Quote:
Originally Posted by Battle Rat
Agreed.
I have not seen "splashes", whatever that is, big exits or had any run off yet when using a 40gr Hornady in 204.
I have had lots and lots greater fur damage with the 22.250.
It seems like every poor performance 204 story mentions 32 gr bullets though.
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It may be that the 204R, and others, are pushing the 32 grain bullets too fast and not putting enough spin on them. Over the years I had heard stories of these bullets splashing on coyotes and I was certain that they would blow up inside a coyote if they made it through the hide as they certainly blew up gophers at closer ranges.
Imagine my surprise when I began getting reports from a fellow that the 32 Zee-Max bullets were going clean through the vitals and leaving a pencil hole on the other side. I knew that Hornady had went to the same type jacket used on the A-Max bullets and that they were a bit harder than the 32-V-Max bullets, but still? Over the next three years he reported the same, with bang flops on over 30 coyotes, to 300 yards. Still I thought that it must be because his shots were over 100 yards until he switched to 32 Sierra BK bullets and reported the same results.
Then I almost called BS but had come to know this man as knowledgeable, honest and a friend since I put together a 20 EXTREME for him over 4 years ago. He was one of those opinionated fellows who fancied his 6mm PPC and 22BR toped with Leups and quoted from the leading BR magazine, at least in his opinion. I was a bit surprised when he told me that the XR-100 with Pac Nor, 11" twist, barrel was the most accurate rifle he had ever owned. I was even more surprised when he told me that his wife wouldn't shoot the 22 BR unless he changed out the Leup for a Hawke Endurance 30SF,4-16X50 like the one on her 20 EXTREME.
https://us.hawkeoptics.com/endurance...0-mil-dot.html.
However, rather than calling BS, I began to wonder if the reason may be that he is running the 32 grain bullets at about 3800 fps with about 19 grains of IMR 4198 which fills the Case. Also I thought back on how the 110 TNT HP bored right through a 3/4" steel gong, at 100 yards, when launched at 3300 fps from my 7-08 yet almost took the head off of a deer at the same distance. Perhaps the 11" twist is spinning the bullet just the right speed to do something similar?
Yesterday morning I got a call from this fellow reporting that he had just killed two coyotes that his wife had spotted about 190 yard out where he had left some moose remains. One coyote was dragging off a moose leg but stopped to look back when he make a noise. A 32 grain bullet entered at the back of the rib cage and exited, with only blood showing, in the off front shoulder area. The other coyote came back to steal the moose leg and took a quartering shot through the chest and jumped up at the shot, like happens with a heart shot, and ran about 50 feet before piling up stone dead. He found a pencil hole out the other side near the back of the ribs. He is adamant that this combination is all he needs for shooting coyotes to 300 yards. However I am still trying to convince him that he
"needs" one like mine with a 9" twist, running the 55 Berger to 3200+ fps so he can outdo a 22-250 to 500 yards, and still be fur friendly at under 100 yards.
He shot these groups, with his wife's, rifle shooting two of my loads. The group he shot with his 32 BK load shoots a tad higher than my loads. I drew where his load would have hit the target, shot with the 39 BK, in red and you may be able to see part of his group under the 32 BK target.
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