MTMilitiaman
Member
its not always about how big a hole the bullet makes.my 1st two whitetails i shot were with a 30-06 with 165 and 180 grain slugs.i was'nt impressed.they ran over 50 yards,one 100yards.i tried 125 grain gamekings slug and wow,they dropped immediately.i had a 125 grain 30 caliber slug going 3200fps,200fps short of what a 257weatherby magnum does,a gun thats killed every known animal on the face of this earth with a 117 grain slug going 3400fps.it caused immediate shock and death.i leaves a small slice all the way through with little damage to meat.there is a magic killing force for most bullet weights going over 3000fps.thats why i get fast kills with smaller bullets.i do make sure to use bullets that stay together long enough to go deep.i now use a 22-250 with 60 grain nosler partitions cause the 50 grain bullets are only offered in varmint bullets that blow up too shallow at 22-250 speeds but they two work.all my kills are immediate even if i don't hit a good area.i've had them drop dead on the spot from a hit anywhere from a gut shot to a shoulder hit.my hunting buddy uses a ruger223 bolt with 55grain gamekings and makes easy kills.this is'nt the only way to achieve kills,its just the reason why the 223 is a better killer than 7.62x39.yes smaller bulls have more wind drift than heavier ones at the same speed,but they are'nt going the same speed.if you push a light bullet fast enough then you get a light flat shooting accurate low recoil bullet with very little wind drift that creates instant shock resulting in death.now some soldiers have had to shoot people multiple times with the new guns their using now when shooting far away targets.this is because they shortened the barrels and lost vital fps needed for shock.its like being stabbed with a hot ice poker several times,but only when its a far shot.they needed guns short enough to get in and out of trucks quickly while policing over there.an 7.62x39 might do better in that situation but in one of our fine rifles and not some spray and pray type gun like our enemies are using.theres other ways than my method,like using soft points but thats another subject.
Yes, and no.
When it works, shock can produce magnificent results. But it isn't as reliable as other wounding mechanisms.
Our family has had the opposite experience as yours. My dad loaded 165 gr Gamekings in his .30-06. At the velocities he was loading them, they came apart inside 100 yards. Typically, if there was an exit wound, it was just what remained of the core as all of the jacket and most of the core was found fragmented inside the chest cavity. But the animals still ran incredible distances before expiring. He switched to the 180 gr Gamekings, which stuck together and penetrate better, while still maintaining good expansion, and not only did the animals cover less ground after being hit, but exit wounds meant better blood trails in recovering them.
When I got my 7mm Rem Mag, my first deer was shot at a distance of about 30 feet, broadside, right behind the shoulder. The slightly compressed load of Hodgens 870 propelled the 160 gr Nosler Partition at over 3000 fps. At that velocity, the bullet fragmented and only the rear core fully penetrated the animal. Shock forces were immense. It looked like a grenade went off inside the animal's chest. Jacket fragments were found in the backstrap, as well as in meat between ribs near the brisket. The heart was blown out of its protective membrane and bruised. The lungs were blown to chunks, much of which was sprayed across the forest behind the exit wound, along with hair and bone. The animal still ran almost 30 yards before collapsing.
Then this last hunting season, my dad was packing a custom .338 Remington Ultra Mag. With a 30 inch Lilja barrel, this rifle was shooting 250 gr Matchkings over a chrono at over 3100 fps. He shot a smallish doe in the last minutes of shooting light. The deer turned slightly as the trigger broke and the quartering on shot missed the onside shoulder, penetrated diagonally across the chest cavity, and exited about 3 inches behind the last offside rib. The exit wound looked like a ragged 8 inch long slash or tear. At least a liter of blood along with chunks of lung and much of the liver was blown out of the exit wound. The deer reeled and covered over 90 yards, losing much of its entrails in the process, before succumbing to its wounds.
In all of these cases, the animal sustained far more shock forces than any .22 caliber centerfire is capable of producing, but the animals still covered amazing distances. My theory is that these shock forces can trigger the animal's instinctive flight drive more acutely than impacts which impart less of these shock forces. With these survival drives triggered, the animal's blood stream is flooded with adrenaline and endorphins which dull pain perception and allow the animal to sustain incredible damage while still covering seemingly impossible distances. It is the same reason why bows remain relatively effective within their range parameters as a high powered rifle--they are quieter, which is less alarming to the animal. It doesn't detect as much harm or danger as the sharp crack and boom of a high powered rifle, so it doesn't run as far before blood loss takes it toll.
There are two reliable stopping mechanisms for living beings. Neither of them is shock forces as related to so-called "hydro-static" shock. The first is to destroy the Central Nervous System with either a shot to the brain, or the spinal cord. The second is depriving vital organs of oxygen, usually through the destruction of critical cardio-respiratory structures. In this case, the animal goes into shock, but this shock is due to blood loss and occurs late enough that by the time it takes effect, the animal is unlikely to continue fighting/fleeing for any significant time period. At that point, death in imminent without immediate medical attention.
My experience shooting living things has taught me never to rely on shock forces imparted by a projectile to debilitate a living creature. I've seen it fail too many times.