Recovered Bullet Photo Gallery

[VLD Pilot]

Not to dispel the out come of these last two kills, but that match bullet did not stay together as a hunting bullet of the same brand and weight would have. Obviously it all worked , but it could have turned out with a wounded and lost animal. So I myself at an older age and with much more experience have seen the same thing happen with Nosler Ballistics Tips that are not bonded or any thing else. We, my wife of 30 years have killed mule deer and Black Bear in Southern California. Over the last 20 years and have never lost an animal to a bullet that was not designed for big game animals. Please do not take this personal by any means but do understand that the right bullet for the right job is where it is at...….O.K.....Michael T.

After following all the responses and reading yours, I have to respond myself. Many hunters DO NOT condone using match bullets for hunting. Pretty meaningless really as I always say, "Then don't use them". One thing nobody needs to have is someone telling another person they shouldn't use them. Nobody drives next to another person on the highway telling the guy next to him he's speeding, slow down. It's just not their place to do that. Shot placement is #1. Period. Don't matter if the bullet is 10% is recovered and destroys everything internally or 85% is recovered and found in the opposite side hide. What's important is the lethality of the hit. I've seen my share of "Hunting" bullets cause hunters to track animals for hundreds of yards. Shot placement is everything. I'm guessing if a hunter uses Nosler partitions but shoots terribly, that's ok. Just don't be a match bullet shooter that can shoot X's all day long and use that same bullet on a game animal. That's just a horrible mentality for a hunter. Much much worse than the guy using the match bullet to kill an animal. I use match bullets 100% of the time on animals beyond 600 yards. Haven't had to track one yet. Even the .243 at 500 yards using 95 grain match bullets anchors deer immediately. Never a walk off. Use what works...period. I've been using two blade fixed broadheads for 35 years on my arrows. If I had a nickel for Everytime I heard guys tell me they don't leave a bloodtrail and to junk them and buy mechanical heads, I'd be rich. I started using a mechanical head one year. Shot great on targets, what the heck. Why not. Shot a whitetail buck at 20 yards and the blades never opened up. Luckily the arrow hit good vitals and the deer didn't go real far. What I used didn't work as it was suppose too. Back to the two blade broadhead I go. Never failed me, good blood, complete pass thru and if I do my part and hit the deer where I aim, it's mine Everytime. Same as with any bullet used to kill and animal. Shot placement is Paramount.

 

[Deleted member 107796]

Accubonds shoot great and kill but the image of the right bullet, a few posts above, is why I am leery of them. Their plastic tip is the only type that I have found to deform like that. It is clearly of a different composition from that found on the Hornadys and the Barnes, from my experience. Regrind or other contaminants can make plastic perform like this, unless they use a nearly pure polycarbonate that plastically deforms and does not recover.

 

[VLD Pilot]

Accubonds shoot great and kill but the image of the right bullet, a few posts above, is why I am leery of them. Their plastic tip is the only type that I have found to deform like that. It is clearly of a different composition from that found on the Hornadys and the Barnes, from my experience. Regrind or other contaminants can make plastic perform like this, unless they use a nearly pure polycarbonate that plastically deforms and does not recover.

I've killed alot of deer with Hornady Amax bullets. Only found one intact and it was probably 50% intact. All the others were fragmented so bad all I found was shrapnel.

 

[CaptnC]

Just found this thread!

I recovered one last year, pieces of one this year and 3 in 2018

This one is from last year. Shot a doe at 109 yards that was facing me with a 7.62x39 AR-15...bullet traveled down the spine and stopped just before the last rib.

Here are three from 2018. My wife shot all three of these in her 6.5 Creedmoor

Both of these are 129gr Hornady SST...both hit the point of the shoulder breaking it and stopping just behind the far shoulder, just under the skin. One was 107 yards and the other 95 yards but I don't recall which one is which.

130 Bereger OTM small spike buck at 107 yards that took off and left no blood. Had to find it the next day watching for buzzards. The shot enter just behind/below the scapula and stopped between the far ribs and shoulder. So it was right through the sweet spot. No blood from the mouth nor the entry wound.

Here is the lead side of these three...the Berger OTM is on the right.

 

[Seabeeken]

Like this thread. Wish I could contribute but never been able to recover a barnes tsx yet. Might find a lead core though.

