Do larger calibers really compensate for bad shots?

[memtb]

As previous mentioned....a large, heavy, properly constructed bullet will allow you to make/take severe angled shots, knowing that the bullet "WILL" get to the vitals. While "frangible" bullets can make some spectacular kills, you are limited on shot angle and penetration expectations! In summary: with reasonable cartridges.....nothing can make up for "**** poor" placement, but the "bigger" ones can give you more shot opportunities! memtb

 

[Deleted member 107796]

For me, a gut shot is the worst regardless of caliber.

 

[memtb]

I will say this about the larger calibers. I'll first qualify my story with this.....I have "only" this limited experience with "big bores" and "gut shots"!

I jumped a spike bull elk, in relatively thick timber. He was moving left to right at somewhere near "the speed of sound", and I got off a "very" quick, but poorly placed shot. It was a perfect example of "gut shot". The elk rapidly slowed, to not much more than a "walking" speed, allowing an easy follow-up shot! I often wonder if a smaller caliber would have had the same effect as that .375 cal., 270 grain bullet with an impact speed of approximately 2900 fps.

I'm certainly "not" suggesting that the outcome would be the same every time.....but, this "one" time!!! memtb

 

[Hand Skills]

I don't know if anything can compensate for a bad shot, but those .700+ BC's allow a little more margin of error in the wind call.

I notice things can be implied in one context and interpreted in another.

In my reality there is no replacement for placement.

 

[Hand Skills]

I call BS

Thanks for that!

 

[Ingwe]

Over the summer I gut shot a Zebra with a 7mmRemMag using 175gr ABLR. Tracked it for 2 hours and couldn't find it until 2 days later when we saw vultures in a tree above it.
I'm not saying that a 375 H&H would have done any better but it certainly wouldn't have done any worse. I can't help to think that a 375 would have caused a better blood trail, enabling me a second shot

 

[coop2564]

Yes and no if bad hit more damage is done but higher recoil cause many shooter to make poorer shots using them.

 

[Quintus]

A bad hit with a bigger, harder bullet does not automatically do more damage. I would think it would be difficult to disrupt more tissue than you did with an Accubond Long Range. Maybe rather than a bigger bore, a sturdier bullet choice? It's always that fine line right? A 700 yard shot is tough with the big Holland, but intermediate ranges with a long range bullet may open to quick and not give the needed penetration. Had you chosen the 270WSM and made the same shot you may have said the outcome might be different had I used the 7mag. Fact is the only way the outcome is different is if the shot was anterior to the diaphragm/mediastinal septum. Placement will always trump diameter. I would argue in this day and age that bullet construction is in front of diameter as well. I would bet money that a zebra shot in the crease with 70 grain Barnes TSX from a 223 couldn't be saved by a team of veterinarians and you would find it before the buzzards did.

 

[Milepost]

I have seen this mentioned in several threads lately. My experience has been a gutshot animal with a 338 is just as bad as a gutshot animal with a 243. I am not convinced bigger calibers allow for a materially greater margin of error, especially if you are shooting a berger type bullet or one that expands well. What are y'alls thoughts?

More shock with more bits, fanning / spreading out farther inside the critter. Think of a 12 gauge compared to a 20 gauge shotgun but it's going off inside the animal when using fragmenting Berger bullets. Your creating more internal trauma and much more likely to hit organs and that will make for a quicker, more human kill.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

I don't know if anything can compensate for a bad shot, but those .700+ BC's allow a little more margin of error in the wind call.

I notice things can be implied in one context and interpreted in another.

In my reality there is no replacement for placement.

I agree with the high BC compensating for wind - but those can be had in almost every caliber - 6.5 147 ELDM for example is right close to that .7 mark.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I guess it depends on how "bad" the shot was. I came upon a shooter in PA who was standing over a nice 8 pt buck and about to put a final kill shot in it. He had taken a shot at the running buck with a 30-06 and a Barnes X bullet. The buck didn't get very far before dropping from the hit in the pelvis area. The cartridge/bullet combo smashed right through the bone and left the buck immobile. I guess a lesser cartridge/bullet would not have stopped the buck so quickly or maybe not at all.

In this case a large (enough) cartridge/bullet did help with a bad shot.

 

[Ingwe]

More shock with more bits, fanning / spreading out farther inside the critter. Think of a 12 gauge compared to a 20 gauge shotgun but it's going off inside the animal when using fragmenting Berger bullets. Your creating more internal trauma and much more likely to hit organs and that will make for a quicker, more human kill.

Would you trust a Berger on a quartering away shot? I wouldn't.

You scenario makes sense on a broadside shot only

 

[Milepost]

I agree. Know your bullet and its limitations.

But remember the OP mentions a gutshot (broadside) and using a Berger bullet in his opening remarks...

 

[Orange Dust]

Hypothetical: You have saved for 10 years to go on your dream hunt for Elk. You have practiced over and over and can put a bullet within an inch of where you want it @400yds. It is the last day and you have hunted hard. The Elk of your dreams is 100yds away, quartering sharply away walking slowly and will be gone in seconds. To kill him you will have to place the bullet just missing the ham in the paunch headed toward the off shoulder. There are two guns laying in front of you. One is a 30-06 loaded with 180gr accubonds. They have a sectional density of .271 and a BC of .507. Handloaded MV is 2900. The other is a .375 Ruger loaded with 300gr accubonds with a SD of .305 and a BC of .485, MV 2700. Both are perfectly legit choices for elk. Which one would you choose for the shot? OR would you let him walk. Under these circumstances everyone I know would take the Ruger and kill him. Completely different if the hunter lived there and could hunt tomorrow. Most likely he would carry the '06 and wait for another day. I wouldn't want to clean the purposefully gut shot elk myself. But I am old...