Still cannot see for the life of me where this bullet failed? News flash, but 100% weight retention does not denote "perfect bullet performance". Any mono looses petals on occasion, and fragmentation enhances it's terminal ballistics, it doesn't deminish it. Randy Barnes first designed the X to loose petals, cause a lot of damage and the rear portion carry on much like a partition. He could not figure out why hunters demanded 100% weight retention when it produced slower kills, but he eventually caved in to the bottom line and gave the consumer what he wanted, even though it didn't work any better, and a good argument could be made that it doesn't work as well.
Gmx failure(dead bear pics)
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I highly doubt it. The expanded petals shearing off, for sure. A solid slug of copper and zinc shattering in pieces after hitting meat, very, very unlikely. Did you find lots of pieces of copper in the bullet path?
bearkilr
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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A Nosler Partition behaves differently in that the front portion stops mushrooming when it hits the partition or cross section in the bullet, and in doing this it sheds some fragments, but still maintains the classic mushroom shape and enlarged frontal area. When a Barnes or GMX loses its petals, it loses it's mushroom and is back to being basically the same diameter as it was to begin with, and lighter.
But I agree, the result isn't a failure, the bullet just didn't perform 100% as intended, neither will any other bullet all of the time. It's still lightyears better than using explosive bullets that disintegrate on impact, which is when real problems arise. I'd always choose "excessive" penetration/weight retention over explosive behaviour for big game hunting.
With hand loading and even with appropriate choices of factory ammo in the generic calibers you can control bullet choices and velocity.
I think bullet performance is at issue here not the caliber.
Our favorited bb caliber is the 35 rem.
It puts out about 1800 ft-lbs of me without generating a spare 3000 ft-lbs of me to cause meat damage or penetrate the tree behind the bear.
Shot plenty of bbs with our leverguns in 44 mag, 32 wsp, 30-30 and 45-70.
Never more than 1 shot kills and no problem with meat destruction.
I don't knock the 375R but wouldn't be carrying a 10 pound rifle/scope combo through the bush to hunt a bb.
You're the one who recommended he uses cartridges with just as high or higher velocities that he used, which would create just as much or more meat damage.
My .375 Ruger weighs less than 8.5 Lbs with scope not 10lbs.
Initially I had my 308mx at the door ready to go. 160 ftx performed flawlessly on a wall hanger buck last fall in a straight on shot at 35m. It left 30 cal hole where it entered his chest and left a 40 cal hole when it exited just before the rear quarter. Same bullet design. Penetrated far more animal. And left intact. Sure I didn't hit some iron bear ribs but the neck of a rutting buck is pretty solid material.
As we were packing up the truck I decided to put the 308 back in the safe and grabbed the ruger to get it bloody before heading to South Africa in the spring. Pretty sure I am not done hunting with the ruger this year. Going to load up some Barnes and try them on wild boar this summer. If I don't get one, then deer in the fall. The ruger African is not that bad to carry. Far from a ten pound gun, I've lugged an 11 lb varminter on a few days shooting gophers. Not fun. My 1b in 22-250 gets that job now.
As we were packing up the truck I decided to put the 308 back in the safe and grabbed the ruger to get it bloody before heading to South Africa in the spring. Pretty sure I am not done hunting with the ruger this year. Going to load up some Barnes and try them on wild boar this summer. If I don't get one, then deer in the fall. The ruger African is not that bad to carry. Far from a ten pound gun, I've lugged an 11 lb varminter on a few days shooting gophers. Not fun. My 1b in 22-250 gets that job now.
Copper alloys harden from working (being reformed or reshaped, squeezed), and heat makes them soft, so that theory has a BUNCH of holes in it.
Lots of room for variations in process control during the manufacturing, but heat making it hard, ain't gonna happen to a copper alloy.
