Boar Pair, LSA MPCE and Federal Fusion

[Double Naught Spy]

I am down to my last few rounds of FF and I am not going to miss it. It is performing as designed, but despite this, does not seem to hit as dynamically as SST 123 gr. or TNT 90 gr.

I had hoped for a twofer but when I needed the penetration of the FF, it stopped at 10 inches and the second boar took off, eventually turning toward me and closing quickly. While I wasn't really ever in any danger, I wasn't initially so sure. He was just trying to get back to a place of safety. He didn't make it.

[peak98]

Awesome videos DNS, thank you for sharing with us.
peak98

[tdbru]

DNS,
wrt bullet performance. as you pointed out, it looks like the 120gr. Fusion is functioning exactly as designed. And, the 6.5mm has a reputation for fairly deep penetration with modest bullet weights. So if you are not wanting exiting, i can see why you prefer the 90gr. TNT. On the other hand, this does seem to show to me that if i am using the 120gr. Fusion deer hunting and have a quartering presentation, that i will have no issues regarding getting adequate penetration. i do appreciate your necropsies as it is always good to compare ballistic gel performance to actual hunting results. thanks again.
-tdbru

[Klem]

Amazing the slow mo captured both exiting bullets. Also interesting to see the extreme angle they ricochet. The velocity will be greatly reduced I know but still sobering to consider when deciding if it's safe.

[sundowner]

Great video thanks for sharing .

[Double Naught Spy]

DNS,
wrt bullet performance. as you pointed out, it looks like the 120gr. Fusion is functioning exactly as designed. And, the 6.5mm has a reputation for fairly deep penetration with modest bullet weights. So if you are not wanting exiting, i can see why you prefer the 90gr. TNT. On the other hand, this does seem to show to me that if i am using the 120gr. Fusion deer hunting and have a quartering presentation, that i will have no issues regarding getting adequate penetration. i do appreciate your necropsies as it is always good to compare ballistic gel performance to actual hunting results. thanks again.
-tdbru

A hog from the previous hunt had one bullet recovered that I did not present in the video. It got about 14" of penetration and looked almost exactly like this one (and nearly the exact same weight). This one got 10". So the penetration isn't exactly amazing.

I don't mind bullets exiting. I just don't want them exiting at high velocity or in a 'ballistic' manner. Bullets that pencil through are scary. Expanded bullets or fragmented bullets are much safer. The nice thing about the TNT is that if it only goes through a few inches of tissue before exiting, it will already be breaking apart, hence reducing danger down range. This can be bad or good depending on your goal. Here, I had 2 hogs lined up and the TNT went through the first, "behind the ear" and fragment peppered the big boar behind it. You can skip to about 3:00 in the video to see the discussion...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNkEupGBrKY

Amazing the slow mo captured both exiting bullets. Also interesting to see the extreme angle they ricochet. The velocity will be greatly reduced I know but still sobering to consider when deciding if it's safe.

Klem, I actually see this with some regularity, particularly when the bullet exiting is larger in size and that have been slowed down enough to be caught on video. Catching it twice in one session is a bit of a surprise.

You mentioned the extreme angles. It is hard to know in these cases if the bullets exited at those angles or potentially exited down into the ground and bounced upwards. No evidence of dust being kicked up from a ground impact, but I am not sure that it would have been spotted behind the hogs.

If you watch the first one closely, it takes a very irregular trajectory arc. My guess is that it was still spinning at a fairly high velocity, but also out of balance after opening up and hitting stuff, hence giving it the irregular flight path. Just a guess.

[Grendeltexashunter]

that's a shame.
the fusion round seems to penetrate well with 308,6.5 creedmoor, and 223.
does it just need more velocity?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvx2F0G5GvY

shows the youtuber stating 6.5 Grendel didn't expand as well as the creedmoor.

however, this video shows from a 16 inch barrel the fusion round doing well in 6.5 Grendel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfucPuJ-e64

should the 6.5 Grendel fusion round been a 110-115 grn bullet to give more velocity?

[Les]

Would've never guessed they'd exit at such an extreme angle, thanks for catching that. Always entertaining and informative.

[Double Naught Spy]

that's a shame.
the fusion round seems to penetrate well with 308,6.5 creedmoor, and 223.
does it just need more velocity?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvx2F0G5GvY

shows the youtuber stating 6.5 Grendel didn't expand as well as the creedmoor.

however, this video shows from a 16 inch barrel the fusion round doing well in 6.5 Grendel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfucPuJ-e64

should the 6.5 Grendel fusion round been a 110-115 grn bullet to give more velocity?

The Fusion seems to expand just fine. I do think Federal has loaded them a touch light.

[tdbru]

well, to add to the conversation, upon exiting, if their tumbling and expanded, the BC will be close to 0 so they should slow down rapidly. this reduces both the distance they will travel and the velocity at which they finally impact the ground with. and they probably have lost a huge amount of velocity already with the expansion and pass through of game animals, which is why DNS can catch them in the videos. you certainly can't see them going down range so if you can see them exiting the hog they must be very slow to begin with. both to the good to reduce any potential secondary damage issues.
-tdbru

[HuntTXhogs]

[Double Naught Spy]

Well, I have a few more to try (4 or 5, I think) and then on to Hornady ELD-M...

[ruesauw]

well done , very interesting on the bullet path exiting the hogs.

[Grendeltexashunter]

@doublenaughtspy your videos and bullet performance analysis is much appreciated as always.

[keystone183]

Well, I have a few more to try (4 or 5, I think) and then on to Hornady ELD-M...

Can't wait to see your results with these! My favorite bullet. I find i don't get many exits on larger pigs, but it gets enough penetration to dump all its energy where it matters. Worked like magic on this little guy the other day....

Pig1.jpg