What mono to use

[bpro2001]

My wife is a falconer and any "throw away" meat is fed to her birds. With that mear grams of lead is enough to kill her main hunting bird so we use mono's. I have been listening to the shoot to hunt podcast and have drank the violent expansion kool-aid. Still not going to use match bullets so what mono's are going to be violent? Thinking the CE raptor and the hammers. Hoping for pictures and videos if you have them.

 

[kota]

What cartridge are you shooting? The faster they go, the less the bullet make/style matters IMHO.

I have been shooting a Barnes LRX out of my 6.5 CM recently and it works. No bang/flops, but a handful of mature bucks didn’t go very far either. It’s really accurate so I haven’t felt the need to tinker.

 

[bpro2001]

What cartridge are you shooting? The faster they go, the less the bullet make/style matters IMHO.

I have been shooting a Barnes LRX out of my 6.5 CM recently and it works. No bang/flops, but a handful of mature bucks didn’t go very far either. It’s really accurate so I haven’t felt the need to tinker.

Either a 7sherman max at 2900-3100 or a6x47L at around the same. What were your distances?

 

[kota]

Distances were all inside of 200 yards and mv around 2850. I wouldn’t want to shoot my combo much farther to keep the speed up and make sure the bullet opens/mushrooms well.

I think you have options. If you go light on bullet weight or shots are fairly close, shoot whatever you want and don’t worry about it. If you want to go heavier in bullet weight, don’t want to push the envelope on reloads, or are looking to shoot longer ranges, I would be more picky about finding a more frangible bullet. I always liked the concept of the frangible monos but haven’t experimented with them.

Cool stuff on the falconry BTW.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Used a CEB Lazer on a cow elk and a deer this fall, worked well on both.

 

[SDHNTR]

I’d use Hammers if I could only pick one, but that aside, you sir win the award for the coolest reason ever to shoot monos!

 

[waspocrew]

145 LRX out of my 7 SAUM accounted for the following this season:
- Bull elk at 415 yards (sucked up the first shot in the lungs and stood wobbling, put another in him and dropped)
- Whitetail buck at 350 yards (bang flop)
- Whitetail buck at 580 (bang flop)
- Mule deer buck at 315 (bang flop)

All were complete pass through. My one criticism would be small exit holes (caliber size to maybe 1.5x caliber size). No tracking was necessary, so may be a moot point.

 

[Wyohunth]

Small sample size, but I’ve shot three elk now inside 200 yards with 6.5 124 grain hammers at ~3200 fps muzzle. They have been good rib/lung shots, no bang flops, but no drama and left me feeling like I made reasonably quick humane kills. Although I do miss the anchoring effect of a well placed lead round.

 

[prm]

Don’t sweat using TTSXs either. Keep the impact velocities way up and they work very well.
I too would be interested in any lower velocity (1800-2200) results with other monos.

 

[Jbehredt]

I hate to jinx it but of the 3 mule deer and 2 elk I’ve killed with federal trophy coppers (said to be the hardest of the common monos) none has made it out of sight. Two of the deer were bang flops. All pass thrus. The elk and other deer got second shots because they were available. Impact velocities between 2200 and 2700. 308 150s.

 

[Wapiti1]

I would use Maker, Cutting Edge, Lehigh, or try out the DRT non-lead. I've used Maker and CE enough to say they are very predictable and consistent killers.

Cavity Back also have some interesting offerings as do Apex.

Jeremy

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

DRT if you want highly fragmenting like a match bullet.

Other monos whether petal peelers or shedders I think shot placement is a major factor (focus on heart/arterial bundle or CNS rather than lungs).

I've shot a lot successfully with barnes (lots of 145lrx in 7mm and some 80ttsx in 6mm) and they've worked well. I've shot less with hammers and had some issues in the past with off spec product, but the new hht look intersting, the load work is easy and accuracy is good.

In 7mm there are some newish 160gr bullets I'm curious about, barnes LRX and cutting edge lazer with G1 BC ~.6. (There is a hornady cx too but I'm not too interested in that one).

 

[finner]

Having shot and loaded various flavors of Barnes, Hornady GMX, Hammer hunters in multiple calibers, and CE Lazers, the latter is definitely my favorite. Easy load development, and violent results on two deer, two caribou, and a lot of coyotes this year. I'm running the 145s at 3100 out of a 21" 7prc (new brass). Every chest cavity has been an absolute bloodbath and no animal has made it more than a couple steps, from inside 100 yards to over 600.

I also had decent results with Hammers, but the exits and internal damage wasn't nearly as severe as the CEs. They're a good option for shorter ranges and there's more load data available than any of the other boutique mono companies. If you're looking to stretch it out, the CEs, Mcguires, and PVAs are good options but the CEs win out on reliable BCs, cost, and terminal performance in my book.

 

[z987k]

Apex has what is probably the most fracturing mono if you want all copper.

Otherwise DRT.

 

[JakeSCH]

I've had good success with hammers (my current go to), but honestly most work well. For my 7 PRC on the way, I am looking at the 168 McGuire bullets (G1 of .750 ??). It is has a listed G7 0.1 > than the hammer of the same weight.

That has me tempted to buy some and test out.