ShootnMathews
Well-Known Member
Looking for results on imPacts and damage from the 190 grain Hornady Sub-X at subsonic speeds. Is it plenty lethal on deer? Or have you had a bad experience.
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Anyone shot deer with the 190grn Sub-x at 1050ish fps??
- Thread starter ShootnMathews
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Buttermilk
Well-Known Member
I have not shot a deer with that bullet yet. I have some ready to load up for my granddaughter.
Based on my research, I have no reservations shooting deer or hogs with this bullet.
Based on my research, I have no reservations shooting deer or hogs with this bullet.
Ross1147
Well-Known Member
Tagging in to see how it goes.
I bought several boxes of loaded Hornady BO 190 grn Sub-xs only to find out after the first shot they are supersonic in my bolt gun. Ran the second shot over a chrono and yup, super. Contacted Hornady to see if it was possibly a batch issue and I got the standard "ammo is different in every gun." So I started pulling bullets, measured the average powder in them, then tested a few at reduced loads. Either way, dropping it .5 grns got me to 1020fps. So I settled on that.
Last year for sub hunting around the house I used a 458 SOCOM shooting 530 grn bullets. It works, but it's hard to get that thing quiet! I'd like to use the 190 grn in the BO, but not sure they are enough bullet to take a deer? They sure do a number on squirrels though!
I bought several boxes of loaded Hornady BO 190 grn Sub-xs only to find out after the first shot they are supersonic in my bolt gun. Ran the second shot over a chrono and yup, super. Contacted Hornady to see if it was possibly a batch issue and I got the standard "ammo is different in every gun." So I started pulling bullets, measured the average powder in them, then tested a few at reduced loads. Either way, dropping it .5 grns got me to 1020fps. So I settled on that.
Last year for sub hunting around the house I used a 458 SOCOM shooting 530 grn bullets. It works, but it's hard to get that thing quiet! I'd like to use the 190 grn in the BO, but not sure they are enough bullet to take a deer? They sure do a number on squirrels though!
ShootnMathews
Well-Known Member
That would be frustrating. I'm buying a 300bo next year for that reason and was planning on shooting that same ammo. Looks like I'll be handloading I guess though
wvbearhunter
Well-Known Member
I was underwhelmed by the Sub-X and ended up going back to the Makers 200gr Exp subs
ShootnMathews
Well-Known Member
SubX didn't expand for you? Or didn't kill fast enough or what?
wvbearhunter
Well-Known Member
Did not expand at all, they kind of bent in half...similar to what happens with the 200gr matchkings
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snox801
Well-Known Member
I actually lost the first deer is hot with it at 20 yards. Hit high over lungs and under spine. Deer lived till the next season and still had her on camera. They are also supersonic in my bolt gun so back to reloading. Now I've also had some good luck with them since. So it's just like anything else works great for what it is.
Bucklowery
Well-Known Member
I have shot several deer at 100 yrd subsonic 308 Winchester with the makers and cavity back Bullets and am very happy. Working on a 300bo load soon too
Thanks
Buck
Thanks
Buck
ShootnMathews
Well-Known Member
Well this thread hasn't instilled a ton of confidence in this bullet for me. 
I did adjust my load yesterday. I'm shooting it in a 308 win Savage FCP-SR 24" barrel. 190 SubX in Lapua Brass with a Federal 215 magnum primer and 10.0 grains of Trail Boss. This gets me an average of 1050 fps and a 17fps spread over 5 shots.
I was previously shooting 10.5 grains with a Winchester LR primer and was averaging around 950 fps but it have like a 50 fps extreme spread. The magnum primer definitely seemed to even out the powder burn and picked up the fps so I was able to cut back on powder some. Which is nice since trail boss is not being produced right now.
