Good Morning All.
Obviously some confusion concerning some things in this thread. I doubt I can clear much of it up for some of you, but maybe for others. My discussion concerning bullets in this thread is not about over thinking anything for the sake of deer. I don't hunt deer. Don't eat them. And other than being nice to see and look at, they are nothing more than "Test Medium" to me. Fact is, I can only think of a very few instances that I have used a .308 caliber in the field at all. Once many years ago on a Pronghorn in New Mexico, using a Ruger 308 and 150 gr Ballistic tips. Then again I believe in 2001 in New Zealand for Red Stag and Fallow deer. This was a 300 Win Mag and 165 gr Swift A Frames. Other than that, I personally have never used a .308 caliber rifle in the field. When my son Mark David decided that 300 BLK might be fun some years ago, naturally I got in on the development of loads, and testing bullets for it. I found out that I liked this little cartridge quite a bit, to the tune of have well over a dozen of them today on various platforms, including a couple of bolt guns, one being a Winchester M70 in which I use to do the pressure work.
I found 300 BLK can be improved by developing one of the Cutting Edge Raptors to suit the cartridge, and helped design and test the current 100 gr Flat Base Raptor for it. During test work, we found that not only is this little bullet absolutely superb in 300 BLK, but it is also wicked in every other .308 caliber, including 7.62X40, 308 Win, 30/30 (without tips), and 300 Winchester. Since being retired from hunting I have loaded all these for local friends mostly 300 BLK and 308 Winchester, over the last few years they have taken between them more than 100 deer, and the furthest any went was 3-5 steps. Most DRT.
I strongly believe in going to the field with the very best equipment possible, to insure success. Whether its whitetail deer, or Elephant. No one wants to loose a animal for any reason. In Africa, if you draw blood, that is your animal. It will also "Cost" you. If that animal is lost, its on you, and you will pay the trophy fee. Ethics and integrity demand you do the best you can, but in Africa, it will also hit your pocket book, in case your Ethics are not quite up to par. In the street, there is much at stake as well. I have seen many many failures over the years very simply because of bullet failure. Choosing the wrong bullet for the mission at hand has cost many losses in the field, I have seen it many times. The right bullet is the very cheapest part of a hunt. I have seen guys spend 10s of thousands of dollars on a hunt, and rifles, only to choose crap bullets, and fail in their mission. I have seen guys loose elephants, buffalo, hippo, all manner of major animals, due to bullet failure.
In my close circle of acquaintances and friends many have youngsters that are starting their hunting careers. The last thing you want is for the kids to have a failure, because of poor bullet choice. We have had many of these kids start out with 300 BLK and 7.62X40, its easy to shoot, does not make a lot of noise, no recoil, and paired with a good bullet, makes an excellent rifle/cartridge for kids to learn and grow up with. I have numerous examples of 8-12 year olds that have used these two cartridges with great success, with the 100 Raptors we designed, on deer, hogs, and even black bear. Zero failures to recover, and every single animal down less than 5 yards, and again, most DRT. And penetration? No bullets recovered, even on black bear. Had one friend recently go to Texas, with 308 Winchester loaded with 100 Raptors. He lined up 4 Javelina at a feed pile, one shot, 4 javelina down for the count, DRT, and bullet exited 4th javelina. I like Penetration, and tissue destruction...............
While for me personally a deer is nothing more than test medium, but for these kids it is a major animal. This is only ONE simple example of why I am so persistent about using good bullets. This is one example that many of you should be able to relate to. My Daughter took her first deer this past fall. Nothing great, just a doe, but she was very excited about it. I had already sent a rifle to Brian at SSK to have barreled, a older Winchester M70 in 223. I called immediately and changed that plan to have it barreled in 7.62X40 for my Daughter. Recently got it back, and we spent a couple of hours on the range last Saturday putting it together, sighting it in, and letting her shoot it some. Obviously I am not going to let her use a crap bullet in her adventures in the field. She will be shooting a 100 Raptor at 2850 fps, and I have zero concerns about the bullet doing what it needs to do.
Too much detail and expertise for whitetail? Yeah, maybe, but there is far more purpose involved than "just Whitetail"...........They just happen to make decent test medium for other purposes and or concerns, so it goes far beyond,
"just whitetail"......................
And mmmmaybe I came off as a bit of douche
Yes.
OK. No worries.
