BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
Sounds like they performed perfectly.
Federal Blue Box Bullets?
- Thread starter mmattockx
- Start date
FishDoc
CGN frequent flyer
That said, you should look at the velocity of the bullet in question. As a refresher - think back to grade 9 physics where Kinetic Energy = 1/2 mass times the velocity squared. High velocity imparts alot of KE - and the bullet killed the deer with the explosive shock wave causing cavitation within the chest cavity (hence the lung soup!). Sounds like the load did the job - bottowm line is you got nice venison with minimal wasted meat due to blow out from a large expansion.
Dr.Oz
Used Federal Blue Box .270 Win 130gr PSP on two deer this fall.
Deer #1: Entered left shoulder and exited just behind opposite leg. Shoulder broken, lung soup, 1/3 of heart still intact. Deer ran about 30 feet and piled up. Range about 125 yards
Deer #2: Entered right shoulder. Bullet recovered from under the hide on opposite shoulder. Right shoulder broken, lung soup, heart missed. Recovered bullet showed expansion to about .45 - .50 inches. Deer ran about 20 yards and expired after reaching treeline. Range about 110yards
In both cases the shoulder that was hit showed extensive damage from the shock of the bullet and had a fair bit of meat destroyed. However, the bullet itself expanded well and put the deer down with proper placement. For 'plain vanilla' load I'd say it works well (and shoots very well in my rifle).
Side note: crawling through canola stubble can be a real pain in the ass.
Deer #1: Entered left shoulder and exited just behind opposite leg. Shoulder broken, lung soup, 1/3 of heart still intact. Deer ran about 30 feet and piled up. Range about 125 yards
Deer #2: Entered right shoulder. Bullet recovered from under the hide on opposite shoulder. Right shoulder broken, lung soup, heart missed. Recovered bullet showed expansion to about .45 - .50 inches. Deer ran about 20 yards and expired after reaching treeline. Range about 110yards
In both cases the shoulder that was hit showed extensive damage from the shock of the bullet and had a fair bit of meat destroyed. However, the bullet itself expanded well and put the deer down with proper placement. For 'plain vanilla' load I'd say it works well (and shoots very well in my rifle).
Side note: crawling through canola stubble can be a real pain in the ass.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
Took five deer with Fed Blue box 150 gr. last year with my .308, all were good quick kills and all expanded and held together. Two bullets did not pass through ( lengthwise shots) and retained about 70% weight with perfect mushroom shape.
I like them for deer in the .308, can't see why the 6.5 would be any different. Your experience seems like what I'd expect and what I'd be happy with.
I like them for deer in the .308, can't see why the 6.5 would be any different. Your experience seems like what I'd expect and what I'd be happy with.
They are pretty mild, actually. The box says 2600fps from a 24" barrel, but the ballistics between 100yds and 200yds say more like 2400-2450fps from my rifle (24" barrel, too). Next year will be SST's at around 2750-2800fps for a much flatter trajectory out to 300yds and a harder hit.
Mark
Update, Bullet Found During Butchering
So yesterday, myself and my hunting partner butchered the two deer I shot last weekend. We found one bullet, from the doe I shot. It was a broadside shot at around 85yds. I got her under the nearside front leg while on the run, bullet went in through a couple of ribs, through the lungs and then out the far side. We found the jacket and most of the core buried up against the opposite side shoulder bone.
From the state of the jacket, it looks like it opened up nicely, then broke up somewhere close to the far shoulder. There was an exit wound, so part of the core made it out the far side. We also found the wound channel from the first shot on the buck. I hit him in the hindquarters while he was running quartering away from me. From the wound channel, the bullet went in and immediately expanded in the first 1-1.5" of penetration, left a sizeable hole diagonally across the back end, shattered the far side hip bone and then exited. No bullet fragments were found of this one. The chest shot on the buck was a clean through and through, with no bullet found.
So, after a postmortem it looks like the bluebox bullets are a fairly fast expanding type good for thin skinned game. I don't think I would want to drill a moose or elk through a shoulder with them, but for deer they worked very well.
Here is the bullet from the doe:
Mark
So yesterday, myself and my hunting partner butchered the two deer I shot last weekend. We found one bullet, from the doe I shot. It was a broadside shot at around 85yds. I got her under the nearside front leg while on the run, bullet went in through a couple of ribs, through the lungs and then out the far side. We found the jacket and most of the core buried up against the opposite side shoulder bone.
From the state of the jacket, it looks like it opened up nicely, then broke up somewhere close to the far shoulder. There was an exit wound, so part of the core made it out the far side. We also found the wound channel from the first shot on the buck. I hit him in the hindquarters while he was running quartering away from me. From the wound channel, the bullet went in and immediately expanded in the first 1-1.5" of penetration, left a sizeable hole diagonally across the back end, shattered the far side hip bone and then exited. No bullet fragments were found of this one. The chest shot on the buck was a clean through and through, with no bullet found.
