Shot w/a 9.3x62 at a range of about 75 yds. I think next year I'll go w/a different bullet, or maybe just stay away from the shoulders.

Yup, shoulder shots anchor them but don't eat well.

My experience with AB's and shoulders mirror yours, not the best combination IME.

I'll second that as well. They work great till bones get involved.

I am not a big fan of shoulder shots just for that reason, I like a neck shot at that range. jmo

Kevin

How fast were you starting it?

I'd center punch those shoulders with a nice 250 gr TTSX or 286 gr Partition if my rifle would shoot 'em.

Course I shoot 320 gr Woodleighs at 2400 fps in my 9.3x62.

Gunner

I'll probably end up doing the same with my 9.3 and 286gr. partiton this year gunner. We'll see.....OP, how much meat was actually lost? Is this another thread of how the bullet didn't work but the animal was DRT? We need more to the story, thanks...

AB's will often do a lot of damage even when the bones aren't involved. I shot one this year with a 180 gr 30 cal at 350 yds. I didn't hit any bone at all but the meat damage was similar.

This is just me, but unless the critter is quartering to me I haven't found a reason yet to punch the shoulders. Lots of meat loss, and those fronts make for excellent burger. As well, I've see plenty of critters take a hike after being hit in one or two front's anyway. The idea that a shoulder hit always takes them to the turf is far from what I've seen...

Dober

The shoulder shot wasn't intentional. The first shot didn't anchor her, so she made it across a river and collapsed on the other side. Not wanting to possibly push her farther if I were to follow, I made the only killing shot that was available to me, angling through the top of the chest and out the opposite side shoulder.

We had to pull her back across the river with a 4x4.



Mission accomplished.

Beats the hell out of doing the same thing to a rear shoulder.

So how did you get across the river to get a rope on her with out getting wet?

We didn't. Luckily it was only knee deep, but awfully COLD.

Or hitting them right in front of the "rear" shoulders.



That was sure a unique game recovery. How much rope did it take?

Two 75 ft lengths and it was just enough.

I gotta ask, what state were you in?

And I have to agree, once the shooting starts I too will do what I have to get them turfed.

Dober

Wyoming, near Encampment. The river is the North Platte. The day was October 24th and would get about 8" of snow. It made the hunting fun.

Whoa! I guess I've never really seen what a rifle does to an animal...until last year, it was shotgun only for my area, and I ate tag soup last year...

Betting if a guy soaked that shoulder in a cooler of ice water and trimmed good, you would get more meat off that than the pic would indicate.

As far as the river, think they call it a "mile wide and an inch deep" for a reason. Great pics of recovery. Makes me think of duck hunting more than elk.

Thought that was the Powder

No, it was the Platte that was referred to in this way.

Lorne, You made me curious so looked it up. Looks like both rivers were referred to in this manner. Interesting to me as I drive along the North Platte and always thought of it in this manner. Need to get a look at the Powder some day. Take care.

One thing nobody has mentioned in this thread is ANYTIME you hit the big shoulder joint with an expanding bullet there's usually quite a bit of meat damage, due to bone fragments blowing every which way. This is usually exagerrated in animals bigger than deer, because there's more bone. I've seen meat damage like due to shoulder-joint hits from a number of different bullets, even monolithics like the Barnes TSX and Nosler E-Tip, which normally don't damage as much meat as bullets that lose some weight.

I've shot a number of big animals with the 250 9.3mm AccuBond, and in most 9.3mm rounds (such as the 9.3x62 and 9.3x74) the velocity isn't high enough to do much meat damage, especially since the 250 is designed to retain more weight than smaller AccuBonds. The only one I've ever recovered was from the second, angling-away hit on a good-sized grizzly, the cartridge the 9.3 B-S, the short-action equivalent of the 9.3x62. The bullet entered the rear of the right ribs and ended up under the skin of the neck on the opposite side, retaining 83% of its weight. That's at a muzzle velocity of 2600 fps and at a range of about 50 yards.

Yes, AccuBonds can blow apart meat, especially the lighter models at high velocities. But the 250-grain is normally very meat friendly from the 9.3x62 and similar cartridges.

30338

Seems to me I remember some discussion of it in 'Centennial'(by Michener) as well ; on the other hand my memory ......well they say its the 2nd thing to go

Cheers

Seems to me the bullets killed that Elk handily. A shot Elk is going to have meat destruction. This isn't how they kill a Steer in a slaughterhouse!

Well you lost part of a shoulder, its still better than loosing 100% of the Elk. My guess from the photo that you might get a little off of it for burger or sausage. I once lived in a moose camp for 14 days and the only thing we had was a shot up shoulder of a caribou, the Outfitter was a turd. The Cook was able to make it work and as I recall he made some teal good chow. Me and three other fellows were not to happy about it considering what we were paying for that fly out Newfoundland Moose hunt at the time. Next time shoot them in the ribs or a neck shot.

Agreed!!!

Mark I could not agree more, I only take boilerroom shots at cow elk. no meat loss and the animal never goes far.

Better to lose part of a shoulder than the whole animal.

That certainly brings out the 'WOW' factor!!!

Lots of similar stories and results, most associated with some very popular bullets. Only a very few rarely receive such consistent notoriety.

Nice to have choices........

oct 24 we were in NM and it was so dry and warm(80+) the ground not to mention the vegetation crunched so loud it blew any chance of sneaking. never saw any cows but first day saw 2 spikes bulls across canyon 700yds. but didn't have a bull tag.

Well thank goodness it wasn't a rear shoulder. That's were the really good steaks come from.

Double Lung shots for me with Accubonds on any animial. Lost alot of good eats with the shoulder hit on a cow elk. I would say it would be a bit different if trying to anchor a large trophy class animal and going for the shoulder.

Maybe its the bowhunter in me to aim more for the lungs.

Right, where is that rear shoulder?

Obviously right behind the front one. I myself simplify things by simply aiming at a shoulder.