Range Report Bullet testing for hunting

IHFarmer07

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 26, 2018
506
193
Freeburg, Missouri
The past several days I have been searching for “the right” bullet for hunting with several rifles in the .243, 30-06 and my newest rifle that I don’t have yet, the 6.5prc that is good at close range and long range and reasonably accurate at long range. This is very interesting testing by these guys and seem to be factual to what I’ve been reading, and I thought I’d share. I wish they did/will do testing on some monometal bullets like this but oh well.















 
Strange things happen when high velocity projectiles come into contact with hair, hide, flesh, muscle, bone and internal organs. No ballistic gelatin tests are ever going to be a reliable substitute for real world reports of bullet performance. I stopped using jacketed lead bullets for big game hunting years ago after hearing from a friend that was using Barnes Triple Shock bullets in Africa. What sealed the deal for me was a deer hunt in Wyoming, one of the guys took his deer with the Barnes Triple shock through the chest. A fist sized chunk of lung was hanging out the exit wound. I'm too old to be chasing wounded game, I like putting them down fast.
 
If you want to read a lot about what bullets do when they hit animals, you should do yourself a favour and check out this guy:


He has probably pulled the trigger on more animals than most folks you will run into and can tell you real first hand experience in how they work.
He also hunts in an environment where the animals need to be DRT, even on very long shots, or you may never recover them if they run a bit too far, so he's all about enough energy, placement & accuracy to hit where you get results right there.

His wife also does her fair share of killing animals as a course of daily living.
Like when it's time to get more dog food she heads out with her 7mm to go fill the freezer with goat meat.

"Steph has used my rifle here and there, comes home with a load of meat without complaints but she does talk about the importance of technique when relaying her day in the hills. Her own rifle is a 7mm Rem Mag"

"Steph's rifle is a left handed Montana M1999 with a light weight 24" TF barrel on it, no suppressor. The current pet load is the Amax at 3120fps. Rifle weight is 10lb and Steph hauls that rig everywhere, doesn't matter how big the hill is. She shoots .330 off sand bags and like me, shoots .5" exactly off a day bag. She has never liked bipods so that is a good weight and bulk reduction. Recoil is moderate but like all magnums, you have to get yourself in the 'zone' to shoot accurately out long, all the stuff I have mentioned in the hold that forend article. "

You might consider buying his book set if you want to have all the information on hand as he has a lot of good data on what bullets do.

However just keep in mind that what he is into is hunting and climbing mountains and hills all day to hunt animals. He is going to suggest doing everything almost the opposite of what is the current "Tactical" or "PRS" type way to do sport shooting here, so don't expect any tips on how to do better at your next tactical match, he might just make fun of your "hugging yourself" shooting position HA!
 
  • Like
Reactions: IHFarmer07
There are so many good bullets on the market, it wood be easier to weed out the bad ones. But, bigger bore and higher velocity do help with poor shot placement
 
My fallback bullets for hunting when very close shots are a possibility has allways been the Nosler accubond not the long range version.
They don't have mind blowing BC numbers but are very easy to tune and hold up well to close range high velocity impacts and I've never seen them do any of the crazy unpredictable shit that some other bullet types will do.
Next in line for me is the Barnes TSX and TTSX.