Bullet failures

[Pdvdh]

I've had 3 bullet failures. Two on dall rams, and one on a black bear. All animals were recovered with additional shots fired.
Two bullets failed to expand. One a .308 caliber 210gr Berger VLD at 330yds impact. One a .284 caliber 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tip at 12yds impact.
One bullet shrapnelled and failed to penetrate. A .308 caliber 210 Berger VLD from a 300 Win Mag on a black bear at 7yds.

In addition, I was present when a hunting partner had a bullet failure. I finished off his black bear. He shot a 200gr Nosler Ballistic Tip from a 338 Win Mag. Broadside profile. Bullet never expanded. Impact distance was 225yds. .338 hole thru and thru on his first shot.

If I had continued hunting with the .308 210gr Berger VLD, I'm feel certain I'd have had more problems.

 

[MagnumManiac]

So, after all the threads lately about bullets and how one is better than the other etc etc etc...

Has anyone truly had a "bullet failure" on a game animal? Where you for 100% certainty, can say you made proper shot placement and the bullet actually failed at killing the animal humanely?

Do any of these new bullets actually "kill" better than a Cor-lokt? Partition? Game King? TSX?

Have hunters been losing animals for a hundred years by using soft point lead core bullets?

Yes.
Half a dozen times with the same bullet in two different calibres.
Most often the cause was a failure to expand sufficiently or at all beyond a certain yardage and the other was failing to penetrate after detonating on the hide at close range.
Both of these instances were Berger OTM in 30 and 33 cal. In all instances the ranges shot were extremely close, 10 yards or less, or extremely far, at or beyond 1000 yards.
To be honest, at the time I knew nothing about cleaning out bullet tips, pointing or trimming meplats. If this had of been done, the outcome MAY have been different.
I no longer use target style bullets in game, have tried others with mixed success also.

Cheers.

 

[LVJ76]

This should be interesting…usually bad bullet reviews start with "I made the perfect shot and never recovered the animal" and end with "bullet xyz or cartridge xyz failed." Lol.

LOL, those are hunter failures and we've all had them. Nothing wrong with admiting it. But many do blame the bullet and/or cartridge, they should've shot it with a 6.5 CM and it wouldn't have happened

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

LOL, those are hunter failures and we've all had them. Nothing wrong with admiting it. But many do blame the bullet and/or cartridge, they should've shot it with a 6.5 CM and it wouldn't have happened

AH HA!
Truer words were never spoken

 

[GSPRunner]

LOL, those are hunter failures and we've all had them. Nothing wrong with admiting it. But many do blame the bullet and/or cartridge, they should've shot it with a 6.5 CM and it wouldn't have happened

I know with my son's CM, he can shoot FMJs and everything drops like a ton of bricks. When are we all gonna see the 6.5 CM is the answer to all of our problems?? Lol

 

[Andrew Massi]

My favorite bullet failure stories are the ones claiming high powered rifle bullets failed to penetrate and elks lungs or their scapula

 

[sp6x6]

I walked up on a bull, he is simply known as #10,6x6.Was bedded 1/4 toward me, i thought why hammer him threw shoulder Ill save all that meat.I raise up his neck area and send a 225 NP,out of my 340wby.Hes up and spins of sidehill,I get no follow up and im in disbelieve that hes not down. I follow small drops of blood,loose him for while in a mess of track.Back track and hes headed up steep mountain in wilderness area.I final catch him,and have shoot threw alders and there goes the shoulders.You could put a #4 bar threw his neck,I missed bone and artery both,shot almost center,traveled about 3/4 mile. Story 2-I was on same ridge,made it to top,tracked a buck off and spooked him.He headed out,so did I.I was way off only mile from out,caught buck in timber and took a snap shot at him,thick trees.I was close but all I could see was gray.Small drops of blood,thought I center punched him with a dont even recall grn,but barnes x,out of my 325wsm.I gave him some time,then started tracking, going real slow figured he bed.Then he turned straight up,and im in real steep country.By noon,Im down to t -shirt and shin deep.Hes heade for saddle I went threw in morning,that was about 1500' gain.I think im going shoot him right before saddle,but Itrack him in brush and hes behind me and threw saddle.But I caught him once,it game on.He goes to side hill,so I go to a lope.Once I see where hes looking back for me ,by his track and theres blood out front,good sign.I cover the whole side hill drainage and im headed to some more open mature timber,this where it ends,with a Texas heart shot.I had dead center neck shot him,buck in my avatar.I was out that morning at 4am,and got to rig at 12pm.After pulling the mountain 2x.Hardest packout Ive done.Moral of story I dont neck shoot.

