ORIGINAL: Matt / PA
Please allow me to hijack for a second......I'm not the most versed on inline bullet selection myself for these things but I do have an accurate combo I just don't know if I'm pushing it too hard?
Is 120grs loose T7going to be pushing a 300gr T/C regular shockwave too hardfor the under 100 (typical 50-75yd) shots I'll see on PA deer? I don't see how it could be realistically, but all your guys' talk of pancackes and fragmenting bullets has me reading too deep into this I think! LOL
I can't see how any deer can hold that much bullet at that velocity or how it could contribute to a possible lost animal but I honestly no not of what I speak........I can only guess?
Would I be better served going to the 300gr bonded version of that bullet?
I know I have yet to have a deer run out of sight with 100grs of regular Goex FFFg black and a 295gr PB hollowpoint from my flintlock even though the bullets I've recovered are pretty banged up too. I do understand that's a pretty hot load for a flinter though but I can't in my mind's eye picture a deer not going butt over tincup with the same weight bullet at a higher velocity.
Your not pushing your SW too hard, some guys over on the Savage Forum shoot SW at 2450 and 2600 fps, so your not even close. The 300g have much better BC and much better holding together capabilities than their 250g brothers. As for the bonded vs unbonded, for deer stay with the unbonded, for elk the bonded is better.
As for the PB, I think your on the upper edge of that bullet's performancewith the 295g HP, I would drop down to 80g or switch as FG suggested to the 295g AT or Platiuum. The fact that you state your bullets are pretty banged up should give you a clue. Look at this 300g Nosler Partition (about same cost as PB, hint) shot into a buck at 30 yard facing me, with a TC Omega, now tell me that ain't pretty. Or to quote "Craig Boddington", who hunts Africa all the time, "long shanks with perfect mushrooms are a thing of beauty" (this is with CF, but same thing is true in MLer). Wonder why he says that and why he doesn't say
"a perfectly pancaked out bullet is a thing of beauty, cause all it energy was absorbed into the animal".
Why does he have that philosophy as a professional gun writer and shooter? Why does Bryce Towsley shoot Barnes bullets, and he is quoted on their webpagesthat the Barnes are "the perfect bullet". How did they get that attitude? When I talked to Jim Shockey at the Feb 2005 Harrisburg Easter Outdoor show and I asked him why he shot Nosler Partitions for all his hunts, his response to me was "becaue they are the the strongest bullet available and they perform the best for me". His is the only man on earth to take all the big game animals with a MLer, why does he use Nosler Partitions? How did he reach those conclusions? Why does he use a 300g Nosler instead of a 250 or 260?
Best Wishes on your bullet quest, itis the most important decision in MLing.
Chap Gleason
