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...Most of my shots are going to be at 50-100 yards (more like the 50 mark) and that bullet should explode on contact, with ALL the energy going into the vitals.
AGB, I mean no offense here, so please don't take any. But I really think you are on the wrong track here with your bullet choice. My intent is to try and help you avoid what I'm guessing will be a mistake.
While I've never actually shot any animals with the VG's, I do have a good bit of experience testing bullets on coyotes. Unfortunately, a lot of that experience recently, has involved bullets that explode on contact. Exploding on contact is often referred to as "surface splash". I can assure you, that exploding on contact absolutely is NOT the kind of terminal performance you want to see on something like a coyote or bobcat. Unless, you just want to see huge holes blown in the hides (surface splash), combined with staggering, spinning, not cleanly killed animals.
With animals the size of coyotes and bobcats, you NEED some penetration to achieve a clean kill. The vitals aren't so close to the surface as to be directly destroyed by a bullet without some penetration. It doesn't need to be a lot of penetration, but for a clean kill, there absolutely has to be at least some penetration before bullet disruption. Ideally, only a few inches of penetration, followed by total disruption of the bullet inside the chest of the animal, resulting in an instant bang-flop kill and no exit wound, providing a nice clean pelt. This is NOT what happens when the bullet totally disrupts on contact as the VG is advertised to do. I've got quite a bit of well documented experience shooting coyotes with bullets that explode on contact and the results are NOT pretty.
Like I said to begin with though, I have not actually used the VG's on flesh. So, perhaps they will in fact give some penetration and perform well. But, if they perform as advertised, and explode on contact, my opinion is that they are going to be just about the worst choice possible for what you are wanting to do.
For illustration purposes, I'm going to paste an excerpt from an article I wrote recently that contains text and photos showing the performance of bullets exploding on contact. The pictures are not very tasteful, but they clearly show what I'm taking about.
- DAA
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Warning! Totally tasteless, graphic photos below! I don’t normally even take pictures like these, let alone publish them. But, I was out there testing my rig for it’s intended purpose – and these photos illustrate the performance I’m wasn’t happy about better than any words can.
So, anyway… I was able to get out for a few hours by myself and make a few stands and do some more testing with the Berger 40 at about 4250 fps muzzle velocity. Here is a photo of the results, carefully arranged to hide the gore:
Before going any further, I need to stress that I am NOT trying to be critical of the Berger bullets. They are a great product. These bullets are superbly accurate in my rifle. They simply were not designed for the application I tried to use them in. It’s not the fault of the bullet, or the bullet maker. It’s my fault for using them in a way that they were never intended to be used or designed for.
Now, on to the ugly photos, showing the ugly bullet performance…
Below is the first coyote of the morning. A 39 lb male, 50 yards, broadside, hit just behind the shoulder. What you are seeing is the entrance wound, there was no exit. This is big time surface splash. He did some spins and staggered around for a few seconds before going down. And even after going down, I could see him breathing for much longer than I’m comfortable with. Remember, this was a perfectly placed shot, at 50 yards. I consider this kind of bullet performance to be a failure and simply not acceptable. A perfectly placed broadside shot at 50 yards should be a bang-flop, instantly dead coyote. But again – don’t blame Berger, it’s not their fault I took their great bullets and pushed them to such high velocity, and then hoped that they would not expand and disrupt on impact.
Next photo is the second coyote of the morning. A 37 lb male. He was running towards me when the bullet hit him in the chest at 60 yards. As you can see, ugly surface splash again, with a huge entrance wound and no real exit. And again, spinning, staggering, flopping. Another perfectly placed shot, another bullet failure.
Last one, the third coyote of the morning, a 31 lb male. Standing broadside at 90 yards, hit him perfect, low behind the shoulder. Much to my dismay, after first doing the ugly spin, stagger and drop routine, this coyote got back up and made a sickly sprint 50 yards uphill before I shot him again in the back of the head to finish him off. I guess you could call that mess an “exit” wound, but certainly not the kind I want to see on a broadside perfectly placed shot.
So, after that last coyote, I was done with the 40 gr. Berger… Called it a day and went home. Again, I want to stress that the Berger is really a very good bullet. But simply not designed or constructed for penetration of heavy tissue at the velocity I’m pushing it. Looking back at the first day, the two coyotes I hit at 210 and 300 yards, where the bullet had scrubbed off some velocity, the bullet penetrated and performed well without surface splash. It again appears to me that on closer shots, the velocity is just more than the bullet can take.
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