Gmx failure(dead bear pics)
- Thread starter suits me
- Start date
More deaderer!
Gone through the bear, then bounced off a rock and killed a second bear waiting his turn.
The bullet went through multiple areas of bone, some very dense. Few bullets would not fragment.
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Gone through the bear, then bounced off a rock and killed a second bear waiting his turn.
The bullet went through multiple areas of bone, some very dense. Few bullets would not fragment.
Yes thats what would have happened for sure and BOTH the bears would be way more deader ! RJ
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
The .375 bore family of cartridges are among the most versatile big game cartridges available to us, and there is no reason to suspect that a .375 rifle is unsuitable for black bear hunting. But as good as these cartridges are, success is dependent upon the bullet. I prefer not to condemn or praise a bullet based upon a single event, but there is something to consider here. A bullet exhibits precession (yaw) twice during its flight; first after exiting the muzzle, and again on impact. The issue related to close range bullet performance, is that the bullet hasn't had time to recover from its initial precession when it impacts the target, and the degree of yaw is exasperated by the impact. The solution is to choose a short for caliber bullet that is less prone to precession and recovers from it more quickly, or purchase a fast twist barrel to achieve the same result with long bullets.
The fact that the bear was killed in this case, might have been the desired outcome, but the bullet clearly failed from the point of view that a standard weight .375 expanding bullet should be suitable for any game on the planet short of elephants, rhinos, and hippos. The terminal performance associated with Bergers isn't appropriate for this class of cartridge.
The fact that the bear was killed in this case, might have been the desired outcome, but the bullet clearly failed from the point of view that a standard weight .375 expanding bullet should be suitable for any game on the planet short of elephants, rhinos, and hippos. The terminal performance associated with Bergers isn't appropriate for this class of cartridge.
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Great response!
NO... I think we are debating the interpretation of what is considered an explosion. 2 petals breaking off is not what I might call a bullet explosion. That's all.
When I think of bullet explosion, this is what I envision, below. A couple recovered fragments, with nothing else recovered, suggests more to me that some petals broke off while the core exited, which is not uncommon for a mono. I've recovered some small copper pieces from TSX bullets in the past from a carcass. I'm just debating what one might consider a failure.
If a fully intact bullet is the only variable in good performance then just hunt with FMJ and save money not buying extremely expensive Barnes and GMX. Myself I prefer Some shock value and blood trails from bullet expansion. Going to get flamed but for blackies the last bullet I would use is a mono. Had to many Bloodless trails that the fat quickly closes the wounds due to insufficient expansion of monos. 100 yards is a long way into long grass or dense bush with little blood and darkness approaching. These are mid body lung hits not poor placement either. Cup and core bullets for everything other than Africa and Grizzlies for me.
there is good bullet that hold together pretty well without being mono ...
I've shot deer from an elevated position with a 25/06 and blew gravel back into the legs from when the bullet exited and hit the ground. In this case the bear died with a big exit hole. I would not consider it a failure. I haven't used them on game but am going to try them soon. Every recovered tsx I've held in my hand has lost petals and fell drastically short on their rumored super penetration. I won't use a tsx but i've seen enough gmx bullets recovered I'm going to try them in my 25/06.
I've used my quarter aught six on a slew of deer and an elk. 117gr sst did a stellar job every time.
Petals or peices of petals is not what I pay almost $2 a projectile for. Imagine I spent 20000 on a leopard hunt and blew a cantaloupe sized hole in the hide.
Petals or peices of petals is not what I pay almost $2 a projectile for. Imagine I spent 20000 on a leopard hunt and blew a cantaloupe sized hole in the hide.
prairie lover
CGN Regular
- Location
- southern MB
petals also don't always break off from initial expansion. shearing off petals at high velocity is well documented on the tsx at high velocity. but there are other ways it can happen, like I said earlier I have never seen one break off of nosler e-tips, shot them into all kinds of media and animals. however I have seen some strange occurrences on the monoflex 30-30 bullet. basically a gmx for 30-30 speeds, fired from a 30-30 into water jugs for curiosity sake. very good penetration but they liked to curve out the side. recovered bullets usually had 2-3 out of the 6 petals broken off. strange that 2200 fps could do that, then it happened. another shot, another recovered bullet. 3 perfect petals, 2 gone and one straight up like it had never opened, looked like it was giving me the finger! wft?!? the only way this could have happen is the bullet expanded normally, then started to tumble, and yes a mushroomed bullet will want to turn around. then some of the petals got bent back into the closed position and broke off.
why did the bullets wanna tumble? I was sitting looking at the at my desk one evening and I noticed something very strange. the rifling marks were not coming off of the boattail anywhere near straight. rifle was a new marlin 30-30 the one with the big loop leaver and 18 inch barrel. best I could measure the bullets were leaving the barrel 11 degrees crooked. all lead bullets the rifling marks were straight. had the bore slugged and measured at .3115. lead bullets swell to fill a slightly oversized barrel. mono do not. marlin replaced the rifle.
why did the bullets wanna tumble? I was sitting looking at the at my desk one evening and I noticed something very strange. the rifling marks were not coming off of the boattail anywhere near straight. rifle was a new marlin 30-30 the one with the big loop leaver and 18 inch barrel. best I could measure the bullets were leaving the barrel 11 degrees crooked. all lead bullets the rifling marks were straight. had the bore slugged and measured at .3115. lead bullets swell to fill a slightly oversized barrel. mono do not. marlin replaced the rifle.
