The first two harvests with my rifle happened Saturday morning. Both were antelope does. Both bullets were the deep cut NR DTACs. My GF shot hers at 325 yards. The hit was a little back and high, the doe dropped on the spot and never moved. The spinal cord itself wasn't hit, but must have been disrupted. Main wound channel went through the liver and was about 3" in diameter. Other fragments went through the diaphragm and the back of the lungs. Exit was football shaped, 2" tall and 4" wide. Impact velocity of ~2980 fps
Mine was at 350 yards immediately after the first one. Very slightly quartering to, entrance 2.5" behind the shoulder and middle top to bottom. It looked like some fragments exited and some didn't, but none were recovered. Despite being hit farther forward significant fragments went into the guts and destroyed the diaphragm. Main wound channel through the lungs was about 3" in diameter. Less than half of the diaphragm was intact. Exit side consisted of multiple fragments but no large hole. Impact velocity of ~2915 fps.
Overall I'm extremely pleased. These shots were way inside of the performance envelope of the cartridge, but it did exactly what it is supposed to. My GF has very limited experience with centerfire rifles and this is her first hunt. She shot well in practice and did great in the field. Removing recoil as a factor for sensitivity, spotting hits, and field accuracy was very beneficial. She shot hers on 5x and was able to see the hit through the scope. When I picked up the rifle I zoomed it in to 7x and easily watched the bullet hit. Mine ran maybe 20 yards before tipping over, but after seeing the exact impact I didn't bother to shoot again despite having time to do so.
I need to post some pics of the rifle now that it's all finished. 10.6 lbs scoped, so I'm going to build a lighter one for backpack hunts.
First entrance outside
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First entrance inside
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First exit inside
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First exit outside
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Second entrance inside. Directly through a rib
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Second exit inside. Multiple fragments rather than a single large wound channel. Either she was quartering more than I thought or the bullet took quite a turn inside. Very effective either way.
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