re: Terminal performance thread

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have only tried once and it was a buck in full rut. Had to throw it out

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Never had anything remotely funky, even with a full rut swolt up neck buck. My wife and I are meticulous about cleaning up all the pieces before we eat though, I'm positive that's why nothing we have is ever remotely gamey. The down votes on neck roast are just missing out, it's worth an extra 10 minutes cutting out everything you can that isn't red. And let it all dry out for days, it's not hard.

Barnes, Partitions, or Bonded bullets only for me.

If you are not getting a passthrough on broadside or slightly quartering deer it is a fail with or without heavy bone contact.

Caliber and cartridge are not the same.

A bullet isn't a "Ballistic Tip" just because it has a plastic tip. "Ballistic Tips" are a Nosler bullet and are trash unless everything thing you shoot is 200 yards away or more. They have lost more deer than the ELDX. They are nothing more than a rebranded target bullet just like ELDX. Exploding bullets are not hunting bullets. SST's are also trash.

Just because a cartridge uses a large diameter bullet doesn't mean you will see mega destruction on impact. All things equal besides bullet weight obviously, a 7 mag will do more "damage" than a 338 Lapua on a whitetail because the ribs on a whitetail are not strong enough to get the 338 bullet to deform and dump energy. I have seen this in person in deer shot the same day.

7mm is the most well rounded bullet caliber you can shoot.

I should have taken pics but I shot a 95lb doe in MS over the weekend.

150gr Barnes VOR-TX TTSX .308WIN

entered in front the shoulder and out the back shoulder/upper leg bone

I bet I salvaged about 20% of the meat from those shoulders... it was insane

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bit harsh on the ballistic tips

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Ol Faxis loves them. Shoots the really light weight ones extremely fast for intentional blowup.

Bullet chunks flying around really fast in the engine room kills them fast fast. If you're OK with inconsistent exits, lots of trauma and meat jelly they're really great.

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. By your logic with the 338, someone could shoot a softer bullet in a 243 and do more damage than your 7 mag because it will dump all its energy instead of exiting.

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Well, that's true. In the extremes, a .223 shooting hunting bullets is going to do more damage to a deer than a .338 shooting solids.

The .338 win makes over 4,000 ft-lbs at the muzzle and going by the carcasses, puts much less energy in the animal than a .270 shooting ballistic tips.

Popular school of thought is that absolute ideal perfect performance would be the bullet barely falling out of the hide on the off side. Some people want it to stay in. Some people (me) want it to go through in a straight line. It all works.

Ill have to go dig some pics out later..but barnes ttsx. Drops em cold every time. With complete internal devistation

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You can send tough bullets faster to create more damage or you can send destructive bullets slower to get less fragmentation.

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I like medium bullets sent mediumly.

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bit harsh on the ballistic tips. They initially were a light bullet, but Nosler has beefed them up over the years.

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Yep, I think he’s a bit behind on current ballistic tips (and SSTs for that matter). Nosler now runs two versions of the BT. The varmint version is more similar to the original ones that got a reputation for grenading on deer. The regular versions now do fine on deer. They are still a cup and core bullet and thus have similar benefits/drawbacks as other similar bullets.

Bullet manufacturers also make different versions of the same bullet that are optimized for different speeds/cartridges within the same caliber so you’ve got to pay attention there too. And they don’t always advertise it, sometimes you have to talk to them or find forums where others have. Here is a note from Barnes on some of their TTSX offerings:

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The 0.308" 165gr TTSX is a shorter ogive than the 0.308" 168gr TTSX. We offer both for different cartridges to work within SAAMI COAL limits. The 308 168gr works well in the 308 WIN and 30-06 which allow more exposed bullet to be seated out further. The 165gr was designed for cartridges more like the 300 WIN MAG which require a shorter ogive to work within SAAMI limits. When handloading, you can use either in a 300 WIN MAG just realize with the 168/175gr that you will need to seat it out a little further that the SAAMI max COAL and check proper fit and function in your particular firearm. They all function to similar velocities. The 168gr and 175gr LRX will open up at a lower velocity (around 1600 ft/s) than the 165gr (around 1800 ft/s). For best performance we recommend keeping impact velocity a few hundred feet above this minimum. Thanks Greggory Sloan | Ballistics Lab Supervisor Barnes Bullets, LLC”

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Hard truths are still true.

I am just giving my experience from killing over 100 deer with rifles, guiding, and hunting with friends and family. I have experienced bullet failures personally. My coworker who refused to listen to me about those trash ELDX bullets had one blow up this past weekend out if his 6.5 CM. He is spooked now and wants 308 when the only problem is his bullet choice. The 6.5 CM performs beautifully with Federal Terminal Ascent bullets.

My favorite cartridge far and away is the. 280 Remington.

Sounds like your friend has learned the hard way about the deer trackers friend, the cripplemore.