Before and after bullet

powdergun

powdergun

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
253   0   0
I know you fellas love to talk about bullet performance. The great debate of premium vs fragmenting, big bore vs super fast small bore and so on. Work BS has shut my shooting down for a while so for sh*ts and giggles how about a before and after bullet picture thread.

Here is my two cents worth.

Bullet: 45 cal XTP ( 240 gr )
Gun: Savage ML
Situation: Bullet inserted into deer at about 90 yards at a rate of about 2000 fps . Deer ran about 100 yards and found dead with liquified lungs.
Assessment: Bullet acted as designed but did not produce the much coveted bang flop.
Decision: Stick with the XTP or switch to a premium bullet ?



PS the before bullet is the 300 gr.
 
Last edited:
That's about what I'd expect to see from a 240 XTP. I've noticed a marked increase in bang-floppity goodness with the 300 grain SSTs with the Savage muzzleloaders. Beyond KOing deer, they seem to shoot through moose without any problem. A friend took two mulie does with one shot, the bullet exited the second one as well.

I'm going to miss those fist-fulls of NT tags.
 
Dogleg said:
Can we really do that? Seems excessive.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it probably is. I just think that (outside the dangerous game sphere) 'bang flop' is mostly a 'feel good' result that isn't really that reliably predictable or, for that matter, something that should be expected on anything other than a CNS hit. It certainly isn't a fair description of whether a particular bullet did its job well, imho.
 
Stick with it. Fine bullets. I inserted a 250gr into the chest of one last night. Went about 50 yards. Thankfully it ran towards my truck saved me 50 yards of dragging. Maybe if I'd left the tailgate down? I've had very good blood trails with these bullets. Ml2 also. No big cloud of smoke after the shot, easy to see which way the game went.
 
Last edited:
If a deer isn't going to bang-flop its sure nice to have an exit hole to help find it. This one did/has neither, and both are rather easy to achieve on a deer when using a SML that produces energy figures like some mid-sized magnums. Why have the worst of both worlds when you can have the best of both worlds?
 





off the shelf .303 british, factory federal loaded speer hotcor 180gr bullet and what happened to it when I pulled it from under the hide on the opposing side
rifle, custom .303 no1 mk3 with 5 groove chopped to 19" original enfield barrel , shot at 80+ish yards. moose went 50 yards and end of story.

 
An exit would of been nice but I only had a front quartering shot and the bullet took the long route through the boiler room. I love the savage as you said you aren't blinded by a puff of smoke. I think if I had pyrodex or balck powder I would not of seen the hit and where he ran. No blood but he followed one of three routes and I knew he would be down one of them.No real complaints about this bullet but I hunt the edges of the thick stuff and when a deer bolts he gets into a jungle of brush. I know the area well but it sures makes it easier if he would go down in the open. If I could only train them to run into the fields rather than out of them. I haven't recovered a bullet in the longest time as they usually exit the animal. I found this one and was actually impressed that it held together considering the type of bullet it is. Maybe next year I'll give the SST's a try.
 
Last edited:
powdergun said:
An exit would of been nice but I only had a front quartering shot and the bullet took the long route through the boiler room. I love the savage as you said you aren't blinded by a puff of smoke. I think if I had pyrodex or balck powder I would not of seen the hit and where he ran. No blood but he followed one of three routes and I knew he would be down one of them.No real complaints about this bullet but I hunt the edges of the thick stuff and when a deer bolts he gets into a jungle of brush. I know the area well but it sures makes it easier if he would go down in the open. If I could only train them to run into the fields rather than out of them. I haven't recovered a bullet in the longest time as they usually exit the animal. I found this one and was actually impressed that it held together considering the type of bullet it is. Maybe next year I'll give the SST's a try.
Click to expand...

I think it worked out very well for you. Congrats. Those are the vagaries of life - and hunting especially! - and while we might sometimes wish to eliminate all of the possible variables, and get laboratory results every time, it would be unrealistic to expect it each and every time we pull the trigger.
 
I have never recovered a bullet from any of the 15 or so deer I have shot at 20-150 yds using various bullets ranging from 25 cal to 12 ga slug. Always a through and through rib cage thing for me. I'd love to recover a bullet - what's the secret?
 
Andy said:
I have never recovered a bullet from any of the 15 or so deer I have shot at 20-150 yds using various bullets ranging from 25 cal to 12 ga slug. Always a through and through rib cage thing for me. I'd love to recover a bullet - what's the secret?
Click to expand...

Shoot bigger game length wise. ;)
 
In these parts, NT means non trophy. For you NT means Northern Territory, a place I hold in high regard.

When translating back and forth from Aussie to Canadian; if something doesn't make sense I first assume that it doesn't mean what I thought it did.
 
Last edited:
Andy said:
I have never recovered a bullet from any of the 15 or so deer I have shot at 20-150 yds using various bullets ranging from 25 cal to 12 ga slug. Always a through and through rib cage thing for me. I'd love to recover a bullet - what's the secret?
Click to expand...


When you are shooting the smallest animals though the softest part at close range, you're not going to find a lot. Try a frontal chest shot and you'll find many of them.
 
If a bullet doesn't go thru, it's dumping ALL it's energy in the target..... a good thing.
that moose I posted above, took one shot, slightly quartering away and a lil uphill, bullet into lungs , thru scapula on other side and stopped just under the hide
in all my years of hunting, this is only the 3rd bullet I've found in an animal
I'm pretty damn pleased with the performance of the ammo above :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom