remingtonman_25_06
Well-Known Member
I've had failures with each of those bullets from a 7 RM on muley bucks and was not impressed with either one.
The 168 at 2950fps impacted bucks shoulder at 615 yards and didn't even make it into the chest cavity. Deer dropped instantly but was floping around trying to get back up on 3 legs. I waited till he stopped moving for a bit and put a 2nd one in his neck, this bullet also failed to exit, but it did put him down for good. IMO, this was not acceptable bullet performance...
Next year switched to 180g at 2825fps thinking the little heavier bullet and weight, coupled with slower velocity wouldn't make it expand so violently. Well this scenario was complete opposite then the year before. Shot a buck about a 100 yards behind the shoulder and he just stood there like nothing happened, took a few steps lookin around, I shot him again, this time through the shoulders. He took that bullet like a champ to, pretty much never seen anything like it, just a small forked horn muley, nothing big by any means, wasn't running, had no adrenaline going. He proceeded to start walking off after the 2nd shot through his shoulders, I was in awe at this point, I ended up putting one thru his neck. Upon gutting/skinning process, I noticed those 180g VLD's just left little pin ***** entrance and exit holes, and internal damage was not very good, acted like a FMJ in both cases, behind the shoulder and in the shoulder at a 100 yards none the less.
So I got one bullet that cant hold up at 600+ and another that cant open up at 100, not very consistent performance from my experience, I"m done with em...
I'll stick to heavy for caliber NBTs, ABs, or SSTs for my bigger LR game bullets.
Never know till ya try though right?
The 168 at 2950fps impacted bucks shoulder at 615 yards and didn't even make it into the chest cavity. Deer dropped instantly but was floping around trying to get back up on 3 legs. I waited till he stopped moving for a bit and put a 2nd one in his neck, this bullet also failed to exit, but it did put him down for good. IMO, this was not acceptable bullet performance...
Next year switched to 180g at 2825fps thinking the little heavier bullet and weight, coupled with slower velocity wouldn't make it expand so violently. Well this scenario was complete opposite then the year before. Shot a buck about a 100 yards behind the shoulder and he just stood there like nothing happened, took a few steps lookin around, I shot him again, this time through the shoulders. He took that bullet like a champ to, pretty much never seen anything like it, just a small forked horn muley, nothing big by any means, wasn't running, had no adrenaline going. He proceeded to start walking off after the 2nd shot through his shoulders, I was in awe at this point, I ended up putting one thru his neck. Upon gutting/skinning process, I noticed those 180g VLD's just left little pin ***** entrance and exit holes, and internal damage was not very good, acted like a FMJ in both cases, behind the shoulder and in the shoulder at a 100 yards none the less.
So I got one bullet that cant hold up at 600+ and another that cant open up at 100, not very consistent performance from my experience, I"m done with em...
I'll stick to heavy for caliber NBTs, ABs, or SSTs for my bigger LR game bullets.
Never know till ya try though right?
