shot placement with nosler 260

[ihuntbuck]

Ok we all know that sometimes broadside shots just wont happen. was just wanting to get some opinions on the hard angle shots such as sharply quartered to and away whitetails. this was my first year here in illinois to kill a deer with my omega and it killed 5 and wounded one (yes a biggun) three were broadside and three were hard angles.was using 100grains of 777 2f and a nosler partition 260 hg . well the thing i noticed was the deer shot on the angles didnt die very quickly the first was a small doe sharply quartered away shot at 40 yards she ran prolly 40 and laid down but it took her 15 minutes to expire i wanted real bad to get down and finish her but thats a story for another day. the second was a 10 or 12 point dandy sharply quarterd away at160 first shot dropped him like a rock thought he was dead then his head came back up oh **** reload had plenty of time to whiff on the second shot as he walked slowly back into the timber we found spoty foamy blood for 100 yards then poof vanished never seen again i felt as though the bullet never left an exit so the blood had no place to go bad deal all around.the third deer was standing almost face on last ten minutes of the three day muzzloader only season it was a now or never shot and i took it 130 yards knocked her flat but she was struggling after the shot i had to walk back to my blind to get my possibles bag and reload and when i got back to her she tried to run off thank god i hit her good that time or i prolly woulda lost her also ok that was the bad here goes the good deer one button buck 70 yards broadside drt deer two fattest doe i have ever killed 100 broadside ran 20 yards maybee. then deer three my 10 year old first time killernephew behind the trigger out walks the first basket rack 10 pointer i have ever seen broadside 80 yards shoots high lung kinda back deer slowly walks 100 yards across feild and falls over dead just as he was convinced he missed. ok maybee i should mention up untill this year i was a slug hunter having killed most of my deer with a 385 grain nosler partition gold .so was i just expecting to much knockdown from a 260 grain bullet? i am of the opinion the omega needs to be restricted to a mostly broadside killer. ok let me have it ...lol...thanks for any advice

[sabotloader]

ihuntbuck

I have been shooting the 260 for several years now and have yet to have any problems with them taking the deer down when I did my part. For me the angle has not been a problem at all. It still comes down to bullet placement.

The Nosler is designed to expand to 3/4 - 7/8" and stop expansion-but, the shank and the bulk of the weight of the bullet continues to drive through the animal. The work of the Nosler is done as it passes through the vitals or tissue. The wings of the expanded copper cut their way through tissue. And the the hydrostatic/hydraulic shook created by the bullet is devastating on the vital organs - often turning them to jello.

Another advantage is the penetration of the bullet even when you shoot through bone.

The Nosler expands through a wider range of velocities than most any other bullet.

Difficult shots - often do not allow you to get the best shot placement. I had an one of those this year on a buck - the opening offered, the movement of the deer, and other varibles were not perfect and in my case the shot placement was not perfect. I hit the buck high in the hind quarters. The bullet crushed both hips and broke the spinal column. While the animal did not go any where it was an ugly scene until I could get reloaded and offer the final shot.

Shooting a buck while it is rut is often a difficult thing. Often it is impervious to what might be happening to it - he has a much bigger mission on his mind. As an example several years ago - I took a near broadside shot at a buck at about 75 yards. He had his nose down to the ground and never heard or saw me as he showed up on my right side. I turned clicked the safety off raised the rifle to shoulder and took that 75 yard shot. Hit him right behind the left front shoulder - the bullet went int and through the vitals and out the other side through a rib. He never flinched! - he raised his head and continued to walk in the same direction. I ran another bullet into the chamber and was ready for the second shot and then he crumbled. He probably walked 10 yards... This buck was shot with a 300 Win Mag with a 200 grain bullet.

So all-in-all I guess I am not much help...

[SWThomas]

That's crazy! The deer was shot and didn't even know it?.... WOW!

[spaniel]

ORIGINAL: SWThomas

That's crazy! The deer was shot and didn't even know it?.... WOW!

I pumped4 rounds from a 300WinMag into a ticked off bull elk at 683 yards and he never reacted until the last one!!!

On the angle thing -- If you shoot a deer through both lungs (easy to do broadside), they will deflate and the brain will quickly be depleted of oxygen and they are DRT or very quickly. You see a lot of blood but these deer do not go down from blood loss, but oxygen loss first.

The problem, IMHO, with these difficult angles is that you cannot reliably deflate both lungs. Say you shoot a deer sharply angled toward you. You shoot the deer as far to the near shoulder as possible, but the bullet still only catches one lung and exits behind the far shoulder. The deer will often still have one good lung to drive its escape, and until it actually bleeds out enough to pass out from blood loss it can keep going.

I have seen deer shot through one lung with an arrow alive the next day, just very weak. I no longer take any archery shots offering only one lung.

A few years ago I missed my old caplock so I loaded it up with a 300gr Keith Nose soft lead hollowpoint. I shot a doe at 80 yards facing me, absolutely annihalating its right lung and exiting a big hole on the far side. That doe took off, and covered over 200 yards before reaching a ditch it had to cross. Fortunately the snow was deep, and it got stuck in the bottom of the ditch and was contained there for several minutes until it passed out. Otherwise it would have kept going despite massive damage!

I have never been a huge fan of neck shots, an angle giving poor chance at getting both lung argues for an attempt at the neck or the heart. If all you get is one lung, you could be in for trouble.

[UncleNorby]

My advice is to shoot FPBs. Made by Hornady, full bore, copper jacketed, hollow based 350 gr conical. No sabot used.

At 350 gr, they are not the flattest bullets out there, but if you get them moving at least 1500 they are a 150yd load. I'd imagine you could stretch that a bit if your velocity increased to 1700-1800.

