Smallest with biggest....

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1899

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Kind of the opposite of the trend (elk with a .223): what is the smallest big game animal you have you have shot with a relatively large bore rifle? I know there are folks who claim deer get "blown to bits" when shot with larger bore rifles, but that has not been my experience. For me that smallest big game animal was a wild boar, about 100lbs, with a 400gr Hornady RN out of a .416 RM. It looked like the animal was swatted to the ground, but the damage wasn't terrible at all. unfortunately I don't have pictures, as it was quite a few years ago. IIRC my friend also shot one, but used a 350gr X bullet. Similar results. He also shot a smallish black bear with that rifle from a tree stand. The exit hole in that instance was more noticeable, as he hit the bear in the spine and the bullet exited through the sternum. While the hole was impressive, it wasn't any worse than I have seen with smaller, frangible bullets.

In some ways the only real disadvantage I see with the larger bores is the difficulty many have in managing recoil.
 
Shot a few hares with my .284 Win. this year. Head shots out to 110 yds. No meat damage. Quite impressed
 
A Mulie buck about 5 years ago with a 404 Jeffery, the bullet was a 300 gr. Hawk.
Very little meat damage... you could eat up to the bullet hole / holes.
 
Wild boar are a different critter, they have that extra shield of flesh to protect the forward vitals. (No, it's not bullet proof, but it is there and must be penetrated) Wild boar are just a little tougher by nature compared to most North American game animals, and that is all IMO. I used a single 12 gauge Brenneke Classic 2 3/4" slug on one 130 pounder, (but I did not have too, however there were much bigger ones in the area) DRT with a through and through, slug not recovered due to heavy snowpack. A friend claimed to have connected on one, that was running full tilt and him using his Ruger #1 in 45-70 and Remington factory ammo (bullet weight now forgotten) and had it escape. It's hard to judge this one as he had no dead critter to confirm this story. It was claimed in this same situation, that out of the large group of hunters involved in this on the open prairies, only 4 connected, and three escaped wounded and the only confirmed kill was take with a .358, but I could be wrong as this was a few years back now.

too bad so many got away wounded........
 
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Kevan said:
A Mulie buck about 5 years ago with a 404 Jeffery, the bullet was a 300 gr. Hawk.
Very little meat damage... you could eat up to the bullet hole / holes.
Click to expand...

Nice. The .404 is just about as cool as it gets!
 
Big bores don't cause meat damage....velocity is a different story.

I was set up on an expected 700+ yard shot with my 300 Ultramag when a good animal stepped out 30 yards to my left.

Lets just say a 180gr. sirroco (while an excellent bullet) is NOT made to impact at those velocities. It looked like I stuck a goofball sized chunk of C4 on the shoulder and surface detonated it.
 
Wrong Way said:
Big bores don't cause meat damage....velocity is a different story.

I was set up on an expected 700+ yard shot with my 300 Ultramag when a good animal stepped out 30 yards to my left.

Lets just say a 180gr. sirroco (while an excellent bullet) is NOT made to impact at those velocities. It looked like I stuck a goofball sized chunk of C4 on the shoulder and surface detonated it.
Click to expand...

I think it is even more to do with fragmentation than velocity, although the two are pretty much joined at the hip.
 
Somebody called this a cat with horns once, so my kids named the full body mount "catlin". 5 1/2" steinbuck with a .375 H&H, 300 grain TSX at maybe 2500 fps.

2007_0220lindsaycoyotes0042.jpg
 
Was frustrated moose hunting one year and spanked a rabbit with my .338 winchester magnum at about 20 yards. To my suprise there was no meat damage just passed straight through and blew the chest cavity out of it dropped like a stone and still had the twig in it's mouth it was working on. Had some delicious stew for camp dinner that night.
 
I know that I shot a good sized whitetail buck at about 70 yards with a .338 RUM and 225 grain Accubond bullets at 3150fps. Not pretty. Not sure I would do that again.
 
When I was young, I used to shoot porcupines and skunks, every chance I got. Sometimes using a 303 British with solid points.
Although I didn't plan on eating them(just saving my dog from grief), they were pretty much intact.
Some of the porkies even took more than one shot.
 
Since I also am a trapper, I once took a pine Martin with the 7mm STW. Head shot, but still had most of the hide to sell.
 
Dogleg said:
Somebody called this a cat with horns once, so my kids named the full body mount "catlin". 5 1/2" steinbuck with a .375 H&H, 300 grain TSX at maybe 2500 fps.

2007_0220lindsaycoyotes0042.jpg
Click to expand...

He looks too dead, like he was over-killed. :)

Nice little animal though. That's the kind of small big-game that I was thinking about when I first posted.
 
My Father in law shot a small Mule Deer Spiker a few years ago with his Tikka .338 Magnum at a distance of about 20 meters (200 Gn Nosler Partitons). It dropped like it was hit by a bus, a lung shot, but the backstraps were hamburger!!
 
Dogleg, nice photo! I would like to get a chance at a "Dik-Dik" while I am over there, I hear they are excellent table fare!
 
when i had my 375 hh i shot a ground squirrel with it.at about 30 yards pushed him back into his home.
 
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