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Breaking in the .280 Remington. (Caution - Autopsy Photos)
Houston, we have a problem!
Took the kids and my Ruger M77-V in .280 Remington out hunting yesterday evening. Set up on the edge of a field and right at dusk, a doe and two yearlings came out at about 120 yards. Now, if you remember, I'd had a few questions with the 130gr Berger Bullets I'd used in my .260 Remington the other day. Because of those questions, I wanted to try and mirror the same shot as best I could with 140gr Berger Bullets out of my .280 Remington.
So, I waited for the doe to turn and stand, but she wasn't staying still much. Feeding as she moved along. Finally, I had a broadside shot at a feeding walk. Put the bullet right behind her shoulder and she jumped straight up in the air. Hit the ground and ran a semi circle back into the brush with yearlings in tow.
It felt like a good shot and I was comfortable with myself. About 2 minutes later, the two yearlings walked back into the field. This made me even more confident with my shot as they had left her and returned to the field. So, having my original test complete, I decided to drop one of the yearlings with a head shot. Again, at about 120 yards............POP......down it went.
Walked over and retrieved the yearling and took a couple pics.
CAUTION! HEAD SHOT!!!!!!
Yeah, small. But, the quarters smoked and wrapped and cooked over the grill are going to be awesome!
Head was facing me at an angle so I put the round just above the eye and out the back of the opposite side. It was rather dramatic.
Now, the trouble started.
I went to where the doe was standing and found her dig marks. Then, a few feet away.........1 drop of blood. I began to track her running prints and within the first 30 yards, found exactly 5 sparse drops of blood. Once I entered the brush, the blood stopped and her tracks bgan to get jumbled up with other deer tracks.
Now, I can track! It's what I do. But keeping a line on her in that brush and distinguishing her prints from other fresh deer sign was a pain in the butt without the bonus of blood and in the dark. After 100 yards, I felt pretty confident that I had her to the property fence but, getting her there had taken awhile and the kids were getting restless.
I KNEW this deer had to be dead! My shot felt good and with the second head shot, I knew the gun was on. But, only 5 drops of blood and 100 yards!!!! I knew she was over that fence but the grass on the other side was waist high and I couldn't see her or any blood. Talk about pissed off!
It was supposed to freeze last night so I knew the meat would be fine. I planned to come back at the break of dawn with permission to cross that fence.
Returning with permission as the sun came up, I quickly searched the known area for her or more blood. Nothing! I went back to where I figured she'd crossed the fence and went over searching the area. She ended up being about 10-15 yards inside the fence. As I looked at her frost covered body..........a pool of blood lay on the ground 5 feet in front of her. Where was THAT when I needed it!!!???
All night I bounced back and forth between being confident of the shot and doubting myself. It was driving me crazy! Seeing the placement of the entry wound..........I felt vendicated.
(Sorry about the crappy phone pics. I forgot my camera this morning)
Entry:
I was hoping to tuck the round a little tighter to the shoulder like the .260 Remington deer. But, with her walking, I was a few inches back. But still, RIGHT THROUGH THE LUNGS!!!
Exit:
Entry to ribs: (no bone hit going in)
Entry to lungs:
Center of lungs: (Entry on left / Exit on right)
Exit from lungs:
Exit through 1 rib:
Path: (L to R)
The blood you see in the above picture is all that was in her chest cavity.
Glad I found her! She ran something over 100 yards (115 ?) and left a total of 5 drops of blood that I could find. Until 5 feet in front of her where I found the pool.
I am NOT impressed with these terminal performance results!
( I have some errands to run. I will return this evening to discuss further. Talk amongst yourselves. I'm pretty not happt right about now.)
Took the kids and my Ruger M77-V in .280 Remington out hunting yesterday evening. Set up on the edge of a field and right at dusk, a doe and two yearlings came out at about 120 yards. Now, if you remember, I'd had a few questions with the 130gr Berger Bullets I'd used in my .260 Remington the other day. Because of those questions, I wanted to try and mirror the same shot as best I could with 140gr Berger Bullets out of my .280 Remington.
