8mm 200 grain competition boat tails

backcountryhunter · Oct 9, 2011

has anyone tried this bullet for big game ? just wondering

edge · Jan 26, 2012

backcountryhunter":2crz0qdb said:
has anyone tried this bullet for big game ? just wondering

A bit late, but I had one kill using it.

I shot a doe at just 105 yards.
MV about 3100fps.

At the shot all the deer run deeper into our property but nothing is on the ground and nothing falls within my view!!

All the deer are gone so I get down and walk to where she last was walking in case she fell behind a tree.
Just before I get where she was standing I spot a few flecks of blood on the snow and worry that I hit just the leg.
10 more yards and now the blood is spraying...15 more yards and there is 1/2 of her Liver lying in the snow!
Now I was worried that I gut shot her... but with the liver blown to pieces I figure she can't go far even with a gut shot.

I follow sprayed blood for almost 100 yards and there she is....

As I look at the shot placement I see no obvious entrance wound, but intestines hanging out a massive hole in the middle of her chest!

I gut her and find a 8mm size hole in between two ribs about midway up the body, and without any bone breakage just behind the heart.
The exit wound took out 3 ribs about 4 inches wide by 3 inches high all 5 inches IN FRONT of the diaphragm!!

I can only imagine the hydraulic actions that would cause this destruction on such a scale. Fortunately zero meat lost although the backstraps probably are bruised. How she made it that far without lungs, ejected liver, and partially ejected intestines is just amazing!

Here are some pictures.

They aren't great and since the deer is hanging by the neck the skin does not align with the wounds.

Here is the entrance wound as seen from the inside. The outside was not visible without moving the hair aside so not worth the picture. Not that clear since I had to try to hold the chest open and take the picture too while she was hanging.
The hole is perfectly round and is the small black dot in the wound. It did just barely nick the rib but does not appear to have done any real damage there or to have expanded as the hole is right about caliber size and round.

Unfortunately the hide conceals the damage, about the size of your fist.
You can see where the diaphragm is in relation to the wound, I'd say about 5 inches.

Here is the exit wound as viewed from the outside. The hole in the ribs is at the top of the hide wound since she hanging by the neck. I f I had a helper I would have slid the hide up to show a hand for a size comparison and to show the hole all the way through.

edge.