....with a good bullet...

Slamfire said:
Can't say I've had any failures with any 416 caliber bullet on game. Even the non-bonded core Speer 350gr Mag-Tip punches clear through and breaks everything in its path. Boom! Flop! :)
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I had a 400 grain TSX turn 90 degrees in a buffalo once. Lead to the buff getting shot a lot more times than expected. Same bullets stubbornly refused to shoot through Wildebeast.
 
I find the 416 caliber Barnes banded solids provide straight-line penetration which is what I would choose for Buffalo. A 416 caliber 300gr TSX bullet recovered from a Bull Moose that impacted the shoulder broadside at about 2400 fps. Didn't quite exit but still DRT.

ruger416300x1.jpg
ruger416300x.jpg
 
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Slamfire said:
I find the 416 caliber Barnes banded solids provide straight-line penetration which is what I would choose for Buffalo. A 416 caliber 300gr TSX bullet recovered from a Bull Moose that impacted the shoulder broadside at about 2400 fps. Didn't quite exit but still DRT.

ruger416300x1.jpg
ruger416300x.jpg
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I've shot enough buffalo with solids to know that I'm never doing that again. Not for the first shot, not for follow ups, not for nothing
 
I seem to pick a new bullet every time I shoot a Deer or two nowadays, and I'll say that .243 85gr partitions work very well, and in 6.5x55, 140 gr core Lokt, 140gr partitions and 120gr ttsx have worked well for me. I've also tried a slower accurate load of a 140gr sst and a maxed out 129 gr sst. At long range the 140 penciled one lung and at pretty close the 129 was a grenade hitting the spine. In .270 I think I only shot deer with 150 gr power points with great success. 480gr flat hard cast at 1600 are also pretty effective. I can't remember what Bullets I used in 7mm R.E.M. Mag, it was before I loaded but I was usually pleased with the results. They would have been cup and core of some kind, probably Corelokts. I've pretty much settled on partitions and ttsx for hunting though.
 
Most hunters in north america shoot their game in a still position..that allows us to shoot in the boiler room in which as Hoytcannon rightly say there is no bad bullet...in Europe and in most southern states the hunt is often done with dogs and the game is always running or at least moving
for example a wild boar hunt can present the hunter with multiple and very fast moving animals ,that is the moment in which if your combo rifle-cartridge-bullet is not ideal you will have a lot of misses and or wounded animals dying in the forest and no visible success for you and your hunting team
 
A bad bullet...............Barnes! Pencil sized entry and exit wounds. I used Barnes on two different whitetail bucks, one ran 500 yards and the other 225 yards prior to expiring. Very small droplets of blood were found during the recovery......reason....very small sound channel. I have heard "many" comments from other hunters who have experienced the same.....very bad bullet!
 
I shot a black bear in the shoulder at about 30 yards last year with a 180 grain NP out of a 300 Winchester Magnum and he took it and ran downhill into a devil's club thicket straight down a mountainside never to be seen again. He was grazing when I came on him, but noticed me, looked up and was facing me 3/4 on so I shot because I was certain his next move was to flee. He did, with a bullet in him.

I followed and there was a big blood splotch at one place, but then the blood trail diminished to nothing
 
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Rugdoc said:
I shot a black bear in the shoulder at about 30 yards last year with a 180 grain NP out of a 300 Winchester Magnum and he took it and ran downhill into a devil's club thicket straight down a mountainside never to be seen again. He was grazing when I came on him, but noticed me, looked up and was facing me 3/4 on so I shot because I was certain his next move was to flee. He did, with a bullet in him.

I followed and there was a big blood splotch at one place, but then the blood trail diminished to nothing
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It's possible on a frontal shot to slip the bullet between the rib cage and the shoulder itself. What appears to be a solid hit can be through a whole lot of nothing. The animal may bleed profusely initially, then it peters out to nothing.
 
a round can do some very strange things once it hits. My hunting partner shot a deer with a .308 Silvertip. The range was 50M. The round did not expand, it hit a rib and key holed out the other side, with a devastating exit wound. As others have said, there is no such thing as a bad bullet in the boiler room. I was surprised that his round key holed after impacting a rib. Both lungs were cut in half.
 
I've seen the scenario dogleg described above and it led to a search with a dog and bear was never to be found. A black bear hit properly in the shoulder with a NP is a dead bear.
 
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why not use the best available bullet for the intended purpose. For myself I like Barnes when TTSX when shooting at any big game that I intend to eat. Also I believe that eating lead fragments is not a great idea and Barnes has zero lead in their TTSX rounds.

This test done by BCsteve is very well done and highlights some of the advantages of the premium bullets on the market

https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...ge-CGN-264-Bullet-Test-Result**-(lots-of-pics!)
 
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