Big and slow vs fast and small

ryan32

ryan32

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Haliburton Ontario
knowing that this isn't exactly a new topic , but also knowing that fall is 6 months away i will pose the age old question

Fast and small or big and slow

I certainly can appreciate big and slow with soem of the people i hunt with using 444's or 45-70's ect. and i fell into the more anemic 30-30 usage ( which i know doesn't fit under either category) until today when i took my new 270 out to 250 yards. There is something to be said for being able to make first round hits from field positions with no hold over at that 200-250 yard range. I'm going to looking at stretching it to 300-350 to see what happens. Anyways the flatter trajectory sure is nice.


What do yall think ?
 
blargon said:
Big and fast works too...:D
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lol i was waiting for that one :p

Im not saying what would be best if i wanted to shoot 350 , but as an overall choice , or what your opinon on the discussion is. For example , there is a certain authority that a big bore has. Ask the moose my friend shot with their 444 flattened right out on the spot .
 
Choose the right tool for what you're trying to do.
Up close, I don't think the light and fast give you any appreciable benefits other than lots of meat damage and fragmentation if using lightly constructed bullets. Light and fast does offer advantages for shooting longer distance.
Close in I think the big and slow do offer advantages of larger wound cavity, may penetrate better, and less meat damage.
At distance big and slow are at a dissadvantage, shorter point blank range, more wind drift if using short fat bullets, etc, etc...
Light and fast may be a good choice for the person who may find themselves in a mix of short and long range all in one hunt. You can cover your bases in this case with light and fast bullets designed to withstand high velocity impacts and hold together (bonded or monometal). So in this case, the light and fast does offer flexibility that the big and slow camp does not, IMHO.
 
NorthCoastBigBore said:
Yup you bet.

And I'll add that any round that travels THROUGH an animal is wasting energy (not that a .444, .45-70 etc won't at close range but they do use up more energy on impact than a HV .300 mag etc) ...just saying...
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Any bullet that does NOT travel all the way through an animal leaves an animal with only one hole to bleed out of.
 
NorthCoastBigBore said:
Yup you bet.

And I'll add that any round that travels THROUGH an animal is wasting energy (not that a .444, .45-70 etc won't at close range but they do use up more energy on impact than a HV .300 mag etc) ...just saying...
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I'll take a fast round with a complete pass through any day. I like big gaping holes in the offside shoulder of the game I shoot.

Let me see if I understand this. It's better to kill a deer at 200 yards with a 45-70 and lodge the bullet in the body cavity, as opposed to killing a deer at 200 yards with a 300 mag and having the bullet pass through?

At 200 yds the 300 is still carrying about double the energy of the 45-70.

At that distance would the bullet from the 300 not impart more energy on it's target than the 45-70?

The reason I picked 200 yards is because any less and the 45-70 would probably pass thru anyway.
 
There is still some lingering misbelief that a bullet that passes through is somehow less effective than one that stays inside the animal.
Nothing could be farther from fact!!
Passthroughs are good, as long as the bullet expands inside.
Leaves a better blood trail, if needed, and kills every bit as quickly as one that fails to exit.
I have shot over 100 head of game with the venerable Nosler partition. Fully 75% of them have exited.
No animal went further than 80 yards when shot through the lungs, and this is with chamberings from 6mm right up to 338 Win Mag.
Regards, Eagleye.
 
I like to compare speed groups like 2100fps or 3100 fps and then compare bullet sizes at those speeds. Under 2000fps I think the kills will be sure with wide bullets but chances are it wont be spectacular. Speed it up to 2400-2600 and kills seem faster and wider heavy bullets come into their own. Take it up around 2800-3000 and smaller guns kill like they are bigger. Bigger guns at this speed get to flatten animals with some spectacular hooves up memories. Go past this, 3200-3500 and you have real flat shooting speeds and if your bullets are up to it the guns exceed all expectations on speed of kill. Some very small bullets do horrendous damage. Me I like 2800-3200 for flat shooting like a 7mm, and 338 up to 375 2600 is very good. Bigger bores 2400 is magic, but 2100 makes for an easier time shooting targets. I have yet to appreciate the 1200-1800 speed.
 
With the exception of grizzly bears, there is nothing in North America that I wouldn't hunt with a .270 and a 140gr TTSX bullet.

If you want heavy with a good trajectory, the .375 RUger fits the bill. .308/.30-06 trajectory with a 250-300gr bullet.
 
Light, fast bullets are easier to shoot at longer ranges, and with
quality bullets, kill quite well.
There is something special about the way a big bore works, though.
Big and (relatively) slow has produced some impressive effects
for me, big and fast must be dramatic.
 
i have seen some lung shots with a slug gun. thats the definition of big and slow. 525g at 1600fps. at 150yrds it looks like somone drilled a hole threw the deer. slightly larger hole on the backside. blood like some one opened a tap.
 
Did kill north of 40 deers, hunted mainly with a 32 spc. 44 mag and 308, most of them kill by the 2 latters, in my book the 44 mag is the best anchoring cal at 100 metres or less for whitetail, the 308 is as good but for the hunt, my 2 Deerfield Ruger and my levers 44 mag are my go to rifles... JP.
 
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