Post by ballistic on Dec 17, 2023 20:49:40 GMT -5
Have seen deer shot with a "regular" inline muzzleloader react from "drop on impact" to running 200 yards. If you're shooting a High Velocity SML... Lean towards a 22-250 vs a woodchuck. Won't be the same twice, but results will be dramatic.
The 22-250 is a great varmint cartridge for sure. It does even better on prairie dogs than woodchucks. Dramatic is what you want for tracking a wounded animal. Lots of internal damage and a large exit and entrance wound.
I've shot literally thousands of animals. With everything from FMJ's out of my 8mm Mauser, Hollow point match bullets in 6.5 and .224 diameter, varmint bullets, rimfires (slow velocity/high velocity), slug guns, to the SML and quite a few others. Never, have I seen a bullet or a target defy the laws of physics. And I refer to animals I pursue as targets, some of which are eaten and others are not. They are still targets. Just as bullets are bullets and physics is physics.
Sure, animals can sometimes complete surprising feats in their last moments of life, that is a given and largely unpredictable. This is why sometimes we must track them.
However, the performance of the projectile is completely bound by the laws of physics. And in relation to the location of where it impacts the target. There is another part of the velocity equation that is frequently left out. That is the rotational velocity of the projectile. This is a critical element to the equation for the damage created. Do the math sometime. It is pretty incredible how many RPM's a bullet is turning as it exits the muzzle. The faster a bullet spins the more likely it will reliably expand or separate in a target, or both. Both actions cause more internal damage. The trick is getting that reliable internal damage and an exit wound for a nice blood trail. Really, the only way to guarantee that is to go overkill for the game being pursued.
When the firearm being used is just "adequate" for producing good internal damage at short distances, say under 150 yards. As the distance increases the likelihood of catastrophic tissue damage decreases very quickly. That's the laws of physics.
Certainly, some projectiles perform better at low velocity than others. Those that explode within a target are a different kind of performance. Sometimes this is desirable, and sometimes not. However, even the most explosive bullet, once the distance becomes great enough, will only leave a small entrance wound and a small exit wound. Example, the 17 HMR. Fantastic varmint cartridge, it quickly became one of my top choices. Bullets go in and don't come out. All the energy is expended in the target. Well, I have shot a few woodchucks as far as 150 to 178 yards with that cartridge. Every time there's an exit wound. The velocity has dropped so much at that distance the bullet remains intact enough to pass completely through the target. With very little evidence of the bullet wound on either side of the animal. Big bullets follow the same laws of physics, it does not change.
Sure, no one really "needs" 5,000 foot pounds of energy to kill a whitetail. But it sure does make a heck of a blood trail! And when the distance increases to the target there is still plenty to get the desired results. My deer at 285 yards just a couple weeks ago, 3 inch exit wound and a very obvious blood trail for the last 70 yards of it's life.
Very good post on bullets and performance. What does overkill mean and why do I prefer it ? An animal can move on a whim and your shot might be outside of the kill zone. The massive wound channels I have experienced on elk have hit outside the kill zones on a few animals. Post kill inspections have revealed those rounds still hit the vitals. One animal (wounded and left behind by other hunters) was struggling and would have been wasted. Getting closer wasn’t an option so I went for it. The shot was really long and the impact velocity was about 1700 fps. The pitman 325 aeromax (.40 cal) didn’t hit perfectly - but did the job. And it created a huge wound channel with deep penetration that allowed my tag to be filled and an animal that didn’t go to waste. If there’s a bullet that can do this at 3060 and as low as 1700 fps -the pitman gets my nod. Some of the blackpowder muzzys are only shooting 1800 fps from the muzzle -I would still pick the pitman aeromax. Kyle might not agree so this is JMO.