Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Bullet Failure......yes or no?

This is a 168gr Ballistic Silvertip fired from a .308 and recovered from an Idaho bear this past May. Shot was 104 yards broadside through the lungs and the bullet was recovered in the hide on the off side. The bear ran about 30 yards before piling up. There was massive internal damage, but also massive separation of the jacket and core. What you see is all that was found.

Bullet failure, yes or no?...

I wouldn't particularly like that, but you can't argue with results....

If it killed the bear how could it have failed?

I've only seen 2 or 3 bears in my life, but since he was dead I'll say it was not a failure. The bullet actually looks pretty good to me, but I don't know how they're supposed to act on bears. I should have asked firstly, did he run off a long ways, long tracking job, etc? DRT?

Dead bear OR not......

That's NOT how I want my recovered bullets to look.

It does NOT satisfy me........F A I L U R E !

Failure, imo. Sure, the bear died, but a guy last year also killed a bear with a blow to the head with a log, too, iirc.

I like exits. If the bullet doesn't exit, then at least offer a nice and wide mushroom. Also, if you hit the bear in the lungs and made no bone contact, then that is actually pathetic bullet peformance, imo.

Let me give at least 1 reason that performance is UNacceptable.

IF you needed to shoot a raking shot from behind, NOT butt shot, but at last rib angled toward opp shoulder...

that performance might/prolly would kill an animal but PROBABLY not give an exit wound. May or may not give any blood trail.

IF the animal is able to run any distance, you may or may not find it.

I expect hunting bullets to hold together. That's success.

Dead in 30 yards is acceptable on a lung shot bear. Anything lung shot goes some distance - but I'm guessing 30 yards is not excessive. Do I like a bullet to retain integrity on game animals? Why yes, I do, and that bullet did not, but even though the core separated, the core made it to the far side hide.
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. . . . . . . . and the bear died . . . . . . humanely, from the sounds of it.

I like the X bullets' performance on game animals from deer to moose, so that would include bear. Never seen an X bullet separate core from jacket.

Did you hit any heavy bone in the shoulder or was it ribs and lungs only?

That's what you get with cup and core a lot of times...People should be used to these results by now......Use a partition next time....

It worked as advertised and designed... how can that be a failure?

Now, if it failed to open when designed to do so, then it would be a failure.

If it were designed to maintain its core and failed to do so then it would be a failure.

None of the above happened.

It worked as advertised.

The bear died.

All that means success.

Tongue in cheek?

Serious bro...I agree with you though....

I agree with Brad.....it appears to have performed as about expected not knowing the velocity.....they are not advertised as "bonded core".....I'd switch bullets.

Much as I love Partition's (and I do), I've used the NBT enough with nothing but success to be a believer. I really like NBT'S. And black bears really aren't all the tough!

Hard to know what to make of some posts. The bear died in 30 yards or so. Can't see any kind of failure in the process. Could the bullet have behaved differently? Who cares. Hit properly, stuff dies. Hit improperly people complain and moan about what could have been with a "better" bullet. I'd love to find a black bear I'd have trouble killing with a 168 grain bullet in a .308 Winchester--I don't think they come that big.................

Amen to that, I've got some to load and shoot in my 308 in the next couple of days. If they perk (which I spect they will) I'll have no problemo using them for all that moves this year.

Dober

Dober,

Are you sure you can use nothing but a Kimber this season? Your M70's might start to question your judgement...

Perfect bullet performance and no Barnes Rodeo!
Btw your average cup and core that shed its core would not have near the retained weight that the BT shown has. BT's have the thickest jacket of any cup and core I have seen.

I would not call it a failure but its not what I want in a bullet. .308 does not stress a bullet with speed. I am always thinking what if you would have shot that from a 300 winny or 300 RUM. There is no way that bullet is going to stand up to those kinds of speeds/stress. Or what if you had shoot him on the flat of th shoulder at 50 yards. It might work fine but then again it might not.

I think Bt's and Accubonds act like a standard cup/core bullet should. If you want to use a standard bullet they are great but if you want a premium bullet performance you need to use something else.

Dink