So, after a postmortem it looks like the bluebox bullets are a fairly fast expanding type good for thin skinned game. I don't think I would want to drill a moose or elk through a shoulder with them, but for deer they worked very well.
Here is the bullet from the doe:
Mark
X2, I've had rather inconsistent results with 130gr. .270's. Went back to using Silvertips. Talk about lung soup!
I have shot a lot of deer with 6.5x55's and have yet to recover any bullets. The 6.5 bullet has a very high sectional density and will penetrate very well. Your blue box ammo is loaded to low pressures because of the older rifles out there. That being said three of my rifles are the old mausers and they seem to drop animals just fine.
Be careful driving the SST fast. It is an explosive bullet. Even at mild speeds there was evidence that we had some 129gr SST's starting to come apart. I do load the 140gr version in a friends Tikka at just under 2800fps, but he hasn't hit anything with it yet. That rifle is deliberately set up for long range work.
Two of my favourite bullets are the 140gr Hornady Interlock and the 120gr Speer. The wife shoots the 120gr Speer as she is recoil sensitive. Downloaded, recoil is mild and the bullet holds together and two pass throughs on mulies have been the result. If I was specifically targeting moose/elk I would think about something like an Accubond in fact one bush gun shoots 140gr Trophy bonded bullets because I had a supply sitting there and we were headed off for moose in tight cover. That being said I wouldn't hesitated to use the 140gr Hornady if I could put it where I wanted to.
Be careful driving the SST fast. It is an explosive bullet. Even at mild speeds there was evidence that we had some 129gr SST's starting to come apart. I do load the 140gr version in a friends Tikka at just under 2800fps, but he hasn't hit anything with it yet. That rifle is deliberately set up for long range work.
Two of my favourite bullets are the 140gr Hornady Interlock and the 120gr Speer. The wife shoots the 120gr Speer as she is recoil sensitive. Downloaded, recoil is mild and the bullet holds together and two pass throughs on mulies have been the result. If I was specifically targeting moose/elk I would think about something like an Accubond in fact one bush gun shoots 140gr Trophy bonded bullets because I had a supply sitting there and we were headed off for moose in tight cover. That being said I wouldn't hesitated to use the 140gr Hornady if I could put it where I wanted to.
- Location
- Niagara Region, Ontario. For now
150 grain in my Savage .308 shoots awesome, and will be my go to for my first deer next season.
Hole in the deer you could stick your arm through.
I used to use federal blue box for everything. As far as consistent accuracy for the price it cannot be beat. But expansion on game might be a different story. I spent a day thinking I lost a doe. I found it today alive after a solid shoulder shot. I was using 150 grain .308 . I will stick with it at the range until I reload but as for hunting I think I might try something different.
Give the 165 or even 180's a try out of your .308. The slower velocity will equat to less rapid expansion. Using standard cup and core 165's out of my .308 I have had text book expansion out of Speer Hot-Cors even on 1/4'ng towards shots.
I didn't have enough expansion. It punched right through. I would not want less rapid expansion.
Ive taken 2 deer in the spine with 130gr .270 Blue Box. The first one was a broadside at 80 yards hit right behind the shoulder. I recovered under the skin on the other side, it retained about 30% after fragmenting and causing 2 exit wounds.
The second one was a square hit from above and behind from about 80yrds . Hit just infront of the pelvis, left a fist sized hole in the spine. Didnt find any of the bullet but im guessing it fragmented and stuck itself in the stuff i left behind. Wasent messy like a gut shot though.
Both deer droped on the spot. Second one required a kill shot thoguh.
The second one was a square hit from above and behind from about 80yrds . Hit just infront of the pelvis, left a fist sized hole in the spine. Didnt find any of the bullet but im guessing it fragmented and stuck itself in the stuff i left behind. Wasent messy like a gut shot though.
Both deer droped on the spot. Second one required a kill shot thoguh.
The pros and cons of some factory ammo is why I took up reloading 45 years ago. I cannot remember when I last shot game with a factory load. Holding that thought, today there is so much more choice in factory ammo than there was in the 1950's that one can choose something that probably works well, even if he/she must rely on the factory fodder. Regards, Eagleye.
I shot a large Muley buck with the Powershock 180 grain from my .30-06, 40 yards. The animal was running and a whistle stopped him, but he spun around to look at me and I ended up putting the bullet in front of the rear leg instead of just behind the front leg. Anyways the bullet went through and shattered the hip, deer ran 25 yards and piled up DOA. I recovered the bullet in one piece with a significant amount of original weight. Worked perfectly and I hammered it at high speed through the hips...... my dad uses them as well and has had perfect success and bullet performance and around MOA from both of our rifles. I think they are a good bullet and a good value for 'budget' ammo.
Sorry Spenom. When you said solid shoulder shot on a doe that was found alive a day later. It sounded like the bullet blew up on the shoulder and never penetrated in sufficient enough mass into the vitals. Which I've seen happen before. I've never seen a bullet blow through a shoulder and presumably through the other and have the deer still be mobile enough to get away, but stranger things have happened before.