So, I waited for the doe to turn and stand, but she wasn't staying still much. Feeding as she moved along. Finally, I had a broadside shot at a feeding walk. Put the bullet right behind her shoulder and she jumped straight up in the air. Hit the ground and ran a semi circle back into the brush with yearlings in tow.
It felt like a good shot and I was comfortable with myself. About 2 minutes later, the two yearlings walked back into the field. This made me even more confident with my shot as they had left her and returned to the field. So, having my original test complete, I decided to drop one of the yearlings with a head shot. Again, at about 120 yards............POP......down it went.
Walked over and retrieved the yearling and took a couple pics.
CAUTION! HEAD SHOT!!!!!!
Yeah, small. But, the quarters smoked and wrapped and cooked over the grill are going to be awesome!
Head was facing me at an angle so I put the round just above the eye and out the back of the opposite side. It was rather dramatic.
Now, the trouble started.
I went to where the doe was standing and found her dig marks. Then, a few feet away.........1 drop of blood. I began to track her running prints and within the first 30 yards, found exactly 5 sparse drops of blood. Once I entered the brush, the blood stopped and her tracks bgan to get jumbled up with other deer tracks.
Now, I can track! It's what I do. But keeping a line on her in that brush and distinguishing her prints from other fresh deer sign was a pain in the butt without the bonus of blood and in the dark. After 100 yards, I felt pretty confident that I had her to the property fence but, getting her there had taken awhile and the kids were getting restless.
I KNEW this deer had to be dead! My shot felt good and with the second head shot, I knew the gun was on. But, only 5 drops of blood and 100 yards!!!! I knew she was over that fence but the grass on the other side was waist high and I couldn't see her or any blood. Talk about pissed off!
It was supposed to freeze last night so I knew the meat would be fine. I planned to come back at the break of dawn with permission to cross that fence.
Returning with permission as the sun came up, I quickly searched the known area for her or more blood. Nothing! I went back to where I figured she'd crossed the fence and went over searching the area. She ended up being about 10-15 yards inside the fence. As I looked at her frost covered body..........a pool of blood lay on the ground 5 feet in front of her. Where was THAT when I needed it!!!???
All night I bounced back and forth between being confident of the shot and doubting myself. It was driving me crazy! Seeing the placement of the entry wound..........I felt vendicated.
(Sorry about the crappy phone pics. I forgot my camera this morning)
Entry:
I was hoping to tuck the round a little tighter to the shoulder like the .260 Remington deer. But, with her walking, I was a few inches back. But still, RIGHT THROUGH THE LUNGS!!!
Exit:
Entry to ribs: (no bone hit going in)
Entry to lungs:
Center of lungs: (Entry on left / Exit on right)
Exit from lungs:
Exit through 1 rib:
Path: (L to R)
The blood you see in the above picture is all that was in her chest cavity.
Glad I found her! She ran something over 100 yards (115 ?) and left a total of 5 drops of blood that I could find. Until 5 feet in front of her where I found the pool.
I am NOT impressed with these terminal performance results!
( I have some errands to run. I will return this evening to discuss further. Talk amongst yourselves. I'm pretty not happt right about now.)
"To Hell with efficiency, it's performance we want!" - Elmer Keith
Replies
I'm guessing by the massive blood clot that she fell over on the exit side, and that's when your puddle finally formed - or would that have been exhaled?
And yes. . .LOVE the cat! "Are you gonna eat that?"
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
Ive hunted for weeks without seeing a blessed thing. Wish I had better property/someone to teach me.
Linefinder told you about this. If you would shoot a .270 with a good, separating cup and core bullet, you could call yourself a rifleman, rather than a tracker.
Glad you recovered the deer and the vindication of a good shot.
Good to know the kids were out with you as well.
