Best Mono Bullet for Hunting/Effective Kills

[Hoghead]

A few makers I pulled out of hogs I had in my too box.

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[saskhunter]

I've killed lots of game with Barnes TTSX in .25-06 and .300 WM.

Antelope, mule deer, whitetails, bears and caribou, all dead.

 

[Hoghead]

Pva Cayuga
Haven't recovered one yet. First picture is a exit at 375. Second is exit at 486. 3rd is under the shoulder of the same deer in picture 4 at 572. I don't remember what deer the last picture was, but it was an exit that hit a rib might be the 4th picture deer.

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[35WhelenAI]

Recovered .358 Barnes 200gr and 250gr Original X from elk. 3/4 inch expanded diameter for both. First picture is 250X, second picture 200X. Third pic shows side view with unfired bullets of each, and a 200 TTSX for length comparison. 35 Whelen AI, 2900 fps MV for 200X, 2575 fps MV for 250X. Both shots were hard quartering and went through 4' of elk diagonally. 200X quartering toward found under hide of the rear quarter at 180 yds, 250X quartering away found in neck meat at 60 yds. Been using the 200 TTSX for over a decade now, but none of the elk or deer have caught one yet to take a pic.

 

[35WhelenAI]

First pic exit on a small muley buck. 224 yds, .358 200 TTSX 35 Whelen AI (2940 MV). Second pic shows entrance from inside view.

Needless to say plenty of expansion upon entry and needless to say they leave an exit. My very little meat destruction, had to trim up around the holes and that was it.

Sorry, no pics of heart and lungs while in the field. They were chunked and tattered into pieces. This little boy dropped at the shot. By many counts it should have zipped on through such a little creature with just a pencil size hole. Experience tells me otherwise over 30 years.

 

[35WhelenAI]

Exit, .358 200 TTSX 125 yards broadside 35 Whelen AI (2940 MV). Very little meat destruction on entry (no pic) and exit (shown) in my opinion. Exit side quarter removed already, now I was taking all the rib sheath meat off to be ground into burger. Lead cow at a trot as she led the group out of the timber and across the meadow.

My son marveling at the gut pile of a 500 lb lead cow. Zoom in, plenty of destruction on the vital tissue. This pic was around mid-afternoon, after doing a double at 7 a.m. opening morning. We got them gutted and quartered and headed back to camp for the game cart to haul 8 quarters and all of the other meat out of the field. A well deserved beer before hauling out the loaded cart in the third pic.

He had picked off one from the small herd as well, no pics of his from a 130 TTSX out of a 30-06 (3300 MV).

 

[Macintosh]

A few makers I pulled out of hogs I had in my too box.

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Hoghead, sorry if I missed the info earlier, what was the cartridge these were fired from, bullet weight, range and approximate MV and impact velocity?

 

[Muleface]

If dropping an animal in its tracks is your only metric for success, then any copper bullet will work with a brain/spine/high shoulder shot. I don't consider an animal moving after the shot to be a failure unless the damage done is insufficient to kill it in a short time period.

My 2024 elk dropped in its tracks with a high-shoulder shot from my 141 HHT, but after seeing bullet performance, I'm confident it would have killed it with a conventional heart or lung shot, it just may have ran first.

New here, with a +1 for this. My day job involves stats. I like to reload. I have a table of "what happened" results for hunts from the SE to AK. The generalities I pull from that are:

1) Narrower-velocity-range expanders require narrower external ballistic range, for reliable expansion.

2) Shot placement that doesn't require expansion to be within that narrower range is a reliable solution (echoing Leaf Litter above).

3) Using monos has been a good excuse to hunt with stuff in larger chambers.

To me, the drawbacks of a mono are exemplified opposite Partition or A-Frame type bullets, which are effectively hedging strategies against uncertain impact velocity (they simultaneously do both of the things folks alternatingly emphasize as being good for terminal ballistics). I think the thing with monos is that optimal range and shot placement are necessarily more constrained because bullet design for terminal ballistics is also constrained by material. They can work great! Manufacturers are loath to emphasize application constraints though.

Barnes TSX and TTSX are what I've used in many cartridges, in generally light-for-cartridge weights across the board. No complaints, except that I didn't learn the above earlier. Dog gets a little more meat when bullet is placed at shoulder.

 

[35WhelenAI]

I get more meat with a shoulder hit and a mono vs any lead core/frangible bullet...

Seeing the after effect of Partitons (160 gr, 280 Rem, MV 2800), on a shoulder hit reminds me why I shoot monos, fwiw. No different than a traditional cup and core bullet or frangible bullet that is talked about around here.

As well, the on-side vitals are more liquefied vs the off-side vitals (comparing one lung to another, for example) IME. A Partiton verifiably gives a bullet sized exit because the design (damn good one to cover all bases in bullet performance) is to expand, come apart, then exit with the back half shank intact. But it will destroy a shoulder if hit on entry, from experience.

Bonded bullets at normal ranges maintain most of their weight and as such don't do as much meat damage from violently coming apart and tend to be similar to a mono in terms of wound channel, exit hole size. Again, from observed kills and not my own kills. At close range, bonded bullets create a larger frontal diameter whereas monos tend to be more or less the same expanded diameter within their velocity window.

 

[Thegman]

A few makers I pulled out of hogs I had in my too box.

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What are the details on the Maker bullets you were using? I.e., bullet, velocity, range, etc.

 

[Leaf Litter]

I get more meat with a shoulder hit and a mono vs any lead core/frangible bullet...

Seeing the after effect of Partitons (160 gr, 280 Rem, MV 2800), on a shoulder hit reminds me why I shoot monos, fwiw. No different than a traditional cup and core bullet or frangible bullet that is talked about around here.

As well, the on-side vitals are more liquefied vs the off-side vitals (comparing one lung to another, for example) IME. A Partiton verifiably gives a bullet sized exit because the design (damn good one to cover all bases in bullet performance) is to expand, come apart, then exit with the back half shank intact. But it will destroy a shoulder if hit on entry, from experience.

Bonded bullets at normal ranges maintain most of their weight and as such don't do as much meat damage from violently coming apart and tend to be similar to a mono in terms of wound channel, exit hole size. Again, from observed kills and not my own kills. At close range, bonded bullets create a larger frontal diameter whereas monos tend to be more or less the same expanded diameter within their velocity window.

I largely see the same results with copper. Very little bloodshot meat. My elk this year had MAYBE 4lb of bloodshot meat total with a high-shoulder shot.

Lead bullets bruise meat badly, creating bloodshot meat. Copper bullets seem to cut rather than tear/bruise.

 

[Muleface]

Agree with 35WhelenAI.

Are Woodleigh monos a bullet that is talked about around here?