ORIGINAL: sabotloader
spaniel
Shockwave discussion... you and I have had this conversation very briefly a few years ago. It is my belief that the SST/SW can pencil its' way through a thin skinned whitetail at the closer ranges... may be up to 100 yards. I am not saying that this always happens but I do belive it happens more often than not when the bullet is shot through without contacting bone. The bullet is literally traveling to fast to expand in the short distance it travels through a whitetail. The longer the bullet stays in the animal the more likely iti is to expand.
This is all theory on my part as I do not use that bullet, nor do I use any other pointy bullet except in my centerfire rifles.
I would offer this target as a topic of disscussion...
These are not SST/SW bullets but I was testing these bullets the other day. The test was a test for accuarcy not really a expansion test. But if you look at the target I think it suggests a what is being discussed.
If you look at the upper left target you can see the five shots. These were the hard tipped Lehigh's. The target backing was a piece of 3/8" plywood. The bullets proved to be accurate but as you can see the pencilling effect certainly was indicated. Then if you look at the 2 groups on the center bull - these were the same bullet minus the tip. The holes are much mre defined than the tipped Lehigh.
I did not setup a chrono that day but I believe the muzzle velocity would be right @ 2200fps.
Just food for thought...
I've made similar observations on a number of target backers (try an insulated metal door -- very interesting). I'm not going to argue at all that a hollowpoint is more likely to expand quicker that a pointy bullet -- that is why hollowpoints are designed the way they are, after all.
A deer, however, is much thicker than a piece of target backer. I'm not as concerned if the bullet takes .5 inches or 2 inches to really start opening, as long as the damage in the following 10 inches is good and the exit hole is good. I also live in the camp that says you don't need hugely catastrophic damage to kill a deer, they are not that tough and I like to eat what I shoot so I don't want to blow up a whole shoulder if my bullet is off by a couple inches and catches it.
Lungs aren't empty bags of air but tissue. I know from experience that a SW will do plenty of damage to bring down a deer quickly. Perhaps it's not what you'd get with some hollowpoint designs, but again I don't need to gut the deer to bring it down. While I haven't often used the 250 SW I've downed dozens with the 200 SW and I think my record of consecutive DRT animals speaks for itself (at least 6-7 in a row, from memory). Conversely, the last deer I had run 200+ yds was shot with a 300gr Keith Nose hollowpoint that, for some reason, never opened apparently.
Now if you shoot it badly, and you need to rely on raw bloodletting to bring the animal down, the hollowpoint is going to win.
My real point was to point out the inconsistencies between the various tests and how poorly they inform performance on game.
BTW I still have those Noslers you sent me in my range bag. I have to get them worked up as I drew another elk tag, so they're next on my range list as soon as I get the spring planting done.