Explain This Please

[MagnumManiac]

I hate to say this but I had the same issues with Berger bullets at ranges beyond 800yrd with my 338-416 Rigby Improved.
Both 300g EH & 300g OTM's failed to expand. The OTM I recovered had very little expansion at the tip and it was not blocked in any way. Muzzle velocity was around 3180fps, should have been plenty enough.
The other 5 all pencilled or tumbled, not the performance I expected or wanted. Stopped using them on game after 6 misadventures.
I know the feeling of losing an animal to poor shot placement, I hit above the shoulder missing everything vital, same deer was seen on tree cam 3 weeks later fine and alive, not even a mark where it was hit, never saw the exit side. That same deer was taken 15 months later in the next gully.
The wound was fully healed and callused over.

Cheers.

 

[jessej]

 

[jessej]

Don't know how to upload video.

 

[jessej]

Barely creased his back. There's only one rifle cartridge on earth that would have killed this antelope with that shot placement.

CREEDMOOR!

 

[jessej]

RPReplay_Final1634215916

 

[ButterBean]

Barely creased his back. There's only one rifle cartridge on earth that would have killed this antelope with that shot placement.

CREEDMOOR!

There is no need for that kind of profanity this time of the morning

 

[jessej]

Bozo, I hear a little wind in the video. Which direction was it moving?

 

[orkan]

Fellas, I pulled that video into adobe premiere and did a frame-by-frame...

The bullet hit where he said it hit. Just above the white... and just a little too far back. I can plainly see the trace blur the fur and the trace stops right where he said it impacted. I have a $2,000 monitor, and a $6,000 computer... and have been editing video for quite a lot of years. I've used every editing tool in my arsenal... and I'm quite sure the bullet hit where he said it hit. The flying fur didn't come from the top of the animal. In the frame by frame, you can see some shock ripple through the critter.

The fur you see is white, and pops out the opposite side several frames AFTER the trace disappears into the bulk of the animal. In my opinion, the OP is totally justified in posting this video, as it was a "center mass" shot... but he just needed a little help understanding where pronghorn carry their vitals. They are much less like a deer, and much more like african game, that carry their vitals low and forward. In my opinion, if that round had been about 5" forward, that animal would have bled out quickly. If it would have been about 10-12" forward and a bit lower, it would have dropped like a stone where it stood. He just got a bit unlucky, and from the sounds of it, needs to work on shifting his desired POA forward to buy himself some more forgiveness.

I really don't like how some of the community have brow-beat the guy on the opinion on bullet impact. Posts like some I've seen just stops men from wanting to post anything at all. It's unnecessary.

Everyone reading this thread could learn a little bit if they entered into the correct mindset rather than jumping to judgement. I would ask for a little bit of empathy for the OP. It's tough to have this happen, and I think its great that he cares enough about it to try to get to the bottom of it and get some help.

The only other thing is that you need to work on finding bigger pronghorn @bozoben! That was just a little guy!



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[JAYgs8163]

There is no need for that kind of profanity this time of the morning

No doubt. Coffee kettle hasn't even sung yet.

 

[RuninL8]

So, this horse has been beaten enough but I will add this. Your bullet in 3 different ballistic calculators, ill be it a rough guess without some of your parameters, puts the velocity somewhere in that 1700-1800 fps range. In my mind that is the lower limit I will accept for velocity for the projectile to do its job correctly. I set a hard limit of 1600 fps for myself, shot placement aside understand that at those velocities you run the risk of improper expansion. Now I know there are plenty of people that will argue this point but the real question you have to ask is it fair to the animal....and yourself. We all go through this as hunters, sleepless nights, the what if's, we do everything we can to make a hunt come together, so why risk terminal performance. All of the right steps can be completely undone in the last millisecond of a hunt by the bullet not doing is job correctly (with proper placement). Sorry, about the frustration you are going through, its its awesome that you are trying to get a better understand of what went wrong.

 

[bozoben]

Bozo, I hear a little wind in the video. Which direction was it moving?

I'm not sure if what your hearing is wind or not but there was a very slight breeze from right to left. I was calling it 3ish mph. My chart tells me to hold 2.4 moa for 10 mph so I held 1 moa right for wind.

 

[orkan]

Sorry, about the frustration you are going through, its its awesome that you are trying to get a better understand of what went wrong.

Amen.

 

[jessej]

I say let's all put a 1000$ in the pot, hire a helo to go locate the still living goat, and see exactly where the impact was. Any cash left over after the chopper fee is split between the members that were correct in their impact observation.

 

[jessej]

I'm not sure if what your hearing is wind or not but there was a very slight breeze from right to left. I was calling it 3ish mph. My chart tells me to hold 2.4 moa for 10 mph so I held 1 moa right for wind.

Right to left with a right hand twist will walk it a little high. I've been frustrated by this several times when working fast and not taking it into account.