Animal reaction after match bullet?

[Tmac]

I have the distance ran in the poll.

Technically, immediately dropping at the shot, I think, has a CNS component, so I didn’t include it.

We had two cow elk drop to the shot this season with shots low to mid chest placement. No cns damage I could see or damage to the heart. Classic lung shots. Both were close high velocity impacts that made the lungs soup. One match bullet, one not. I think every shot and animal are different and some do drop without obvious cns damage. Also had a match bullet impact with similar fps and placement run off a bit last season. So I dunno.

 

[rust4brains]

WY Cow elk last fall, 275 yards with a 7mmRM 168gr Berger suppressed. She dropped and rolled down the dune.

 

[bnsafe]

all mo deer, some on private some on public. Im a huge believer in the ballistic tips. Best bullet ive ever shot at deer for just putting them down quickly. Yes, it leaves a hole, but nothing like some of the pics on here.

 

[sickles107]

Back in the day probly 10 years ago when you might as well have called me a fud in training, I had a beautiful 700 cdl stainless fluted in 270, that stacked factory nosler ballistic tips into a jagged hole. Put it in a b&c stock and topped with a vx3 that had a bdc reticle.. ya know.. for long range stuff.

Much against everyone's suggestions and advise of the bullet "splashing on the shoulder", I thought I needed the tightest groups possible to be a real sniper guy, so that season I was loaded with the ballistic tips.

Ended up shooting a whitetail buck through the lungs at ~300 yds. He ran about 30 yds and tipped over. chest cavity was a bowl of jello. Should have caught onto that match bullet thing right then..

Fast forward, now shooting eldms in 6mm and 308 for past few years, every animal i have shot in the chest (10 deer/elk/antelope maybe?), 50 to 500 yds, less spine/neck damage that drops them instantly, has ran +-30 yds and tipped over.

I cannot say the same for my experience in between then and now with my old goto accubonds, and certainly not with my short stint with monos.

Pic of said buck and rifle I stupidly sold

 

[Shortschaf]

140 hybrid targets left a pencil hole in two sets of lungs on back to back days. Would not recommend

ETA: impact velocities were 2300 and 2375fps

 

[Hondo64d]

I want to collect some information about “behind the shoulder” shot placement and match bullet performance here, like TMK, ELDm, ELDx, Berger, etc. in the poll. I am not interested in the hunting solids and mushrooming bullets (except do ELDx here) in this thread.

The poll is for animals hit behind the shoulder, only in vitals, with a “match” style bullet. What is the reaction and how far did they go. No bad shot placement. I don’t want that to muddy the responses.

My experience is that animals don’t run after getting hit behind the shoulder and they die within 50 yards. Not a single animal I have hit with Berger or witnessed hit with Berger/ELD has gone more than 50 yards. Most just stand there and then try to walk a little when they start to lose oxygen to the brain.

I also hunt suppressed, so I wonder whether the lack of big boom makes a difference.

Pics and stories are welcome. I especially want the times they run.

Have shot several wild pigs with the 88gr ELD-m launched at a little over 3000 fps. Most were a little over 400 yards and most were DRT. The one that did run was poorly hit and still made it only 50 yards before stopping, was shot again, and died where he stood. Have had similar results with the .224 75gr Amax, 6.5 130gr HVLD, 140gr AMax, 140gr Elite Hunter, 147gr ELD, .308 155gr HVLD, and 185gr Classic Hunter. actually killed two pigs with one shot at 469 yards with the 185gr Classic Hunter launched at 2640 fps, both DRT. Have had less consistent or desirable results with the 6.5 Berger 130gr OTM and 130gr Sierra MK, and the .308 155gr Scenar, with results varying from DRT to 100+ yard run with no blood trail.

John

 

[eoperator]

140 hybrid targets left a pencil hole in two sets of lungs on back to back days. Would not recommend

What impact velocity?

