Grumulkin
Member
There is nothing quite like making things complicated. Pretty much every hunter out there with the intelligence above a moron knows what, in common parlance, is a shoulder. When you start talking about the scapula, the glenohumeral joint, etc., hardly any of them will know or remember if you tell them and, in fact, it's not necessary to know. For something people can remember, terminology like shoulder, on the shoulder, low shoulder, high shoulder, behind the shoulder, chest etc. will probably work a bit better.
This "premium bullet" nonsense is also way overblown. My criteria of a good bullet is if it shoots accurately in my gun and if the animal was dead that is was used on. I've been on several trips to South Africa and none of the 40 or 50 animals I've shot (all of which were recovered and entirely shot by me) were with a so called premium bullet. Most of them were one shot kills. For the ones that weren't one shot kills, the fault wasn't in the bullet.
That's not to say I don't use things like Barnes bullets if they happen to shoot accurately for me. That said, the only animal I've ever taken with a monometal bullet; a Barnes TSX; was a groundhog with a 30/06 and it worked (no kidding) and it wasn't even a shoulder shot! By the way, Barnes bullets aren't God's gift to accuracy so I only use them in 3 different guns.
A Hornady 250 grain SST/ML bullet that came out of at 460 S&W Magnum handgun at around 2,350 fps and impacted an impala at around 80 yards in the anterior chest. It was a bang flop kill. Notice how well the bullet stayed together. Was it bullet failure?
There was complete penetration through the hind legs of a Klipspringer. Yes, also a one shot kill. It goes to show that size dies matter. It was taken at about 180 yards with an Encore handgun chambered in 460 S&W Magnum. It was standing on a rock and my idea had been to shoot it just behind the chest as a shoulder shot would have dislodged a lot of the fragile quills. Just as I shot, I'm told, it started to jump off the rock and hence the rear leg shot.
Is that an OK blood trail? It was hot with a 270 grain Speer cup and core bullet from about 200 yards with a 375 H&H Magnum. There was no exit wound.
FINALLY, a Barnes bullet exit wound from a shoulder shot. The bullet probably took out both shoulders, both scapulae and quite a bit of lung. My friend wanted some "solids" for smaller animals so loaded up some Barnes XLC "solid copper" bullets for his 340 Weatherby Magnum and then used that load on this steenbok. The PH told him to shoot it just behind the chest; in the excitement he took out the shoulder.
That little red dot on the shoulder with blood dribbling down is the single shoulder shot on this kudu. It went 20 or 30 feet; once again, not a premium bullet but a Hornady 265 grain FTX out of a 444 Marlin handgun. The exit wound was about the same size as the entry wound.
This "premium bullet" nonsense is also way overblown. My criteria of a good bullet is if it shoots accurately in my gun and if the animal was dead that is was used on. I've been on several trips to South Africa and none of the 40 or 50 animals I've shot (all of which were recovered and entirely shot by me) were with a so called premium bullet. Most of them were one shot kills. For the ones that weren't one shot kills, the fault wasn't in the bullet.
That's not to say I don't use things like Barnes bullets if they happen to shoot accurately for me. That said, the only animal I've ever taken with a monometal bullet; a Barnes TSX; was a groundhog with a 30/06 and it worked (no kidding) and it wasn't even a shoulder shot! By the way, Barnes bullets aren't God's gift to accuracy so I only use them in 3 different guns.
A Hornady 250 grain SST/ML bullet that came out of at 460 S&W Magnum handgun at around 2,350 fps and impacted an impala at around 80 yards in the anterior chest. It was a bang flop kill. Notice how well the bullet stayed together. Was it bullet failure?
There was complete penetration through the hind legs of a Klipspringer. Yes, also a one shot kill. It goes to show that size dies matter. It was taken at about 180 yards with an Encore handgun chambered in 460 S&W Magnum. It was standing on a rock and my idea had been to shoot it just behind the chest as a shoulder shot would have dislodged a lot of the fragile quills. Just as I shot, I'm told, it started to jump off the rock and hence the rear leg shot.
Is that an OK blood trail? It was hot with a 270 grain Speer cup and core bullet from about 200 yards with a 375 H&H Magnum. There was no exit wound.
FINALLY, a Barnes bullet exit wound from a shoulder shot. The bullet probably took out both shoulders, both scapulae and quite a bit of lung. My friend wanted some "solids" for smaller animals so loaded up some Barnes XLC "solid copper" bullets for his 340 Weatherby Magnum and then used that load on this steenbok. The PH told him to shoot it just behind the chest; in the excitement he took out the shoulder.
That little red dot on the shoulder with blood dribbling down is the single shoulder shot on this kudu. It went 20 or 30 feet; once again, not a premium bullet but a Hornady 265 grain FTX out of a 444 Marlin handgun. The exit wound was about the same size as the entry wound.