Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Recovered GMX - tissue damage and bullet photos

Fellow Campfire Members;
Although this recovery is from a mule deer and as such should possibly go into the Deer Hunting sub forum, hopefully it's OK that I throw this up here.

The bullet started as a 130gr. .270 GMX which according to my reloading notes seems to exit the 22" barrel at 2850fps most days.

The buck involved was what I'd estimate to be a 3rd rack mulie that went 132lbs carcass weight.

He was very much downhill from me when I shot, at least 45�. I'd estimate he was between 50yds and 75yds away, quartering towards me with his body oriented slightly uphill.

The bullet struck mid left scapula, then broke two ribs before removing the lower lobes on the left side. It then went just through the diaphragm and lodged under the skin about 2" behind the last short rib on the right side.

Entry side showing outside of scapula. Bullet didn't blow up on entry.


Exit side of scapula showing damage to tissue and scapula itself.


Entry damage to ribs on left side.


Bullet is .530" at widest point and the recovered bullet plus fragment weigh 125gr.


The .270 GMX is shown in the center for comparison to a recovered 80gr. Barnes TTSX - .250AI - on the left and a 168gr. Barnes TSX - .308 Norma - on the right.


The Barnes products both retained a slightly higher percentage of their original weight, but overall I'm pleased with the performance of the GMX on deer. This is the 3rd deer killed with the combination.

As a side note, this fellow did manage to run about 150yds after being hit although he was visibly rocked when hit and heavily favored his left front as he ran.

I can only speculate as to why some will run a ways and some not that far with what would appear to me to be very similar tissue damage.

Anyway hopefully this is some use to someone around our cyber 'Fire this morning. Thanks for looking and good luck to you all on your upcoming hunts.

Regards,
Dwayne

Was the muzzel velocity because of an accuracy sweet spot or where you just looking for a mild load?

If it was accuracy, how high did you take the velocity? Did you have any of the old barnes big group problems?

Dwayne, thanks for the field report on the GMX performance. Later this fall I will be using the .257 90 grain in a Ruger 77 257 Roberts for the first time. Midwest Whitetails is what I am after.

Wayne

Rogue;
Somehow I can't seem to get the velocities up there with this particular rifle. I might have neglected to mention it's a 22" barrel, so perhaps that's part of the slightly slower speeds, I can't say.

I know a buddy's .270 Husky with a 24" barrel comes much closer to what the books predict for velocity.

In my rifle I previously tried some 140gr TSX in it and 58g of H4831 went 2860fps most days and 57gr of RL19 went 2819fps with some test loads. The H4831 load shot a little better so I went with it.

I ended up shooting a whitetail spike with that bullet and it had very good penetration.

When I wanted to try the 130gr. GMX, I tried RL19, H4831 and IMR4350. My initial results had those loads up to about 3150fps, which I thought was great but wondered why it was so much faster than the 140gr TSX. Then I chronographed a known load and found my old Chrony was having one of the only "weird" days I can recall - where everything was at least 150fps fast....

So anyway Rogue, the IMR 4350 shot the best at what the Barnes data said was 1 grain under max for their TSX.

While I haven't shot it as much as I really should have, the 130GMX at 2850 seems to fly in an almost identical trajectory to the 180gr Hornady Spires I shot out an '06 for years and years, so at least that's a plus.

Hopefully I answered your question?

All the best to you on your hunts this fall Rogue.

Regards,
Dwayne

Thanks for the report on this. That is fantastic performance, although I've observed from the many stories here that deer seem to be more apt to run when hit with a monometal than a comparatively weighted CNC.

I picked up some 90 gr .257 cals for my Ackley and just tested them out Monday. Was expecting to have to work a bit for accuracy, but first 2 loads using RS-Hunter gave sub-MOA groups, and the third (fastest of course) was about 1.25 MOA (which could have been me).

It seems like these open up wider than similarly-weighted TTSXs. I like that.

Thanks again for sharing,

efw

Thanks Dwayne, great report. How far are you seating them off the lands, if you don't mind me asking, and did you try different depths?

smokepole;
On this particular rifle, which is very much a "parts gun" if there ever was one, the magazine box was salvaged from an HVA I've been told.

As such I have to keep the COL to no more than 3.35" and even then the nylon tips drag a wee bit on the front of the box.

