spaniel

I was going to pass on him, I really was.

My hunting was seriously complicated this year by 1) having just returned from Montana and needing to spend more time with mhy family, and 2) gthe majority of the corn still standing. I only had 4 hour opening morning to hunt for the season, and no wind to cover stalking through the corn.

I encountered one decent buck walking in before shooting light but he got into the corn before light. Soon after light they began taking corn off, and I hoped it would force some deer into the open but it did not. Some shooting nearby did however; two does came through 300 yds away with a good buck in hot pursuit, but led him into the corn before I could set up. He came out again briefly, comically blinded by many cornstalks tangled in his ample antlers, but retreated back in after clearing his vision.

By 9:30am I was deciding I may need to take a risk going into the corn to stalk with the X7 when a small buck emerged from the corn and started straight to me on the trail of some doe long past. I was kneeling and following him through the scope from 300 yds out, dialing down the magnification as he approached. He was not a shooter, but had clearly bad genetics making him a candidate as a management buck. But I had decided to pass. Finally he was only 15-20 yards away, straight across the ditch upwind from me. He stopped to stare at me, filling my scope. Still I was going to pass. Then he turned broadside and started to walk away up the ditch a couple steps.

Then he made what turned out to be a fatal mistake. He turned to face me straight on. I thought of the new, untested 325gr .458 FTX in my barrel and promise to report back to you guys on its performance this year. I had an hour left to hunt, and here was the best shot possible to recover the bullet. Next thing I knew the Omega was recoiling the scope into my forehead and a column of smoke reached all the way out to touch the buck. Decision made I guess.

The buck teetered onto his back haunches after absorbing virtually the full muzzle energy of the big bullet, then spun and tore off into the corn. I was worried I'd have to track him in there, but seconds later he ran in a semicircle and back out of the corn before going down and giving some final kicks to try and escape. The linear distance of his run was probably close to 100 yards though he fell 50-60 yards from me.

Maybe I should have passed, but I really wanted a pic like this to add to my collection each year:


I was aiming centerline at point blank range but the bullet impacted low on the left side of the chest (more on that later). The heart is left of center, so it was the first major organ the bullet encountered. I did not take a pic unfortunately, but the damage was nothing short of phenominal. Besides a small bit of tissue attached at the aorta and at the bottom of the heart, and a strip along the sides, nothing was left of the heart in the center. Just a big fist-sized hole!! Obviously, despite hitting no bone, the bullet had already expanded in the 8-10 inches it traveled to reach the heart. It continued back through part of the liver, and amazingly cleared the stomach filled with corn/grass mash. As it slowed the trauma diminished, and I lost it somewhere in the intestines though I thought I found one hole in the muscle of the lower belly and figured it either exited or was somewhere in the back quarter.

I did not find it skinning or boning out the deer. I spend 30min searching the gut pile. By the time I had cubed the meat for the burger grinder, I'd given up all hope of finding it. Of course, I managed to cube it perfectly in the center of a 1" square piece or meat and found it with my brand new hamburger grinder. Err.



I think the pic, along with heart damage, says everything. The bullet clearly expands more than amply even with no bone and did so in the first inches before reaching the heart. Given that it would not slow significantly over the first 100yds, I consider this validation of the bullet's performance through 100yds at least. Based on comparison to other bullets I've recovered, I think it is consistent with bullets I know to be good to 150yds.

I require direct validation for 200yd+ bullets and I tried to get this too. I shot at 2 does at 200 and 205 yds after shooting the buck and missed cleanly on both prone off a bipod. I've NEVER missed prone off a bipod so I was very angry. I shot the gun when I got home and, sure enough, my laziness after driving the gun 4000 miles to Montana and back had bit me, the gun was 18 inches right at 200 yds. So I'm glad I took this buck rather than missing/wounding one on a further shot. Always check your equipment, then check it again!!

