Recovered Nosler AB 308 doesn’t look right...

[BuzzH]

You’ve lead a truly remarkable hunting career, with over 300 big game animals taken....and no failures! Also, if you read my previous post pertaining to bullet failure, it was not a friend or a hunting buddy....it was me! memtb

Not really, I never said I haven’t failed, I just don’t scapegoat bullets for my failures. Never will forget I was hunting with a guy who was bitching about bullet performance being poor on a pronghorn he shot through the guts. Pretty tough to evaluate bullet performance with crap shot placement.

 

[Addicting]

What’s the best caliber? I’m looking at a new rifle and don’t want my bullets to fail.

 

[cahunter805]

A 375H&H for deer! That’s definitely a big cartridge.
How long ago was this? The 300gr BTSP has been changed several times over the years and in the early years was highly fragile. Just like the early NBT in many calibers that have since been revamped.
Thin jacketed bullets that are properly constructed and used as designed are highly effective and what I personally prefer.

 

[cahunter805]

What’s the best caliber? I’m looking at a new rifle and don’t want my bullets to fail.

Caliber Or cartridge?

 

[Addicting]

A 375H&H for deer!

Its only a 300 Sherman, I guess it won’t work for elk then.

 

[mtmuley]

They haven’t yet! memtb

A .338 RUM mashes them. So does a .300. More pedestrian cartridges, maybe not. But, they will deform. mtmuley

 

[BOOM!!]

Sounds like bullets were ballistic tips not ABs. Factory or handloads?

You nailed it! When it was thought the bullets were AB’s it was considered unexplainable bullet failure and when revealed they were actually BT’s, now acceptable performance?
Wow this is very entertaining and educational
I think I’m going with the AB’s.

 

[matt0550]

No kidding. Either the critter is dead and the bullet doesn't look perfect, or the critter ran off. Hence, bullet failure. mtmuley

Not in the case of my small "study" all i guess I was trying frame-out was that I have killed a couple of animals (bullet did do its job - AND my placement was correct) and then found that a bonded bullet that was guaranteed not to separate had in fact separated. As for the flattening of the meplat of the ABLR, I think that it just has to do with how soft the polymer is in that particular projectile - I've never once seen even a ding in the meplat of Bergers I shoot at the same velocities from the same rifle. I know that this is FAR from scientific data, just my observation of a few instances.

 

[dcreiss]

The last time I saw empty jackets fall out of an elk was one that was shot with Remington "Core-Lokts". The guy shot it 5 times before it died and when we skinned it, it rained bullet jackets and the meat was peppered with lead fragments. No thanks, no Nosler BT's or Core-Lokts for me. I use mainly Barnes TTSX or Accubonds.

I had accubonds out of a 30-06 behave like varmint grenades this fall on two separate occasions and lost alot of meat, they were seconds from pro shooter supply so I wonder if that lot that I purchased there were seconds listed due to bonding insufficiency? It sure stinks to waste elk shoulders on two elk and I definitely will be working up mono loads for next season.

 

[Edward waldner]

Where was the elk hit, and why did it take three shots? mtmuley

Shoot until the elk is down

 

[mtmuley]

Shoot until the elk is down

Ed, been hunting elk for almost 40 years. I get that part. Was just looking for more info. mtmuley

 

[Edward waldner]

Ed, been hunting elk for almost 40 years. I get that part. Was just looking for more info. mtmuley

Just saying it’s pretty common to shoot more than once at a big animal.

 

[BWALKER77]

I had accubonds out of a 30-06 behave like varmint grenades this fall on two separate occasions and lost alot of meat, they were seconds from pro shooter supply so I wonder if that lot that I purchased there were seconds listed due to bonding insufficiency? It sure stinks to waste elk shoulders on two elk and I definitely will be working up mono loads for next season.

If you are concerned with meat loss why shoot them in the shoulder? Did the bullet penetrate into the vitals?
Accubonds have very thick jackets and even if they where not bonded will not blow up like a varmint bullet, especially at 30-06 velocity levels.

 

[Big Ed]

if you wanna stay with a bt try the 168 grain 30 cal. supposed to have a thicker jacket that should hold the core in better and penetrate deeper. or just go with a 165 true accubond. i really like bt's but i'm strickly a whitetail deer hunter. not many elk left here in MS ha!
good luck on your bullet search and btw i love analyzing bullets after they've done their dirty work,
Big Ed

 

[BWALKER77]

if you wanna stay with a bt try the 168 grain 30 cal. supposed to have a thicker jacket that should hold the core in better and penetrate deeper. or just go with a 165 true accubond. i really like bt's but i'm strickly a whitetail deer hunter. not many elk left here in MS ha!
good luck on your bullet search and btw i love analyzing bullets after they've done their dirty work,
Big Ed

The 180 bt is very tough as well.

 

[Big Ed]

Sorry for the darkish image. But this is a 170lb MS cull 5 point my son killed with a 150 bt outta a Tikka 308 win. I’ve never seen this before but it appears that the core separated from the cup at the last moment before exiting the off side as seen here. Made for a great blood trail of approx 50 yds. But I’d rather it hold together. I’m not changing anything as his tikka loves the bullet and the deer died with a thru and thru.
Big Ed

 

[Bigmo58]

The most likely thing is that the chemical bonding was off just a bit and didn’t take. It is a possibility with any bonded bullet.

 

[ShadowFast1]

The only time I consider a bullet to have "failed" is when it does not perform as the manufacturer intended. I think bullet "failure" is more rare than common these days but cannot be written off. Some bullets mushroom perfectly, some loose their jacket, some explode into shrapnel, some pass right though without deformation but most typically do as they're designed.

Unfortunately, the OP had a case of bullet mistaken identity. However, the bullet did as it was designed to do, and ultimately it did the job. Some are fine with how that bullet performed, some would prefer one that retains it's jacket, some would rather have an all copper construction, some want explosive expansion. The best we can do is select a bullet that is intended to perform the way we want and put it into the animal in the place and within the appropriate velocity threshold that allows it to perform as it should.

Also .50 caliber in the .50 BMG chambering should perform well on game irrespective of the bullet construction.

 

[tzone]

It died. The bullets worked!! Congrats to your daughter.