SaskShooter
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2012
- Messages
- 185
We all have that one hunting pal, you know the guy that uses his truck more than his legs for hunting, and "really doesn't care" if his handloaded powder charges vary by 3-4 grains, and thinks that clean kills are optional.
A few years ago I was talking with said hunting buddy about deer rifles, his one and only deer rifle is a custom made 7mm STW on a Sako action with a 26 inch tube, he handloads all of his ammo (poorly). Now I can't remember the exact powder charge but it was very high, even for an STW.
I asked him how fast his loads were going- "Oh, about 3400 FPS."..................................... with a 175 grain Winchester FailSafe.
Of course I immediately thought it was BS, but I just nodded my head and said "Hmmm... that's fast."
I didn't believe a word of it until a week later when he dropped a big 10 pointer at 150-200 yards. I walked over just as he was about to skin it, and there was a 4 inch+ hole right behind the shoulder.
"Holy crap that's quite the exit wound.", I said.
"Nope that's the entry."
Sure enough, he rolled the buck over- no other holes, inside of the buck was messy. He said that was always how the bullets performed under 200 yards. He showed me his ammo, a plastic bag filled with witch's brew handloads in assorted cases (both 8mm Remington and 7mm STW headstamps) loaded around 50/50 with both Nosler Partitions and Winchester FailSafes. He said he shot the buck with a FailSafe.
Ok, let's hear your theories, how on earth did this man push a tough controlled expansion bullet like a FailSafe fast enough to completely blow it up INSIDE a 220~ pound animal?
A few years ago I was talking with said hunting buddy about deer rifles, his one and only deer rifle is a custom made 7mm STW on a Sako action with a 26 inch tube, he handloads all of his ammo (poorly). Now I can't remember the exact powder charge but it was very high, even for an STW.
I asked him how fast his loads were going- "Oh, about 3400 FPS."..................................... with a 175 grain Winchester FailSafe.
Of course I immediately thought it was BS, but I just nodded my head and said "Hmmm... that's fast."
I didn't believe a word of it until a week later when he dropped a big 10 pointer at 150-200 yards. I walked over just as he was about to skin it, and there was a 4 inch+ hole right behind the shoulder.
"Holy crap that's quite the exit wound.", I said.
"Nope that's the entry."
Sure enough, he rolled the buck over- no other holes, inside of the buck was messy. He said that was always how the bullets performed under 200 yards. He showed me his ammo, a plastic bag filled with witch's brew handloads in assorted cases (both 8mm Remington and 7mm STW headstamps) loaded around 50/50 with both Nosler Partitions and Winchester FailSafes. He said he shot the buck with a FailSafe.
Ok, let's hear your theories, how on earth did this man push a tough controlled expansion bullet like a FailSafe fast enough to completely blow it up INSIDE a 220~ pound animal?