Observations on taking my first deer with the 308mx

[Mattole]

I shot a nice blacktail buck here in Northern California yesterday morning. I discovered him as I crested a hilltop and he was bedded down in a swale about 70 - 80 yards away. I made the shot rather quickly as he was looking right at me, and he dropped at the shot. I waited on the hilltop just to make sure he was dead and after about 30 seconds his head started twitching so I chambered another round and pulled the trigger again, but it was a MISFIRE. Pulled the hammer back and tried again but still no go. I waited another 10 seconds and then chambered another round and shot the buck again.

After skinning the buck out later that day (it was a lonnngg haul from swale to home) I discovered that I did not need that second shot, as the first shot, which hit a little higher than the heart/lung area I was aiming for, had completely blown out his spinal cord and enough surrounding tissue to look like I had used an elephant gun. I was a little surprised to find fragments of the copper jacket in the tissue around the perimeter of the wound channel. The bullet had apparently exploded when it his his spinal cord. I am grateful that he had a quick passing, but for the sake of the meat that I lost I kind of wish I had been hunting with my Marlin 1894 44 mag yesterday instead of the 308mx.

I am not impressed that one of the cartridges failed to fire. I took a look at it later and the firing pin had hit deep and true, so it was a primer failure.

Still, I came home with a buck for the family and for that I give thanks.

[big medicine]

Congrats!! that is a fine looking Blacktail. as far as the dud round, it happens. When I would help at hunter sight in days I usually came home with several dud rounds from hunters that were sighting in. all different cals and different brands.

[Sidespin]

A blacktail... it is my understanding they are much more wary than whitetails, is this true?

Ss

[devildog308]

Go look at my threads about misfires.  I'd just about bet you a box of ammo is a headspace issue!

[seaweaver]

I kind of wish I had been hunting with my Marlin 1894 44 mag


Oh lordy there is another one....
Chances are I'll gauge mine on a hog before a deer...and chances are either will be at that range or closer.
I've never been a neck shooter...I may have to learn something new for the .308.

Nice deer.


cw

[Mattole]

Thanks for the congrats.

I have never hunted whitetail deer so I cannot speak with experience to compare the two but I do know that blacktail deer are extremely wary and secretive and unpredictable during the hunting season (whether they are pressured or not), so much so that we who pursue them call them "The Ghost". Most all blacktail bucks go nocturnal after they shed their velvet and stay in heavy cover during the daylight hours. Heavy cover in a tinder-dry forest with no hope of silent approach! The morning I took this buck a massive storm was approaching and the barometric pressure was dropping, which I think brought him out of cover.

This was my first buck this year after many many days in the field. This in fact is the first buck I have seen this season! On Sunday I head out with my bow to a densely forested area near to where I took this buck. There is a high concentration of does in the forest and hopefully, with the pre-rut in progress, I will encounter this buck's daddy or grandaddy...

[OneShotTX]

Hello Mattole,

Nice buck....congrats....Last season I took a nice 8pt buck on opening weekend with my new .308MX.

Was a good shot, and I was also shocked about the damage done...like a BOMB!!! Fortuantely, it was a well placed shot and I didn't lose any meat.

I also noticed a lot of bullet fragments in the wound area.

Now I am of the opinion that the MX bullet is a little too explosive for me to use on Texas Whitetails. The issue being that if my shot is off a bit, I'm going to lose a lot of meat....and I am a meat hunter, first and foremost.

My solution is to reload using the Remington .170 RNCL bullet. I've used this bullet in .30.30's for nearly 40 years, and it is very dependable, accurate, and doesn't do a lot of damage. I have perfected a load for the .308MX, and it is actually more accurate than the Hornady MX's....believe it or not (have posted some of my results on this forum). The Hornady .308MX bullets are very accurate, but explosive on deer. If I was hunting elk, moose, or other large game...it would be a no brainer...the MX would be my first choice.

Anyway, these are my thoughts, and plans for hunting this season. Our deer season opens on November 7th, and last until 1st weekend in January 2010.

Good luck huntin' the does!! Stock up that freezer!!

[VTDW]

Nice deer so congrats!!!

I do not like the LE ammo out of the .308MX as it is too frangible (IMHO only) when hitting bone but I am used to hardcast.

[Halwg]

The LE ammo behaves a lot like the Ballistic Tips do out of my 30-06.  I have shot a number of whitetails with BTs over the years, and if I hit bone, the bullet acts pretty explosively, and you can damage a lot of meat.  I went back to 165 gr boattail soft points out of my 760 in the 30-06, and get a lot less tissue damage.  I still use the ballistic tips out of my Ruger for long range shooting because they are accurate and have less drop.

The deer I killed last year with the 35 Remington LE ammo didn't show the shot up tissue, and I attribute this to the slower speed of the 35.  The 200 gr FTX out of my 20" 336 chronographed at 2135 fps, so the bullet isn't blowing up like it would out of the .308 or the .338 MXs.  But in my case, I like my deer dead, and will sacrifice a bit of tissue damage. 

[w6rmc]

A blacktail... it is my understanding they are much more wary than whitetails, is this true?

