.358 Win Buck

[RugerFan]

Took another buck last Friday. Around this time every year in an area we hunt in western GA, we start to see the bucks moving with some early rut activity. There is a draw I like to hunt that has good deer movement, but had left it alone until now. I usually only hunt this spot in the morning (getting set up before daylight) because deer bed so close by, but being that it was fairly windy, I felt I could slip in undetected. I got high up in a maple with my climber and was set up by 3:40 pm. At 4:55 I had a spike buck walk up the draw and right under my stand. I let him go hoping for something bigger. 20 minutes later a second buck came from the same direction. Although not a monster, I thought he was worthy of my freezer so I pulled the trigger. At a distance of about 20 yds, the boolit entered behind the left shoulder, went through the heart and exited through the lower right shoulder. The deer blasted ahead for about 30 yds and piled up.

Autopsy revealed that the boolit had literally blown up the heart (and the lungs were equally trashed). Even though the metplat on this boolit is not extremely wide, the destruction is always considerable.

Rifle: Ruger M77 Hawkeye .358 Win
Boolit: 245 gn Saeco #352
Alloy: #2 Lyman
Pwdr: 39 gns H4895 (about 2000 fps IIRC)
Lube: FWFL

http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l449/wolf913/5Nov20106pt_3.jpg

http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l449/wolf913/Bullet-1.jpg

Autopsy photos:

What's left of the heart: http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l449/wolf913/Heart.jpg

Exit wound: http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l449/wolf913/exit-1.jpg

EDIT: **Apparently Photobucket doesn't appreciate blood and gore as they have removed my autopsy pics. I'll work at getting something else set up.


By the way, the custom leather buttstock cartridge holder was made by our own freedom475. A top quality product!

....

[280Ackley]

Nice job. What alloy was the boolit?

[RugerFan]

Nice job. What alloy was the boolit?

#2 Lyman (and corrected my typo above)

[82nd airborne]

Dadgum! Your killin em all! Well done!

I got a picture of a nice new buck today....and a picture of some random guy who wasnt supposed to be there.

[roverboy]

Good job RugerFan. That was some serious damage. You thumped him good.

[EMC45]

Leave some of those GA deer for the rest of us.....:kidding: Well done!!

[waksupi]

Interesting, if you would have taken that shot with a jacketed bullet, that whole shoulder would have been bloodshot. I can see you will be able to salvage a lot of meat there. Another big plus for cast boolits!
Good hunt!

[frankenfab]

YEAH!

KICK IT! (Beastie Boys)

[smilie=w:

[Old Goat Keeper]

Nice buck for the freezer! Sort of looks to me like you are over gunned for that range! lol Meby if you moved down a notch like I did to a Marlin 336ER in 356 Winchester there won't be a much damage. Remember guys these are obsolete calibers that won't kill piss ants any more! LOL

Tom who brings them unwanted orphans home all the time

[TCLouis]

Sometimes (all the time mostly) range to the game is not much our choice!

NICE deer too, by the way!

So much for the old tale that, "Ya can eat right up to the boolit hole with cast".

[waksupi]

I DO hope this helps answer the question of how effective a flat nose is on a boolit. Apparent expansion, full penetration, what's not to like? I feel sorry for those who can't let go of the jacketed bullets!

[RugerFan]

Leave some of those GA deer for the rest of us.....:kidding: Well done!!

No promises :grin: I'm mostly guiding my son now on the rare weekend that he is back from school.


Interesting, if you would have taken that shot with a jacketed bullet, that whole shoulder would have been bloodshot. I can see you will be able to salvage a lot of meat there. Another big plus for cast boolits!
Good hunt! .............. I DO hope this helps answer the question of how effective a flat nose is on a boolit. Apparent expansion, full penetration, what's not to like? I feel sorry for those who can't let go of the jacketed bullets!

Wholeheartedly agree!


Sometimes (all the time mostly) range to the game is not much our choice!

Exactly. I can see to shoot upwards of 150 yds from that tree.

At least the freezer is well stocked now. We do all the processing ourselves and now have smoked sausage, bratwurst, jerky, burger, roasts and steak. Mmmmmm!

[white eagle]

That is a sexy lookin boolit
job well done nice buck
I hope to connect with a buck with the same cal cept I going to use a 240 gr Accurate Boolit
let the games begin

[GLynn41]

good job _ I load that bullet to 2000 out of my old modle 18.5" .358 win ruger m-77 --shot nothing but targets -- thanks for the pictures wow on the impact

[DragoonDrake]

How well do you think that bullet would fly out of a 10" 357 Max?

[hornsurgeon]

nice! can't wait till i get my 35 rem up and going!

[RugerFan]

How well do you think that bullet would fly out of a 10" 357 Max?

Might be a bit heavy, but I really don't know. Hopefully someone that shoots a Max will chime in.

[swheeler]

Well done. I think you used enough gun with nosler partition performance from your cast bullet.

[Good Cheer]

Well, that's all I can stand. That pitted up old 99 Savage "project gun" is getting sent off to the rebore guy.

[JeffinNZ]

Very convincing bullet damage. I can see why folk tout the .35 as a perfect cast deer caliber.

[waksupi]

Very convincing bullet damage. I can see why folk tout the .35 as a perfect cast deer caliber.

It does equally well on elk, bear, and bison.