49willys
Member
Shot a coyote yesterday with my 7mag,165 gr federal vital shok with the Sierra gameking btsp.450 yrds away,the bullet made a small entrance hole but did not exit the dog.Is this normal?I figured the coyote would be ripped apart.
Pretty common actually. At point blank range, the bullet is moving much faster and expands much faster. The added rqnge allows the bullet to slow down to the point that it expands much less and is more likely to penetrate.
This belongs in Hunting, not GD, but.........
Bullets don't always behave predictably. I shot a wild hog, a ~180 lb sow, at just 20 yards with a .350 Rem Mag using 200 gr. Core lok'd handloads. The bullet was trapped under the skin on the off side. She was DRT, but I was shocked to find no exit with a round that powerful at such close range.
Meanwhile, a similarly sized mulie hit by a 117 gr. Sierra Gameking out of my .25-06 at about 90 yards had an exit wound the size of a softball.
Did you skin 'er out? I am not picking any fights or calling you a liar, I am simply quite shocked that at 2000fps with 1600 ft-lbs of energy, you didn't get an exit, I'm a diehard Sierra fan and would guess (with great confidence) that the bullet barely started to open (if at all if no real bones were hit) before it was already on the other side in the dirt. Speaking from experience from 20 years of coyote killing, they are not tough enough to cause a real splosion on a big game bullet unless you find that heavy bone (run a .300wm 180 through their ribs, same situation you describe exactly) and the exit holes are sometimes impossible to find without skinning them (especially this time of year). A friend wants to get some hide money with his .30-06 (all he has) and I told him to start heavy for that exact reason. If the impact velocity would have been above 2200 or you'd been using a lighter bullet or lighter constructed, your exit would have been MUCH more obvious.Casefull,I know it did not penetrate completely because I walked out and inspected the dog.one hole.I was expecting a big mess of innards turned outards,was surprised to see one hole.I hit it right behind the front shoulder and low,perfect heart shot.
The .375 at high sectional density is a world renowned penetrator. Just like the 7MM. So much depends on bullet construction. What the bullet hit on entry and multiple other variables.A hog is not a coyote and the seven mag is moving faster and will punch through much easier than the larger caliber bullets.
Even fragmented id expect something to have gone thru. Even 110s HPVs from my .300 win would punch thru (and mostly explode) 60-80lb goats which should offer about the same amount of tissue and bone as a yote.Did it fragment?
Yeppers. And over the years I've seen game do strange things even when hit by well placed, good bullets.I've occasional seen bullets do strange things on game over the years. Not much surprises me anymore.
Probably not enough remaining energy at 450(1744 ft-lbs. with 2182 fps at 400, according to Federal) to exit.