 

[can1010]

A friend shot his best buck ever with a 7-08 contender pistol with 140 BT. square on the shoulder destroyed the shoulder but never made it any farther, bone fragments from shoulder blade penetrated hitting the heart and lodging in ribs on off side . that is a rifle bullet failure on a shoulder

the only other one was on a moose with 300 win mag 200 AB. first moose 300 yds through both shoulders hitting top of heart found in hide of off side shoulder. perfect DRT.
second 180 yds straight on same gun same bullet exploded on impact lucky it exploded into heart went 30 yds. only found bullet fragments and we looked

two of the three are bullet failures even know all were one and done. i think it is more common than we think and when you skin and butcher enough animals you see some odd things

 

[Petey308]

Anomalies do happen, so it's not safe to say bullets NEVER fail, but that's a very small percentage. TYPICALLY, poor results are caused from taking a shot that put the particular bullet outside its limitations, or there was a shot placement error, or the animal just defied all the odds.

These are things I've mentioned in a few of my posts in this forum, some more so than others (if anyone has read them). To reiterate, bullets typically don't fail. They typically do exactly what they're going to do based on their construction/composition, impact velocity, amount of resistance they experience upon impact, and shot placement. If the result is not favorable, it's typically because the bullet was used outside its limits on any or all of those factors. That goes for any type of bullet.

Understanding bullet construction and limitations goes a long ways in achieving reliable and consistent success. Understanding terminal ballistics and properly comprehending the results you get certainly helps too.

Good luck out there!

 

[sp6x6]

I worked at a taxidermist as a school kid.Chopping wood,salt hides,skinning.Trapper,Ol Fuzzy B. brought in a wolverine,was skinning it off and a 22 bullet laying just under skin,slight bent where he shoot it in head,laying right on skull.

 

[can1010]

way too many experienced hunters on here have seen bullet failures that cant be blamed on using them outside their limits and to suggest that is the only time there is a failure just dont hold up

 

[Petey308]

way too many experienced hunters on here have seen bullet failures that cant be blamed on using them outside their limits and to suggest that is the only time there is a failure just dont hold up

Like I said, anomalies happen. I've seen plenty of anomalies in my time hunting. I for one did not say that using them outside their limits is the ONLY time there is a failure.

 

[Mike D Texas]

Many years ago I shot a WT buck 165lb roughly, with a ballistic tip in fed ammo in 270 win 130gr.
Buck fell and got back up running slowly with leg flopping. shot was slightly quartering to me. Aim point was slightly forward of center shoulder @ about 120yds. Trailed buck about 600yds little blood heard him jump up. Dark got me and lack of blood. Two days latter another member on our lease shot same buck and called me. We did autopsy and the ballistic tip hit joint at very bottom of shoulder blade where joins leg and disintegrated mostly. Found a piece of jacket in a rib and the whole shoulder was a meat mess. Nothing we found penetrated into chest past ribs. I did strike about 3" more forward than I was aiming, but had bullet held together he would have been dead.

Same experience here with Nosler BT bullets in a 260 Remington. This was late 90s/early 2000. Turned me off to using them for whitetail.

Changed to Partitions and never looked back.

 

[can1010]

you wrote that a non favorable result was typically because of using outside their limits, to me that is not bullet failure that is operator error and the two should not be confused. the examples i gave are of bullet failure not being used outside their limits. to many times people want something to blame for failure and we need to keep the two reasons for failure separate.