ballistic tip too much for antelope??

[loaders_loft]

You gotta love it when a thread starts out like this,

"A guy at the range told me..."

---- that my 150gr ballistic tip in my 7 wsm would be too destructive on antelope.

Anway, it got me thinking, is there any truth to it? lightbulb

Maybe I should impose a "minimum range" for this load, besides my own "optimistic" max range of 600 yd? I say optimistic, because I've only shot this load out to 300 yards so far...

For reference, my load has muzzle velocity of 3030fps, which should carry about 2460fps at 400yd, and 2195 fps at 600yd, in 6600 ft elevation of western wyoming...

The other alternative is using 168 berger vld at 2912 fps, which should carry
about the same velocities at 400 & 600. Should I expect the berger to be any less "destructive" than the ballistic tip?

I have not killed anything yet with either load, so I'm looking for input from those who have...

 

[JOSE A. MARINE]

last year was my first lope hunt, I was using my 300 wsm because I later had a mule deer/elk combination hunt.

my impression, the antelope I shot, was hit on the rearest rib and the bullet exited on the oposite shoulder, bullets were nosler accubond. the deer ran for more than 200 yards before collapse.

though antelopes seem fragile, I think quite the oposite. everyone on my hunting party who took antelope, took two shots to bring them down.

yes, you can go with your 7wsm and I think its one of the best cartridge available. but the question now arises, are you eating the goat?

would I go with a 7wsm and balistic tips, yes and the heavier the better.

in an ideal world, you would be able to shoot an antelope perfectly broadside, standing still, with the wind in your favor, but thats not always true.


JOSE A. MARINE
MEXICO

 

[pressman]

i have shot them with my win 270 using a 130gr ballistic tip and also a 308 165 gr ballistic tip both animals were kill around 300 yards with one shot to the boiler room. Yes it does leave a nice hole on both sides especially the exit. like 3" holes but if you shoot them right behind the shoulder not on the shoulder then really you will not loose valuable meat. or you can just shoot them in the neck. no real meat lost and they will drop right where you hit them. patients is the key goats are somewhat curious animals and unless they really see you they won't just bolt and start running however they will gather their does up and leave rather quickly if they feel threaten. usually they will give you a side shot if you play your cards right.

 

[FEENIX]

You should be just fine with your set up. I (2nd from left) harvested the fawn antelope below during a damage hunt in 2003 with 180 BT in .300WM ~ 150 yards with very little meat damage - ~ 2" exit wound.

Enjoy and have a safe hunt.

Ed

 

[7mmSendaro]

I have shot several antelope with your exactly BT set-up. It works very well. Again, try to stay off the shoulder but quite frankly, there isn't a ton of meat on an antelope front shoulder anyway. On antelope, I wouldn't expect much difference in meat damage between the Nosler and the Berger, I've shot them with both in 7mm.

Good Luck!

 

[loaders_loft]

thanks for the responses.

That was about what I expected when I chose these 2 bullets but then I started over thinking my decision....

 

[loaders_loft]

pressman - where on the neck?

 

[pressman]

i usually shot for about 4" or 5" from the shoulder. and all of that depends on the wind and how the animal is facing. also if i am head hunting or meat hunting. if i am meat hunting usually go for the neck most of the time but if i am head hunting then that is different then i go for the honey hole. you will cut a nice hole so if you are even thinking of mounting it the neck is not a place to aim for.
but really any shot anywhere in the neck you will have a dead animal with no tracking. just from the shock of the bullets at impact will drop them.
goats are pretty much like any animal. If the hunter does his part and places the shot in the vitals (neck or behind shoulder) their will little or no tracking.

good luck and happy hunting

I hunt around Sheridan Wyoming and finding goats is not a problem usually so their for it is all about making the shot. If you can shoot then you will be rewarded with a goat.

 

[Ol'Gator]

My wife uses 150 gr. BT in her .300 Mag. and has never had a problem taken antelope. Most are taken from 200-300yards. Good bullet for these critters.

