....80 Amax .... SUCKS for DROPPING Deer....HELP

I didn't read this whole mess and don't care to.

What I can tell you is very simple.

If you do not cause some kind of trauma/damage to the deer's spine, it will not be a DRT kill.

If anyone argues this fact with you Dan, don't listen.

Contrary to what some may believe, a high shoulder shot causes trauma to the spine. As does a head or neck shot.

There is one more way to anchor a deer, and I have done it countless times. Did it twice this past season. Angle shot through vitals and take out front shoulder. If you wipe out the heart and or lungs, and knock the deer off it's feet at the same time, it may not die instantly, but there is a very good chance of it not getting back up. Maybe this shot also cause trauma to spine, not positive. I just know it works.

That's it. Use whatever bullet you want, but place it wisely Grasshopper........
 
Either A-max is fine. MOF Hornady used to recommend them for thin skinned game until they started making so many bullets. I am told lots of Hornady employees still hunt deer with A-maxes.

I use 62-70gr TSXs in my 223s. They have been excellent so far. But for the result you speak, you must hit the deer as stated said above....
 
Bullshop... your post above about the 22 cal bullet making is a interesting subject... and if you re-posted it in a New Subject Thread under reloading, you might get a lot more response there.... because I think I wore these Boys out with my Craziness...LOL.
 
Whomever made the post with the green dot on the deer gave you the best advice. Aim for the green dot, there are no magic bullets....


PLOTBOSS
 
Originally Posted By: dan brothersBullshop... your post above about the 22 cal bullet making is a interesting subject... and if you re-posted it in a New Subject Thread under reloading, you might get a lot more response there.... because I think I wore these Boys out with my Craziness...LOL.



Thank you!
BTW I went out this AM on foot from my house and saw 4 wolves and one coyote all on the wrong side of the valley, DRATS!!!!
Best to you on your journey! As my old native friend says " see you down river"
 
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Originally Posted By: Bearcat 74
Hit the green dot




I am just seeing this now. And it is good info. Here are the 2 deer I shot this year. One with a crossbow, the other with a muzzleloader. Neither took a single step. Note the height of the shot placement. Both shots angled directly through the green dot, having the projectile lodge in the offside shoulder........
FE914EA3-C11A-4E52-80F8-6BBFDD75223A_zpsndusjhn7.jpg

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On the lower deer, the broadhead actually struck a bit higher up than it appears in the pics, as you see the blade marks in the fur. The broadhead lodged in the off shoulder, and the carbon shaft broke. broadhead stayed in shoulder, and bolt bounced back toward the way it entered. Buck never knew what hit it. DRT.

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Dan, here is a recovered .223 Barnes TSX FB, I shot the deer from the ground, 50 yards, quartering to me, took out heart and 1 lung went through the opposite shoulder and stopped under the skin on the far side. The deer ran 100 yards.







I realize this is not what you are looking for in results, I am merely sharing this to show you the TSX bullet performance. I was impressed with the expansion and the way it held together. Use it to cause trauma to the spinal column and you will anchor your deer. Put through the lungs, and you can recover them as you have been after a short run to the finish, usually.
 
Originally Posted By: dan brothersand neck-head shots are out, because they are tough to hit when they may cross a dirt logging road at 300-400 yds or so. The pie plate area of the lungs and shoulders are my aiming spots... but I'm wanting Dirt Droppers... not Runners... surely there is an answer...

Get closer or find a more open area. I believe you have started shooting coyotes long range. How big is the kill zone on them at 300-400 yds? Aim small hit small. A neck shot at those ranges are very doable. When you shoot at the range do you shoot at a pie plate or a small dot?
 
Good point Reb8600. I've been shooting junk inaccurate rifles for so long in the past that I'm not used to shooting a very accurate rifle at smaller drop dead killing spots. I wouldn't think twice about hitting a coyote at 400 yds... so why not a larger animal kill zone like a deer... Duh.. on me...LOL.

So I guess the 80 amax does NOT suck after all... but the shooter sucks...LOL.

PS... that's some more good pics Weekender... thanks...
 
As for the Weekender pic, are we looking at the entrance hole? It states quartering to.

The shot does not appear to have wiped out the opposite shoulder as stated. Especially if it hit heart/lungs also. I realize camera angles/pics can be deceiving.......
 
2muchgun, pics can be deceiving. That is the entrance hole. The deer was standing with it's head very high, alert as it had seen me just prior. The bullet path was as I stated earlier.
 
Man look at that TSX. Anybody here still think they won't drop deer all day from any angle with a 223?

It seems almost nobody ever recovers one. But when they do, they all look the same. Perfect....
 

I have posted these previously in other forums, but will again due to the topic of discussion. These are videos I and others in the hunting party filmed, so this is first hand experience.

This first kill scene shows a buck antelope shot at 360 measured yards with a 300 Ultra Mag and a 168 gr. TSX. Dropped instantly.
The next TSX kill shot was at only 137 yards on the mule deer buck, shot with a 7mm STW and 140 gr. TSX. The 6-point mule deer
was shot by my bearded friend with my STW at 387 yards, again with the 140 gr. TSX. Dropped on the spot.








The next video shows an antelope at 178 yards shot with the 140 gr. TSX in the STW. It hit the ground so fast and hard that it bounced.
Minutes before that kill shot, I got an antelope at about 116 yards, again with the STW and TSX load. Same performance.








VicFox from Australia hunted with me in the second video and used the STW and TSX to take 4 animals. All dropped where they stood at ranges from over 100 yards to around 250 yards.

While I haven't used TSX in anything smaller than 7mm, I can attest to the bullet in that caliber, as well as the 300 Ultra Mag and a 338 Win Mag.
It drops them on the spot. I have taken numerous deer with a 7mm Mag over the years with conventional bullets and rarely ever had this kind of performance.

If I recall correctly, we took a combination of 11 mule deer and antelope with the TSX. All but two dropped in their tracks, didn't take a step. One
antelope was gut shot (due to wind drift) at over 250 yards. It milled around a bit and then fell. The other antelope was shot at over 400 yards.
It went maybe 25 steps before falling. All others were DRT.

I have yet to recover a TSX from deer or antelope.

Not sure how the TSX might work in a smaller caliber, but I would at least give it a try. You may not know if it will work for you until you try it, and there are
no guarantees that it will drop critters on the spot every time. That's a pretty tall order for any bullet or caliber.

I'm not saying the TSX is magical, but in my experience with the larger calibers at least, it is pretty impressive. It may or may not works as well in smaller calibers.

Just for information, the coyote hunting in the second video was with Tony Tebbe in New Mexico and Brian Brooks in Arizona.

 
I have shot a few does and a boar hog with the 22 Creedmoor running a 75gr Amax at 3480fps and one doe was DRT(broke both shoulders but no exit. The others ran less than 20 yards with lungs shots.
Shot this Boar last Saturday at 160 yards broke the left(entrance) shoulder he made it about 15 yards.


I see a lot of deer shot each year and with a wide variety of calibers. Lung(behind the shoulder will make it a short distance but is a sure kill but if you want it to drop in its tracks consistently it's high shoulder /head or neck. They may not be dead as quickly(exception is head if you hit the brain)and may need another dispatch shot but they will go down quick.

Any shots that severely damage the heart the animals expire the quickest...duh
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and some lung shoulder hits can live a while even though they are down and aren't going anywhere.
 
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