Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bullet Failures

I've killed a few big game animals, between a lifetime spent whacking stuff in the USA, Canada and a few trips to Africa. Honestly, I have never had what I would call a bullet failure; not a single one.

Prolly 98% of the critters died, or at least fell, within fifty feet and fully 75+% of them were dead upon impact .. Bang-Flop. Maybe a dozen animals (out of several hundred) staggered to fifty yards. I cannot remember one that went further. And I've never lost a big game animal.

Nope, I've never had a single bullet failure.

BUT, if I'm reading right, a lot of "experts" would think that a more than a few of my bullets experienced what they so knowingly call "failure." The experts are soooo wise.

Frankly, I'm awfully simple-minded. If a bullet impacts precisely the intended spot and kills the big game animal dead-right-there, I believe that the bullet did not fail. It's as simple as that.

If the bullet will not shoot with acceptable accuracy, or if it is not capable of both penetrating to and destroying the vitals, then the shooter is likely to experience what I would think of as a "bullet failure." I've never been in this situation, mostly because I pick my bullets awfully carefully.

Personally, given today's choices, I believe the shooter is in as much danger of selecting a bullet that is too tough as one that is unacceptably soft.

Just my thoughts......

Steve

Snuck up to 30 feet from a spike bull elk, the shot was nearly perfectly placed behind the front shoulder but the snow ball broke up on the hide and didn't get any penetration. The shot taken was an over hand right, open sights, at maximum velocity, without a rest.

Uh-oh! There appears to be a goodly amount of mission creep taking place here. Original specs called only for a bullet that could write.


Perhaps you would be interested in a bullet patented by gun writer and ballistician Art Pejsa:



Right!

--Bob

Thanks for the replies.

It was asked for conversation's sake mostly.

The only one who offered useless info was the useless pr*ck seal head.

I find a bullet that commonly results in a lot of bloodshot meat and bone chips fits more in my defintion of a failure.

I shoot such little deer that I would rather have them trot off a few yards and fall over than be DRT if it saves ten poounds of meat.

I had a doe tag last year to fill just before elk season. I used my .338 as I have a few times before.

This time I used my practice load with a 225 Hornady FB which I had never shot anything but a few varmints with. Usually I use a Bearclaw or Partition.

I don't plan on using that load on a 150 lb mule deer doe again.
It killed it dead but I lost the near side shoulder. I shot her 6 inches or so behind the shoulder crease as well.

Correction:

You forgot to include yourself; but then again, somethings are a dead given anyway.

DZ,

You are well aware of the 40grBT failure I had on the bobcat. I did not go 'yote hunting this past winter but will be following up this winter. I still have the same batch of bullets.

MtnHtr

My experience is: most bullet 'failures' are failures of the shooter to use the right bullet at the right time on the right thing.

I believe that most (99.9999...%) bullet failures are in fact hunter errors. If you put ANY bullet THROUGH an ungulates ribs it will die perhaps not instantly but it will die usually with in a few yards. I read somewhere that in Alaska the Inuits often use a 22 caliber rifle and shoot caribou or moose through the ribs and then trail them. Yes this is subsistence hunting not sport but the lesson is clear these animals die. I think the enough gun argument may be valid in Africa or any other place where large dangerous game exist and needs to be put down before great harm comes to the shooter but for hunting deer it is immaterial. Deer can practically be killed with rocks if you hit them RIGHT. Hunters look to almost any excuse for their lousy often irresponsible shooting - long range, bad angles, hail marys etc.. Any modern sporting bullet in a center fire firearm is down right deadly. But the same cannot be said of your average hunter. Heck myself included.

When Ballistic Tips first came out we had troubles with them not getting enough penetration, especially if the animal was shot in the shoulder. We guided several pronghorn and deer hunters that lost animals because of this, one of which we saw the deer a couple of weeks later with just a scar on the shoulder. However my father-in-law shoots them now in a 300 win mag at pigs and loves them and has great luck. I think that may have been a flaw in the beginning that they corrected. I am still skeptical and will only shoot them at varmints though.

Prw..,

Yep. With whitetails it's more about where you hit'em, not with what.

tre..,

Yeah. It's pretty well established early Bal Tips blew up. Handloaded some for a friend when they first came out. He claimed to have put an otherwise killing shot on a small whitetail buck which ran off. In thirty years of hunting with the guy it was the only deer he ever lost and he was generally a better field shot than me. According to gunwriters on this forum, the problem is corrected.

Still have that box of bullets but use them for siters and such. Have used other Bal tips for vermin as they are wicked accurate. Bought some 250gr Bal Tips for my 9.3X62 and plan to use them on deer, just haven't got to it yet.

O

I shot an average sized 5 point whitetail buck with a 6.5X55 and a handloaded 140gr Speer hot-cor. Shot was right behind the shoulder and the deer didnt go far but the bullet "failed" to do what i wanted of it. It didnt fully penetrate the buck so when he jumped back into the mountain laurels it was a little hard trackin without a blood trail until around 35yds or so. a 140gr bullet @ 2,700 fps aint exactly traveling at light speed and the deer was probably around 150lbs on the hoof. I have had every bullet, 120,129,130, and 140grs always go right through em and thats the way i like it, suffice it to say i dont use that bullet any more.

Fixed it for you.
I've personaly seen more deer "wounded & lost" by guys shooting at ranges under 50yd (while eating off a bait pile) than I have at ranges over 300yd. Go to a public range during hunter "sight in" sometime, and you'll see what I mean.

Bullets don't fail- The shotter fails to do his job.