Brain Surgery

[Digital Dan]

Having commented on this in several threads I thought it might be worth a more clinical look at things to illustrate some of what I've learned about wee bullets of lead moving at pedestrian velocities well placed.

Pardon the fuzzys on this picture please. It is a CCI CB short bullet with retained weight of a hair over 27 grains. My point in posting this is to illustrate that low velocity has advantages too. Lacking deformation they behave a little like the energizer bunny. Going and going and going...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/muddler/Guns/DSCN0520_zps7db471ca.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/muddler/media/Guns/DSCN0520_zps7db471ca.jpg.html)

In the following image I present the victim in two views:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/muddler/Guns/DSCN2953_zps5684c330.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/muddler/media/Guns/DSCN2953_zps5684c330.jpg.html)

The gun is 33.5" long

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/muddler/Guns/DSCN2958_zps7c69f49a.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/muddler/media/Guns/DSCN2958_zps7c69f49a.jpg.html)

After he lost his head it became apparent where his trouble started.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/muddler/Guns/DSCN2968_zpse097a38d.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/muddler/media/Guns/DSCN2968_zpse097a38d.jpg.html)

Looking at it from the perspective of where the bullet came rest in the neck:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/muddler/Guns/DSCN0550_zps4461c968.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/muddler/media/Guns/DSCN0550_zps4461c968.jpg.html)

You will notice a dark round hole centered in the forward skull. This is point of entry. Also notice the missing bone structure on the lower right in the near field of view. This was done by the bullet.

Lastly, a target shot in numerical sequence at 10 yards from a very clean bore and an elbow rest. It was zeroed at that range because it is a typical distance for what I do. I also know where it goes at 25 yards.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/muddler/Guns/target1_zps0ff4e212.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/muddler/media/Guns/target1_zps0ff4e212.jpg.html)

With this said, you now know where I'm coming from when I suggest that low vel lead is a killer and that sometimes less is more. It is not a "boiler room" equation by any means but if one is inclined to do this and has the opportunity to do so such as I do, well, it's an option.

Dan

[Doc_Stihl]

Nice shot, Nice Rifle, Nice Pictures, Nice Write Up.
Are those CB's originally a 32gr RN?
Any Idea how thick the bone is at the point of impact?
I'm a big fan of slow chunks of lead.

[Monttexan]

Last critter I shot was a fox that was hanging out in the neighborhood. The wife and I spotted him while out walking so we regrouped and took preventative measures to keep him away from our and the neighbor's chickens. Short range with a CB long dropped him in his tracks. One flip of his tail and that was it. Velocity is not the holy grail. Nice shot by the way!

[Digital Dan]

Doc, the CCI variant of the CB round in both long and short is a 29 gr bullet. Remington makes something akin to that as a LR version. I recall it as a 33 gr bullet but I'm not certain. Is called the CeeBee.

CCI also makes a round called "Quiet" which is a LR version. Think it has a 40 grain but again, I'm not certain of that.

Guess on my part, the bone plate on that hog was about 1/8-3/16" thick

[aspangler]

My dad used 22 shorts all the time to kill hogs. Never had one so much as squeal.

[Oreo]

I once heard someone compare 22 shorts to a bb gun. I never thought much of it till last year when I aquired my first 22 revolver and shot a 22 short clear through one 2x4 and half way through the second. Ive never seen a bb gun do that.

[geargnasher]

"Bullet in the brain-pan, squisshhhhhh!"

Gear

[Leslie Sapp]

On the other hand - You better understand what "precise bullet placement" means if you try this. Whoever shot this guy pulled high and right.
95981

Note that the edges of the hole have grown over.
95982

Including the exit hole.
95983
It looks like it went through the top of the brain, but it actually entered the sinuses and ran around the brain and exited the back of the skull.
I'm just glad I didn't meet this boar the next day, as I'm certain he had a splitting headache and was in a bad mood!:eek:

[Dark Helmet]

CB's are neat. You hear the striker fall and shortly after hear the bullet hit the target. Kinda like tink............................thwop!

[dbosman]

I first heard about zimmer patronen and went looking for them.
CCI CB long was what I found first. They were great, if boring, for shooting at the 3/4" pipe holding up Dad's bird feeder, from about 35 feet. A bit of a rainbow trajectory. Pronounce each word in the next sentence aloud and you'll get a very good idea of the sequence.

