Good bullet performance?
 

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about bullet performance. The issue was I was going to go moose hunting. I've killed two moose in the past and several deer. The last moose I shot was a big one at about 75 yards with a 30-06 firing 180 grain Remington Swift Scirrocco bullets. It was a double lung shot and the moose moved about 50 yards into the brush and died. The bullet penetrated both lungs with severe injury to the lungs and dented, but did not exit the other side of the rib cage. I didn't recover the bullet (wasn't thinking of it at the time). There was plenty of blood trail. Not thick, but I could follow it.

I told my friend I was going to switch to another bullet because I thought the bullet should have exited. He said he thought the bullet performed admirably because it expended all its energy in the animal, the idea being that if it exited powerfully, it had energy remaining which would have been better spent inside the chest.

Anyway, what do you think? I tried a bunch of other premium grade factory loads and ended up sighting in Remington shell with A-Frame slug because it seemed to shoot best. (not any better than the Scirocco though). Unfortunately, I didn't shoot a moose (see my previous post "letting them walk").

OH, I always used plain 180 gr. corelokts on whitetails and they worked great - clean kills if the shot was good. Same behavior on many double lung shot white tails - they go for a ways and die. Some drop. This year I'll use the A-Frames because the gun's sighted for them and I have half a box left.

RE: Good bullet performance?
 

Well, I'm certainly no ballistician, but I'm inclined to say, why mess with success? A large dead moose is proof of both hunting skill and bullet performance IMO.

If you want more penetration, you could look into Barnes bullets. I've never used them, but a lot of people rave about them.

RE: Good bullet performance?
 

I haven't got an exit on a moose either with Partitions or A-Frames. And that was with a 300RUM at 200 yards.

RE: Good bullet performance?
 

I wouldn't worry about it. If you want more penetration you won't find a better bullet than the failsafe. I haven't ever gotten one back yet, deer, bear etc. I think that they would be just fine on moose.

RE: Good bullet performance?
 

Sounds to me that the preformed as it should have! You got both lungs!! If ytour bullet wasn,t working as it should or had the vel.to enter and exit then it could,nt do its job. Your bullet is just fine,don,t mokey with it IMHO.vangunsmith

RE: Good bullet performance?
 

One of my buddies shot a large moose with his 300 Win mag and it didn't exit either. I don't recall which bullet he was using. Moving up in velocity won't add penetration and may penetrate less. You have a good setup for moose.

RE: Good bullet performance?
 

You will have a tough time finding a bullet that can make a bigger hole through the lungs of a big game animal than the Swift Scirocco. Haven't hunted moose, but they sure work on elk.

RE: Good bullet performance?
 

Not nesessarly true! There are other variables as well.sounds like his bullets are working well to me. I was in reference to high vel bullets ,may or may not penetrate more depending on the make up of the bullet. And thats not a good thing to zip throught the game like an arrow does is what i meant.And it might just spatter all over the place as well,again depending on the bullet. And wether or not it hit bone ect. But one also doesn,t want a bullet to gut the animal and gind it into to hamburger at the same time also. The most expensive bullets also are not always the best. vangunsmith

RE: Good bullet performance?
 

I have harvested a number of moose most bullets(NP,Accubond, Failsafe, etc)didn't exit and were found on the opposite side tucked against the hide on bulls. The performance you received sounds good to me.

FYI, this fall I took agood sized bull with a Barnes 140 gr TSX, the shot was approx 75 yards (as well) 1/4 away, the bullet entered the ribs taking out the lungs and exited through the opposite shoulder. I found the bullet tucked into the hide, it had 90% weight retention and expanded to .704 (.284 bullet). The bull took a few steps and then fell in heap...I would consider this about as good as it can get.

RE: Good bullet performance?
 

You have the perfect load when the bullet doesn't exit the game. All the energy of that 180 gr. bullet was expended in the animal.