"Poor Man's Zebra", 7mm.s and .308s.

[africa]

In Speer's Reloading Manual number 9 I saw a reference of a wildcat 8mm/338 called "Poor Man's Magnum". Nice nickname, no doubt. So "poor man's zebras' are those equines that differ from true zebras by living around and having only one streak... You guessed, donkeys, gone untame by generations without close human contact. Some budds and myself were invited to do some culling on them burros at request of the landowner. I'll be using my recipe of .308 casts at 2000 fps, and two others are toting a .358 win. shooting casts (205 gr.) also at 2000 fps and a .280 that spits 170 gr. casts at 2400 fps with remarkable accuracy.

[waksupi]

Africa, be sure to give an after action report!

[Larry Gibson]

Africa, be sure to give an after action report!

Yes, please do!

Larry Gibson

[africa]

Here it goes, gents.

.358: One PMZ(poor man's zebra) broadside chest shot at 100 y. ran 30 y. transfixed.
Two PMZs shot quartering away, 80 and 100 yd.. Both had broken shoulder, fell under 20 y.
Bullets shattered with bones.

.308: 2 chest broadside shot, distance 100 yd. plus-minus 10, transfixed, behaved like those above.
1 frontal shot at 40 yd.. Run 100 yd. bullet with nose smeared and minimal mushrooming recovered from left ham.
1 quartering shot at 80 Yd. Spine hit, imediate fall.

.280: a surprise. A "Texas heart shot" at 60 yd, running away animal; hit at exhaust port (No entrance hole visible, so...) Manny, the shooter, swears he did it on purpose... Bullet exited at chest. Fell after a couple of jumps.
A broadside shot at 150 Yd transfixed the PMZ. No noticeable difference from other calibers.

Commentaries will be greatly apreciated. Thanks.

[9.3X62AL]

Talk about PENETRATION......no flies on THAT element of the equation. While minimal expansion didn't seem to effect end results, we all seek the BANG!/flop reaction as the Holy Grail Of The Hunt. The work with Bruce B's softpointing process will start presently.

[bruce drake]

"Texas Heart Shot"

Sounds like a South-End to a North-End ventilation shot. Does the Donkey whistle when it dusts the wind now?

Bruce

P.S. Sounds like you had a great time.

[waksupi]

Well, it looks like those ol' cast boolits will kill things, don't it? Pretty much the same results I have seen on game animals. Premium bullets, anyone? Make your own!

[JDL]

africa,
Thanks for the data. Any idea as to the hardness of the boolits used? -JDL

[Bass Ackward]

Commentaries will be greatly apreciated. Thanks.


Africa,

You might think that it is good for us to provide comments, but nobody is more capable of commenting here than you guys. You are the expert on that hunt. Would you change or alter anything if you wanted to do this hunt again?

My only question is what mix you guys were using since you got varied structural results from the bullets shattering to no mushroming at all?

[45 2.1]

Here it goes, gents.

.358: One PMZ(poor man's zebra) broadside chest shot at 100 y. ran 30 y. transfixed.
Two PMZs shot quartering away, 80 and 100 yd.. Both had broken shoulder, fell under 20 y.
Bullets shattered with bones.

.308: 2 chest broadside shot, distance 100 yd. plus-minus 10, transfixed, behaved like those above.
1 frontal shot at 40 yd.. Run 100 yd. bullet with nose smeared and minimal mushrooming recovered from left ham.
1 quartering shot at 80 Yd. Spine hit, imediate fall.

.280: a surprise. A "Texas heart shot" at 60 yd, running away animal; hit at exhaust port (No entrance hole visible, so...) Manny, the shooter, swears he did it on purpose... Bullet exited at chest. Fell after a couple of jumps.
A broadside shot at 150 Yd transfixed the PMZ. No noticeable difference from other calibers.

Commentaries will be greatly apreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for the rundown. My question is what alloy/heat treatment did you use. I would be suspect of an alloy than would shatter on bone. There are several ways to achieve a hard boolit while ensureing that is tough/ductile enough to remain whole thru bone. It also appears that you choice of boolit shape included a decent meplat on your boolits. Would you please tell use what you used and velocities. All in all, very good performance and shooting.

[africa]

Here it goes, gents.

Alloys were quite hard. .308 and .358 used a mix of wheelweights and linotype, waterquenched. .280 used straight linotype. We discussed the matter, but the man argued that any softer alloy would lead to bullet defermation, since his muzzle vel. is around 2440 fps.

.358 - Lyman's 358315 RN 201 gr. (nominal 206 with alloy n.2) - 1020 fps.

.308 - Lyman's 311644 - 180 gr. (nominal - 190) 2000 fps.

.280 - An old SAECO mould, truncated cone nose. 2440 fps.

No. I wouldn't change anything from my recipe in .308. Trajectory is an usable one up to 150 yd., that is my absolute hunting limit, and accuracy is much better than I need.

[Wayne Dobbs]

Is that velocity correct on the .358? 1020 fps? That's pistol territory...

[Bass Ackward]

We discussed the matter, but the man argued that any softer alloy would lead to bullet defermation, since his muzzle vel. is around 2440 fps.


Africa,

You have the idea correct. Don't fix what ain't broke. But fix it as soon as it is proven lacking.

With that having been said above, I think there will be a day where results won't be as satisfactory as that you were shown on this hunt. But until that time, believing promotes confidence. Confidence promotes use. And that is the name of the game.

On smaller bullet diameters, the fella might be right. The larger the bore diameter the stronger the bullet. If you take a 5# sledge to 35 BHN, 22 caliber bullet and smack an ACWW bullet in 45 caliber, the 22 caliber will sustain the most damage. That is also why I limit my bullets to 60% meplats. At that point, they round back from the nose instead of over expanding and breaking up. But that is another discussion.

Good hunting and spread the word.

[africa]

Sorry, Wayne.
Correct velocity is 2020 fps.