 

[Ram4402]

A 110 Accubond. Recovered out of a 230# whitetail at 225 yards.

 

[Marine sniper]

I hunted with Bergers and ELDM'S for years, I've taken quite a few elk and deer with these bullets and have seen some really poor terminal performance with these match bullets.
After last season I'm totally done with anything that's not bonded, at least for elk.

I had multiple failures with Berger 215's, and witnessed a 300 grain Berger completely explode on an elk shoulder at 800 yards.
Also saw a 225 eldm blow up at 700 on an elk shoulder.

I could care less about how fast an animal falls when hit perfectly behind the shoulder, not worth the unpredictable performance or total lack of penetration when heavy muscle or bone is hit.

The 215's having issues does not surprise me, I have been lucky with the 210's and never lost an animal- but the best penetration I have ever seen with a 210 (regardless of distance) is about 12 inches. I am however surprised by the 300's. I have always heard they were very reliable killers and would blow through an elk at a mile. Care to go into a few details on the 800 yard shot? Did the bullet break the shoulder? pass though, etc? I have a 338 Lapua AI I am shooting the 300's out of and intend to hunt elk with them.

 

[Stammster]

Here is a 165gr SST shot from my 30-06 into a 450lb cow elk in Baker, Idaho last fall.

The bullets struck at approx 2400 fps (380 yards). The shot was uphill at 20 degrees, entering the elk at the bottom of the rib cage on the right side as it was quartering away. The bullets clipped the bottom of the heart, and exited the rig cage on the opposite side. Bang, thud, flop. A few broken ribs along the way.

While I was processing the meat, much to my surprise, I found the bullet lodged against the bone on the inside of the left front leg.

72% retained and a perfect little mushroom.

 

[Stammster]

^^^^
Same gun and 165 SST bullet on a Pennsylvania 175lb whitetail 1 month later. 80 yds. Bang, flop. No bullet recovered, as it destroyed the spine just above the boiler room. You can barely see the exit hole in the picture.

Very unique rack, as he should have been a big 8 pt, but suffered from a broken left rear leg some time previously. This effected his antler growth on the right side, and was only a 2 point. That deer would have easily gone over 200 lbs if not injured.

I'm surprised to see so many pictures of people recovering bullets from deer. I've never recovered a bullet from a whitetail deer using a 270 or 30-06 in over 35 years of hunting. All are always through and throughs.

 

[VLD Pilot]

The 215's having issues does not surprise me, I have been lucky with the 210's and never lost an animal- but the best penetration I have ever seen with a 210 (regardless of distance) is about 12 inches. I am however surprised by the 300's. I have always heard they were very reliable killers and would blow through an elk at a mile. Care to go into a few details on the 800 yard shot? Did the bullet break the shoulder? pass though, etc? I have a 338 Lapua AI I am shooting the 300's out of and intend to hunt elk with them.

If you've hunted long enough with numerous hunters or heard the stories of recovered and/or wounded lost animals, you'll hear stories of all kinds of bullets failing whether there bonded hunting bullets or poly tipped/HP match style bullets. One thing I've found when hunting large boned game animals is use well constructed bullets if shot placement may be compromised. Hitting bone or big heavy shoulders isn't a good idea with many bullets unless they are a very heavy solid core or bonded type bullets. Any bullet that expands will perform on any big game animal if hit properly. The word Perform carries a huge definition. It may fragment, it may open up text book style (mushroom) or it may separate into 2-3 pieces. I'll be using my 338 LM improved also this year. I'll be deer hunting with it using the 230 eldx. Not ideal for the lapua improved but I kinda like deer meat so I'll try and preserve as much as possible. On an elk, I'd be using the same bullet your considering. I've only heard positive results from that 300 grain bullet on elk and moose.

 

[Privi457]

100+ Kills w/Barnes ---- still waiting to recover one. 2 holes and dead.

 

[Ricky C]

Hey
These two are from a 9 foot Kodiak bear. 270 gr TSX, 375 H&H at 2700, about 80 yards

 

[Ricky C]

This is a 235 gr TSX, 375 JDJ, out of a 15 inch TC Encore. 6ft 6in black bear

 

[VLD Pilot]

Hey
These two are from a 9 foot Kodiak bear. 270 gr TSX, 375 H&H at 2700, about 80 yardsView attachment 202801

Excellent bullet performance. Can't ask for more