Moebedda

I shot a Whitetail doe tonight with a CVA Optima Pro loaded with 100 loose 777, winchester primer and a 260 grain .451 Nosler Partition HP pistol bullet with MMP sabots. It's the most devistating thing I have ever shot a whitetail with in over 17 years of hunting and around 60 whitetails harvested. My .308 is a close second. The exit was about the size of a quarter. My 1st reaction was WOW.

It was about 30 yards away and I did not have a clue where she went from the smoke. I went to where I saw her standing last and it looked like a crime scene. Solid blood trail about 4-5 inches wide all the way to the deer. The internal damage was rediculous. It jelloed the lungs, took off the top part of the heart and was so much extra internal damage that it made gutting it a mess. It ran about 30 yards which is to be expected on a boiler room shot.

In comparison. I have shot 2 other deer this year with my 12 ga. using the Hornady 300 grain SST sabots, which are the same SST and Shockwaves we shoot out of our smoke poles. Both shots were through the boiler room, both deer ran about 40 yards. Both were pass through shots and both left a decent blood trail, but nothing like the Nosler. And the exit wound was about half the size of the Nosler as well.

Thank you to all the people on these boards who suggested this bullet/sabot combo as I am very pleased with it's accuracy and knockdown power.

flint head

Noslers are the best, hands down!

cayugad

That is what I was hunting with this year in my Knight Disc. I was shooting 120 grains of Graf's & Sons 2f black powder and that bullet with a Harvester Crushed Rib Sabot. I never got to shoot a deer with them, but I was very confident of the load.

Congratualtions of the doe. Its nice when the projectile works so well.

sabotloader

Moebedda

I have been singing the praises and suggestingthat bullet for years... I have produced a bunch of dark red "jello" in a lot of chest cavities shooting that bullet. There are still people that say "hydrostatic shock" does not occur - but you and I know that bullet did not hit every organ in that cavity..

Sure glad it worked for and more glad that you posted your story....

mike

Moebedda

Yes.. that Hydrostatic shock thing sure does occur. That inner cavity was ruined. I even felt some grit type stuff as if I hit the guts, but it was a perfect broadside shot and the entrance and exit was tight behind the shoulders on a perfect broadside shot. The stomach was intact as well, as the shot was no where near it. I have never seen so much internal damage on a deer. I still can't explain the grit inside the cavity as I have only felt this from a gut shot deer.

At any rate, thanks again for the suggested bullet/sabot combo as I'm sure a few of you posting in this thread were the reason I chose this combo. An awesome combo IMO and I don't think i will need to find any other load for my gun.

sabotloader

Moebedda

did you hit a rib on the way in? if you did the grit could be bone fragments...

HeavyDutyWonk

Sounds like you found yourself a Sweeeeet combo their. I wouldn't be changing anything if I were you. Great shootin!!!

Moebedda

yes.. it may have been rib fragments.

gleason.chapman

Yep, the Noslers are a strong, accurate non-fragmenting bullet. Excellent for deer. This Nosler 300g went almost lengthways thru a deer shot on RHS in the brisket, I found it on the LHS under neath the skin, it went almost totally thru the deer front to back! Now that is penetration, no problem getting into vitals with this bullet on bone hits or difficult angles. Note the perfect mushroom of the Nosler and the fact that the shank is still intact, not totally pancaked out. Craig Boddington calls perfectly mushroomed bullets with long shanks "thing of beauty" (see latest issue of American Rifleman). The bullet that totally pancakes out is spending a lot of energy flattening out, not driving deep into the animal. I like LONG shanks, perfect mushroomed head and exits with my bullets, the Noslers do that almost every time, even on bone.

As Randy Wakeman says here: http://www.randywakeman.com/ballltd105.htm

Most of it remains a compromise, and there still is no substitute for good shot placement. As a very vague rule of thumb, larger and tougher game requires larger, tougher bullets. Higher velocity muzzleloading rounds likewise call for tougher bullets. It makes sense to me to use a bullet that is tougher than it might have to be, heavier than it might have to be, higher velocity than it might have to be, and while we are at it-- more accurate than it might have to be as the game gets bigger, and tougher.










I find his words have a lot of wisdom in them when speaking of bullet design. Oh he is a Barnes, XTP fan for the most part. Any bullet will kill a 100 lb doe, it sometimes takes a strong bullet to get into the vitals of a 250lb buck, especially with a shoulder hit. You want penetration AND expansion, the Nosler do both well at ML speeds.

Chap Gleason