If memory serves I'm not too, too far off the lands, but honestly on our bolt actions I pay more attention to whether the resulting ammo feeds perfectly these days.

Of course smokepole, the reason for that is that one hunt many years ago I found that I had a Ruger 77 single shot - because I'd neglected to test how well my handloads ran through the magazine.

Thanks for the reply smokepole, all the best to you and yours and good luck on the rest of your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

Thanks for the details Dwayne. Always interested in different ways to roll. Don't get to hunt this year, I'm in Iraq until after the season is over. Just the way it is, thanks for the best wishes and back at you.

I had a 22" 270 that was a dog too. Couldn't get enough powder in the case to even come close to what others were claiming. It's now a 25-06ai.

The two 22 inch 270's I've owned both ran in the 3050-3150 range with 130's. I wasn't shooting monos with either of them.

The best I could do was around 2850, with the 130. Rebarrel..

I had a 243 that was like that. Flattening primers 150 fps less than book.

Not GMX's but My Tikka .270 with 22" barrel shooting Nosler 130 gr e-tips checks out at 3190 fps, I had to double check it on a second chrono but it came up the same

Dwayne, Thanks for the report on that bullet. I've been shooting some of those. Some tested bullets seem to open well, others not so much, so it's nice to see what they do to flesh and what their end result is. That's a fine, fat looking deer you have there too. Looks tasty.

Those have to be some REALLY stout loads to get that kind of velocity. Book load? Flinch

Huh? 2850fps with a 130g bullet is "REALLY stout"? Didn't seem so to me, but I don't shoot a .270 Win. Curiosity made me look:

Hodgdon lists .270 win/130g loads up to 3144fps using a 24" barrel. 2" isn't going to make nearly 300fps difference. All told I think I counted 22 loads for 130g bullets over 3000fps in Hodgdo's 2011 Annual Manual.

Nosler lists one, also in a 24" barrel and my Hornady 8th Edition lists 11 at 3000fps and 4 at 3100fps.

Barnes #4 lists six loads over 300fps (that all of their loads) with on reaching over 3200fps, albeit all from a 24" barrel.

Speer #14 lists 3 over 3000fps with one reaching over 3100fps, all with a 22" barrel.

I think Flinch was replying to old willys, not the OP.

Dwayne thanks for the report...interesting to see how these bullets work,and I'm at a loss (like Flinch who started a thread on this)as to why these animals make many tracks after sustaining that kind of severe damage.

I'm not too much of a mono shooter,but I wonder if the lower velocities seen are indicative of the very long bearing surfaces of these bullets;apparently in the vicinity of the 150 gr bullets of yesteryear.So even tho they are lighter, encounter somewhat more bore resistance than a conventional 130 gr.and hence, give pressure before top velocities can be reached.Different barrels can behave differently, too.

Personally I have never had a problem getting well over 3000 from any of my 22" 270 barrels,most loads running in the 3080-3100 fps range,including some Federal BB stuff I chronographed this week.But again, these are Nosler Partitions, Sierra's, etc.wit more "conventional " bearing surfaces.

And I did (using the Barnes manual listed max of 65 gr RL25)have the old 130 Barnes XLC blue bullet doing right on 3200 fps from a 22" M70 Classic barrel,the blue coating apparently cutting bore resistance to a considerable degree.Velocities were in line with what Barnes said they would be.

In any event, bore/groove diameter,throat dimensions and condition,smoothness of barrel,will effect 270 velocities much the same as it will any other caliber.

I would try feeding the 270 some slower powders which are more available today (7828, R22 and 25,Magpro,some others). I think the old cartridge will dote nicely on these,as others have shown on here....and don't forget the Fed 215's

That makes sense. 3190fps from a 22" is definitely on the high side of the boat.

Thanks for the report. I just tried out the GMX bullet (139 gr 7mm in a 7-08) on an antelope hunt and had similar performance to the OP. I don't have a picture but the round pulverized the shoulder and took out a good portion of lung and heart. Buck ran about 15-20 yards before he realized he was dead. I used TSX bullets the year before and I found the GMX to be just as deadly and, for whatever, reason, much more accurate out of my rifle (a plain Rem 700 in a McM stock).