 

[sveltri]

I shot a ram a couple weeks ago with a 108 eld-m. Shot was 130 yds muzzle velocity 3050 impact velocity 2830ish. All 5 rams were very close together when I shot and tightened up immediately following the shot leaving no time for a clear follow-up shot. He went down 9-10 secs later (confirmed on video) he immediately got back up but was clearly sick and not moving well but did go about 10 yds. He was headed straight away so had to wait for a shot. He almost went again but managed to stay up and presented a 2nd shot about 35 secs after first. Quartering away I messed up and the bowhunter in me took over and I aimed for the offside leg, should have just put it right behind the shoulder. He dropped at the second shot but got up again for about 3-4 secs and finally went down for good. I really don't believe the second shot was necessary and in the past I wouldn't have taken it, hindsight is 20/20 but I'm glad I shot again. I would not hesitate to use that same setup again.

 

[Shortschaf]

What impact velocity?

2300 and 2375fps

 

[Mattyq17]

185 Berger VLD out of a 300WM, 386 yard shot on a bull. He took 3 steps and tipped over backwards, lungs were Jello.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I didn't vote, mainly because I don't shoot animals "behind the shoulder". The good stuff is directly behind the shoulder, so I shoot through them. When I do, it doesn't really matter if I am using match bullets or standard cup and core hunting bullets, they die very quickly.

 

[Brucebarker024]

Most of my rifle kills have been CNS minus 2. Only counting my kills, not the people I hunt with. One last year, unsuppressed, 350 yards, hit a doe directly behind the shoulder barely quartering to with a 7mm 180 hybrid target and she ran about 50 yards and died, absolutely ridiculous wound channel, hit a rib on the entrance and there was a softball sized exit wound with lung and liver hanging out. My most recent muley, suppressed, 548 yards, took a 7mm 180 hybrid broadside directly behind the shoulder and humped up hard. Put 1 more through his chest on the same side, he turned facing the other way, as I broke the shot he spun again and I hit him in the hindquarter in front of the socket, he bedded right there. Put one more through his chest after he laid down and he put his head down and died. From the first shot to where he died he went about 5 yards. The chest cavity was entirely soup and was missing half of his heart. No exits and he was dead after the first shot just didn’t know yet. From the first shot to death was less than a minute.

 

[Boltgun]

Cool thread!

20 yd run with 123gr SST 6.5 Grendel:
290yds pronghorn
20 yds buck
25 yds doe
75 yds doe
50 yds doe

Several dozen hogs, same result unless CNS.

147gr ELDX 6.5 CM:
60 yd Impala 20 yd run
465 yd kudu 20 yd walk

 

[Marbles]

Well, mine was bedded and just layed its head down and died, so I selected the it just stood there option.

 

[Seeknelk]

Muley- 215 berger thru heart, 100 yard run
Cow elk-215, 500yds, thru rear lungs, 100 ish yards
Cow elk- 178 eldx from 06, 630 yds, went 50 yards
Muley- 140 eld m, 475, right in crease, 100 yard sprint uphill
Antelope- 215 Berger, 350 yards, hit way back, caught rear lung,liver etc, flopped down and kicked a few seconds, probably disrupted cns?
Antelope- 140 eldm, quartering too but shot behind shoulder still to not destroy the front half, 100 yard run
Coyote- 140 eldm center of ribs,drt
Bear- 215 Berger, 200 yards, middle of middle, drt
Bull elk- 180 eldm, 760 yds, ribs, heart, took second in ribs also, went 5 yards

 

[missjordan]

All our family hunts with is Berger Bullets. Specifically my husband and I use the OTM tacticals 300 grains out of our Lapua. With all the elk we’ve killed using these bullets (probably close to a dozen or so) all but maybe 3 or 4 have dropped on the spot. The couple others stuttered off and piled over. No losses with any elk.

