Just got back from deer hunting (warning - dead deer pics)

[jon_norstog]

Out here in Kaliforniev condor country we have to use lead free bullets. The Barnes X and such types are about all that work....... Oh, and the lead free bullets don't kill as well because of the lack of expansion so the wounded animal issue has cropped up too....

Bill, list:

A couple years ago I shot a moose with a 220 grain X-bullet from an 8x57 mauser. Behind 47 gr of 4895. This is a load that splays the primer out of the pocket a bit, and that is somewhat hotter than max 220 gr. loads in the '06.

I shot him head-on in the brisket. he jumped and took off. It was at the top of a drainage - I followed the blood, then searched the whole drainage looking for him. Didn't find him so I went back up to where I shot him. I found him about 25 yards away, he doubled back and I missed him in the brush, first time.

I dressed him out on the spot, found the bullet under the hide, right side, about the last rib. It had expanded to about 1/2" is all. I could have hammered the point back together and used it again.

I never did find that animal's heart. It was a clean kill.

I used the X-bullets because my brother gave me 20 of them. Idaho, you can use lead for big game. I used copper because I had some.

I'm not certain if the bullet was at fault. At first I thought it maybe was designed for use in the 8mm Rem mag. I realized later that I had primed those shells with some of the large rifle magnum primers I bought during the **last** primer panic, when Bill Clinton was prez. I gotta get a chronograph.

Anyway, Bill, list, copper bullets are probably OK. they will definitely stay together going thru a shoulder, even on an elk or a big bear. As far as expansion goes, that's another matter. This year I used jacketed lead bullets in my 7 mag and my 30-40.

Bill, moderators - I'm glad you're cutting the hunters some slack on this site. Hunting with milsurps is an american trAdition. Back when a Model 70 was $100, you could buy a Krag for $10 and take an elk just fine. Milsurps are the people's hunting rifles.

jn