re: My bullet saved me from the worst shot I've made on a deer in 30 years yesterda

Just realized what that is. I haven't shot it but I am a fan of the Mannlicher Schoenauer for nostalgic reasons. My dad loved that rifle.

Faxis,
Forgot to mention that I STILL plan on trying the 125 gr NBT in my 308 Win handgun next year for deer. I've been disappointed w/ the 150 gr Hornady SST bullet as it seems a little to stout at my handgun velocities. Just didn't have time to get around to it this year.

Tiger I'm not sure what kind of pressures you can take but for some reason I'm not convinced this would make a good handgun round as we're doing it. I'd want to drop velocity on it a lot, not that the barrel length wouldn't already do it but jesus... BOOM. But rifle calibers in pistols is not my forte so you might be right.

Bapple, in my buddies .308 last year he hunted with 167s I think it was. Because we were tuning the rifle for poking a hole in a target. He shot a deer with a crossing shot that went behind the liver and came out in front of the opposite ham. Luckily it cut that artery on the spine and of course a round that heavy knocked a hole in that deer but I was unimpressed with the damage. It was like shoving a toilet paper roll through it and everything inside is fricked but beyond that, not so much.

We switched him to 125 gr this year and he hit a perfect heart shot that just blew the thing away. Took out a rib on each side plus the heart and blew up the lungs and left a massive exit wound behind the opposite shoulder.. In the .308 the round is doing 3000fps so slower than the 06, and obviously the groups aren't going to be as tight because of the BC difference but I stand behind that one too for the same reason. Whitetails are light weight and you have to get damage from the bullet quickly or you miss your chance. Plus the difference in the groups was no more than a half inch at the outside.

That bullet makes a very effective deer round for the .308. I think the key is just making sure you've got it at around 3000 fps.

Gonna find that post and copy it here. Got a lot of pics in that one too.

Just realized the spot where he's holding that heart is within just a few yards of where I shot that doe. We gut them there to get the bobcats and coyotes to hopefully come out in daylight. They never do so we explode crows.

Oh no doubt about the 167 being more accurate. It's pretty much perfect BC for the .308. Just gotta find the right one for your rifle. I forget what those were he shot that with. I do remember they were molly coated but I'm thinking they were a controlled expansion thing. I forget. It was nowhere near the damage of the NBT though. Not even in the same realm.

And if I was shooting much further than 200 yards, I'd switch to the big round. The NBT depends on high velocity to work well. Get out too far and it's not going to do what the big bullet does.

But how often do you shoot that far? I can with my .308 700 PSS but that doesn't mean I would. Although I've got a spot for a 503 yard shot if I mow the field down there and cut some small pine trees and build a table up on top of the hill... could set it up with range flags and shoot pigs at a feeder. Set up a target down there and get yourself completely happy with your shooting then move over ten feet and bust a hog with a 167.

If I didn't know that field was gonna outgrow that shot in about two years I might go there. It's now planted with hardwoods.

Haha I would but like I said, it's gonna overgrow that shot very soon so I'm not going to build the table there. Concrete tables are a bitch to deal with once they're concreted in. Besides that, the locals have been laying the wood to the hog situation lately. I haven't seen one yet this year. Got some on my camera, including a freaking rhinoceros sized beast I call Oreo. But you can forget about that fricker ever making a mistake. It will take dogs to get him and some of them will probably die for it.

Yeah it's a pretty tight window for the performance of the bullet vs the target. But IMHO this one is right there in the sweet spot.

Ahhhh ok. Only rifle/pistols I've shot were Thompson Contenders or my brother's S&W revolver in 460. That thing is pretty freakin sick for a 'handgun'.