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I know at least 2 members who have plenty of real-world experience that can answer you directly but are shying away from the s**t show, but check this out >>> https://www.longrangehunting.com/th...thread-from-bc-to-terminal-ballistics.245696/
We're still using copper/lead bullets because they work for most of us. I have a model 70 30-06 I bought back in the late 70's when I was in high school. It shoots Federal 150 grain soft points well. My longest shot on a deer was 200ish yards on a 180lb field dressed buck. I shot him in the shoulder and the bullet came out at the base of his neck on the offside. He went straight down and didn't move. I've killed a semi load of deer with that bullet, never an issue. I now hunt with a 260 and load Sierra 120gr Pro Hunters, so far it's performed well for me.
100% agree for the overwhelming majority of hunters and shooters. I hunt in mid Missouri so 1000yd canyon shots are non existent. But devil's advocate in me says lead shot, copper shot, blends, bismuth all worked just fine, yet we still have TSS on the shelves now.
Yep those Tungsten bullets would be more applicable to a Wyoming State Trooper, tryN to stop a Buick Wildcat motor.
Barnes no longer makes the MRX line of bullets, they stopped making them I believe due to poor performance or poor sales.
Right. And that's what I was referring to in an early post saying they were abandoned. I just wanted to show the bullet. I edited the post you replied to to say "had" now instead of "has", to maybe be clearer lol
WOW, I can not get my head around how a .338/300gr bullet splats on an antelope shoulder at what was probably modest velocity. The guy is sharing his experience and no argument there. Just when you shoot several deer close in with a full speed 165 grain cup and core out of a 30-06 and it blows through both shoulder can't conceive of .338/300gr splatting on such a light animal at way lower velocity, major misbehavior. Using cup and core lead bullet out of 06, 270 and 7-08 from 50y to 350y with nary a blowup nor failure to down animals couple dozen times makes me feel super lucky and wonder why others have such bad experiences.Here's the Granddaddy of all bullet failures I've heard of to date. A 300gr .338 OTM Burger failed to penetrate the shoulder of a doe antelope. I would doubt the story... except I talked with Ray enough to respect his hunting experiences. He had hunted alot. Africa. Alaska. I haven't heard from Ray for years now. Hope he's OK and still hunting. It doesn't look like he's posted on this Forum since 2018. Last contact I had with him, Ray led me to believe his preferred hunting bullet for his 338 Lapua Improved rifles was the 300gr Sierra Match King.
Bullets sometimes misbehave, like teenagers. Here's a copy and paste from Ray's 2015 Post:
"Well, I have never shared this publicly before tonight. I'm the guy that shot a doe Antelope and the bullet never entered the vitals that I could see. Before I explain I need to back up a little.
When Berger came out with the 300g Berger I bought 250 of them. Shortly after we heard about the slump nose problem, so I did not shoot them. They are still in my cabinet as a matter of fact. A little while later they came out with the OTM's and I purchased 250. Don't remember what year that was?
In 2014 I used them exclusively that year. The Doe (antelope) was 800+yards out. Wind was full value 8-10mph. When I shot the doe went straight down. My 12 year-old grandson and I drove my utv up to what we thought was dead animal. When I pulled up next to it she picked up her head. When I got out to finish it, she tried to get up and run but could not. She actually made it 1/2 way into my Ranger then fell out. I could not believe what I was seeing and all this in front of my grandson!
When I gutted it, I was looking for damage to the vitals and could not find any damage at all! The bullet hit her square in the shoulder. Yea, yea I know! I was aiming for crease but was off about 3" hitting shoulder squarely. When we skinned it, looked like bomb went off on entrance side. It was blood shot badly all the way up to head. Don't think we saved any meat from that front quarter. Opposite side was perfectly fine?
If you wanna read Ray's entire Post, here's a link to the Thread. See Post #195.
Berger HUNTING Bullets
about 5 or so years ago there was a guy here (Jim) who could not get his bullets to shoot well out of a 264, he called berger and they got him to walt. walt was flying to somewhere do not remember where, but he change his flight next air port and came here to teach him how to load thevld...www.longrangehunting.com
People like to conentrate on the negative. Here's the rest of his findings.
Yo, "6.5 Creepmore"...a new one for me. Kinda likin it.
I like this post, but still trying to connect it to the failure he tells about. Wouldn't the said tip problem result in a pencil-through rather than a splat? Various factors could have gone into that scenario. Coulda been a juicy June beetle that got in the way along the journey. Hah
Except all the bloodshot tissue on impact side...So if vitals were fine, did it drop and bleed out from just the shoulder wound?
*Edit to add: Went and read the rest of his post. He found several bullets with clogged openings. I'll bet it penciled through and he didn't notice the minimal wounding to vitals and the likely small exit.
Impact velocity at 800+ yards for that bullet and cartridge would have been in the 1800-1900fps range, and not a lot of resistance from antelope.
That's what makes the most sense to me anyway.
