2008 Antelope Hunt - 300 SMK - Non-exit on an Antelope

[Rymart]

I thought I would post this on the antelope hunting board too:

I quickly rough scored the buck with a steel tape (not very accurate) twice. The first measurement came out to be a tad over 75, the second was a tad under 74 (both rough green scores). He was 14 1/4 height on one side, 14 on the other. Bases were 6 1/8 and 6. Now to the rest of the story:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Decided to go with the 300 SMK's as my 'go to' hunting bullet this year. Bought 500 of them. They are shooting great. If anything, I'm having to force myself not to overcompensate for the wind as I do most of my practice shooting with a 308.

I decided to use the 338LM to fill my speedgoat tags, as a way to test bullet and equipment prior to the elk and deer hunts. My original concern with this bullet was over-penetration without opening up and transferring its energy. After filling my doe/fawn tag, this concern was alleivated (yes, apparently I am a baby killer...but they taste sooo much better than the full-sized ones, that is whats left of them).

OK, so this time it exited. By the way, the shot was taken at 654 yards, prone off of a sandbag, 10 mph crosswind from 3:00.

Then it was time to fill the buck tag. After dinking around trying to take the biggest buck I had seen all season (in my area) with my bow, rather than with the rifle, and spooking it into the next county, then spending 4 hours unsucessfully trying to get back on it, I finally decided to settle for this one:

I took the shot at 490 yards off of my Stoney Point Tripods Sticks. There was about a 10 mph quartering wind. He was quartering towards me at a little more than 45 degrees. When I hit him, he went down hard and was DRT. This is how he went down:

This was the entrance wound:

But I couldn't find an exit wound, even after skinning him. I noticed that his back leg was broken near the hip and figured that was where the bullet ended up. Later when cutting him up, I found the jacket just past the broken leg bone, completely shed of the lead core (sorry no pics). I also found a few chunks of lead scattered around in the hind quarter meat. The really strange thing was that the meat in the hind quarters, even around the broken leg/hip, was not at all blood shot or damaged.

Anyway, I don't know how this bullet is going to perform on a large elk, if it doesn't exit from a measly speedgoat. I mean, I guess 'dead is dead' and the antelope was DRT. Also, FYI, the 300 gr SMK has a MV of 2700 fps, and is averaging 0.4 to 0.6 MOA accuracy.
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[RedChili]

Good gosh. Next thing you know someone will take a speedgoat with a TAC-50 at a mile.


Hey, nothing wrong with fawns. Tasty. Goat veal.

I wouldn't worry about any failure to kill an elk with that hand howitzer. Sometimes bigger ain't better on bullet weight though.

 

[esshup]

The bullet didn't exit, but how many inches of penetration were there? If it was me, I wouldn't be concerned.

 

[tillroot1]

Thats a pretty devil, great job, he looks alot like mine.
Ron Tilley

 

[Red_Chili]

The bullet didn't exit, but how many inches of penetration were there? If it was me, I wouldn't be concerned.

Ditto, one thing you didn't mention was the condition of the entrails it passed through. Reduced to goo? Pass through the pelvis on its way to the leg? If so you delivered all the energy the bullet had and it went frangible. My thinking is, no exit is not a bad thing.

On the other hand, if you went gutless and didn't inspect the entrails and have no idea... that would be understandable. LOL

 

[royinidaho]

Not sure I have the shot pictured correctly but wasn't the internal path of the bullet pretty much in a straight line from the rifle muzzle to the hip?

I'd say that is pretty good performance and typical for the SMK.

I wouldn't worry a bit about it.

Especially at that slow muzzle velocity

 

[grit]

Seems to be enough for antelope. If only we could find a caliber big enough for elk now.

 

[johnnyappleseed]

c'mon use enough gun on those fawns

but I have to admit that I used a 25-06 on the last few rabbits I've shot

 

[SHRTSHTR]

Nice job on both Goats. I like eating around the bullet hole! gun)

 

[300WSMMAD]

I thought I would share this with you.
Two weeks ago I shot some typical NZ feral goats,a nanny for eating and a billy cause they smell,they were not large but big enough, both at 661 yrds with my 338 LM, 300SMK with a MV of 2830.
Both were hit through the shoulder, the nanny was a boom flop, the billy was a boom..impact.. rock from side to side.. blood trickle came out... FLOP,stone cold.
I dressed out the billy for pet food, nothing too special small hole one side 1.5" hole on the other, heart and lungs mush, expected damage.
Turning the thing into mince for the pets there was nothing found of the bullet jacket, core not a trace.nothing
The nanny was much the same in field dressing,two holes one big, one small
heart, lungs mush.
A couple of days later after hanging, it was cut into peices for a curry, and in the middle of the right back strap was piece of the jacket about 1.25" long and 1/8" wide, in the whole animal thats all that was found,the rest of the bullet went through.
So this answered a question for me too,a 300 SMK is relativly frangable even at extended distances, on game.
This surprised me considering the physical size of the bullet compared to the game I thought it would just pencil through the animal, Oh no they dont.
I think its a good thing knowing that they can expand and even if the jacket does tear its self apart,a lead core with that much energy in it is going kill most things, IMO.
Just my 2c, I hope one day to get over there to get me one of those cool looking critters.

Regards 300WSMAD