Quote:
Originally Posted by Okotokian
Depends on the person and their practice. 350 is very long for me. I've never had to attempt it when hunting. Would be a chip shot for others.
I've never understood shoulder shots. Not saying they are a bad idea, just that I've never understood the wisdom. I might need an education. The only explanation I've ever heard that made sense to me is where stopping the animal is more important than killing it; for example a moose near water, or a griz close enough to charge you if you don't drop it pronto.
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I'm personally in the same boat. I can definitely see why someone would go that route if put in one of those situations. Maybe you've got a land owner who is not quite as eager or shares your love of hunting and having an animal you'd need to track onto someone else property presents a whole host of other challenges. I personally haven't found myself in that type of situation, thankfully.......yet, at least.
If I happen to hit it in the shoulder or a bit off the mark it's because I missed the shot and was completely unintended. Having said that, however, it's the main reason I personally prefer the TSX (or similarly tough bullet). Partitions and Accubonds behave much the same way. You (I) want to get as deep into the vitals as possible and those types of bullets are much more likely to get a guy there. If you do encounter thick hide and bone along the way I'm counting on one of these to retain most of its weight and still have enough oomph to cross that finish line. It's basically bullet insurance for me.
In my experience almost all shots with a tougher bullet result in bang-flops or an animal that went no more than maybe a couple of yards with the first shot. Most just crumple. To me, crumple = a win for everyone involved. I've also witnessed shots with a less tough bullet with equally good performance. Those were well placed shots that made it through to vitals. There have also been less tough bullets with seemingly good shot placement that resulted in wounded animals and a lot of work.
Both can get the job done. I just feel much more comfortable with that extra bit of insurance........especially when you're talking about a bigger animal and anywhere bone might be involved.
I remember watching a youtube clip where Federal did a test on ballistics gel using 4 different bullets using the same caliber. One of the tests was hide over ballistic gel with embedded bone (this is not intended as a sales pitch for Federal by the way. If anything it would be for Barnes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMKvetaMqhE