My neighbor and i were arguing about this. I like 220 grain core-lokt in 30.06. He likes nosler 168 grain ballistic bullets his own loads in 30.06. We did not decide what works best for killing and saving meat. My son shot a small deer last year in muzzleloader season. With 280 grain lead sabot 100 grains of pyrodex. Heart shot exit below the the chest near the gut. No meat loss. So i think it's all in shot placement and bullet style and hardness.
High velocity bullets
Would a lighter faster moving bullet cause more meat damage and a bigger wound channel than a heavier slower moving bullet?
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It's WAY more complicated than that......
--Wag--
--Wag--
The ultimate bullet in a 7mm-08 is the 140-grain spitzer boattail. Driven 2,900 fps, it will carry more than 1,260 f.p. energy at 500 yards! Zero it 2.5 inches high at 100 yards and it will be dead-on at 230 yards and just 5 inches low at 300 yards. Aim at the center of a deer’s 16-inch vital chest and you score a killing blow to the heart/lungs every time. A 10 mph right-angle wind will deflect that bullet just 3 inches at 200 yards, 6 inches at 300 yards. You’re still in the chest with a center hold. What could be easier?
Have a good cigar and regards
As-salāmu ʿalaykum
ARMARIN
Have a good cigar and regards
As-salāmu ʿalaykum
ARMARIN
Lighter faster bullets, that are not constructed to perform at the high terminal velocities they achieve will self destruct close to impact, causing significant meat damage without delivering good penetration. Properly constructed to the achieved terminal velocity, they will perform similarly to heavier, equally constructed bullets, but may not achieve the same depth of penetration.
never really worried about meat damage on deer.....i pick my shots and prefer RN or FP 30-30 bullets reloaded in a 308....at those velocities it will turn the lungs into soup.
When I consider bullets for hunting edible game, I am concerned with making an effective shot to bring the animal down. I do not want the bullet acting like a grenade when it hits, so choice of bullet is important to me. For the first 25 years of my hunting experience I almost always used revolvers (.44 mag, .45 Colt, .454 Casull). For hunting deer or elk with a handgun I avoid hollow point or expanding bullets and use hard cast (flat nose preferred) bullets that are going to make a .430 or .450 hole through the critter’s heart/lung. You do not need expansion, the bullet is big enough. With rifles I prefer a good spitzer (I like Sierra boat tail spitzers) to minimize fragmenting while allowing the bullet to mushroom nicely. You want to be sure you are using the bullet at an effective velocity with your cartridge. These bullets will expand and make a hole strikingly similar in size to the .45 handgun, maybe a little bigger; that will make an effective wound channel if you did your job in shot placement. Fragmenting bullets stand a better chance of creating a nasty wound that will not take the animal down quickly; you stand a chance of loosing the animal because he can still run quite a distance before he dies. And, of course, bullet fragments throughout the meat are not desired...
WAG is correct. It is far more complicated. Shot placement prevents meat damage. You need to know your target and exactly where your shot needs to go. I want the best expansion possible for the bullet I'm shooting. I like the solid coppers (Barnes) the expansion is fantastic and rentention is excellent. I get good blood trails on heart shots with copper. I also like neck shots when using my .243, as close to the back of the skull as possible, they go right down. We had a 12 yr. old girl kill her first deer last year using her AR with 62 gn. barnes. She shot it perfectly in the base of the skull. We can spent all day talking about calibers, bullets, rifles and pistols but if your doing the right shot for the tools your using your don't lose any meat.
I never have owned nor shot a .243 but I hear it’s an amazing deer cartridge. What would you consider a reasonable distance for harvesting deer with the .243?WAG is correct. It is far more complicated. Shot placement prevents meat damage. You need to know your target and exactly where your shot needs to go. I want the best expansion possible for the bullet I'm shooting. I like the solid coppers (Barnes) the expansion is fantastic and rentention is excellent. I get good blood trails on heart shots with copper. I also like neck shots when using my .243, as close to the back of the skull as possible, they go right down. We had a 12 yr. old girl kill her first deer last year using her AR with 62 gn. barnes. She shot it perfectly in the base of the skull. We can spent all day talking about calibers, bullets, rifles and pistols but if your doing the right shot for the tools your using your don't lose any meat.
Most of my shots are at 160 yd. The gun is sighted for 150. I use a Nikon 3x9x40 with BDC reticle. I used Nikon's ballistic tool to create a chart for the reticle based on my load data (33 gn. 4350 pushing a 100 BTSP Speer) and my sight in range. I have access to a 800 yd. private range. I also use a 30-06 with the same basic setup. The loads I use on it is 56.5 gn. 4350 Pushing a Barnes 150 gn. TSX. I'm currently working on a .223 load using Barnes 62gn. TTX. I'm 71 and really don't care to shoot over 250 yds. Unless it's a varmint. Most of the red meat my family consumes is venison so I take my time and make the shot or pass. I raised my son to do the same, he passed on two 8 points last year because he was not comfortable with the shot. I believe this is part of what WAG meant by being more complicated. It just not taking the shot, but being confident that it's going to work.
Yes, that's about what I meant.
Over the last 30 years, the science of terminal ballistics has advanced dramatically. Buying factory ammo which has been designed to do a specific task is the right thing to do.
OR, you buy your bullets and drive them the way they were designed to be driven and you get the same results.
But if you load your own ammo and you don't consider the purpose for which you're making it, you won't get optimal results, as the factory intended.
FWIW, though, it's probably not something that will make a world of difference if you don't get it exactly right.
As mentioned above, shot placement is going to help you preserve the meat of an animal but the terminal ballistic performance of the bullets you use will also create a better preservation if you choose a shot placement that is different from the other guy.
The science of optimizing the terminal ballistics of any bullet is something in which you can get a degree and make a living doing! We're not going to completely explore it all here, to be sure.
--Wag--
Over the last 30 years, the science of terminal ballistics has advanced dramatically. Buying factory ammo which has been designed to do a specific task is the right thing to do.
OR, you buy your bullets and drive them the way they were designed to be driven and you get the same results.
But if you load your own ammo and you don't consider the purpose for which you're making it, you won't get optimal results, as the factory intended.
FWIW, though, it's probably not something that will make a world of difference if you don't get it exactly right.
As mentioned above, shot placement is going to help you preserve the meat of an animal but the terminal ballistic performance of the bullets you use will also create a better preservation if you choose a shot placement that is different from the other guy.
The science of optimizing the terminal ballistics of any bullet is something in which you can get a degree and make a living doing! We're not going to completely explore it all here, to be sure.
--Wag--
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