AMAX bullet

[hillst1]

I was looking on the Hornaday web site and they list two 6.5 bullets, 120 grain and 123 grain. What would be best for deer. I need a different bullet since the 120 grain TSX does not seem to expand on the last deer I harvested. Punched right through with no expansion.

[stokesrj]

The 120 grain A-max doesn't work well in the Grendel because it must be seated very deep to prevent being jammed into the lands. The 123 is a much more satisfactory bullet in the Grendel. Hornady is also introducing a 123 grain SST which would be even more appropriate for hunting. We have 16,000 of them headed our way for testing. But in the mean time there is a lot of experience using the 123 A-Max on game with good success.
However if you put one of those 120TSX in the right place they drop in their tracks too. The right place is through the shoulder muscles 2/3 of the way up the chest in line with the front leg. That shot drives fragments into the the top of the cardio vascular and overwhelms the spinal column where it dips down to the neck. They drop and don't get up.
Bob

[mongoosesnipe]

I was looking on the Hornaday web site and they list two 6.5 bullets, 120 grain and 123 grain. What would be best for deer. I need a different bullet since the 120 grain TSX does not seem to expand on the last two deer I harvested. Punched right through with no expansion.

If it punched straight through how do you know it didn't expand.... they are not supposed to explode they are suppose to expand to about twice their size and penetrate as deeply as possibly unless you are hitting them at velocity a under 1800 fps then yes you should be using a different bullet

[ricsmall]

However if you put one of those 120TSX in the right place they drop in their tracks too. The right place is through the shoulder muscles 2/3 of the way up the chest in line with the front leg. That shot drives fragments into the the top of the cardio vascular and overwhelms the spinal column where it dips down to the neck. They drop and don't get up.
Bob

+1 on the shot placement. Also, as mongoosesnipe stated, the barnes wont have a huge exit wound most of the time, they expend their energy in the tissue, but at any rate, in the grendel, Barnes are a little too tough I think, unless you go with the 100 grain pills.

[toolsofthetrade]

The 100gr Barnes ttsx performed well for me, pass through at 140yds on a nice 6pt last year, good expansion

[hillst1]

The entry and exit wounds were the same size and there was no blood trail. I will use 120 GR BT this weekend to compare performance.

[Deer Hunter]

I like the 123 gr Amax, 5 deer & a coyote this year. Cant wait for the SST.

[davesw]

I downed a 210 pound 150 inch class buck with the 123 AMAX at 153 yards after Thanksgiving. Crushed a 200+ pound sow with same round, a coyote, bobcat, and doe as well. All animals either dropped or ran inside of 40 yards.

[mongoosesnipe]

whats your load and barrel length

[stokesrj]

Again blood trail is a function of bullet placement. exit low in the chest equals ample blood trail, extit high or out the paunch, equals poor blood trail. It took me more years to figure this out than I'm willing to admit. 300 Weatherby, .270 Winchester, 30-06, 375 H&H, .243, 6.5x55, all the same results. Now my 6.5 STW is different as it ovewhelms the entire bodyily functions, no blood trail needed.
Bob

[mongoosesnipe]

That 6.5 STW must burn up a fair bit of meat though

[Deer Hunter]

I downed a 210 pound 150 inch class buck with the 123 AMAX at 153 yards after Thanksgiving. Crushed a 200+ pound sow with same round, a coyote, bobcat, and doe as well. All animals either dropped or ran inside of 40 yards.

Sounds like you had a good weekend after Thanksgiving, the Amax has been my bullet of choice from the beginning of owning my Grendel but i'm looking forward to the SST.
The Hornady 150 grain SST through a Savage .308 is down right mean and i'm expecting similar wounding channels from the 123 gr SST to its bigger .308 cousin. Everything ive shot with my new Grendel has dropped in its track except my 8 point Buck, I put a good shoulder shot on him but he was quartered towards mehe ran approximately 100 yards before collapsing right in front of my treestand where I watched him expire. It was a unique experience to say the least.

[davesw]

I can tell you that if you hit big bone-like back leg of a pig- the AMAX turns into a grenade. I'd like something that retains mass a little better. The buck was shot behind the shoulder-both lungs and heart cut. Couldn't ask for better terminal ballistics through rib bones and organ tissue. The lungs came out like hot soup. Both the buck and big sow were heart shot and ran 30-50 yards. The only way I've been able to drop an animal is that they were small-the doe I shot this year, or the head shots I've made with my .458 socom. I take both uppers with me when I go on a hunting trip.

