Only reference I've seen by him as far as using a whale carcass as a bullet test medium was a caption to a pic in his article titled "Beauty and the Beast" in #208 of Rifle mag. May be other references though.
Out of vague interest, I was offered an old cut down .303 that had killed over 60 whales over the years.
Blue whales, pilot whales, all kinds. They get beached you see and if they couldnt get them off, then the old man would come down with the .303 and put them down.
I recall the article in question. It was in one of the Wolfe magazines, probably Handloader, within the past few years. He and his son were doing penetretion tests of various bullets in .458 Winchester using the dead, beached whale as test media. A perfect example of great personal sacrifice in the name of science.
I know Phil very well and he is an old bullet digger of the old school..So am I, but in my golden years I have changed and now I only dig in the fresh stuff, not wolf bait!
Could be. There was no oosik (pecker bone), though there was evidence of a probable amputation.......so she may have been involved even if it weren't her.
Walrus are probably better test media than whales just because whales are softer throughout. A hide which is close to 3/4" in places does make the pinnapeds less desirable however in the bullet recovery phase.