Need some advice.

This particular load was shooting 2" high at 100 yrds and to hit the rams at 300 yrds I aimed 6" high above center. I know this was not the fastest load but it was very accurate. My last trip to the range I shot 5 in short succession at 300 and knocked 5 rams down. This is the first year I've shot at deer with this load however. Last year I tagged out before rifle season.

What must be happening IMO is I have an accurate load with low end speed. Whether or not this is the reason for the poor performance is yet to be determined. I think I'll tinker around and make a penetration testing device and play around after the season to get a real good picture of what is happening. For now I'll just pull out my other rifle for the rest of the season but I'll miss my 308 as it shoots like a laser beam. ( too bad it has no jam :mad:)

This makes things all the more interesting and solving the problem is kind of fun. I'm not really down about it as I did not lose the animals and they are in the freezer now:).
 
powdergun said:
This particular load was shooting 2" high at 100 yrds and to hit the rams at 300 yrds I aimed 6" high above center. I know this was not the fastest load but it was very accurate. My last trip to the range I shot 5 in short succession at 300 and knocked 5 rams down. This is the first year I've shot at deer with this load however. Last year I tagged out before rifle season.

What must be happening IMO is I have an accurate load with low end speed. Whether or not this is the reason for the poor performance is yet to be determined. I think I'll tinker around and make a penetration testing device and play around after the season to get a real good picture of what is happening. For now I'll just pull out my other rifle for the rest of the season but I'll miss my 308 as it shoots like a laser beam. ( too bad it has no jam :mad:)

This makes things all the more interesting and solving the problem is kind of fun. I'm not really down about it as I did not lose the animals and they are in the freezer now:).
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sounds strange , my dad dropped his moose @ 500plus yards with 160 gr bullet off the shelf .useing a savage 99 308 ,nice penetration he did how ever have too shoot about a foot high ,yea like a laser. i now load 180 grain round nose for him .
 
powdergun said:
and the deer needed second shots
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Did the deer really need second shots?, or did you just shoot it twice, sounds like the bullet/load performed its job perfectly. I would guess you made a double lung shot and it is not unusual for and animal to not expire instantly. By comparision all us easterners better hang up our completely inadequate 30-30s and move up to .50 cal brownings for 100% guaranteed bang flops. Tracking animals for several hundred yards is a way of life and done probably 50% of the time. Shoot a few more deer and then draw a conclusion. The current load you're using is more than a match for a deer.
 
A&Shuntr said:
Did the deer really need second shots?, or did you just shoot it twice, sounds like the bullet/load performed its job perfectly. I would guess you made a double lung shot and it is not unusual for and animal to not expire instantly. By comparision all us easterners better hang up our completely inadequate 30-30s and move up to .50 cal brownings for 100% guaranteed bang flops. Tracking animals for several hundred yards is a way of life and done probably 50% of the time. Shoot a few more deer and then draw a conclusion. The current load you're using is more than a match for a deer.
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Deer one was down and I was standing by it. It was still breathing so I felt it was only humane to dispatch it quickly.

Deer two was showing no signs of the initial hit and ran. It stopped and presented a good broadside shot so I put it down rather than waiting for it to run another 300 yards.


BTW I've hunted for 24 years in Sask. and have taken more than one deer every year. I've got a pretty good idea of how things should work and how bullets should perform. A properly hit deer with a properly functioning round does not go far. I know bang flop is what we all want but I know that isn't how it works.
 
snomad said:
At what temperature was the load developed and then subsequently hunted?
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That is a very good point. I developed the load in the summer ( 20 degrees or more) I was hunting at around -10 degrees.

Do your experiences show a temp effect ?
 
I have seen drops in velocity of over 100fps from +30degrees to 0 degrees,my chronograph won't work at colder temperatures.

However,if the bullets mushroomed properly,they had adequate velocity.If the velocity was extremely low,the bullets would not have expanded properly.In fact too low of a velocity often results in more penetration due to the lack of expansion.
 
What Interlock were you using? There is the 150 SP (3031) and 150 BTSP (3033) which should perform well at .308 Win. velocities.

Then there is the 150 RN (3035) which is a 30-30 bullet and may not perform as well at a higher velocity than what it was designed for. I use the 3035 at 2300 fps muzzle velocity in my 30-06 (32 gr. IMR 4198) as an accurate and "meat friendly" short range (under 150 yards) deer load, 30-30/06. It is awesome, and penetrates better than one would expect. A couple of years ago I shot a 4 point muley at about 50 yards, quartering towards me. The bullet entered at base of neck on my side and ranged back along the top of the spine. Penetration was 18", knocking out 3 spinal processes on the way. The bullet was a bit used up by that time though. All the deer kills with this load have required but one shot, with great penetration, possibly due to the lower velocity.

But if the velocity was too high I think the bullet could well have had less penetration. Just a thought.....
 
Threads like this and personal experience and listening to friends make me realize selling my 375 H&H was dumb. And for those who claim shooting a magnum makes up for poor shooting ability, take note of these threads. I never saw a deer run from my H&H but I have from everything else. My next purchase will be a box mag .338 Win-mag, Savage of course. Recoil aint so bad and should be able to handle it into my dotage. 35 whelen or a 9.3x62 CZ would be cool too but I'd have to open a duplicate account here on CGN and I'd get my ass killed.
 
I noticed an article in the latest Outdoor Edge in which the author was testing a few different bullets at varying impact velocities. One was a Hornady interbond, a somewhat different bullet I believe but it was interesting that with that bullet high velocity impacts tended to expand very rapidly and reduce the amount of penitration. Could this not be the case on a 90 yd shot. Is it possible that you ended up with a different Hornady bullet than you intended?
 
I think it was the fact that you hit both deer on the point of the shoulder using cor-lokt bullets. Had they been quartering away shots, your bullets would have stuck in the hide on the far side or blown right through. If you'd been shooting Barnes TSX bullets, you would have had a better chance to blow through the shoulder bones. Just my 2 cents.
 
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