Best Mono Bullet for Hunting/Effective Kills

[DagOtto]

Yesterday I shot another animal with my 6.5 Creedmore and non-lead ammo. This time it was the 135 Grain DRT bullet, shooting their factory load. Muzzle velocity of @2600 FPS.

White tail doe presented herself right at dusk. Shot was 165 yards. Once again, I'm not super proud of my shooting as my shot was forward and high @ 6". I shot sitting/unsupported though, so understandable.
Impact velocity calcs to right around 2350.

Bullet entered in the left scapula, and exited right scapula leaving a 2.5" dia exit wound on the way out. It was a bang flop with the damage to spine and CNS devastating. Heart was intact and lungs appeared pretty good as well although it was getting dark so I wasn't super thorough in my necropsy.

I think the notable take-away from this less than ideal shot placement is the size of the wound channel that was created in such a thin part of the animal. Clearly, the bullet expands drastically.

DO

 

[WKR]

Anyone try the apex afterburners? I have a few boxes of the 7mm that I need to do load dev on incase I draw a good California tag one of these years.
The BC is supposed to be really good on them and since they are kinda light for caliber I could probably push them fast enough for some longer shots out of a 20" prc

 

[DagOtto]

Here is a quick report from recent kills with copper bullets.

On opening weekend my hunting partner shot a mature cow elk. 300 win mag, 180 grain Barnes TTSX factory load. Impact velocity around 2770. She was perfectly broadside at 80 yards and shot was perfect, just behind right shoulder blade.

She ran downhill (out of site) about 150 yards before collapsing. I did not take necropsy photos (sorry,) but the bullet entered through a rib tearing a few chunks of ribs off. The heart and lungs were fully blendered with very little in terms of solid tissue left. Exit wound was .75" and bled very little.

 

[DagOtto]

And last real-world terminal ballistic report for now:

This one is from a friend who was in Canada hunting Moose and Caribou in September.

On the third day of their hunt he shot a bull caribou with his .338 Win Mag using Barnes LRX 250 grain bullets with a muzzle velocity of @2660. The animal was at 330 yards.

He shot the bull 4 times before it was incapacitated and it traveled 200 plus yards. While he and the guides didn't take any necropsy photos they did recover 3 or 4 of the bullets (I can't remember which) My friend reported that all of the bullets looked the the photo he sent me (attached.)

My amateur analysis is that with such a relatively slow muzzle velocity his bullets were down to somewhere close to 2150 upon impact. And it seems that such a large bullet going that slow really didn't expand at all. He reported that this scared him so much that had he seen a shootable moose he was planning on using the guides gun instead of his own.

 

[AZ_Hunter]

Cavity Back also makes monos that expand at low velocities. I have killed a bull with the 120gr MKZ out of a 6.8 SPC.

 

[z987k]

Anyone try the apex afterburners? I have a few boxes of the 7mm that I need to do load dev on incase I draw a good California tag one of these years.
The BC is supposed to be really good on them and since they are kinda light for caliber I could probably push them fast enough for some longer shots out of a 20" prc

Ive got some loaded but haven't had the chance to hunt with then yet.

 

[BCsteve]

And last real-world terminal ballistic report for now:

This one is from a friend who was in Canada hunting Moose and Caribou in September.

On the third day of their hunt he shot a bull caribou with his .338 Win Mag using Barnes LRX 250 grain bullets with a muzzle velocity of @2660. The animal was at 330 yards.

He shot the bull 4 times before it was incapacitated and it traveled 200 plus yards. While he and the guides didn't take any necropsy photos they did recover 3 or 4 of the bullets (I can't remember which) My friend reported that all of the bullets looked the the photo he sent me (attached.)

My amateur analysis is that with such a relatively slow muzzle velocity his bullets were down to somewhere close to 2150 upon impact. And it seems that such a large bullet going that slow really didn't expand at all. He reported that this scared him so much that had he seen a shootable moose he was planning on using the guides gun instead of his own.

Actually, it looks like the front expanded and the petals broke off. Thats how the two 175GR LRX recovered from my moose this year look like.

 

[z987k]

And last real-world terminal ballistic report for now:

This one is from a friend who was in Canada hunting Moose and Caribou in September.

On the third day of their hunt he shot a bull caribou with his .338 Win Mag using Barnes LRX 250 grain bullets with a muzzle velocity of @2660. The animal was at 330 yards.

He shot the bull 4 times before it was incapacitated and it traveled 200 plus yards. While he and the guides didn't take any necropsy photos they did recover 3 or 4 of the bullets (I can't remember which) My friend reported that all of the bullets looked the the photo he sent me (attached.)

My amateur analysis is that with such a relatively slow muzzle velocity his bullets were down to somewhere close to 2150 upon impact. And it seems that such a large bullet going that slow really didn't expand at all. He reported that this scared him so much that had he seen a shootable moose he was planning on using the guides gun instead of his own.

Looks like it shed the petals. Usually that's from too much velocity.
His experience is mostly in line with my expanding mono experience.