Black Bear With the 153gr Afterburner - 523 Yards

[mcdil]

We were excited to get a quick text and some pictures in this morning from yorke-1 who took this bear late last night on the west coast with our 153gr Afterburner out of a 300 RUM. I'm sure he'll come in at some point and add a bit more color to the story, but between a late night with the bear and an early morning at work, it may be a bit. He asked us to go ahead and post some of the pictures he sent. What we do know is it was 523 yards, and a stone dead roll to the ground. Congrats!

This is the first official kill for the production version of the 153gr Afterburner. Surprisingly, the 144gr production version already has four kills with another customer on LRH, two of which were at 500 yards or more out of a 300 WSM. I believe he will post results when he has time.

In all instances, the destruction path has been MASSIVE, straight, and deep (yes, I know, no reason to quote, paste, and add sly comments, lol). Interestingly enough, no bullet fragments have been found in all five cases, somewhat of a surprise to us based on gel and wet newsprint testing. However, petals were shed as evidenced by the trauma trail. Everything has passed through, and the bear below is the smallest animal shot by a substantial margin. Some large, heavy bones and muscle were hit on some of the shots, but the trauma remained consistent in all cases. Just after entry, fist sized, or almost fist sized, wound cavity all the way through to exit.

That's exactly the type of terminal performance we were shooting for when designing this bullet. Yes, it's slippery in the air. Yes, it's fast out of the muzzle. Yes, it reduces fouling and increases accuracy potential, but at the end of the day, it's terminal performance of the likes seen here that gets us pumped! This always had to be first as far as we were concerned.

Thanks, @yorke-1 for giving these a go for us!

 

[can1010]

impressive wound channel, looks like a lot of bone fragments contributed to that exit wound. has anybody shot with only rib impacts and was the damage that extensive as far as bloodshot and wound channel. that type of wound channel is what you would expect from heavy for caliber cup and core bullets.
not that is bad just not what you would normally expect to see from a mono bullet.

 

[mcdil]

can1010,
Even though the damage is extensive, around the wound is fairly clean from what I can gather, and being that it's all copper, that will be less of an issue anyway from a quality of meat perspective. I'll let the customers speak to that more. You see what I see in the pictures, so I'll leave it at that.

Below are some pictures of our prototype 153gr on a couple coyotes out of a 30-06. The prototype didn't open quite as quickly as the production versions in testing, hence the final tweak to perfect the terminal performance window with the production versions, but as can be seen on small animals, broadside, in the seam, with a non-magnum 30, even the prototype expanded extremely well. Performance is identical with the fist sized wound channel. If you look closely, you can see some petal exit wounds by themselves. From a penetration standpoint, we haven't recovered a single thing yet. Some of these shots are on animals that are approaching 1000 lbs or so, with some of those having heavy bone hits, and that's with the 144gr.

 

[LVJ76]

That is some damage right there. Curious as to what was the approximate impact velocity.

 

[LVJ76]

Hopefully @yorke-1 will whare that later on.

And one nice bear as well.

 

[mcdil]

That is some damage right there. Curious as to what was the approximate impact velocity.

On the impact velocity, I'm guessing between 2550 - 2575 fps based on mv (I think he's running around 3520 fps) and rough BC numbers. Not sure where he's settled on his true BC. We show .257 G7 out of the radar in our 1:10" twist 300 WM.

 

[yorke-1]

Mark covered the important stuff pretty well.

This bear was in the same valley as a bear I missed 2 years ago, and it's very likely the same bear. Chocolate color phase bears are common in this area, but the chocolate/cinnamon combo on this bear is not very common. I spotted this bear on the opposite side of the same valley as the bear I missed, from the same spot that I shot from a few years earlier. I missed the bear 2 years ago after my scope was knocked off zero while I was rolling down the berry field. When I saw that bear at 250 yards, I just held dead on since that rifle was zeroed at 250 yards, without checking my turret. Sure enough, I went about 8" over that bear's back. I didn't get a second clear shot, so I let it walk and just kicked myself for not checking my scope.