Folks-IMO there's nothing more fun to still hunt in thick woods with than that .458 socom. I have an EOTech on top of that thing zeroed to 100 yards for the woods of Southeast Texas. All you have to do is hit em, don't matter where. 300 - 400 grains moving out of that 16 inch barrel is like a freight train. Last pig I shot at 60 yards off hand in the upper jaw popped both his eyes out of his head. Shot a deer running a little farther back than I like-didn't matter he crashed after 2 strides into a pile with his liver destroyed.

[Deer Hunter]

Ive not had the chance to shoot the. 458 Socom or the. 50 Beowulf but i imagine they are bad ass.

[hm2 clark]

I would say the 123 gr Hornady load as "enough" for deer. Shot placement is always critical. Found a starving pig (poor thing)once that had his lower jaw blown off 2 weeks earlier by a 3006. Had that pig been shot in the same place with any legal firearm I don't think the results would have been any better. The Grendel just makes it easier to hit where your aiming, it dosn't fix buck fever or excuse poor marksmanship. I spent 4 hours this Sunday helping a friend look for a deer . He shot it with a .270 130gr factory load. The hunter was standing up shooting off hand, not even using a sling. He said it fell, got up and limped off. The range was about 250 yards and all we ever found was some blood. I think he hit the deer in the foot. He would have been better off using a Grendel, going prone with his sling and hitting where he should have. Oh and if they get back up, shoot them again.

[dvrod18]

Plus 1 on big bore AR's. I have a .450BM, penetration is king. Can't wait to get my Grendel though.

[Von Gruff]

Dave, it is errelevant whether an animal is a pest species like the pig or a desirable species like the deer they all deserve the respect of a quick death and to dismiss the prolonged suffering of a pig with a blown off jaw is not a good look.

[ricsmall]

Dave, it is errelevant whether an animal is a pest species like the pig or a desirable species like the deer they all deserve the respect of a quick death and to dismiss the prolonged suffering of a pig with a blown off jaw is not a good look.

+1 I couldnt agree more gruff.

[Y85]

I'm sure davesw was simply being hyperbolic -- feral pigs are a real problem throughout the South (fortunately, not here in MO) -- and having had the opportunity to hunt in NZ, I am certain that Von Gruff has seen some of the problems that wild hogs cause down there. None of us take pleasure in a suffering animal and all of us strive for quick, painless kills -- even on species that require agressive control measures.

[Von Gruff]

"Sorry, I thought this place was for grown ups with senses of humor. Didn't mean to offend. I will accept anyone's hurt feelings report if they wish to file one. "

There were no hurt feelings and your intimation that I am not a grown up is truly a juvenile asertion on your part, and your post didn't suguest humor in any way.

I know more than just a little about pest species of animals as here in NZ there have been plagues of rabbits and to a lessor extent hares, with opossums, deer, pigs, and goats often having to be shot in the hundreds of thousands just to try and controll them at times. My Garndparents lost thier farm as did many in the 1930's because the rabbit was in mass plague numbers, with another plague in the 40's and recently in the 80's. with numbers building again now because the calise virus that was introduced to kill them has become inefective because they have developed an imunity. I have personally seen over 3 thousand rabbits shot in one night by a team of shootirs with spotlights on just one property. Hillsides might have many tens of thousands of animals on them and made much land unproductive for a very long time untill there were country wide rabbit controll teams that who would use dogs, guns and poison to reduce the animals. Deer were similarily fought by government teams that would have tallies in the thousands every week and have become manageable. Helicopter shooting is done on rabbit, deer, pig and goat at time again with thousands of animals being taken and anually there is a great easter bunny hunt in my home province where teams of shooters ballot for various properties and there are prizes for the most taken over the weekend with many teams shooting in the thousands for the weekend. In none of these cases would anyone be as callous as you posted by saying what you did about any of these animals with a shot off jaw. They might be indifferent to the death of the animals as is only to be expected but to be indifferent to the suffering of animals is not exceptable and if you think the "grown-ups" on this forum will be equally as indifferent then you may have made a poor judgement. In my 60 some years I have never met anyone who is prepared to except that and I will not do so either.

This is a documentary on the NZ deer wars where over 2 million deer were killed and most lay where they fell.

http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/deer-wars-2007

This is a little on the rabbit plagues and the cost to NZ farmers.
http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/deer-wars-2007