Hunting bullet performance

[Greyfox]

With my bullets of choice I see a mix of penetration level. Shot angle and distance makes a difference in whether the bullet exits or not. This is not my measure of bullet performance on thin skinned game. I pay a great deal of attention to internal damage to the vitals across my range noting a sufficient number of kills when settling in on a bullet.

 

[wv270wsm]

I prefer exit wounds on everything just in case they for some reason don't go down immediately. With that being said I really like the nosler partitions from smaller calibers 6 mm and down. They seem to hold together the best for whitetail for us while still dumping quite a bit of energy. Now once you hit 25 or 26 cal I like the shock and awe bang flops we been getting from nosler ballistic tips. My son shoots the 120 ballistic tip out of his 260 and it's absolutely devastating. He shot a good sized doe last evening roughly 75 yards in the woods and she done a back flip and was done . Hit her right on the point of her front shoulder quartering towards him. That shoulder was trashed and the bullet never exited. When we took the shoulder off there was roughly a 2-3 inch hole into the lungs and what was left off the heart.

 

[SilverbulletMAG]

Depends on what I'm hunting. Thin skinned small/medium size critters, I don't mind an explody bullet that dumps all it's energy in the game. On deer, 90% are DRT and don't need tracked far in the event they do manage a few steps. Even VLD and Ballistic Tip type rounds leave an exit usually.
Dangerous game or larger animals like elk, I want a bonded or mono bullet for deeper penetration and hope for an exit.

 

[vancewalker007]

If the shot is going to be in heavy cover and less than say 500 yards or in Africa I usually opt for a tough bullet that had a chance to exit, like a Swift AFrame, Barnes TTSX/LRX or the like.

If I'm hunting in open country where shots can run +500 I opt for Berger's which rarely exit. So for NA Antelope Coues Deer Open Country Mile Deer and Elk they get Berger's. All my long range rifles love the Berger's. We just used a 180 7mm VLD on a cow elk at very long range with very deadly results.

 

[idcwby]

Anything that is going in the freezer give me an exit. Have had to many instances where the bullet didn't exit and almost didn't recover it because there was no blood trail.
Varmints one hole in and a big explosion inside.

idcwby

 

[bigngreen]

Inside 500 yards on elk I want to find the bullet on the of side or see major marks from large frag hitting the ribs, as I move out I want to start seeing exits, I find this has given me the most over all performance from à single bullet. I get phenomenal blood trails with just a small entrance because the are blowing blood all over the place from a lung shot, I've seen sage brush cover for feet with spray out of a bulls mouth, course even running the trail was only 30 yard or so.
Used to be in the two holes camp but I did a lot more tracking back then too with that bullet selection and small wound channels.

 

[nimrod_gn]

Read this: http://www.rathcoombe.net/sci-tech/ballistics/wounding.html it's some of the best material you'll find on terminal ballistics

 

[crkckr]

I like exit holes no matter what the shot angle. If I can get close enough and the circumstances are right, I'll shoot for just behind the eye, but that's pretty rare. Usually I aim for the off shoulder with the idea of anchoring the critter in place. This is why I like the Partitions so much.
Cheers,
crkckr

 

[ZAK13]

I personally have no preference in whether the bullet exits or not, except when hunting black bear. If a bruin doesn't drop right there, then I want an exit wound, hopefully then I'll have a blood trail to follow out of at least one of 2 holes made.

 

[Rem7mm08]

2 holes for me on anything I am going to eat.

 

[FURMAN]

Don't care just don't want it to take another step.

 

[snox801]

I prefer 2 holes. Bang flop is always Awsome but we all know that is not always the case so I prefer two holes.

 

[hunter67wa]

Two holes. The exit wound is where you will typically get your blood trail from. I have seen this 3 times this year already. Exit leaves the trail nothing on entry side!

 

[Draftmule]

LRH advice pays in load development. Although most of us have dozens of bullet choices best accuracy bullet to barrel shortens the list. After that hard not to tune favorite DRT performer. Not being a huge fan of mono bullets I currently am investing the time to determine the best driver bullet for that barrel if field or beast conditions dictate a shoulder or guaranteed two holer. Ending up these days using a lot of regular Accubonds, Hammers and E tips.