Post by cedarthicket on Nov 4, 2012 19:35:24 GMT -5
Below is a picture of a nice 6 X 6 bull elk that I bagged on opening day (October 20) of the second rifle season in the West Elk Wilderness of Area 53 in Colorado. I do not know what it will “score,” but the antlers were roughly estimated at 37 to 38 inches apart at the far tips. I was using the first rifle chambered for the .358 Hoosier, my Marlin XS7. (For scale in the picture the rifle is 42 inches long.) The relatively new 180 gr. Barnes TTSX bullet was seated over a fairly stiff charge of Norma 200. [Norma powders are made in Sweden. Alliant’s Reloader 7 powder is also made in Sweden. And, it looks and burns much like Norma 200. Coincidence??] Winchester standard large rifle primers were used in the cases formed from new .358 Winchester brass. Cartridge overall length was 2.73 inches. The cartridges were loaded to give a muzzle velocity of about 2650 ft/sec for a kinetic energy of 2807 foot pounds.
I must say that there was more good luck than hunting skill involved with this elk. And I managed to see up close two large bulls fighting and heard a third bull bugling not more than a couple hundred yards away. What a thrill to witness!! One of the fighting bulls first appeared about 60 yards away at the crest of a ridge that formed a saddle between a mountain to the east and some smaller “hills” to the northwest. Before I could get the cross hairs on him a second bull came out of the heavy dark spruce to my left and the two immediately “locked horns.” With must gusto and noise of stomping feet and cracking of dry branches they pushed each other back and forth a few times before disappearing behind the crest of the ridge from which the first bull came. I quickly walked up to the crest of the ridge and looked down the slope. For a few seconds I saw and heard nothing of them. Then, from behind some small spruce and aspen below me they started up again. This time the bull on my right pushed the other rapidly uphill in front of me. For a moment they paused, and I quickly took the shot. As you can imagine, at roughly 25 yards the elk filled up much of the field of view of the scope set on 6 power. It was close enough that I was able to see a dark spot where the bullet struck the chest of the animal.
Large bull elk can be tough to put down, especially with a less than perfect shot. I did not want to risk having to track mine for a great distance through a heavy growth of dark spruce and aspen on steep mountainsides. So, before the bull could do much accelerating, I quickly ejected my first case, chambered a second cartridge, and put a second bullet into the bull’s chest cavity as he began turning to my left before running down the horse trail just below the crest of the ridge on which I was now standing. I did not see him drop, but he dropped right on the trail up which I had walked and pretty close to the point from which I had first seen him (assuming the two bulls stayed in the same relative positions as when I first saw them at the beginning of the fight).
The bull ran roughly 50 yards from the point where the first shot was taken. The two Barnes bullets through the lungs certainly did their job well. The first shot would have killed him, but who knows how far he would have gone before expiring? The second shot was “insurance” that he would not go nearly as far.
The retained weight of the two 180-grain Barnes TTSX bullets taken from the right shoulder of my 6 X 6 elk was 177.7 grains each. That works out to be 98.7 percent of the original weight retained. If I had placed my shots just a few inches farther back and a few inches lower (to be more centered in the lungs) I am confident that the bullets would have passed through the elk instead of lodging in the meat and under the skin of the far shoulder. This would most likely have caused much more bleeding outside the chest cavity and formed an easy to follow blood trail. But, I am not complaining.
Both bullets struck somewhat high and forward in the chest cavity. I am pretty sure it was the first bullet that hit just behind the left shoulder and smashed a rib bone upon entering the rib cage. It created a big entrance hole and lots of bone fragments in the lungs. It proceeded to exit the rib cage squarely between ribs. The second bullet entered the left shoulder a couple inches forward of the first bullet and a little lower, entered the rib cage between two ribs, and hit a rib squarely upon exit from the rib cage. The second bullet struck a somewhat more quartering away angle than did the first bullet. But, it still penetrated the forward half of the lungs. Both bullets lodged in the right shoulder, one in the meat and the other just under the skin.
All things considered, the Barnes bullets worked very well in my Marlin XS7 chambered in .358 Hoosier. And, loaded to an overall cartridge length of 2.73 inches, they fed flawlessly through the Marlin short action. The rifle, topped with a Nikon Monarch 2 to 8 power scope, makes a fine big-game hunting outfit. I plan to keep it.
I must say that there was more good luck than hunting skill involved with this elk. And I managed to see up close two large bulls fighting and heard a third bull bugling not more than a couple hundred yards away. What a thrill to witness!! One of the fighting bulls first appeared about 60 yards away at the crest of a ridge that formed a saddle between a mountain to the east and some smaller “hills” to the northwest. Before I could get the cross hairs on him a second bull came out of the heavy dark spruce to my left and the two immediately “locked horns.” With must gusto and noise of stomping feet and cracking of dry branches they pushed each other back and forth a few times before disappearing behind the crest of the ridge from which the first bull came. I quickly walked up to the crest of the ridge and looked down the slope. For a few seconds I saw and heard nothing of them. Then, from behind some small spruce and aspen below me they started up again. This time the bull on my right pushed the other rapidly uphill in front of me. For a moment they paused, and I quickly took the shot. As you can imagine, at roughly 25 yards the elk filled up much of the field of view of the scope set on 6 power. It was close enough that I was able to see a dark spot where the bullet struck the chest of the animal.
Large bull elk can be tough to put down, especially with a less than perfect shot. I did not want to risk having to track mine for a great distance through a heavy growth of dark spruce and aspen on steep mountainsides. So, before the bull could do much accelerating, I quickly ejected my first case, chambered a second cartridge, and put a second bullet into the bull’s chest cavity as he began turning to my left before running down the horse trail just below the crest of the ridge on which I was now standing. I did not see him drop, but he dropped right on the trail up which I had walked and pretty close to the point from which I had first seen him (assuming the two bulls stayed in the same relative positions as when I first saw them at the beginning of the fight).
The bull ran roughly 50 yards from the point where the first shot was taken. The two Barnes bullets through the lungs certainly did their job well. The first shot would have killed him, but who knows how far he would have gone before expiring? The second shot was “insurance” that he would not go nearly as far.
The retained weight of the two 180-grain Barnes TTSX bullets taken from the right shoulder of my 6 X 6 elk was 177.7 grains each. That works out to be 98.7 percent of the original weight retained. If I had placed my shots just a few inches farther back and a few inches lower (to be more centered in the lungs) I am confident that the bullets would have passed through the elk instead of lodging in the meat and under the skin of the far shoulder. This would most likely have caused much more bleeding outside the chest cavity and formed an easy to follow blood trail. But, I am not complaining.
Both bullets struck somewhat high and forward in the chest cavity. I am pretty sure it was the first bullet that hit just behind the left shoulder and smashed a rib bone upon entering the rib cage. It created a big entrance hole and lots of bone fragments in the lungs. It proceeded to exit the rib cage squarely between ribs. The second bullet entered the left shoulder a couple inches forward of the first bullet and a little lower, entered the rib cage between two ribs, and hit a rib squarely upon exit from the rib cage. The second bullet struck a somewhat more quartering away angle than did the first bullet. But, it still penetrated the forward half of the lungs. Both bullets lodged in the right shoulder, one in the meat and the other just under the skin.
All things considered, the Barnes bullets worked very well in my Marlin XS7 chambered in .358 Hoosier. And, loaded to an overall cartridge length of 2.73 inches, they fed flawlessly through the Marlin short action. The rifle, topped with a Nikon Monarch 2 to 8 power scope, makes a fine big-game hunting outfit. I plan to keep it.
