A good good friend of mine hit a Moose 3 times in the shoulder at 440 yards in BC last year with a Berger 215 from a .300 Ultra Mag and never found the moose, never knocked him down.A couple guys in my group used to use Accubonds They were great on smaller animals like white tail and mule deer but caused more damaged meet than Partition or TSX. Please don't get offended by my terminology. In my part of the world we break down animals into small (like antelope), mid size (W/T & MD) and big game (elk starting and ending with moose)
The guys switched after a complete failure on a moose shoulder. After 2 shots by one hunter, another in the group dropped the moose on the spot with a TSX. We found both accubonds disintegrated on impact with the shoulder bone from a 30-378 at just under 200 yards. The 168 TSX passesd through leaving an exit would about the size of a quarter. Now both have switched to premium bullets as we always try to have an elk or moose hunt in the mix.
Accubonds are wonderfully accurate and if I limited my hunting to WT and MD they would be one of my top choices. Great BC for long range.
As stated in an earlier post, every bullet has a compromise. We just have to pick the combination most appropriate for the size of animal.
Again, we have such riches to choose from these days, we can pick and choose the best projectile for our application as there is no magic bullet for every animal, at any range, with every cartridge. Guys who have been hunting for nearly 50 years will remember what poor performing bullets we used to have to suffer with.
He's a terrific shot and has killed a lot of game. In that instance I say 1. He should have used a Barnes or 2. moved his shot behind the shoulder and let the Berger do what it does best and turn the vitals into jello.
People seem to think all bullets kill with the same method / physics which is incorrect as most on here realize.
If a guy is dead set on shoulders on Moose size game I think the solid coppers are the way to fly and now with the TTSX , Hammers , Cutting Edge and LRX we have a lot to choose from.
As for meat loss - this always baffles me. One animal = like 50 few pounds of extra meat damage. I've seen guys lose animals because they didn't take what ended up being a necessary follow up shot worried about meat. Shoot them in the neck but shoot them. Elk, Moose are two animals that can take a beating and keep pushing.
Worry about killing first , meat damage second. It's usually minimal if you control yourself and make good shots.
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