Do rifle hollowpoints clog and fail, too? (Graphic, hunting images)

[Unobtanium]

Until a few weeks ago, I had never considered it. However, a friend of mine shot a small doe. He hit it pretty far back. The doe was 100% perfectly perpendicular to him (broadside). I witnessed the event and we agree.

The bullet was a 70gr 5.56 pressure GMX. Latest production. It entered very punctuate. Bloodshot meat around the entrance extended only 1.5" or so. The inside of the rib cage upon dressing, showed a small neat caliber size entrance with minimal disruption. However, the bullet made its way out of the deer quite near her front arm pit and left significant exit damage. I would say its trajectory deviated from "true" by maybe 8" in as many inches of penetration nearly. By all indications, it failed any expansion and tumbled.

Carbine was 16.1" barrel, deer was about 125 yards out.

Thoughts?

[Duelist]

An old quote: “At what point, in the death of the animal, did the bullet fail?” Bullets can do weird things when they strike flesh, including veering off a straight track.

Good, appropriate bullets+good marksmanship=meat. That pic looks like meat that needs cutting.

Of course, rifle bullets can fail. Especially if your shooter had selected a 45gr HP instead of a 70gr GMX to shoot that doe with, he’d have seen very different bullet performance.

[GOTURBACK]

To my eye the bullet performed well a small entrance and devastating exit wound, how far did the animal go after being hit with it?

[John Hearne]

Thoughts?

Shooting living things is different from shooting gelatin.

Of bullets I've recovered, few looked like magazine ads.*

Part of the value of hunting is it helps you realize this.

*Except for the 55 gr Federal Bonded Tactical. It expanded perfectly, and still weight 55 grains.

[Unobtanium]

To my eye the bullet performed well a small entrance and devastating exit wound, how far did the animal go after being hit with it?

Mitght as well us FMJ then.

It lived for 10 minutes or so, ran, bedded, ran again, maybe 75 yards total. Way worse kill than any of mine. THIS is what I'm used to for entry/exit for 70gr GMX when it does as designed.

[GOTURBACK]

Yeah I see the difference, did you have to gut that one? We are restricted to shotgun slug here and most of mine have dropped instantly, but I've had a couple run a short distance, placement is key.

[DocGKR]

Yes, even rifle bullets can fail to perform as expected or engineered, due to intermediate barriers, tissue density issues, projectile material problems, projectile production variances, poor projectile design, impact velocity outside of expected parameters, to name but a few causes.......

[GJM]

I once shot a cape buffalo in the chest at 50 yards with a perfectly placed 500 grain solid at 2,350 fps out of a 460 G&A, and it lifted the animal up and pushed him straight back a body length. At that point he got up and ran off, to continue to do battle with us for another 30 minutes. Anyone who has done a bunch of hunting has seen unusual things when it comes to how bullets interact with animals.

[Hambo]

He hit it pretty far back. The doe was 100% perfectly perpendicular to him (broadside).

Thoughts?

Tell him to learn to shoot better.

[WDR]

Shooting living things is different from shooting gelatin.

Of bullets I've recovered, few looked like magazine ads.*

Part of the value of hunting is it helps you realize this.

*Except for the 55 gr Federal Bonded Tactical. It expanded perfectly, and still weight 55 grains.

I recovered this handloaded 180gr .308" Nosler Accubond fired from my .30-06, from just under the far side hide of a cow elk, shot twice broadside at 424 yards. I think the first one was a complete pass through, though the hits were only inches apart. It's the only one I've ever recovered from all the elk, deer, or antelope I've shot with this load. It is almost always a complete pass through. I thought the performance was quite adequate, and about as good as Noslers advertising propaganda. I haven't found a reason to change bullets yet.



As far as the Hornady load in question, I've never been really satisfied with solid copper bullets like the GMX or TSX/TTSX... it seems like you have to keep the velocity higher to get good bullet upset and expansion. That is logical, but it seems that lead core bullets expand better at lower velocity than their all-copper/gliding metal counterparts. I just don't trust the mono-metal bullets to expand like lead core stuff. It seems like a minor difference in materials hardness or faulty construction can cause them to act more like solids (as it seems to show in your pictures), than expanding bullets. I don't think it has anything to do with the hollow point clogging... but I could be wrong (say the solid copper bullet impacts hard bone and collapses the tip).

I have use a 70gr TSX on deer before and it worked fine, and appeared to expand as intended. Nosler is supposed to be coming out with a 70gr .224" Accubond, and I am keen to try that bullet when it shows up. Though the various Gold Dot and Fusion loads/bullets probably offer similar performance.