These things will penetrate and get you an exit hole. I do not subscribe to the NEED for expansion with bullets that start out at .50, although it is a nice bonus. First and foremost is the exit hole!

If youtry them, let us know how they do in your gun. They shoot well from my Genesis.

[ihuntbuck]

Ijust wanted to add i am not trying to knock the 260 grain bullet i believe myself the shooter must do his part on all shots.I just think i am definately giving up some of the knockdown power i have grown used to from my 385 grain partition golds but still think the advantages of holding 5-6inch groups at 200 yards with the 260 partition out of my omega outweighs that in the long run...Also i recovered both bullets shot into the doe i shot head on they were opened up perfect and looked just as they should have ironically of the 30 plus whitetails i have harvested with nosler partiton bullets these were the first two bullets i have ever recovered in the animal and both in the same deer to boot....

[gregrn43]

A few weeks ago while gun hunting I had 3 bucks chasing a doe come in down wind from me. The doe caught a whiff of my scent. There were two small bucks and one 14 inch 8pt. The eight point was at a steep quatering to me position. His head was up trying to catch a whiff of me or what ever spooked the doe. I had a good feeling it was the only shot I was gonna get, so off hand at 60 yards I slipped a 165 sierra hollow point 30-06 right behind the front shoulder. It was so early that the muzzle flash blinded me, but i heard the buck run off then I heard it crash. I continued to sit in the tree 3 more hours and hunt before I got down. When I walked to the spot where he was standing nothing no blood, hair, no nothing, hmmmm strange. I continue to walk the way I heard him run and after 15 yards i saw him lying about 30 yards in front of me. When I got to him I tried to back track a blood trail, but there wasnt one. The shot went in right behind the shoulder and exited just in front of the of the back hip. When I gutted him blood poured out, all the bleeding was internal. If I hadnt heard the buck crash it would have been easy to conclude that it was a miss. The bullet caught 1 lung, shredded the liver, passed through the bowels and then exited in front of the hip. I really thought there should have been some blood along the track, but there wasnt. The bowels had stopped up the exit wound and he didnt bleed any from the entrance wound. Sometimes things dont happen the way that you expect it to. I prefer a complete broadside shot, but sometimes you just dont get one. I have never lost a deer when shot broadside through both lungs, but just take out one and you have a different story somtimes.

[gleason.chapman]

ORIGINAL: ihuntbuck

Ok we all know that sometimes broadside shots just wont happen. was just wanting to get some opinions on the hard angle shots such as sharply quartered to and away whitetails. this was my first year here in illinois to kill a deer with my omega and it killed 5 and wounded one (yes a biggun) three were broadside and three were hard angles.was using 100grains of 777 2f and a nosler partition 260 hg . well the thing i noticed was the deer shot on the angles didnt die very quickly the first was a small doe sharply quartered away shot at 40 yards she ran prolly 40 and laid down but it took her 15 minutes to expire i wanted real bad to get down and finish her but thats a story for another day. the second was a 10 or 12 point dandy sharply quarterd away at160 first shot dropped him like a rock thought he was dead then his head came back up oh **** reload had plenty of time to whiff on the second shot as he walked slowly back into the timber we found spoty foamy blood for 100 yards then poof vanished never seen again i felt as though the bullet never left an exit so the blood had no place to go bad deal all around.the third deer was standing almost face on last ten minutes of the three day muzzloader only season it was a now or never shot and i took it 130 yards knocked her flat but she was struggling after the shot i had to walk back to my blind to get my possibles bag and reload and when i got back to her she tried to run off thank god i hit her good that time or i prolly woulda lost her also ok that was the bad here goes the good deer one button buck 70 yards broadside drt deer two fattest doe i have ever killed 100 broadside ran 20 yards maybee. then deer three my 10 year old first time killernephew behind the trigger out walks the first basket rack 10 pointer i have ever seen broadside 80 yards shoots high lung kinda back deer slowly walks 100 yards across feild and falls over dead just as he was convinced he missed. ok maybee i should mention up untill this year i was a slug hunter having killed most of my deer with a 385 grain nosler partition gold .so was i just expecting to much knockdown from a 260 grain bullet? i am of the opinion the omega needs to be restricted to a mostly broadside killer. ok let me have it ...lol...thanks for any advice

I have found that 250/260/240 bullets don't shoot thru a deer giving good blood trails and don't have the weight to get into the vitals on raking shots.They are usually on the off side under the skin on bow shots thru the lungs, so what are they gonna do on bone? Try a 300g Nosler and 110 of Blackhorn 209 and I think you will have a load. This 300g Nosler Partition HG bullet was shot into a 6 point buck at about 50 yards in the brisket, I found it under the hide in the hind quarter, it had gone the whole length of the deer.I was using 100g of 777 with a Crushed Rib sabot. IT is a great bullet for raking shots, shoulder etc. HG stands for Hand Gun, it is a pistol bullet. I like 300g bullets, more penetration, more energy on the target.

Take a look at these pictures into ballistic gel for the difference between 250 and 300g bullets:

http://www.the-gleasons.com/SST,%20TMZ,%20XTP%20Bullet%20Performance%20into%20 Perma%20Gel%20by%20TheLeftHand.htm


Other great bullets are 300g Barnes Origonals with CR sabot
300g Barnes MZ with supplied sabot
300g Barnes TSX 45843 with CR sabot
300g Speer Gold Dot (these are very low cost and hold together great). Also get the Barnes Bullet Myths video for free, so great info on raking shots and how Barnes is great on bone shots and get into the vitals. I like taking brisket shots and high shoulder shots, they usually anchor a deer right there. The "behindthe front shoulder" isa killing shot definitely, but the deer is gonna run sometimes 100, 150 yards onto another property owners land and that is an issue for meon 17 acre plots of land next to horse farms. Chap



Chap