6mm /.243 hunting success on Big Game

Taudisio

WKR
Joined
Jan 20, 2023
Messages
975
Location
Oregon
Bull elk. 6cm, 95gr TMK. Bull was shot after running close to a mile.

First shot, 2,778fps impact. Bull turned sharp quartering away and took a step as the shot broke.

(Left is hind, right is chest). Bullet angled sharp quartering away and created a 10-12” wide wound that was 18+ inches long. The entire dark spot is damaged tissue- not just bloodshot. There are tears, holes, torn tissue, and pulp over the entire section.
View attachment 789739



Bull then dropped down a draw and reappeared. Second shot impact velocity of 2,256fps impact. Nearly broadside with the bull walking. Bullet impacted top rear lobes of lungs-



Entrance:
View attachment 789744





Exit-
View attachment 789742



Exit hide one:

View attachment 789745




Bull then made it into timber, and jumped up from his bed when I tracked him, at approx 60 yards and ran full tilt from left to right- three shots were put into him in about 25 yards; 2x to the shoulder and the last to the neck to stop him.


All were approx: 2,915fps impact


Entered through scapula: fingers point to the two POI.
View attachment 789761



No excising, just fascia layer removed-
View attachment 789762



Backside of entrance scapula:
View attachment 789763


This is the entrance side scapula-
View attachment 789764



Exited through opposite scapula:

View attachment 789765
View attachment 789766



Cont…..
Man I love and hate a good rodeo. Sounds like shot 2 would have taken care of business if you knew the shot placement was there, thus giving more time to expire. I had 3/6 kills I was on this year turn into rodeos and the farthest was 65 yards. 2 were dead animals, just needed more time, the other, I wasn’t the shooter. Never ideal, finish the job as soon as possible.
 

Ucsdryder

WKR
Joined
Jan 24, 2015
Messages
6,584
Exit side scapula continued:
View attachment 789768







After the second chest shot, I put the next one in the neck to stop the bull- he did the rhino slide at that.

Exit:
View attachment 789770

View attachment 789771



Conclusion:


In one bull elk, there is medium, low, and high impact velocity results. One poor “worst case” placement, one “acceptable but not ideal” placement, two “perfect” placements, and one anchor shot. Other than the stomach raking shot, all bullets exited.


Later we found out that this bull had been with a group that had been shot at, and hunters had chased this one, which is why he was running. Heavily stressed animals often take an incredible amount of damage without much sign of injury- and this one did exactly that.


Bullet performance:

6mm 95gr TMK’s cause horrific wounds. The first shot was at medium impact velocity yet caused a massive wound channel and more damage to the stomach than any other bullet or caliber that I have seen- from .22cal to very large .338’s.

The second shot was at the lower side of impact velocity, struck no bone at the very back of the lungs, and created a 2.5 to 3 inch wide hole the entire way through.


The two shots at high impact velocity to both scapulas caused extreme tissue damage and the total destruction of both scapulas. While close examination could distinguish the general outline/separation of each respective bullet path, the wounds were 5-6” wide each.

It is hard to describe the damage caused by the stomach impact and the two scapula shots- pictures in no way show the true measure.
So how many times did this bull get shot with those 95gr?
 

Marshfly

WKR
Joined
Sep 18, 2022
Messages
1,237
Location
Missoula, Montana
Rodeos happen. I listened to the most recent EXO podcast with Form and reflected on how stressors can multiply and cause worse and worse shots.

I'm surprised nobody noticed the bullet fragment I left in the image from my buck above.
I initially took my first shot at the buck about 3 minutes after Montana shooting light with a cloudy eastern sky. Anyone that's hunted this time of year means official "shooting light" light is laughably dark. It was a 175 yard frontal in the dark from a terrible rock ridge "rest." Come to find out I missed but thought I hit. The deer ran to about 270 yards and I took another shot for middle of body just to put more holes in him which entered liverish and exited rear hindquarter with the bullet caught by the skin. Same crappy rest. That's the fragment. He bedded in a thicket. We waited about 20 minutes and moved a little so we could glass him up. When he saw us he stood. 2nd shot was from the tripod seated at about 270 yards and the double lung that killed him in seconds.

Things don't always go according to plan but you shoot until the animal is dead if you can see it. Rodeos have to end and you should intend to end them with an animal dead on the ground.

Reflecting back, I had a crappy rest from a kneeling position in the dark on a deer that was looking right at me so frontal shot. Stressor on top of stressor. Amazing what you learn when you really think about these things and don't just shrug your shoulders and move on.
 

Hurley88

FNG
Joined
Dec 11, 2022
Messages
83
Holy heck thanks @amassi

Definitely everyone email bomb them. Any time I’ve mentioned something that requires more than 1:8” twist I haven’t gotten a warm reception. Who knows? If they get tons of emails maybe they’ll see the light.

But I will say they get tons of requests and they’re all across the board. If there was a concerted email push for a 107 or 110 TMK in 6mm, they’d be more apt to listen. It has to be something people can shoot in readily available factory rifles. Baby steps. Once they see that there’s a market they’ll likely go further; but they’re already behind the times as is.
Ok, here is the latest update.

Here’s the skinny: they’ve made a 107 TMK before, and they have the tooling still onsite to make it. But at the time their marketing team wasn’t in tune with that specific trend, and they made the non-tipped version at the same time, pushed that one a bit more.
And as mentioned, they made a 117 TMK/DTAC at one time as well.

Thing is, none of them really sold. Weren’t really pushed well from what I can tell (but I wasn’t there so can’t be judgemental). They have a different marketing team now and the winds of change are starting to blow.

If any of you guys out there are interested, start sending emails to [email protected]

Other emails are general inboxes and may just go out into the ether. They’ll all be out hunting next week so if they return to the office 11/18 to a hundred emails on the 107 TMK, there’s a good chance they say “well we have the tooling right here, let’s give it a shot”.

That’s what I know, fellas. If you want to see these bullets, send them an email.
 

RyanT26

WKR
Joined
Apr 8, 2020
Messages
1,304
So those gloves provide cold *and* cut protection?
I use the same gloves for work during the winter (Masonary). Unless Form is wearing another glove underneath them, they’re gonna provide limited cut protection probably mostly prevent nicks or small cuts. I don’t think they’re gonna stop a stab or large amounts of cutting force. They work well for cold, wet, and wind no thicker than they are.
 
Top