Shot placement, bullets, rifles...

350tracker said:
Ok, I'm not going to start arguing with you. Please reread what I wrote. Now I know why I don't post to often...
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I did read that story a couple of times before I replied.
Re read my reply and if you can learn something from it, good for you.
I lost a moose last season.
Yep, I couldn't get a good shot placement and he disappeared into the
shadows.
I know I could of knocked him down, but I prefered not to blow out
a front quarter.
I need to live with myself.
And I consider fur just that......fur.
Always next year.
 
350tracker said:
Ok, I'm not going to start arguing with you. Please reread what I wrote. Now I know why I don't post to often...
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350tracker, keep posting. The rest of us who read your post understand that you guys thought it was a miss, that you regret your mistake and that you learned from that experience. Good on you for having the guts to post about it.
 
350tracker said:
I find this thread interesting.

My brother shot at a buck at approx. 120 yards this past season with his 243. When he shot at the buck, it didn’t buckle, move in any way showing that it had been hit. Didn’t even hear a sound from the impact of the bullet. I saw him shoot at it and when he went to see for any blood or any sign of a hit there was nothing to be seen. No blood at all in the snow at all from where the shot had been taken He followed the track for a few steps and didn’t see anything. So we both thought he had missed the buck and yet couldn’t believe it.

Two days later he went back to the same location to find crows and coyotes not far from where he had shot at the buck. He was very disappointed to find the buck no more then 60 yards from where the shot was taken.

We were discussing this the other day and my brother was saying, if he had hit the buck with his 338 Win mag, there wouldn’t have been any guessing on a hit or miss.

With all this said , I wondering if I may have the same problem with my 260 Rem. I know I will never make this mistake again in verifying to make sure the deer isn’t down...
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Carry on there tracker as you said you wont make that mistake again.You learn to hunt by by experience and there will be the odd screw up along the way.
 
Anyone who says he has not screwed up at one time or other while hunting has either not hunted much, or is a bald-faced liar.
I vividly remember a 2-point muley buck I lost, mainly because of two things.
1. I was using a bullet that was a bit sturdy for a small deer.
2. I did not have the patience to wait a bit before following up.
[I was overconfident that this deer would be dead close by]
Result: I was surprised as this deer got up from where he had laid down, and headed quickly into dense timber.
I took a hurried shot as he ran, but missed.
There was blood in the bed, but not a large quantity.
No snow, no visible blood trail, and evening darkness closing in.
Returned the following morning to see if we could find him.
We did, but the outdoors cleanup crew had found him first.
He was less than 300 yards from where I had last seen him.
I believe that the bullet pencilled through, without any appreciable expansion.
If I had had the patience to sit down for 20 mins before taking off after him, I would have found him dead in the first bed.
Many, many years ago, and a couple of valuable lessons learned.
We all learn, one way or other.
Sometimes it is a painful personal experience.
Sometimes it is from the experiences related by others.
Ongoing process that is a valuable part of life, if we take it to heart.
Regards, Eagleye.
 
I say practice, practice, pratice,..

Shot placement.

I love that video of the girl dhooting the elk at over 600 yrds with, what was it a .243? I still get tingly watching her shoot that elk... she was a great shot.

The factor of bullet construction is huge currently, but so few grasp it.
 
The antelope buck in my avatar dropped like a sack of potatoe's. I took him at 310 paces as he was facing me straight on. The 85 grain partition out of the 240Weatherby did a bloody marvelous job and so did I because I usually shoot 500 rounds annualy at the rifle range. Just what one person mentioned on this thread..........practice, practice, practice. Shot placement is key followed by bullet performance.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
What do you mean by currently? How did 30-06 take game for so many decades prior to today's modern bullets?
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huge as in interest, variety, etc.

With such a vast array of bullets, many bullets of smaller calibre and lighter grain and performing at levels that were not always associated with them,...

Shooting a 120 gr bullet to drop an elk with ease from 200 yrds or further is a great example...
 
track said:
The antelope buck in my avatar dropped like a sack of potatoe's. I took him at 310 paces as he was facing me straight on. The 85 grain partition out of the 240Weatherby did a bloody marvelous job and so did I because I usually shoot 500 rounds annualy at the rifle range. Just what one person mentioned on this thread..........practice, practice, practice. Shot placement is key followed by bullet performance.
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Excellent example,...a qualty bullet.
 
track said:
The antelope buck in my avatar dropped like a sack of potatoe's. I took him at 310 paces as he was facing me straight on. The 85 grain partition out of the 240Weatherby did a bloody marvelous job and so did I because I usually shoot 500 rounds annualy at the rifle range. Just what one person mentioned on this thread..........practice, practice, practice. Shot placement is key followed by bullet performance.
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Like this year's 3 point muley that dropped in his tracks from my 6BR, shooting the 90grain Scirocco II.
340 yards, broadside.
DRT. Doesn't get any better than that!! :)
Eagleye.
 