 

[jimbo300]

I've shot 6 antelope with a 7mm RM and the 150 BT. The distance on most of the shots was 300-400 yards and all were shot behind the front shoulder in the heart region and none went over 50 yards after being hit. I have never had a problem with a BT's performance on deer size game. If the BT is what you want to use, do so with confidence.

 

[buffybr]

but really any shot anywhere in the neck you will have a dead animal with no tracking. just from the shock of the bullets at impact will drop them.

A hit low (the underside) in the neck can just punch through the neck muscles and the windpipe and will most likely result in a lost animal with no blood trail.

 

[pressman]

buffybr
i have to agree and disagree all at the same time. you might just catch the windpipe but their is no way you are not going to have a blood trail shooting a BT bullet. I have ripped out the windpipe but i also took a few main arteries as well.
now my agreeing part i don't think i would shoot a deer in the neck in heavy river bottoms or in heavy cover because you might loose one. but shooting antelope in antelope country which is usually wide open. you would see him fall even if you all you hit was the windpipe a couple hundreds yards in a hurry is all he is going to make. and for the most part where i hunt 2 or 3 hundred yards is nothing. most of the time you can see thousands.
My question is how many animals have you truly shot in the neck and lost. I personally have never lost one that was hit solidly in the neck. most of the time they never move out of their tracks.
all of this is just my 2 cents... you have to shoot them where ever you think is best it is your hunt not mine.

 

[buffybr]

My question is how many animals have you truly shot in the neck and lost.

Zero. My usual shot of choice is on the shoulder or the crease behind the shoulder.

The antelope that I lost with the .22-250 was shot in the chest and dropped. As I approached him, he got up and ran over the ridge. When I crested the ridge, he was standing broadside just below the next ridge. I shot him again in the chest and he again fell. Once again, as I started toward him, he got up and ran over the second ridge. When I got to where he had crossed the second ridge, I only saw miles of sagebrush. There was a little blood where he fell, but I lost his tracks in the mass of other antelope tracks that were there. I am guessing that the 52 gr HP bullets had hit bone and not penetrated into the chest cavity.

Two years ago I had both a buck and a doe antelope tags in our usual area in southeastern Montana. I crawled to within 100 yds of 6-8 antelope. My first shot, in the chest, dropped one of the bucks. The rest of the herd stood there looking my way. I decided to try a neck shot on one of the does. After I shot, she ran off about 50 yds and lay down. A second shot into her chest killed her. My first shot had punched a quarter inch (.257 AI, 117 gr GAmeKing) hole through the muscle and windpipe of her neck.

Another time I was hunting whitetail deer in the sagebrush and grass hills of northeast Montana. On opening morning, two of the other hunters in my camp each shot a small buck, they said, in the neck. One of the hunters said he found a little blood and a tuft of hair. Neither buck was ever found.

Another example, I was elk hunting in the sage and oak brush hills in northwestern Colorado with my college roommates. These guys grew up in Craig, CO, and this wasn't their first elk hunt. One of them shot a cow elk in the neck. Again, he found a little blood and hair. We never found her.

My last example was a 4x4 whitetail buck that I shot in NW Montana. After I got it home and was processing the meat, I found a .35 cal bullet in his neck, next to the vertebre. The bullet had mushroomed and the jacket and core had separated and the wound had completly healed. There was no external scarring and I had no idea the bullet was there until I found it when I was boning out the neck meat.

 

[pressman]

very nice reading their and like i said i do agree with you to some extent especially animals around cover. also i notice you did shoot an antelope in the neck and only ran 50 yards then laid down. ya I saw you had to make a follow up shot. i have always used 270 or bigger caliber with the ballistic tip bullets. that might have something to do with it as well. i can see where a smaller caliber might not be a good idea to shot for the next. but getting back to the thread at hand of using ballistic tips for antelope. i used them a lot and i find they are very deadly.

just out of curiosity I know that the 22-250 is very accurate and very flat shooting but why would you hunt antelope with it. in my opinion that seems a little small.
you really don't have a lot of energy produced.