Are we too critical of modern bullets?

[J E Custom]

Yes we are. We should strive for better placement and knowing how our chosen bullet works best for our needs. And not so much blaming the bullet first. After all in most cases we loaded the ammo, chose the point of aim and puller the trigger. Each bullet has a place where it will excel, if we don't know that and use bad judgment we should carry a little responsibility on our own shoulders. It seems we expect an awful lot these days.

I agree we are lucky to have the many choices we do. Every single bullet will kill what we are after if we do a decent job on our end.

Jeff

That says everything that needs to be said.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Bullet bumper]

Not if you know something about how bullets are made and what faults and issues can make them useless . Most shooters do not want to think about what is inside the bullet and the possibility that one batch could be great and the next batch not so great .
The factories do a fantastic job overall and make some great bullets but it's whole lot more complicated than what appears on the surface . I have seen some bullets that were so bad you could not get good shot placement in any kind of decent group . I think the salesmen are coming in now to dampen down the quality aspects of the debate and focus on making the shooter responsible for all bad accuracy . Well that's just not true .
There's good shooters and bad shooters and good guns and bad guns and good bullets and bad bullets but luckily not that many bad bullets when you take into consideration the millions made .
However that don't mean we should ignore quality issues and focus only on shot placement , come on that's dumb .

 

[LRSickle]

yep....

I always get a chuckle from that one as it is virtually always referring to a bullet dug out of a dead criter.

Too many times I've heard someone blame a lost animal on a bullet failure. I guy I worked with lost a bull elk in Utah to a bullet that "splashed". ("bullet splash" was going around the internet at that time). I asked "how did you know it splashed?" "Well", he said " [X-manufacturer bullet] is known to do that." First of all, why would he use a bullet that "is know to do that"? Second, how the hell did he know the bullet splashed if he didn't recover the elk?
I shot an antelope right behind the shoulder and it ran off limping. I just couldn't believe it. My son dumped it as it reappeared on a distant hill. My bullet had skidded down the ribs between the shoulder and the ribcage. Bad bullet placement not bad bullets.
Also, I'm always eager to inspect the damage along the bullet path and the spent bullet if I can find it. Sometimes it's an eye opener.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

Unfortunately no, he was very close (+/- 125 yards), so it was a clean in and out.

I got to the stand right at 6am, I was unloading all the crap out of my pockets (shooting house, box stand, whatever you want to call it) and settling in for a long morning of hunting... @ 6:10 the sun is up enough for me to see. I glanced over and saw him, then my brain caught up with my eyes LOL (early morning, & 3 hours of sleep), and I stopped setting up and eased my rifle into position. He wasn't paying me no attention...He must have been "hawngry", cause he just kept eating and never looked up. I waited for the best shot, then he got really close to the pine thicket (woodline) and would have been gone. So I let the new whitetail slayer breathe fire at about 6:15am. Talk about your all-time short hunts! LOL I like those kind!

He wasn't nothing to brag about, but it's meat in the freezer, right?

Thats fortunate. 15 min between arrival and harvest! Thats a good hunt. Congrats and well done sir.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Thankss yall! Well...The Bergers did it again this evening. Laid the smackdown on a big doe at about 125 yards. She was at a perfect 90* angle. I took a low shoulder shot for the pumphouse and it went in and out with no blood. She was dead in her tracks and never even attempted to make a step. It impacted her so hard It slammed her violently on her side, and she kicked for about 2 seconds and it was done. The bullet's impact was so hard it looked like she was hit by a Mack truck. I've only had this happen once before and it was also a doe and a 7mm RM shooting Barnes 160 Triple-Shock.

Anyway, I have been so impressed with these 7mm Berger 168 VLD's and my newly built hunting rifle, I am going to use them both exclusively for my hunting setup.

Their slogan still rings true in my book, "Shoot better...Shoot Berger."

Not a bad weekend...2 deer in 2 days with a fresh rifle and an unperfected load. It was cold, but worth it. This is my first year in this club, and the first time I have been hunting this whole season was yesterday and today (I'm 2 for 2 so far. )...So my shooting seems to have earned me a new nickname by the other club members..."The Deer Slayer". LOL

 

[WildRose]

Thankss yall! Well...The Bergers did it again this evening. Laid the smackdown on a big doe at about 125 yards. She was at a perfect 90* angle. I took a low shoulder shot for the pumphouse and it went in and out with no blood. She was dead in her tracks and never even attempted to make a step. It impacted her so hard It slammed her violently on her side, and she kicked for about 2 seconds and it was done. The bullet's impact was so hard it looked like she was hit by a Mack truck. I've only had this happen once before and it was also a doe and a 7mm RM shooting Barnes 160 Triple-Shock.

Anyway, I have been so impressed with these 7mm Berger 168 VLD's and my newly built hunting rifle, I am going to use them both exclusively for my hunting setup.

Their slogan still rings true in my book, "Shoot better...Shoot Berger."

Not a bad weekend...2 deer in 2 days with a fresh rifle and an unperfected load. It was cold, but worth it. This is my first year in this club, and the first time I have been hunting this whole season was yesterday and today (I'm 2 for 2 so far. )...So my shooting seems to have earned me a new nickname by the other club members..."The Deer Slayer". LOL

When you're batting a thousand there's certainly no reason to change your swing... .gun)

 

[MudRunner2005]

When you're batting a thousand there's certainly no reason to change your swing... .gun)

As much as my OCD tells me I need to perfect my load and retest for my own satisfaction, my results seem to be fairly conclusive, I must agree.

I won't be going today, but I certainly will be on Friday...Hoping for a "three-peat".

Here's a few pics of this evening's hunt...

And I had my uncle hold my rie in the pic with the deer for verification.

 

[WildRose]

As much as my OCD tells me I need to perfect my load and retest for my own satisfaction, my results seem to be fairly conclusive, I must agree.

I won't be going today, but I certainly will be on Friday...Hoping for a "three-peat".

I hate to think of how many barrels I burned out chasing that "perfect load" in my younger days.

Of course we could do it far less expensively then vs now... . The price of the ammo I burned up alone if I shot the same way today would bankrupt a much wealthier man.

I get one to shoot right these days I quit!

Of course then I buy another one.... . HA!

 

[4xforfun]

Yep...dam bullets didn't work right at all. Frontal shot...in the neck, ended up in the hide on the rear 1/4. 300 Elite Hunter ended up at 139 grains. Anamal went down like a ton of bricks landed on him. 550 yards. All inards were jello!!


Yep...didn't work right at all!!

 

[Canadian Bushman]

Thats beautiful. What more could you ask for from a bullet?

 

[Broz]

Yep...dam bullets didn't work right at all. Frontal shot...in the neck, ended up in the hide on the rear 1/4. 300 Elite Hunter ended up at 139 grains. Anamal went down like a ton of bricks landed on him. 550 yards. All inards were jello!!


Yep...didn't work right at all!!

SShhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! I need a couple thousand of these.

Jeff