Energy is an important factor... A great bullet is just that... A great bullet... If it is not well placed with enough charge to penetrate and expand it won't do the job... You need all 3... I wager I can hit a deer in the vitals with the most advanced bullet at 20 yards if I fired it from a slingshot... I wager I wouldn't be eating backstrap for supper that night...
 
Killing power is:

90% shot placement
8% bullet performance (with enough velocity to sufficiently expand upon impact)
2% cartridge choice (as long as the expanded bullet has enough momentum to get where it's going, the cartridge choice is adequate)
 
I'd say you have nothing without correct shot placement, and nothing without the minimum threshold of energy for the bullet choice. Fail to satisfy either of these and you fail.
 
Superbrad said:
Energy is an important factor... A great bullet is just that... A great bullet... If it is not well placed with enough charge to penetrate and expand it won't do the job... You need all 3... I wager I can hit a deer in the vitals with the most advanced bullet at 20 yards if I fired it from a slingshot... I wager I wouldn't be eating backstrap for supper that night...
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But the concept that you seem unable to grasp, is the the only penetration required, is adequate penetration. A bullet that adequately goes through the vitals and has performed as designed, is success...

If the bullet then goes out the other side for three miles and 4 ft deep into log,...no difference...some may even say, what a waste of powder..but I could care less, variety is great !!!!!!

As long as the bullet provides adequate penetration and the shot is on,...all good by me...could care less if its with a 25-20 or a 338 Lapua.
 
sealhunter said:
But the concept that you seem unable to grasp, is the the only penetration required, is adequate penetration. A bullet that adequately goes through the vitals and has performed as designed, is success...

If the bullet then goes out the other side for three miles and 4 ft deep into log,...no difference...some may even say, what a waste of powder..but I could care less, variety is great !!!!!!

As long as the bullet provies adequate penetration and the shot is on,...all good by me...could care less if its with a 25-20 or a 338 Lapua.
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I don't fail to grasp that.... not at all.... a shot to the heart is a shot to the heart... once penetrated the heart will pump out blood until the animal is dead... of course, the bigger the hole in the heart the quicker that blood gets pumped out.... and if the round penetrated the other side and made an exit wound that blood likely ends up on the ground for a good trail to track....

You hunt a lot bud... as do I... I bet , like me, you shoot alot.... are all your big game shots finished with a bang flop?.... by your logic we may as well all hunt with FMJ's.... as long as they hit the "vitals" it's all good.... there are many factors to consider when choosing a round... not just bullet quality.....
 
Superbrad said:
I don't fail to grasp that.... not at all.... a shot to the heart is a shot to the heart... once penetrated the heart will pump out blood until the animal is dead... of course, the bigger the hole in the heart the quicker that blood gets pumped out.... and if the round penetrated the other side and made an exit wound that blood likely ends up on the ground for a good trail to track....

You hunt a lot bud... as do I... I bet , like me, you shoot alot.... are all your big game shots finished with a bang flop?.... by your logic we may as well all hunt with FMJ's.... as long as they hit the "vitals" it's all good.... there are many factors to consider when choosing a round... not just bullet quality.....
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There certainly are...but for me, I find the single biggest detrmination in a legal big game calibre performance, is where you put the bullet and the bullet you choose.... a properly designed bullet, in what some may call "a marginal calibre" can easily out perform the so called "most ethical, most effective" calibres with the wrong bullet

The calibre has so much less to do with it than does the bullet construction, placement, etc.
 
sealhunter said:
There certainly are...but for me, I find the single biggest detrmination in a legal big game calibre performance, is where you put the bullet and the bullet you choose.... a properly designed bullet, in what some may call "a marginal calibre" can easily out perform the so called "most ethical, most effective" calibres with the wrong bullet

The calibre has so much less to do with it than does the bullet construction, placement, etc.
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I still think it needs to be a combo of both velocity and bullet.... at least we both agree the shot has to be in the right place..... cheers....
 
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