Never Seen Damage Like This - Warning *Graphic*

I’ve had some pretty damaged game before when I hit bone but definitely not that bad
 
That’s ugly. Have never seen anything like that from Barnes, Accubonds, and now Hammers.
 
dcoryn said:
Shot my sheep at 160-180 yards broadside with a 162 grain Hornady ELD-X 7mm. This photo is the entry side, and the bullet entered right above the "elbow joint" right where I was aiming. It exited on the offside high in the rear ribs as the shot angle was pretty steep above us.

I have never seen this kind of carnage before on any animal I've shot with these bullets or the SST's I used to shoot before these. Wondering what could have caused all this damage in this instance. The bullet didn't explode, as we didn't find any fragments while cleaning and we had a defined exit hole about the size of a silver dollar...

Thoughts???

Trying to avoid damage like this in the future...


View attachment 155741
Click to expand...
Shot an antelope with a 130gr ballistic tip out of a .270 (never again) quartering toward me. Exit hole was mid body the size of a basketball. Things happen you can’t explain and may never happened again.
 
Did a pack of wolves get to it first? Holy crap! I don't think there's anything salvageable on that.

I remember shooting a little whitetail buck in the shoulder blade once with a .300WM shooting a 180gn Core-lokt. That was ugly, but still not even on the same scale.
 
I shot a buck looking straight at me at 20 yards with a 12ga sabot slug and it trashed both front shoulders but I don't think it was as bad as what you are showing. Last time I took a shot like that. That's just awful.
 
Wow, that is some carnage!

ELDX’s are a strange bullet that has the widest range of reviews of any that I have seen, from love to abhorrence. They group good in just about every gun, but terminal performance seems to run the gamut. I wonder why that is.

They shoot the best of any bullet I have tried in my 6.5, so that is my “shooting across the field from prone” deer bullet. Will definitely limit myself to double lung broadside shots.

Sorry for the meat loss. That’s so unfortunate.
 
I don't care for plastic tipped hunting bullet's except in varmint cartridges. Bullet hit's and that tip has to go somewhere. Then if it did hit the elbow as some one suggested, it's gonna open just that much faster. I shot a deer years ago. About 50yds with a 225gr Hornady in a 338 mag. Right in the shoulder and what a mess! almost separated the front and back half's. No doubt in my mind the bullet came apart, to much velocity on to small an animal at to close a range. Lot of people tend to think more is better, not always so. But on that sheep, looks like a fairly small body and maybe just to much cartridge with to fragile a bullet. The tendicity these days is to shoot more cartridge than needed for more velocity than needed with a more fragile than needed bullet with the idea we may get a 500 yd shot and count on the flat shooting (?) bullet to make a difference. Fact of the matter is the actual range's most game is shot at is under 200yds from what I read and at 200yds that hot load designed for 500 yds is gonna maybe fail! Still awfully impressive mess. I'd go with a lesser cartridge and better bullet, remember, just my opinion. Some people really like that SST bullet. Then again if you like your 7mm mag two ways to go. Either the monolithic bullet or either load down that cup and core or go to a heavier bullet without that tip. I'm not monolithic bullet fan, just to expensive and I'm on limited income. But if I did use a monolithic bullet it would definitely have that plastic tip, help's start expanision. Something about HP bullet's. Shot bullet's into newspaper at 100yds years ago to see what would happen to the bullet. Using a HP bullet in I think it was a 308 I dug out the bullet's and every HP bullet closed up the tip and the bullet bent. In a monolithic bullet I'd do plastic tips just for that.

Somehow I doubt you could do that again but I'd sure take some step to ensure I didn't.
 
I have a Nosler .30 and started shooting with Accubond LR because of how good the regular Accubond is. I shot a cow last year and the bullet exploded just like yours and blew a football size hole.. These LR bullets do not hold up with big power behind them. I just posted about my all copper Barnes LRX I just recovered from mega cow elk I just shot. It is perfect.

I still use regular Accubonds on most all my other guns including my Nosler .28 with no issues and perfect performance. I have recovered several Accubonds that look great. I wont use any of the new "LR" style bullets.
 
That is a mess. I’ve seen animals hit by tractor trailers that are more salvageable than that. I’d be sending those pictures to Hornady and asking what the hell happened then changing to another bullet ASAP.
 
It would be interesting to see what Hornady has to say about that. I might use those on something I hate like maybe rats, but I'm not too sure I would use them on game animals that I plan on eating.
 
I had very similar damage happen on a whitetail doe using some older Winchester ballistic tips I had in a 300wm when I was younger. Switched to a hornady precision hunter a few years back and it’s been a lot less messy. It’s still fairly ugly just cause it’s a 300 but better.
 
I have a couple antelope, and a sizeable pile of white tails now with the ELD-X out of a .300 Win Mag, and having seen the picture posted, I can't say I have seen damage like that from those bullets.
I have seen it with the ballistic tips on deer after a shoulder bone implode.
Probably bone frags caused most of what you see.
 
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