143 ELD-X blew up on the shoulder?

[Harvey_NW]

I love this story - second hand pictures, but I want to believe they are true even without an MRI, everyone seems to be believable. The squirrel raised its head again - we all imagined it exploding like a prairie dog. The deer we keep imagining as the size of a mulie, then down to a southern Oregon Dik Dik size black tail, then back to a mulie, then back to a Dik Dik. The bullet cup we all spent too much time examining. Is that fat!?!? No, that can’t be fat - squirrel exploded on the outside. Then there’s the deer’s reaction - double back flip like it was struck with a 77gr TMK at 700 yards, then shot in the head like something out of the Sopranos.

If I had seen it first hand I’d be hesitant to use that bullet on anything, but that’s just me.

Uncle Taper are you dabblin in the devils nectar before internetting again?

 

[Harvey_NW]

You're drunk early tonight, but it is a Friday so you get a pass!

You beat me by seconds

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Maybe we're looking at a grazing shot from a tree stand?


This looks most likely to me. We're looking at both the entry and exit, and/or part of the trajectory was in the armpit.

OP's buddy mentioned that it was broadside though...

 

[eoperator]

Yes. Exactly.

It doesnt seem correct that a deer with untouched vitals and 3 good legs laid there and waited until hunter got to within 30 yards before taking off.

I shot a deer quartering to me directly on the shoulder exiting at rear rib at 200yrds with 300mag 199 hammer. The bullet knocked the buck down but he was immediately was off to the races on 3 legs and made it over 100yrds almost disappeared before I hit him again. That deer was fatality wounded he just didn't know it yet.

 

[Jake Larsen]

That was the only reasonable conclusion I could fathom, but he said dead certain clear view. Literally said "maybe a bumblebee" lol.


So it HAD to have impacted something before the animal? And not be deflected off course?

I’ve seen this once. With my sister on a hunt years ago. She shot at a nice buck, hit a branch maybe 20 yards in front of the deer, deflected the bullet into a doe standing 5 yards from the buck. Entrance wound looked similar, only in the high neck/shoulder. Fragment hit her spine and dropped her.


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[Hnthrdr]

It doesnt seem correct that a deer with untouched vitals and 3 good legs laid there and waited until hunter got to within 30 yards before taking off.

I shot a deer quartering to me directly on the shoulder exiting at rear rib at 200yrds with 300mag 199 hammer. The bullet knocked the buck down but he was immediately was off to the races on 3 legs and made it over 100yrds almost disappeared before I hit him again. That deer was fatality wounded he just didn't know it yet.

No this is a made up story deer can’t run off when shot with a 30 cal magnum! Just ask all the Fuddmasters (Tm) glad you connected with him again and put him down

 

[Jake Larsen]

View attachment 781879

Distinguishable triangle-ish pattern on permanent wound. Blood shot on the assumed direction of bullet travel.

Even if the chest cavity was truley not touched, I could beleive a hard quarter to shot and the bullet upsetting on a path along/outside the rib cage.

I would have a hard time reasoning with the idea of a bullet hitting true broadside, upsetting on hide/rib, not penetrating essential a sheet of drywall at best, and "splashing" 8 inches out, 90 degrees off original trajectory.

I have no dog in this fight, just objective opinion based on evidence provided.

Or the bullet was tumbling because it impacted a branch before the deer…


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[Taudisio]

You caught me, I staged an ELD-X "failure" so I could kick the hornets nest in between seasons because I'm bored

99.9% of the time I wouldn’t believe it either, in fact when he text my hunting partner and I my immediate response was "bullsh:t, send pics and I'm fairly certain I can provide an explanation". Even if he was lying, the pictures don't.

For context, I shoot 143's at 2930 out of my PRC. This is my first year using them, but 2 weeks ago my wife shot a buck at 350 ever slightly quartering to, and had mostly expected results. Caught the rear meat of the front shoulder, fist size exit center of ribcage offside, didn't go 20. I can't explain the bloodshot oval to the left on the stomach tho.

View attachment 781878

I appreciate the response, I have also seen the 143 from my prc at 3k fps. I wasn’t saying it in a demeaning or insulting way, I just don’t believe it. Form explains it better. SOMETHING else had to have happened to get the result that he got. The minimal penetration, the good looking mushroom, the distance/velocity range his rifle would spit them out at, it just doesn’t add up. Who knows, maybe he hit a deer in front of the one that caught the bullet and it ran off without him knowing?

 

[Formidilosus]

. Who knows, maybe he hit a deer in front of the one that caught the bullet and it ran off without him knowing?

That would fit the evidence pretty well actually, and I’ve seen it on elk and deer.

 

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

I've been around here long enough to know that it's not wise to make uneducated bold claims, HOWEVEVER - this happened to be pretty well documented by a buddy of mine. I know "it just doesn't happen", but these photos and what he told me are extremely perplexing. @Formidilosus I'd love to hear your input or synopsis on the matter.

Shot situation - mature blacktail buck, broadside shot 140 yards, 6.5 Creedmoor, factory Precision Hunter 143 ELD-X. Knocked the buck down, buck got up at 30 yards and he shot him in the back of the head. He says absolutely no vegetation or anything the bullet could have contacted to start initiating expansion prior to impact, clear line of sight and the impact was at POA. He found the jacket/core fragments in the wound cavity on the shoulder, from his inspection nothing notably penetrated through the rib meat and into the cavity.

The bullet obviously hit something at adequate velocity to cause it to upset, but if it were in between him and the target it wasn't enough to cause it to deviate off course. What say you?

View attachment 781822
View attachment 781824

This is not really surprising to me at all, I've personally witnessed a 143 eldx blow apart on an elk scapula from a creedmoor at 300 yards.

That bullet did not hit heavy bone it literally came apart entirely in the dense muscle, I autopsied it in detail.

And no there was zero chance it hit a branch, the bull was in wide open meadow.

I've done the same thing with a 147 eldm on an elk shoulder, these tipped bullets are splashy at closer ranges in my experience.
I still love how fast they kill at long range though

 

[TaperPin]

You beat me by seconds

Friday happy hour - I’m supposed to be happy!