ammo testing

[mauser06]

well as some might know my dad bought the wrong ammo for me and i ended up with federal premium high energy 165 gr sieera soft point boat tails...i was worried they wouldnt expand like the nosler ballistic tips and HPs im used to.....and they didnt....ive taken 2 nice does with them so far....one was a perfect heart shot....went maybe 50yds out of pure adrenaline...runing into trees and falling the whole way.......she was about 25yd away when i shot her.....bullet didnt seem to expand much....couldnt find an entrance and the exit was quarter sized......doe #2...somewhere about 100yards away....hit a bit high but not much......blew the lungs to pieces.....deer dropped in her tracks.....and i think the shock hit the spine and made her drop.....the bullet didnt hit the spine but she fell like a spine hit....so i think the shock did that......i didnt look at the entrance....and the exit was about.....3 fingers wide....( i could fit 3 in the whole id say) not huge...but not small.......i didnt have to track either deer.....but they didnt explode how i hoped...moving at 3000fps they would been my dream bullet if they did more....but i cant complain.....they did their jobs.....so who needs big holes if the deer arent leaving your sight? i dont know if ill stay with these or not....they shoot good and move a bit faster......wish they were ballistic tips.....i like exposive bullets that leave a nice exit incase youd have to trail.....the second doe i know had a decint exit that would left tons of blood....but that was farther then my normal shots...heck my norm is 30yds....thats why hps work so well for me....they are moving so fast right there they just open up....but i cant complain about these bullets...they did their jobs.....maybe they are meant for a little farther shooting....these are in 3006 by the way.....i think theyd work nice for you long range guys.....just thought id let you guys know.......they work pretty nicely id say....they defientnly stayed together nicely......and shot good outa the old mauser...

[akbound]

Hi mauser06,

Sounds like pretty good performance to me! Two shots, two dead dear. And about the terminal performance I'd expect of a "mid weight" .30 caliber bullet out of the .30-06. All hunting bullets have to "split the difference" so to speak between adequate penetration and rapid expansion. And the two oppose each other when a bullet strikes an animal. The quicker the bullet expands and dumps energy in the target...the less it will penetrate. And conversely, the better it penetrates and insures it can reach the vital organs from bad angles, the slower it will expand. Fortunately for Americans the most popular "big game" are deer. And deer really are NOT very big. So nearly any "suitable bullet weight" in any reasonable caliber will open quickly and still penetrate enough for deer. When you get to animals the size of Elk, and bigger, you find you need to be more careful when selecting bullets....if you want to accomplish both!

All in all, I'd say those bullets worked pretty well!

[handloader1]

Congratulations on your kills!!

[PABuck_HNTR]

Sounds to me that they worked just fine! But confidence in your bullet/rifle combination is a mental factor to consider. If you are happy with one load over another, use it! That will eliminate the doubt you have, even though the new bullets preformed what they were designed to do.

[mauser06]

yes they definently did what they were designed to do.....both shots were broadside btw......i didnt look to much but i didnt hit majow bone like shoulder or anything....maybe ribs but other then that it was all organ and tissue ect....but the holes were bigger at the 100+yard shot....so i think when they slow down a bit they open a little better.....ill use them the rest of this season....im confident with them.....they do their job....i just like a little more expansion.....im not a long range guy...i dont need high energy loads or anything.......

[Vapodog]

Thanks for posting your bullet performance....I'm collecting the posts in a notebook......and congrats on the venison!

May I suggest Jalipeno and cheese summer sausage.....I'm eating some rright now and it fits my Atkin's diet.

BTW....I agree with the others.....that's excellent bullet performance.

[mauser06]

lol thanx vaopdog...glad i helped out some....im sure pics would be better....but one deers already venision and the other is about to be....and i have no way to get pics on here.....i know the bullet held together very well.....nice exit holes....and i cant find the entrances from the outside of either....i know they are there just tiny....the lungs from the second deer(far one) were blown to bits......the first one all i could find of the heart were a few chunks......so maybe it expanded alot inside then folded back before exit.......

[Sling]

ORIGINAL: mauser06

well as some might know my dad bought the wrong ammo for me and i ended up with federal premium high energy 165 gr sieera soft point boat tails...

mauser06 - What grain bullet do you normally use in NBT's? 150 or 165?

[mauser06]

we use 165 gr ballistic tips......normally im a hollowpoint shooter...but my friend that handloads didnt hand load this year so i didnt get a chance to load any.....and cant find a good hollowpoint in stores in 3006 around here.......but they perform just like a nbt......i shot 168gr hpbts.....my dad uses ballistic tips.....i only seen one deer make it anywhere and it was a bad angle...though a lung and liver and through the guts.....only went 50 yards.......good luck

[andy_o]

heck my norm is 30yds....thats why hps work so well for me

If you can get good shots within 50 yards and you dont like to track for them you should just go for a head shot. All you will need to do from there is pull out your knife and tag. That is just my thoughts on it and what i would do. BTW i havent had one closer than a little over 150 yards yet this year.