Bullet failures

[can1010]

Within the last few months, I've had a couple of head-scratchers.

1) 6.5 Creed shooting a 140 grain Ballistic Tip. ~80 yard shot on a WT doe broadside. Central TX, so the doe wasn't exactly big. The near shoulder was turned into pudding, however the opposite shoulder was untouched. She dropped dead, so not technically a bullet failure, but not getting exit wounds is no bueno. Heck, the opposite shoulder showed ZERO damage.

2) Same loadout as #1. Spike WT deer. The broadside shot did have an exit wound. The near shoulder was absolute mush, with the far shoulder hardly effected. (I'd rather the near shoulder show moderate damage, with the far shoulder getting absolutely wrecked).

3) Broadside neck shot on ~100 pound boar. 85 yards. 308 Win. shooting 150 Interlock. Bullet did not exit. Instead of mushrooming, the bullet pretty much pancaked. Retained bullet held together but over-expanded.

4) Same story #3 except broadside shoulder on ~120 lb. WT buck. Pancake with no exit wound.

The terminal performance of 308 168 Gold Dots has been really good so, but the sample size isn't that large.

that is pretty common with interlocks they have a softer lead and expand rapid to dump massive energy. Ballistic tips i dont know what to think just too many unpredictable results good and bad

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

I've used partitions, corlockt, berger, amax, eld-m, eld-x, interlock, vmax, nosler BT, and im sure a few others I'm forgetting. I dont have one recorded bullet failure. The poorest performer of the group for me was the partition believe it or not.

Your right, I DON'T !!! I've been shooting the in a variety of calibers at many types of big game out to 500 yards for 6 decades and have never heard of or seen one fail period....this is the only bullet mentioned that has stood the test of time and will likely burry all the others in time...

 

[skipglo]

I'm unclear in many of these comments, dead within very close proximity....isn't GOOD enough or DEAD ENOUGH anymore...I could care less about an exit wound! I would rather have the energy of the bullet expended in the animal rather than passing thru leaving a pencil wound. Just me!

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

Your right, I DON'T !!! I've been shooting the in a variety of calibers at many types of big game out to 500 yards for 6 decades and have never heard of or seen one fail period....this is the only bullet mentioned that has stood the test of time and will likely burry all the others in time...

Dont know what to tell you other than that was my experience with them. It didn't fail, they just didn't perform as good for as they rest in my opinion. Everytime caliber entry, with not much better exit. Everyone has different opinions

 

[sp6x6]

If shot my cup and core threw many elk,deer moose bear.Did again this year at 474,with stiff wind

 

[xsn10s]

Dont know what to tell you other than that was my experience with them. It didn't fail, they just didn't perform as good for as they rest in my opinion. Everytime caliber entry, with not much better exit. Everyone has different opinions

My buddy's go to elk set up is a 308 Win with handloaded 165 Partitions. Accounted for most of his bull including his PB. But that's the beauty of living in the US, we can pick what bullet we want to use. At least in most parts of the US.

 

[JMW67]

I've used partitions, corlockt, berger, amax, eld-m, eld-x, interlock, vmax, nosler BT, and im sure a few others I'm forgetting. I dont have one recorded bullet failure. The poorest performer of the group for me was the partition believe it or not.

Not doubting you whatsoever just curious what animal you are speaking of in my experience the partition is best used on large tough animals on deer I have seen this bullet not perform as well as I have seen it work on elk or even a large hog

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

My buddy's go to elk set up is a 308 Win with handloaded 165 Partitions. Accounted for most of his bull including his PB. But that's the beauty of living in the US, we can pick what bullet we want to use. At least in most parts of the US.

Exactly. What works for you may not work for me, or vise versa. Everything I shot with the Partition died.

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

Not doubting you whatsoever just curious what animal you are speaking of in my experience the partition is best used on large tough animals on deer I have seen this bullet not perform as well as I have seen it work on elk or even a large hog

It was deer. Like I said, the bullet didn't fail. I just think the construction was a bit stiff for deer like you said. It was a 150 partition out of a 7mm rem mag. Don't remember velocity it was quite awhile ago. Prime example of using a bullet for something that it wasn't really intended for.

 

[can1010]

this tread is about bullet failure not what dead is. you can have bullet failure or poor performance with a dead animal. the thing is trying to separate bullet failure from user failure or using bullets outside their limits. dead has nothing to do with either scenario.

 

[xsn10s]

Exactly. What works for you may not work for me, or vise versa. Everything I shot with the Partition died.

Yup and cartridge, velocity, shot placement all come into play. We have such a variety of distances, game, and shot placement choices that it's impossible to have the perfect bullet. I'm pretty sure I could make one. But that would make life soooo boring

 

[Old Rooster]

My dead deer is deader than your dead deer!

 

[Lincoln Hawk]

One more consideration, if you like the large amount of shock and damage but would just like an exit, the accubond long range might do it for you. They are pretty soft and expand to a low velocity, so high velocity impacts should be quite devastating, but the nature of the bonded bullet should help to get more exits.

Accubonds are great from what I've read. Unfortunately, I can't handload any 165 gr. in 308 that my gun really likes to shoot.

A bullet that I'd like to try but just haven't found available are 150 Fusion.

 

[Lapuatom]

Over the years, I've tried many different bullets and can say with confidence that some did perform better than others,but, those instances where a quick kill was delayed, I fully owned it and shouldered the blame for not fully doing my part in the equation.