I think this highlights the power of magnum charges at close range. This load was 135gr 777 with a MV of 1950fps and it darn near shot through a larger-than-average buck from front to back. WAY overpowered for someone intending on 100yd-ish shots (but that's not what this load was developed for).

sabotloader

spaniel

Thanks for the information... actually looking at your picture of the reclaimed bullet shot at close range with that muzzle veloicity - I would say that is one tough/hard bullet. What kind of expansion would you expect @ 100 - 150 yards when it has lost some steam? Looking at the bullet along side the new one - it looks like it expanded back to the first knurling ring, but lying on the scale it looks more flattened so I really can not tell.

I am actually trying to do somewhat of the same thing you have done with a Lehigh .458/275. We only get one deer during the regular rifle season so I have been waiting for the rut and hopefully an apprearance of a nice buck. We have been passing on does for now but my ML elk season starts 12/2 - and I really do want to be done hunting deer during Xgiving weekend so I might have to weaken my stance.

Congrats.... I think the young one is still trying to make a decision about the whole thing - just happy to be in dads arms though....

jaybez101099

Very nice report and deer.

spaniel

Yeah, I could not get rid of the blur for some reason. The bullet is expanded back to about halfway between the knurled rings, the first ring is completely gone. I think in real life it is more expanded than you are perceiving from the pic. This is a big, long bullet so there is quite a bit of material to move to accomplish that.

I don't feel the bullet will lose enough velocity at normal ranges to lose acceptable expansion. It is certainly tougher than a non-bonded Shockwave but this level of expansion is roughly equivalent to what I have experienced with XTPs. It did a heck of a lot better than the bonded Shockwave I tried last year. How it will fare at long ranges is still an open question that I will be unlikely to get a chance to answer yet this year.

Yes, the little one wasn't sure what to think though in the pic she's eating an apple so that distracted her. She didn't want to touch it but was curious enough that by the end of the day she knew the difference between a deer and elk, I was proud!
MTA: Also should note here when people complain how far a deer runs, that this deer had zero heart function, and had absorbed all of this muzzle energy yet had fight in him for 100 yds or a bit more and about 15 seconds. There is a heck of a difference between the adrenaline shock you put in them with a shot that close when they're looking at you, and a lighting bolt that comes out of nowhere and hits them out at 200 yds and they just fold without the benefit of the fight put into them by the adrenaline rush.

cayugad

Congratulations on the nice buck. That is a good eating buck there. And that bullet really did a number. I was surprised when I learned the amount of powder you had behind it. I was kind of surprised you did not get a pass through.

Very nice looking young lady you have there. She's a smile maker.

revpilot

Nice deer. I took my son over my dads a month back, hes 2, and we watched my brother clean a deer. My wife wasnt happy when he got home later that night and was walking around with his toy deer, saying look at the GUTS mom!!!

Ive shot that same bullet with crush sabots out of my triumph with a 120g BH209 with excellent accuracy. I hope to make it out this week to the range to test it out past 100yds and see how it does.

Spaniel, how far out have you shot them??

Big Z

Good story, nice pics. I think I might hafta try the .452 250gr FTXs once I'm outta my SSTs and shockwaves.

Semisane

Excellent and enjoyable report Spaniel. Congratulations on the kill. I agree with you on the tenacity of deer. Short of a neck/spine shot, there's no magic bullet that will drop them in their tracks every time. And yes, she's a sweetie-pie for sure.

spaniel

Search the forum for "500 yards" and you'll see a thread describing that experience. Long story short, first half-hearted try was an 8-inch group (4 shots), I can do better when I put more effort into it. My setup only has elevation to get to 550 yds without holdover. Plenty further than I need to shoot deer.


I am currently acquiring the pieces to build a smokeless ML and shoot sabotless or push the 200SW to 2700-2800 fps but the .458 will be too big, I'll be stuck with the .450-.452 bullets.

lemoyne

Good report. Congratulations on the buck.