Exploding bullet? (picture not for the squeamish)

[criticalbass]

I shot this deer with a .338-06. Bullet was a Speer 200 grain soft point bullet, #2405, in front of 55 grains of varget. MV should have been a little shy of 2500. There was no exit wound, and two fists side by side will fit in the entry hole. Found some tiny frags. Range was about 125 yards, and there were no branches or other obstructions.

The deer was crossing at right angles. The front of the hole is exactly where I was aiming, though the hole looks like it was a quartering away shot.

The deer's heart and one lung were shredded and death was nearly instant. (Of course he managed to propel himself into an overgrown gully, which made recovery pretty hard on two mature gentlemen.)

This ammo is real accurate on paper, but this is the first live thing I have shot with it. I did cut a bullet from the same batch, and it has a hard, thick jacket as do most .338 bullets.

I have discussed this with some highly experienced hunters and reloaders, and nobody seems to be sure of what happened. Lead theory at the moment is defective bullet. I would like your opinions.

Obligatory picture of deer's mutant rack included. CB


http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n574/criticalbass/?action=view&current=HPIM0566.jpg

http://s1140.photobucket.com/albums/n574/criticalbass/?action=view&current=HPIM0570.jpg

 

[bigcountryok]

First off congrats on the nice buck.

As you said, it looks like a very hard quartering away shot that went down the ribs...are you sure he didn't turn as you touched off the shot? If not something went really wrong. I would say defective bullet. The 200gr bullet is at the lighter end of the .338 rounds so it's going to be softer and fragment faster. But at 2500fps from the muzzel it should be fine. I use to hunt with a 338 Win Mag and used either 225gr or 250gr rounds and never did not have a pass through, even on end to end shots....(eh that one was nasty) All of my broadside shots resulted in small entrance, thumb diameter exit, and a gelatin mush in between. My brother shot a deer this weekend with his 338 Win Mag and 250gr Rem Core Loks. Entrance was mid rib cage and exit was out the front of the chest almost dead center. The exit hole was almost fist sized. I would say go back and wack a doe to see what happens, because either way the damage was massive.

 

[DRC458]

Wow. Never seen anything like that before. Yes, it LOOKS like a quartering-away shot, but you say he was broadside? If so, and you're absolutely certain there was nothing in between to fragment the bullet, I would have to agree with the defective bullet scenario. You say you recovered some fragments? Anything large enough to be of any value for analyzing?

 

[Shadowrider]

My BIL shot a small 1.5 year old buck a few years ago. It was a straight on shot at about 40 yards. He was using a Remington 7400? auto in 30.06 stoked with Winchester 150 grain silvertips. He centered the shot right on the money. The bullet must have basically exploded when it entered just above the breast bone, maybe he even went through that bone, I don't remember. He came dragging it into camp and I asked him if he was in a hurry while field dressing him as it was a pretty shoddy job. He replied that he hadn't touched a knife to him. His belly was opened up all the way to the little fellow's manhood. No stomach and almost no intestines or other organs were left. And yet he still ran almost 100 yards! He didn't have a blood trail to follow, he had a trail of guts. Everytime the little guy stopped he left a pile. True story. He now uses 180 or 220 grain loads in the thick cover.

I'm thinking bullet defect too, or maybe it center punched a rib? 125 yards at that velocity should be fine I would think.

 

[HMFIC]

That's pretty wild. Looks to me like that Speer just disintigrated on impact.

 

[MoBoost]

According to QuickLOAD and Hodgdon manual 55gn of Varget is 2800-2900fps with 200gn bullet. Depending on seating depth it can be a compressed load with speeds over 3k.
I am afraid, at these speeds poor ol' Hot-Cor becomes a varmint grenade - it is very well documented if you search the net.
You just need to slow it down to projected 2500fps.
Or if you want to keep pushing the bullets that fast - you'll have to step up to something with core retention design like Grand Slam, Interbond or Partition.

 

[criticalbass]

Mo boost, thanks for the info. I haven't been able to find the reference in my books that the load came from. Just have the note in the box. Makes sense, and i'll shoot the rest at paper or gophers. CB

 

[Matt A]

i enjoy your photos

 

[been]

i enjoy your photos

don't listen to this kid.......he doesn't like toes.

 

[Double_tap]

I have to agree, that is pretty wild.