I spotted this bear initially at 501 yards, but I never snap-shoot at bear. I always try to watch them for at least 15 minutes just to be sure there aren't any cubs hanging around. This doesn't guarantee it's a boar or a solo sow, but it does make me feel better about taking the shot on a personal level. I watched this one for almost 20 minutes as she worked through the berries and never saw any cubs crawling around. By the time I was in a good position and the bear was in a good position, it was at 523 yards. The problem here is that my personal max range with the rifle I had with me was 500 yards. The gun is an old flat back Savage in 300 RUM. I've had it sitting around for a few years after taking it in trade, and it's an "acceptable" shooter on a good day. The most accurate load I found for it up until about a year ago was a 200gr A-Frame at a touch over 1 MOA. The only reason I still have this 300 RUM is that the 153 Afterburners shot pretty well out of it. It's no high end match rifle, but it's an honest 3/4 MOA rifle with the 153 Afterburner at 3520 fps. I've shot this combo as far as 900 yards and it held roughly 1 MOA out that far. My comfort zone with the combo is right about 500 yards though from a good field rest. 523 yards was right at my limit, but the wind was directly in my face and I had a good setup on a log, and the bear wasn't spooked at all.

I have the 300 RUM zeroed at 240 yards with the 153gr Afterburner so that I can essentially hold on the spine at 400 yards. In this case, I dialed up 4 MOA since my drop chart says 4.1 MOA at 525. Because this rifle has a muzzle brake and I value my hearing, I put in some earplugs when I got ready for the shot. The downside to this is that I can't usually hear the bullet impact unless I hit a rock or something hard. The bear was facing uphill, but on a stump at an odd angle, slightly quartering. I held just right of the spine, right between the shoulders with the hope that the bullet would pass through and catch both lungs or possibly a lung and the heart. I couldn't hear the impact, but the bear just dropped from sight. The berries are about waist-high, so it's tough to see an animal once it's on the ground. The shot felt good and I couldn't see any movement on the hill, so I packed up and headed over to look for the bear. After wasting time searching around the wrong stump with no blood, (and starting to panic! LOL) I got my bearings and moved over to the correct stump 30 yards away, where I found her in the bushes right at the base.

In reality, she wasn't facing uphill as much as I thought and I hit slightly higher than I wanted (within 4" which is as good as this rifle will hold though). The bullet went in just above the right shoulder and just right of the spine, then exited at the base of the neck on the left side. It was essentially a shot right at the base of the neck. A lot of the damage in the picture of the exit is from the broken vertebrae, as Can1010 pointed out. In a perfect world, I would have just waited for a full broadside shot to get a perfect test of the bullet.

This isn't a big bear by any means, but she does have a beautiful hide. The hanging weight at the meat shop was 98#, so I imagine the live weight was in the 150# range. That's a pretty average size bear for this area at this time of year.

The impact velocity should have been right around 2550 fps like Mark posted. In all honesty, pretty much any bullet would have dropped this bear the same way if it took out a chunk of the spine and severed pretty much all of the major arteries in the neck. For me though, the Afterburner is the bullet that made this particular rifle a viable hunting rifle. This gun was on the list to get torn apart for parts until I shot the Apex bullets in there. 18 Months ago I would have laughed at the though of using this gun for a 500 yard shot on a game animal. Now it's responsible for my longest shot on game to date. I'm an avid long-range shooter, but typically hunt with handguns or a muzzleloader. 523 yards with this gun was really a noteworthy accomplishment in my book.

 

[yorke-1]

I should add that here in WA we get two bear tags. I'll pick up a second tag in a few days and see if I can go get a broadside shot at another bear. The next two weeks will probably be as good as it gets for bear hunting where I'm at. It just so happens that my favorite berry field to hunt is only 15 miles from my front door. That makes evening hunts after work much easier this time of year.

 

[Eric Musgrove]

I should add that here in WA we get two bear tags. I'll pick up a second tag in a few days and see if I can go get a broadside shot at another bear. The next two weeks will probably be as good as it gets for bear hunting where I'm at. It just so happens that my favorite berry field to hunt is only 15 miles from my front door. That makes evening hunts after work much easier this time of year.

Good shooting, and good luck with #2, We are here in WA as well, still trying to get the GF on her first bear. Had one come up on us while archery elk hunting in the most open area you would never think to see a bear. It had come up out of the canyon and was 20 yards away staring at her while she was standing at the truck door getting our lunch out. She had her back to it so she didn't see it, I said don't move and made my way to get the pistol which I left in the front seat while I was taking a wiz lol. Of course as soon as I moved it took off, when ran over the hill to see it and watched it go about 300 yards, then turn and cross the road 150 yards in front of us. Just that morning I made the wrong decision to leave the rifle at home, because we were taking the small truck and didn't have as much room, and of course were not going to be in bear country.

