Recovered bullets

[jjhack]

These are my all time favorite bullets, the Swift A frames. Expensive? Yes, dependable 100%, accuracy perfect, failures in my personal experience with several hundred animals killed using them. ZERO!

Here is another couple from a fellow I loaned my 375HH to. He used my rifle for all his hunting and only recovered two bullets. All the other exited. These are 270 grain Aframes leaving the muzzle at 2850 fps. The Shorter mushroom came from a Very large blue wildebeast hit at 75 yards quartering towards him the bullet crushed the big leg bones of the off side leg and was sticking under the skin like a big tumor. The other one was from a dainty little Impala. It was hit head on and the bullet was under the sin at the opposite end!

 

[recurveshooter]

JJ,
they sure mushroom pretty evenly.did the bullet on the impala just go through the brest bone or did it take out other bones as well , as it seems to have swelled a lot about half way down ?

do you handle any bow hunters ?if so do you find them any different than rifle hunters ?any using traditional equipment ?------ herb

 

[jjhack]

All our bow hunting is done on the property of my partners father. It is a Bow hunting only property. He allows Cross bows as well. The blinds are all really nice and the distance for the shots are all in the 12-30 yard range. We have taken all sorts of great trophies on this property as it is hunted by only a 1/2 dozen people a year at most. It's 6km from the main lodge and has only naturall occuring indiginous game. No "stocked" animals. It's real hunting unlike the majority of South African "put and take" safari operations today.

The swift Aframe bullets to "swell" because they are bonded to the jacket. It's a wonderful technique! Impala do not have a "Breast bone" they have ribs like all other mammals. Only birds and I think some reptiles have a breast bone to my knowledge.

If you're interested in going and can book 3 other guys to go along I can make you a deal you won't believe!

 

[recurveshooter]

sorry JJ on the breast bone thing killed or helped kill a few thousand mamals and birds and just got used to the cartilege where the ribs connect calling it the breast bone .was just wondering about if just the skin and muscle would cause this effect in the bullet or does it need bone ?

i am all ready comitted to go on my first safari with the company i book for in RSA . but have seen alot of good things about your hunts .the company i book for are experienced in rifle hunting and not so much bow hunters ,i will be going with my bows .sounds like you have an excellent place to bow hunt . will keep it in mind !!-------- all the best -- herb

 

[jjhack]

You don't need to hit bones to get this performance. However depending upon the cartridge propelling the bullet, and the weight of the bullet it might drive right through and exit much of the time. Then you would have no idea what the mushroom performance of the bullet was. I have shot cape buffalo with the 300 grain 375 bullet and recovered them without any bone getting hit, I have also shot Eland with them and no major bones were hit.

One of my clients used my rifle this past season and shot at a quartering away eland. He hit a bit high and the bullet traveled through the back and stopped in the neck near the skull. It knocked the Eland down but was not lethal. He was shot again to finish off. The bullet was recoved in the meat of the neck perfectly mushroomed no bones hit.

I don't think the bones of an impala are as tough to get through as the mass of muscle in an elands neck or a buffalo on a broad side shot. Impala can be tough to fold up for such a fragile animal. They tend to run like the wind when shot, and will also run dead on their feet with little blood trail to follow. They exhaust every effort to keep up with the herd.

Most of the animals in Africa will cover quite a bit of ground when shot through the lungs. Many species don't bleed much and almost all are complicated to follow up because they live in small herds which stomp out all the tracks and blood spots after the shot.

If there was ever a place to use enough gun and make great shots, plains game hunting for multiple species in a ten day safari is it!

 

[recurveshooter]

thanks, JJ .

it really amazes me how much engenering goes into something to get it to do what you want .

have you found any difference in a rifle shot animal and one shot with an arrow if shot in the same place ? as to distance of travel from the hit ? or is there no way to compare ?------ herb

 

[Safari-Hunt]

Recurve,

The animals seem to run much further, out shot with an arrow than an bullet I'm sure it has lot to do with the shock the bullet can give if you compare the penetration of the arrow.

Bowhunters usually wait 30 minutes before they follow the trail to give the animal chance to lie down and die. A plus point about arrows is that the animals bleed more and throw a nicer blood trail than bullet shot animals.

Safari-Hunt