"The Un-Tactical"
I got plenty of room to talk. I've never had to track a deer.
That.
Here's why I love my .270 Win. Or.....I love my .270 Win loaded with 130 grain NBT's for deer.
I've killed about 30 deer with it. I've fired 32 shots to do this. One deer I did a "coup de grace" on when it didn't expire from the double lung hit as quickly as I felt it should have, but in truth, the second shot wasn't necessary.
The second one that required 2 shots was at 376 yards (my very first attempt at a LR shot on game) and the first shot was a complete miss due to misestimating the range. The second shot dropped it like a rock.
That leaves....oh....a bit over two dozen other deer. One traveled about forty yards. One traveled about ten yards.
The rest died within their own shadow via a single gunshot wound.
I don't like tough (or even semi-tough) bullets for deer. Unless you make a habit of shooting them in the butt, it doesn't take much penetration to royally screw up a deers day. The quicker you start to scramble the innards, the better. NBT's are great at that. They make even a so-so coyote gun a deer slaying machine.
Mike
N454casull
Yeah yeah. He's been hunting all his life, too. I got catching up to do.
What about close shots, Mike? You know what kind of conditions I'm hunting... My understanding about BTs was that they were primarily for aiding expansion when a bullet had lost its velocity. Also had a buddy shoot a deer at 60 yards with one and it cratered with little penetration.
I've never shot a deer at 60 yards, but I've popped a few between 80 and 100. I've never had a NBT fail to exit a white tail.
Nosler calls any NBT under 90 grains a Varmint bullet, and all those 95 grains plus are deemed Hunting bullets. If you shoot a deer with 55 grain NBTs from a .243 Win, you'll likely not like them. But stick a 95 grain NBT in it and you're golden.
Short story......up close or on out there, I've never experienced a "failure" against white tails with the hunting weight NBT's.
Mike
N454casull
But I didn't know they thickened the jacket.
Mike
N454casull
Fixed it for you.
;-)
Call me anytime. I can help you find your head after your wife knocks it off for buying guns.
Depends. Call him what?
Mike
N454casull
That's a good idea! Controlled environment and see what they will do.
The ranch had a bunch of cats and they were some deer eating fools! They were munching and fighting over every leg, hide, or scrap that hit the ground!
Yes, the damage was NOT what I was expecting with the whole, "Penetrate 2-3" and then shed 45-80% of their mass as shrapnel" description from Berger.
Yes, these are the Orange Box Hunting VLD bullets. In both 6.5 and 7mm the past couple days.
It's a target rich environment but you still gotta know where the targets are.
This lends itself to lots of experimentation with different cartridges and bullets. Which, I like very much.
Rapier posted some pics of it some few years back.
Mike
N454casull
Ironically, I've had to shoot more game twice or more using a .270 than I ever have with another cartridge. Go figure.
Oh, and it seems..........so has Linefinder.
;-)
The kids enjoyed going, as they always do.
Yes, I feel better. I was sweating the shot all night. When I saw the holes, I knew I'd done my part.
In these two cases (6.5 & 7mm)...........apparently so.
But, the .25cal 115gr Berger Hunting VLD worked like a CHAMP!
It was not as tight to the shoulder as I intended. I was trying to hit the front of the lungs and the Aorta like I had with the .260 Remington and the Berger.
As you can see on the lungs, I was about 3" back from the aorta but at about the same level as the pic in the other thread. I'll attribute that to her walking while I shot. My bad. But, I was close to a duplication.
I would not say that I was too far back or too high. Look at the lungs, I centered the rear lobe!!! Those lungs should have been shredded and an exit hole larger than 1/2" to let the blood out. The only reason the exit was 1/2" was because the bullet centered a rib on the way out. I honestly think it would have been smaller had it not.
Wasn't exactly where I wanted it. But, this was not a bad shot. At least, I don't think so.
Cat? I thought it was a poodle...