the neck, liver, lungs and the large vessels above the heart were all punched clean, a quick and mortal hit on that buffalo, that happened after he caught a bonded Woodleigh Weldcore in the shoulders, he was done for and no one got roughed up.

Thank You gunner! I wanted to say something similar!

Though I fully agree….you don’t take “marginal shots” with “marginal” cartridges/bullets!

A man has got to know his limitations and the limitations of his/her hunting firearm! memtb

Yes Sir memtb, I didn't really know what SaddleSore and BWalker were getting at, I could only guess a miss or animals vitals obstructed by terrain, brush etc, I wont shoot in those cases either, but, if I can see a path to the vitals, I turn a hard hammering shot loose on 'em Sir ; ]

If the shot is such I can't take out both lungs I won't shoot. Elk can live a long time and travel very far on one lung and ai hate dealing with those kinds of rodeos.

When my bullet penetrates completely, taking out a lot of organs (liver being a very important organ), causing a lot of tissue damage, likely cutting/tearing many blood vessels, fully perforating a lung, and taking out the offside shoulder as it exits the animal……I suspect that it will only be an “8 second rodeo)! 😉 memtb

If you only perforate one lung, regardless if the liver or far shoulder is completely penetrated or not, you’ll very possibly be in for an all night rodeo queen experience.

Very high probability indeed.

For the most part I am a fan of Barnes bullets. I have used the 180 TSX and the 200 LRX with great results. I like a bullet that can break shoulder bones and exit.

For my 45 Colt Bisley revolver I like cast bullets that can do the same.

I guess that I was thinking about the quartering away shot as in a previously……..in which case a bullet starting just forward of the hip, with the offside shoulder the desired exit point…..a lung and a diaphragm will be encountered! Damaging the diaphragm alone, will hinder the animals ability to breathe properly…..taking out a lung helps assure this!

So far….this has been a non-issue!

It’s really not that difficult to determine your desired bullet entrance point when you know where you want the bullet to exit. memtb

You guys have much more experience with elk than me, have only killed five on my own, with two assists, funny both assists came from an old lightweight easy carrying FN Browning 375 H&H, shot one fleeing small 5x4 bull on assist right on the butt, he collapsed and died, it gets dark and cold early on those mountains, didn't look for the bullet, it was old style 250gr X bullet, left the muzzle at 2915 fps over RL-15.

Wrecked that bulls rear running gear, a lot to do with that shot may have been cartridge and bullet used, the other assist was a cow, right through both shoulders, knocked her steering box wacky, looked like chubby checker trying to keep her front end running right, she dropped.

After seventy years of hunting in a variety of places and game, there have been many surprises that break the "rules". By about half-way through that period, I adopted what later would be a short version of Hagel's dictum: Take more than "enough gun" because you never know all the conditions you might be called upon to deal with.

I once shot a very good buck between neck and shoulder when it emerged from the bush (in a snow storm) 35 yds below me. It folded right there with its rack hanging up in a 10" maple. My rifle: a Ruger 77 SS with the "boat paddle" stock. Cartridge: .300 Win Mag. Bullet: 180gr Hor Int. MV = 3000 fps. But there wasn't blood anywhere, neither from the entrance (which I couldn't find) nor was there an exit, but DRT! Evidence of the sheer effect of energy. Yes, location was important, but all that energy was deposited right there. Never found the bullet nor any fragments.

Shot a groundhog with my .223 (have shot hundreds). Bullet was a 52gr Nosler BT at +3100 fps. Range: 30 yds. It was facing me so I shot it under the chin. It dropped to the shot. Went to pick it up and no blood anywhere. Just like the deer, couldn't find the entrance and no exit. Some might say it was a miss and it died from a heart attack!

One thing I do know for sure is nothing will drop big game with a single shot like a Big Bore! Too much? Yeah!! You take the shot given in my area here in Eastern Canada because that's all you'll get! Yep, sometimes from the rear or front on!

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

I have been hunting elk just shy of 60 years I decide last season was the end of it but I might put in a for tag this year and go out to sit close to my ride if I can find some one to pack my elk out if a really stupid one walks by me.

I few years ago, I counted all my punched elk tags that I have save over the years. It was a little past 50 and I have taken several cow elk with my muzzle loader since then.

Bulls got too big for me to handle and I could no longer fight the snow.

I have hard lot f excuses in those years, from I had to travel 1500 miles, pay $1000 for tag and I am darn sure gong to shoot an elk no matter what shot is offered, I only hunt weekends and I have to take what ever is offered, I hunt nasty country and it is the only shot I will ever get, I'd rather take half an elk home instead of none, my super duper shoulder crunching magnum with magic bullets will plow through the entire length of an elk, I can hit a running elk with no problem, and several I have undoubtedly forgot.

I have no doubt, in that mix, there have been more than few elk wounded and lost that we never hear about. Myself, I have lost two elk over the years. Undoubtedly my fault. What I have learned is if I waited only a few seconds, the elk will turn and present a definite kill shot.

Killing an elk is not a high thing in my priorities as to why I hunted elk. It was definitely close to the top as I like the meat. I never kicked myself if I went home with an unpunched tag. More power to you if you think a particular bullet is your holy grail. I am not telling anyone to change, but there is ample proof that pure lead bullet going 1500 fps will kill elk just as well. The demise of millions of bison proved that a 150 years ago.

Carry on with your confidence. If it works for you, great.

Bob,

Animals don't die from holes in the hide, nor from "energy deposit," but from scrambled internals where it counts.

Yes, destroying organs requires a transfer of kinetic energy from the bullet to the tissue, but thinking in terms of depositing energy is overly simplistic and not very useful.

In my case I have had 6 or 7 absolutely terrible bullet performances. Only one was due to lack of penetration. The rest were all because the bullets did not expand. Two were from 338 Magnum rifles, one was using an early Barnes X hollow point I think was 230 grains. Another from the same rifle was using a 250 grain Sierra. Both were relatively well hit at long range, around 450 yards. Temps below zero. No expansion both bullets hit lungs and both elk traveled more than a half mile in deep snow most annoyingly uphill. Both elk were tracked and shot in their beds. Then cut up in blizzards and dragged down the mountain to where a snow machine could reach.It is possible the bullets were never tested in below zero temps or at long range. I carried a long standing disgust for Barnes bullets over this particular failure.

And for Sierra, as well, I suppose?

I would much rather that a wounded animal travel uphill from my destination than downhill.

I had a 250 grain sierra started at 2900 fps pencil through a mule deer buck. Ended up shooting it 3 times with those bullets to finally kill it. Must have a very hard core or something. Quit using them. Then shot a whitetail at 120 yards with a 200 grain ballistic tip doing 3200 fps. Hit onside shoulder and bullet fragged lungs and didn't exit. That was the end of my 340 Roy testing.

Betting that same bullet you said failed to open is the same bullet barnes I used in a 338 win mag on a caribou at 802 yards. 2 hits. Both expanded. Exits were not big. But they were bigger than the entry. Caribou stood around after the first hit for probably a minute or less while I reloaded and set up steady again and so I attempted the spine on the 2nd shot and got luck and broke it.

Temps for us in AK at the time I am not sure although one of those mornings it was 5 degrees inside our tent, I recall that and the line freezing to the eyes on the rods constantly.