In my continuing quest for the best hunting bullet I did some testing today. This was anything but scientific, my target was a stack of phone books 8 inches thick. I did not soak them before testing.All bullets fired did penetrate completely, but surprising enough three out of four were recovered behind the box.
All Bullets fired from 100 yards
Bullets Tested:
168 gr.Hornady Amax .308 (2752 fps)
165 gr. Hornady SST .308 (2670 fps)
168 gr. Berger VLD .308 (2874 fps)
140 gr. Barnes TSX (fired from a 7mm-08)---(no chrono data)
Results:
Amax- only jackets base was recovered
SST- weight retained 112.3 gr.
VLD- Not recovered
Barnes TSX- 138.6 weight retained
First I will admit I have had great success with the Amax as a hunting bullet and this was the only round fired not designed as a hunting bullet.
What I did notice was after passing thru the first 2" of phone book the VLD and Barnes had not significantly opened as the Amax and SST.The "wound channel" for the Amax and SST was significantly greater.
I am now somewhat concerned with the use of the VLD on thin skinned animals like whitetail, but it seemed to perform close to the Barnes of which I have had great success with in 7 rem mag as well as 7mm-08. Barnes X bullets have been my bullet of choice for many years, and I was very impressed with the loss of less than two grains weight retained. Now I am in my quest for the most accurate and dependable .308 hunting bullet and have had high hopes for the VLD.
I plan to continue testing with a much deeper stack of phone books in the near future and I will post the results. I would really like to recover the bullets from within and not behind the backstop! And will soak the next batch for testing.
Have any of you done similar testing on any of these bullets?
All Bullets fired from 100 yards
Bullets Tested:
168 gr.Hornady Amax .308 (2752 fps)
165 gr. Hornady SST .308 (2670 fps)
168 gr. Berger VLD .308 (2874 fps)
140 gr. Barnes TSX (fired from a 7mm-08)---(no chrono data)
Results:
Amax- only jackets base was recovered
SST- weight retained 112.3 gr.
VLD- Not recovered
Barnes TSX- 138.6 weight retained
First I will admit I have had great success with the Amax as a hunting bullet and this was the only round fired not designed as a hunting bullet.
What I did notice was after passing thru the first 2" of phone book the VLD and Barnes had not significantly opened as the Amax and SST.The "wound channel" for the Amax and SST was significantly greater.
I am now somewhat concerned with the use of the VLD on thin skinned animals like whitetail, but it seemed to perform close to the Barnes of which I have had great success with in 7 rem mag as well as 7mm-08. Barnes X bullets have been my bullet of choice for many years, and I was very impressed with the loss of less than two grains weight retained. Now I am in my quest for the most accurate and dependable .308 hunting bullet and have had high hopes for the VLD.
I plan to continue testing with a much deeper stack of phone books in the near future and I will post the results. I would really like to recover the bullets from within and not behind the backstop! And will soak the next batch for testing.
Have any of you done similar testing on any of these bullets?