With deer or antelope we haven’t had that good of luck with Bergers out of different calibers. All shots have been fatal, but i had one mule deer with my win mag that just wouldn’t die. It was awful. Most of the others have sputtered off and then passed with maybe one or two dropped dead in their tracks. Can’t remember how many we’ve killed but it’s been a lot. Various Calibers, a 308, 6.5x284, 338 win, and the Lapua on a couple deer.

Generally our success rate with any type of Bergers had been fantastic and i don’t see ourselves hunting with any other brand. All hand loads


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Slickhill]

I’ve killed several hundred pigs and deer with the 77TMK. 75 percent or so using a suppressor. Chest shots generally result in a short run and a crash mid stride. I’ve had some drop at the shot when no big bone was struck and others hobble off obviously jammed up. A few just stand and look sick for a few seconds before tipping over.

3 or 4 dozen pigs of various sizes with the 75gr Hornady BTHP. Rather erratic performance from this bullet IME. Most of the time they’ll make a short run and be down. A handful showed no sign of bullet upset, needle hole in and out with minimal damage in between. Very occasionally I had one come completely unwound blowing a shallow crater with only a couple inches of penetration, always when bone was encountered.

The 55gr Hornady Match BT is horrible. I have had it ice pick on coyotes with no sign of expansion. Shot one largish pig 3 times and one bullet showed no upset, looked like you poked a pencil through him, one grenade on a shoulder and fail to make it past the scapula, and the third make a beautiful 2” hole surrounded by cherry pulp before coming to rest under the hide on the off side. After repeatedly unpredictable results on about 2 dozen pigs and half a dozen coyotes I abandoned hope and only use them to shoot rocks now.

The 69gr RMR SMK clone works decently well, certainly more consistently than either of the Hornady offerings. It seems to do its best work if you can steer it into some bone. Pigs shot in the shoulder knuckle with it were decisively killed, stay off the shoulder and results were less predictable though not as much so as the Hornadys. 15 pigs and 2 coyotes make up this sample.

All of the above were from either a 16” or 18” AR in 223.

My son used the 130 ELDM factory load out of his M7 .260 wearing my GA Recce 7 suppressor last week to kill a big doe. Bullet was placed perfectly, halfway up and right at the rear edge of the front leg. 6.5 hole in the hide, 2” hole in the rib cage on entry, apparently split in half and produced 2 exits one in line with the entry and the other 6” back through the ribs. The rearmost exit was about 1.5” diameter. Lungs were unrecognizable soup and the piece that made the rear exit blew a 3” hole through one lobe of the liver. At the shot she ran about 20 yards, jumped a fence and made it another 20 before crashing.

I guess that’s a long winded way to say if you shoot enough stuff you’ll likely see the full spectrum of your poll choices.

 

[LongWayAround]

I shot a whitetail buck at about 200yd that ran about 80-100yd with the 147 ELD-M. Two hits on him.

A cow elk at about thirty took two 142 ablr and stood there. She made it about thirty yards downhill eventually.

Blacktail around 200, 142 ablr, drt. The shot was below but may have affected the spine.


Animals I have hit through the shoulder died right there.

 

[Johnwell]

30-06 with a 178 amax (same as eld-m), ~2750 fps at the muzzle; shot was maybe 40 yards, slightly quartering away. Entered just behind the shoulder, exited through the off side shoulder bone. Rifle was not suppressed.

Destroyed the heart and lungs as well as the entire lower half of the off side shoulder. Exit hole was probably 2”. Deer ran maybe 15 yards and piled up. I had pictures on my old phone, but she’s long dead. Might have them backed up somewhere.

 

[hereinaz]

We had two cow elk drop to the shot this season with shots low to mid chest placement. No cns damage I could see or damage to the heart. Classic lung shots. Both were close high velocity impacts that made the lungs soup. One match bullet, one not. I think every shot and animal are different and some do drop without obvious cns damage. Also had a match bullet impact with similar fps and placement run off a bit last season. So I dunno.

What bullet?