Ss

I have hunted both. Black tails are very wary and inhabit some rough country. They are famous staying put when you walk right by them only to get up and bolt after you have passed. That has happened to me moree than once.

[w6rmc]

Nice pacific buck. What zone were you hunting? I hunt A zone almost exclusively but want to try some of the B zones next year.


Sorry to hear about the lost back strap meat. I know those guys aren't very big to start with so you don't want to lose any more meat than necessary.

At the range you got him at do you think a .44mag would have done the trick or would you have had to stalk closer? I have a 94 in .44 mag and have wondered about taking it black tail hunting.

Tim, fellow CA black tail hunter.

[w6rmc]

For those of you who are interested in Blacktail hunting and how it may differ from mule or white tail, I submit the following link.

http://www.biggamehunt.net/sections/Mule_Deer/Blacktail_Hunting_The_Ultimate_Challenge_12040212.html

[Mattole]

Nice pacific buck. What zone were you hunting? I hunt A zone almost exclusively but want to try some of the B zones next year.


Sorry to hear about the lost back strap meat. I know those guys aren't very big to start with so you don't want to lose any more meat than necessary.

At the range you got him at do you think a .44mag would have done the trick or would you have had to stalk closer? I have a 94 in .44 mag and have wondered about taking it black tail hunting.

Tim, fellow CA black tail hunter.

Hello Tim,

I got this blacktail while hunting the B1 zone in southern Humboldt county. The range was about 70 yards which the 1894 in .44 mag would have handled fine. I have a 1-4 scope mounted on it and it is plenty accurate out to over 100 yards with the Magtech soft points that it seems to like. When I got the buck to my butcher last week, minus hide head and innerds he weighed 80 lbs. Not a heavyweight for sure, but then again when I swung by my butcher's today I saw that the packaged meat was enough to fill two good-sized cardboard boxes, so it will last my wife and I for a good while.

[Mattole]

Hello Mattole,

Nice buck....congrats....Last season I took a nice 8pt buck on opening weekend with my new .308MX.

Was a good shot, and I was also shocked about the damage done...like a BOMB!!! Fortuantely, it was a well placed shot and I didn't lose any meat.

I also noticed a lot of bullet fragments in the wound area.

Now I am of the opinion that the MX bullet is a little too explosive for me to use on Texas Whitetails. The issue being that if my shot is off a bit, I'm going to lose a lot of meat....and I am a meat hunter, first and foremost.

My solution is to reload using the Remington .170 RNCL bullet. I've used this bullet in .30.30's for nearly 40 years, and it is very dependable, accurate, and doesn't do a lot of damage. I have perfected a load for the .308MX, and it is actually more accurate than the Hornady MX's....believe it or not (have posted some of my results on this forum). The Hornady .308MX bullets are very accurate, but explosive on deer. If I was hunting elk, moose, or other large game...it would be a no brainer...the MX would be my first choice.

Anyway, these are my thoughts, and plans for hunting this season. Our deer season opens on November 7th, and last until 1st weekend in January 2010.

Good luck huntin' the does!! Stock up that freezer!!

OneShotTX -

Your post has inspired me to consider getting into reloading for the 308mx, using the formula that you outline. What do you think the effective hunting range on deer-sized game would be with the .170 RNCL bullet?

[Three_oh_8MX]

Good lookn' deer Mattole - we don't start rifle season here for another 3 weeks.

I'm loading the 170gr RNCLs over 40gr of RL15. I do NOT have a chronograph and am guessing at the muzzle velocity (50fps less than what L.F. Combs has published for this load) but here is the ballistic info:

Ballistics Calculation
Input Variables Firearm type   Rifle    Sight Height   1.5
Bullet Weight (grains)   170    Ballistic Coefficient   .182
Muzzle Velocity (fps)   2400    Temperature   59
Barometric Pressure (hg)   29.53    Relative Humidity   78%
Zero Range (yards)   100    Wind Speed (mph)   0


Ballistics Table in Yards
170gr    170 gr., .182 B.C.   www.hornady.com
Range (yards)         Muzzle   50     100   200      300   400       500
Velocity (fps)           2400   2174  1960   1575  1266   1065    949
Energy (ft.-lb.)           2174   1783  1449   936     605   428       340
Trajectory (100 yd. zero)   -1.5      0.2   0.0        -7.7    -29.7      -73.6    -146.8
Come Up in MOA     -1.5   -0.3      0.0   3.7      9.5   17.6        28.0


The following table is provided as a "cheat sheet" that you can tape to your gun.
Ballistics Table in Yards
170gr    170 gr., .182 B.C.   www.hornady.com
Range (yards)               Muzzle    50   100   200   300   400   500
Trajectory (100 yd. zero)   -1.5   0.2   0.0   -7.7   -29.7 -73.6   -146.8
Come Up in MOA            -1.5   -0.3   0.0   3.7   9.5   17.6    28.0

It looks as though 200yds would be about max distance given the old rule of thumb 1000ft/lb of energy required to ethically take deer size game. One observation I would add to the above data, is that my loads in my rifle do not drop anywhere near the 7.7" between 100 and 200 yards.

-chris