Bang, wait, wait, wait, wait, plink.

[Monttexan]

"Bullet in the brain-pan, squisshhhhhh!"

Gear

Shiny!

[Bigslug]

Keep flying Gear, keep flying!

[dale2242]

I keep CBs handy, along with my TC Tender in the shop.
You never know what targets of opportunity my wander by....dale

[Thin Man]

About 23 years ago we had a dog traveling through our neighborhood that would makes his rounds to beat up on all the other dogs in the area. He was best described as "a fight looking for a place to happen". Our dog got tired of this, I also got tired of this, and tried to find the owner but had no luck. Our Animal Control people never could get close enough to him for a tranquilizer dart. One day I spotted him in our yard again. I snatched up a 22 loaded with CCI Short CB loads (Mini-Caps) and quietly walked outside. By the time I got in position to see him again he was about 80 yards away moving at a slow pace from right to left presenting a full profile image. I held both Kentucky elevation and windage and threw one shot. You could count from 1 to 3 after the shot sounded until the dog flinched and let out a yelp and started running the way he was pointed. He ran about 40 yards and piled up. Game over. There is no credit due to the shooter's ability, just the luck of successful boolit placement and performance. No, there was no autopsy, can't provide the details of exact boolit placement on the animal, just adding a vote to the ability of a modest load to give more than modest results.

Thin Man

[Beau Cassidy]

My personal favorite critter control .22 round is RWS Subsonic HP out of my 541-T. It works scaringly well. I just picked up another 300 rounds from Outpost Armory Friday.

[geargnasher]

Shiny!


Keep flying Gear, keep flying!

:wink:

Gear

[Treetop]

Digital Dan and Leslie Sapp, how did you get those hogs skulls to clean up so well. I would really like to try that on my next "biggish boar". Thanks, Tt.

[Leslie Sapp]

I boiled the flesh off, rinsed it in bleach and water then sat it up on top of the barn for a few weeks to dry out and kill the odor.

[Old Dawg]

Who you trying to fool? Everyone knows that even .44 Magnums will bounce off a boar's skull. Those photos must have been photo Shopped.

[Digital Dan]

Treetop, I let the crabs gnaw on the skull for a few days, blew the rest of the debris off with a hose. Followed that with a dip in peroxide solution for about 20 minutes. You can find that at a hair salon, or maybe your nearest big box store. Caution with peroxide: If doing a deer skull, don't let it touch the horns or it will leave the point of contact close to snow white. Bleach will work also, but it takes a bit longer. Boiling works too but it's a bit awkward with the likes of cape buffalo and so forth.

[dudel]

Hard to argue with results. We had two coyotes that were eating food we left for neighborhood stray cats and messing with the neighbors chickens. What was available was a suppressed 10/22 with Remington SubSonic rounds. One in the head, at short range, was all it took for him to be DRT. The second one also fell to a round in the head. You can do quite a bit of damage with a good old 22LR round.

[geargnasher]

When cleaning skulls, particularly big cats, bears, and pigs, it's important to degrease them before bleaching or the fat in the bone will leach out to the surface over time and yellow them. Soaking in lacquer thinner for a few days will do it, then bleach.

Gear

[SOFMatchstaff]

Good thread, I have a real attraction to the heavy 22rf SSS 60gr ammo. I made up a barrel for my HS Citation from a piece of Lothar 1/8 twist AR 15 barrel scrap just to use the Aguila ammo. What a thumper, deadly accurate and mouse gas quiet with the can on. Right at 880fps and you can tell the hit tone difference on steel. I have culled trash cans full of flyinrats with the CB longs, not hogs by any stretch, but still very effective...

[Digital Dan]

Gear, good tip on the grease and thinner.

One of these days I need to find out if a .25-20 lever gun is adequate. 8-)

[L Ross]

My shooting friends and I shoot up several hundred CCI CB shorts every year at our annual "Boy's Rifle Match". We shoot 22 BPCR rules silhouettes at 12 1/2, 25, 37 1/2, and 50 yards, (chickens, pigs, turkeys, and rams), in antique boy's rifles. The fixed sights, small rifle size, and trajectory issues over 50 yards make a challenging offhand match. Those little bullets handily knock the rams off the rail with a decent hit mid point or higher.

Duke