Cheers
Trev
A bullet can certainly fail and the critter is still dead. A dead animal is not necessarily the outcome of good bullet performance. I shot a black bear with my 9.3X300 WM at about 60 mtrs just peeking over a grassy knoll at me. I aimed just below the chin and touched off at him. The bullet actually just touched the bottom of the lower jaw (didn't even break the jaw just cut a tiny trough in the jawbone) and then proceeded to enter the chest in excess of 20 different pieces. The bear was absolutely stone dead, but the bullet was a total and abysmal failure. The bullet was a 270 gn Speer HC at right around 3000 fps. There is not a soul on this site that would call this performance anything but an absolute and total bullet failure..........however he is still the biggest blackie I have killed to date.......Went to Matrix bullets after this with this cartridge and took a nice grizzly and wolf thereafter.
OP...I have used the 270 gn TSX bullet on several trips to Africa with my 375 H&H and very highly recommend them. I have shot everything from duiker to leopard to lion and hippo with this bullet and have been very pleased with it's overall performance. I have recovered many of these bullets and the performance is pretty predictable......if very heavy bone is hit they will shed some or all of the petals, but on lighter bone and soft tissue they come out picture perfect every time.
I talked with two very distraught buffalo hunters at the airport in Lusaka Zambia who were using GMX bullets in their 458 Lotts and one guy lost 2 buffalo and the other lost his as well. Both professed to be very good shots with their rifles and were completely bewildered as to why they were empty handed and empty pocketed. Their PH was the same guy I was using and we discussed their losses at length and the only conclusion was total bullet failure. He confirmed that all hits were exactly where they were supposed to be, but the buffalo ran off and never died, or at least on that day or the next......I have steered clear of GMX bullets for this reason and can give no personal experiences, thank God, for I fear they would not be good ones.
Africa is not the place to do bullet testing if one is paying for the animals he hits. I tend to do mine on black bears..........Regardless one wants to arrive with a rifle and load that gives 100% confidence and has proven itself to be a top performer on the size of game being pursued. This can be difficult and that is where forums like this can be helpful because it is difficult to get all that experience oneself. Whereas many on this forum have taken many varied animals with many varied cartridges and bullets, and to call upon their experience is priceless.
My son has taken upward of 3 dozen animals with his 375 Ruger using 260 gn Accubonds. He used this rifle and load on his first solo trip to Africa and shot everything with it right up to and including 2 eland, as well as moose and grizzly at home. He is very impressed with the performance of this bullet cartridge combo and made a couple 400 mtr shots in Africa with it as well. Apparently his PH was equally impressed with the performance as well as his ability. This is another bullet I would highly recommend on any game up to, but not including the nasties. I would have no qualms whatsoever of taking on any animal, elephant included with my 270 TSX load. One of the reasons I use this rifle and load in Africa a lot........did I mention how much I hate elephants.........
Just my experiences you can take them for what they are worth, or what you paid for them.....
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I have recovered a 139gmx that impacted at ~2600fps that went diagonally through a white tail, exited behind the last rib, must have tumbled and was found in the rear ham sideways, almost backwards. A petal was missing and others were bent and almost torn off. I have also recovered a 127gr lrx that looked similar and was also found sideways.
I think your bullet didn't penetrate straight and tore the petals off by going sideways similar to my experience.
I think your bullet didn't penetrate straight and tore the petals off by going sideways similar to my experience.
bearkilr
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nowhere, ......just past the middle
I really like the Partition as an all around bullet. I've never had one return to its original diameter after impact, there's always been an enlarged frontal area. I use Barnes a lot as well, no flies on them either. Premium bullets are really only a must when you start pushing the velocity envelope.
You are probably entirely correct, I am not a fan of Horn bullets and as such am not all that familiar with their different designations. I was under the impression that DGX were a mono as well, but I am obviously wrong.........
I get that the OP was claiming that the bullet failed because it was not recovered whole - I still maintain that this was not a bullet failure. As has been stated before, monos often shed petals, and in my experience, as well as others, this actually enhances the terminal ballistics, rather than takes away from it.
