Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Least blood shot meat.

I'm sold on the TSX/TTSX for minimizing bloodshot meat. I shot a smallish 6 pt bull and a 3x4 mulie with a 270 Wby this past fall. 130 TSX at 3560-3590 with virtually no blood shot meat on either which surprised me. Shot on the elk was a little under 100 yds, steep quartering away diagonally through the chest. Found the bullet on the surface of the brisket while butchering so it apparently stopped just under the hide. The shot on the mulie was closer, maybe 70 yds, broadside through the shoulders. Lots of bone fragments to pick through, but very little bloodshot meat.

This was my first experience with the 270 Wby and those kinds of velocities at close range. I've experienced much more bloodshot meat with 300 Win Mags and 180 Partitions...

How quickly did they fall?

DF

I would bet you will see a great difference, more mass probably less expansion, and a little slower. Bet the deer and hogs will hate them.

I'm guessing PDQ, based on shot placement!

We'll see if I come out wearing an Elmer Keith hat or smoking a JOC pipe...

DF

I haven't have any issues. Then again, I don't eat the brains.

Accubonds on the heavier side, which in my guns means 2700-2900 fps, aren't particularly egregious on meat. Unless you shoot them in the rear shoulder at very close range and blow up the hip joint. That's not a good thing.

That's the problem... everything else is never equal.

Uh ... "rear shoulder" ... ??

(Down home we call that "broadside through the ass.")

Short answer is no faster than any other cartridge I've used, but details are:

The mulie was out in the open and spun in circles for 20-30 yds. Initially thought I hit him tight behind the shoulders (as intended), but was later surprised he stayed on his feet with two shattered shoulders. Elk was below me in heavy timber walking straight away and down hill. No chance for a rest so was tracking him off hand in the scope waiting for him to turn and give me a little angle. He dropped immediately at the shot but was up moving and out of site before I could get another one in him - left me with bad feelings on shot placement (too high, too far back, only one lung hit due to steep angle...). Based on the bulls reaction, I felt a little time was needed before following up, but my partner thought we should get right after him - we had a skiff of snow which was melting fast and he was going downhill in the wrong direction (away from the truck), and heading towards private land. We jumped him bedded within 50 yds of where he was hit and that's where he would have stayed if we had given him a little time. Jumped him again less than 100 yds later - he was moving slow out of the first bed, but really took off out of the second. He went down 300 yds from where I shot him due to us pushing him - I'll not do that again. The bullet did enter high at back of rib cage angling down through the chest. It appeared I only clipped the top of the lungs though, which is likely why he needed a bit longer to bleed out - the lungs were pretty much in tact. Not so with the mulie - entire chest cavity was liquified.

Shootsaswede: I have used the good old 30/06 on all manner of game from Mt. Goats to Elk and Bear to Antelope and this includes three types of Deer - the secret to "least bloodshot meat" is not so much in the brand or style of bullet but in shot placement!
IF you take the simple concept of shooting the game animal you wish to eat through the heart/lungs you will not only virtually eliminate any blood shot edible meats BUT you will also improve the quality of all the other meat on the games carcass by draining much of the animals blood out of the body or into the chest cavity with this shot!
I use Nosler Ballistic Tips for Hunting game in calibers 243 Winchester, 25/06 Remington, 260 Remington, 270 Winchester, 280 Remington, 7mm/08 and 308 Winchester.
A few years ago I retired my old Model 70 in 30 Govt 06 and at that time I was using the Nosler 165 grain Partition.
Avoid the neck, the shoulders and the back bone and shoot for the heart/lungs - voila - no bloodshot meat.
Good luck with the new Rifle.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Thank you all for the education. I always, if possible, shoot for the lung area. I look forward to blooding the odd-6 this coming fall.

For better than 20 years, I shot all of my elk with 180 gr Partitions from my .30 Gibbs at just under 3000 fps. Most shots were tight behind the shoulder and resulted in a bloodshot area of the ribcage about the size of a medium to large pizza. The rear portion of the bullet was often just under the skin on the opposite side of the animal.

The last elk that I shot was with a 168 gr TSX bullet at 3290 fps from my .300 Weatherby. It was also a tight behind the shoulder shot and the bullet exited behind the bull's opposite shoulder. The bloodshot area on each ribcage was less than the size of my fist. The bull also only took two steps after he was hit and fell dead.

I have a new favorite elk rifle and bullet!

I have to go along with Heavybullets...I like to eat right up to the hole and give that to the dogs. Never could figure out why ANYONE would want to stick bullets into roasts, steaks or hamburger meat when a lung/heart etc., shot works much better...I DON'T eat lungs or any other organ meat for that matter and give the liver away...organ meat is the dogs due.

DRT, BANG FLOP....Jesus H Christ...where does this kind of K-RAP come from. If you learn how to shoot, learn the anatomy of your game, take you shot within the optimum killing range of your game, abilities, bullet construction, caliber and put the bullet where it belongs the game will go down quickly...and you WON'T loose much meat...all the rest is just online smoke blowing horse pucky.

Not to put too fine a point on it or diss/flame anyone in paticular.

It wasn't broadside.... I don't suck THAT bad, lol.... ended up under his chin. 70% weight retention. That was the year I went to Colorado.

Fargin' MESS though. I think I learned a lesson the hard way.

That has been my experience as well with the 30-06, 7mm-08, 358 Win, 340 Weatherby and others on many caribou and several moose. And, yes, I have even whacked 'em in 'the rear shoulder' without making a mess with X bullets. (I can't explain why, but I have seen pelvis and other big bones pulverized or thoroughly chunked up by X bullets without much if any bloody business to deal with, while a cored bullet almost always does the other thing.) That is a reason to love the bullet, for sure. For other reasons, however, I prefer other bullets most of the time these days.

Yeah, just flickin' ya some sh*t ... just because I can.

T.H.S. has never been particularly satisfactory for me 'cept on digger squirrels.

Tom