 

[yorke-1]

Good shooting, and good luck with #2, We are here in WA as well, still trying to get the GF on her first bear. Had one come up on us while archery elk hunting in the most open area you would never think to see a bear. It had come up out of the canyon and was 20 yards away staring at her while she was standing at the truck door getting our lunch out. She had her back to it so she didn't see it, I said don't move and made my way to get the pistol which I left in the front seat while I was taking a wiz lol. Of course as soon as I moved it took off, when ran over the hill to see it and watched it go about 300 yards, then turn and cross the road 150 yards in front of us. Just that morning I made the wrong decision to leave the rifle at home, because we were taking the small truck and didn't have as much room, and of course were not going to be in bear country.

That is an odd spot to see a bear! LOL

Are you on the east side of the state? The next week or so will probably be as good as it gets for bear hunting where I'm at on the west side. The bears are already moving over to tearing up stumps around here as the berries disappear. I got within 150 yards of another bear over the weekend before spotting the cubs with her. I was hoping to get that one with the 161gr Haymaker from Apex out of a 300 Savage. I just can't bring myself to use the same gun on two animals in the same year, so I had to mix it up a little! LOL

 

[wilkup]

That is an odd spot to see a bear! LOL

Are you on the east side of the state? The next week or so will probably be as good as it gets for bear hunting where I'm at on the west side. The bears are already moving over to tearing up stumps around here as the berries disappear. I got within 150 yards of another bear over the weekend before spotting the cubs with her. I was hoping to get that one with the 161gr Haymaker from Apex out of a 300 Savage. I just can't bring myself to use the same gun on two animals in the same year, so I had to mix it up a little! LOL

Hey Yorke, you have any experience with the Hammers? I'm really curious to hear how the two bullets compare. I love the Hammers but these new Afterburners definitely have me intrigued.

 

[yorke-1]

Hey Yorke, you have any experience with the Hammers? I'm really curious to hear how the two bullets compare. I love the Hammers but these new Afterburners definitely have me intrigued.

I've shot a lot of different Hammers in various calibers, but only taken a few animals with the Hammers. Since I've only personally taken one animal with the Apex bullets, and only limited information from another local hunter who's killed two coyotes with them, I don't think it's fair for me to make any bold claims about one brand being better than another. I will say that I've shot a lot of the Apex bullets into various test materials right alongside other monometal hunting bullets, and I see a lot performance attributes in the Afterburners that I really like.

I think the Afterburners cater to a different style of hunting than the Hammers do. I look at the Hammers as a mid range hunting bullet out to around 600 yards under most conditions. Steve has repeatedly said that Hammers are designed with terminal performance as the primary function, with BC a secondary concern. I won't speak for Apex, but I view the Afterburners as designed with both terminal performance and BC as essential functions of the bullet. I haven't shot the 153 Afterburner alongside a comparable .308 Hammer bullet at any range, so I can't comment directly on how they compare at distance. I can say that Hammers typically have a lower BC than many other "match" type hunting bullets with a similar weight. That's not a good thing or a bad thing, it's just a thing. The 153 Afterburner has a BC that will keep up with just about any other bullet in a similar weight class. I don't get too hung up on BC with most of my hunting guns since I'm typically a short to mid-range hunter. That is a consideration for a lot of shooters though.

The best way I can think of to look at the Afterburners, is as a cross between the Badlands and Hammer bullets. The Badlands bullets have a high BC, but are designed to retain their petals. I'm not crazy about monometal bullets retaining all of the petals. It's hard to argue with the results people are getting (checkout some of Codyadams' posts) with the Badlands bullets though. The Hammers are designed to shed the petals and leave a shank with a flat mepalt to keep penetrating after the petals separate, but have a lower BC than a lot of similar weight hunting bullets. I love Hammer's approach to terminal performance, but I'd like (not necessarily need) a higher BC. The Afterburners really combine the BC of the Badlands bullets with an approach to terminal performance similar to Hammer or some of the Cutting Edge bullets.


How's that for a non-answer? LOL The reality is that I'll keep shooting both Hammers and Apex bullets for hunting, just like I still shoot both Berger and Sierra target bullets.

 

[Eric Musgrove]

That is an odd spot to see a bear! LOL

Are you on the east side of the state? The next week or so will probably be as good as it gets for bear hunting where I'm at on the west side. The bears are already moving over to tearing up stumps around here as the berries disappear. I got within 150 yards of another bear over the weekend before spotting the cubs with her. I was hoping to get that one with the 161gr Haymaker from Apex out of a 300 Savage. I just can't bring myself to use the same gun on two animals in the same year, so I had to mix it up a little! LOL

Yep east side, but really central. were down low, I think that bear must have been hanging in an orchard and got jumped and was headed for the hills lol.