My hope is for my autistic son to be able to shoot deer with it since he doesn't like loud booms and such. Next weekend is youth season and he's very excited to use it. I sighted it in at 50 yards and shot a 3 shot group. The fist shot being in the yellow at 12 o'clock and the the next two shots high making it about a 3/4" group at 50. I then went inside and loaded one more cartridge and backed up to 100 yards and ran all the numbers through my ballistic app and dialed the correction for drop and put the second round in the yellow at about 9 o'clock. So I'm pretty happy with it. I'll just take my rangefinder and ballistic calc and dial whatever he needs for him. I'm hoping this bullet performs as advertised. This will be his first time actually shooting at a deer. He's really excited. The past years I took him out and he would line up on a deer and you could see the hesitation in his face and then he'd step away from the gun. Loud noises cause a lot of anxiety for autistic kids and he just wouldn't pull the trigger but since I got my suppressors approved he LOVES shooting.
I did adjust my load yesterday. I'm shooting it in a 308 win Savage FCP-SR 24" barrel. 190 SubX in Lapua Brass with a Federal 215 magnum primer and 10.0 grains of Trail Boss. This gets me an average of 1050 fps and a 17fps spread over 5 shots. I was previously shooting 10.5 grains with a Winchester LR primer and was averaging around 950 fps but it have like a 50 fps extreme spread. The magnum primer definitely seemed to even out the powder burn and picked up the fps so I was able to cut back on powder some. Which is nice since trail boss is not being produced right now.
My hope is for my autistic son to be able to shoot deer with it since he doesn't like loud booms and such. Next weekend is youth season and he's very excited to use it. I sighted it in at 50 yards and shot a 3 shot group. The fist shot being in the yellow at 12 o'clock and the the next two shots high making it about a 3/4" group at 50. I then went inside and loaded one more cartridge and backed up to 100 yards and ran all the numbers through my ballistic app and dialed the correction for drop and put the second round in the yellow at about 9 o'clock. So I'm pretty happy with it. I'll just take my rangefinder and ballistic calc and dial whatever he needs for him. I'm hoping this bullet performs as advertised. This will be his first time actually shooting at a deer. He's really excited. The past years I took him out and he would line up on a deer and you could see the hesitation in his face and then he'd step away from the gun. Loud noises cause a lot of anxiety for autistic kids and he just wouldn't pull the trigger but since I got my suppressors approved he LOVES shooting.
That is fantastic! Good job dad!
I haven't shot anything with it personally but a friend who has a ranch in central Texas uses the 190 sub-x TAP on everything from hogs to deer. He uses both a CZ and Howa bolt guns as well as an AR 16 inch. They have thermals on everything and they're all suppressed. I think a 10.5 suppressed AR would be closer to true subsonic but he tells me that the bolts guns are really quiet. I think the 1-8 twist of most 300 BO guns is important but I can't argue with the groups out of the Savage which in 308 is likely 1-10.
I built a 300 Ham'r 18" with a 1-8 LPVO suppressed. I'm using Wilson's 130 Speer Hot-Core and I'm going to the range today to do some 200 yds. drop tests. It's going to be my primary deer / Axis, pig everything under 200 gun. I will also bring my Tikka Ember 308 for longer engagements.
I tried this bullet for my work, which is hunting coyotes full time. In two nights I killed 8 coyotes and two badgers with it. Of those I had to shoot 3 coyotes and one of the badgers more than once. All of the shots that required follow-ups were what I would consider very acceptable hits on the first round. I abandoned the bullet and ordered some maker 200 grain REX bullets, but been waiting on a shipping snafu for new brass. It came in yesterday, so hopefully I'll find a load quick and get the 300 blk back into the field for another test run. I like the concept, but am not convinced for my uses that it is superior to a supersonic but suppressed 22-250.
One thing that suprised me, the sub-x would ricochet like crazy even after a pass through shot on a coyote. I wasn't too suprised they were bad that way shooting paper, but I didn't expect that after shooting through an animal. So be careful, this bullet does some wierd stuff.
One thing that suprised me, the sub-x would ricochet like crazy even after a pass through shot on a coyote. I wasn't too suprised they were bad that way shooting paper, but I didn't expect that after shooting through an animal. So be careful, this bullet does some wierd stuff.
