NOT happy with the 300grMK

[huntinfool18]

went hunting this weekend with tikkamike here on the site. i was packing my 338 with 300gr matchkings at 3120fps. had an atelope doe at 925 yds, hit her right behind the shoulder and she just stood there like nothing happened. hit her again and nothing. all my spotters couldnt tell if i was hitting or not and wit ammo being expensive i grabbed my friends 7rum and again with the same results. i was a little upset making the drive to the antelope as i thought i was missing. but when we got to the antelpoe she was laying down with her head up so i put a finishing shot in the head at 300yds with my friends 6xc. when we walked up the the antelope come to find out i had hit every shot. all shots were liver and forward except one. the 338 300gr mk just poked right through like a fmj would have. with no damage at all. this was the toughest goat i have ever seen taking multiple vital shots and still alive???? kinda has me stumped.

 

[B23]

Was this by chance shot with the 338Lap. imp. you have for sale in the classified section?

 

[edge]

Did any of the bullets impact bone?

FWIW, I figure that liver only hits without a lot of trauma result in about an hour for most game animals to expire.

edge.

 

[bigngreen]

I wouldn't really expect a 300 SMK to do a whole lot on an antelope without putting it on the front shoulder. An antelope ain't much to get a bullet that big to do much. Most of the video I have found of a 300 SMK on goats they all run unless it is put on bone, then the results are a rather dramatic smack down!

 

[BobbyL]

Sierra does not recommend using these on smaller game and this is why. Lots of these bullets are slightly different then others I have seen problems like this happen with almost all bullets. I have had good luck with them on deer and other game with no problem.It is kinda strange but not unheard of for this to happen. You want something that will open more up go to the barns or nosler bullets like the accubond or the balistic tip. Like i said i have had no problems like this but i shoot them 250 FPS faster. The problem sounds like you just didnt hit enough bone to make the bullet fragment enough. I could see this happening with these prairie goats very easily.


bobby

 

[Autorotate19]

+1 on hitting bone with that bullet, its a huge heavy bullet going through a really thin skinned animal at long range, I think you would have to hit bone with most bullets to get descent expansion. Besides that sounds like you made some great shots at long range. Good shooting!

 

[Broz]

Yep, at that distance I would be going for bone.

.338 LM / 300 SMK @2805 mv 820 yards.

Entrance

Exit

The Video:

First one at 482 second at 820.. both front shoulder hits and yes they are tuff critters!!

YouTube - Extreme range hunthing with a .338 Lapua

 

[huntinfool18]

thanks for the input guys. i figured i needed to hit bone on these goats and deer for it to do anything. do you think it would do the same thing on an elk if i didnt hit bone???

B23 yes this was with the rifle listed in classified

 

[MTBULLET]

paper punching bullet on thin skinned animal, what did you expect , execpt an animal left to bleed to death from poor bullet choice.

 

[edge]

Broz, great shooting and thanks for the video

Just a "flesh wound" on that 820 yard goat, just put some dirt on it and he should be fine.

edge.

 

[Broz]

thanks for the input guys. i figured i needed to hit bone on these goats and deer for it to do anything. do you think it would do the same thing on an elk if i didnt hit bone???

Distance becomes the factor here too. But I feel the heavier front rib of an elk will expand them fine at most distances. I have taken two elk with the 300 SMK. The first a 6x6 at 526 yards was a direct shoulder punch. The elk traveled maybe 50 yards, put his head down and tumbles *** over appetite. This bullet broke the near shoulder destroyed both lungs and lodged in the oposite shoulder almost exiting. That bullet retained over 60% of its weight.

The other elk a 5x5 was at 1130 yards. He was 3/4 facing me and I centered it for a forward high shoulder. The wnd got me left about 8" and the bullet entered high on the base of the neck. This bull rared up and over backwards and fell dead like he was lightning struck. Never kicked. Some luck there for sure. But the bonus was no ruined meat!!

I am using the Berger Hybrid this year because my and Roy's expansion tests show them to expand well. And they are so darn accurate in my rifle at 1000 plus. But if I had not tried the bergers I would have no issues what so ever using the SMK for hunting. I would hate to even try to count all the long range game they have taken. Members here alone.

Jeff gun)gun)

 

[Tikkamike]

It was the dangdest thing I have ever seen. That goat looked like a piece of swiss cheese. I was very suprised. I was watching through my binos and another guy that was with us was recording I was able to go back and watch the video and they were putting a hurting on her but not putting her down. You could tell pretty clearly in the video they were going through her because you couldnt see the bullet hit the dirt only the dust cloud afterwords. I am sure he would have had better results with less wind. I think there was a little more wind than we thought because he was holding 1-2 minutes into the wind.. I cant remember and was still hitting a little far back. last week I shot an antelope doe with cast bullets out of my 460 s&w right behind the shoulder and she did the same thing I thought I had missed I hit the hart so she only went 120 yards but it was amazing she didnt plop over right there. I think those things are just tough little suckers and you need to hit some bone to knock them over otherwise your going to have to wait till the internal damage you did kicks in.... It was an awesome day though lots of guns and shooting and messin around out in the hills.

 

[bigngreen]

Some times that's how it goes, I punched a little whitetail doe at 50yrds with a 45-70 loaded to the hilt with 405gr flat nose and she took two right at the water line and acted like nothing happened. I ended up shooting her with my 22 pistol. That bullet and load will levitate and elk but she took it like a rock star, you could nearly see clean though her but she would not fall.
I would conduct more field testing gun)

 

[huntinfool18]

broz. ive tried they bergers out of this rifle and they seem to shoot much better then the MK"s. im gonna load the bergers up and use them for elk if this rifle dosent sell.