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Originally Posted by kachingchingpow
This has been a great thread. An interesting shot on a deer last weekend made me think about it. I was about 35' up a tree overlooking a peanut field last Saturday, and a few does came out to the field right at dark... about 220 yards away. I was in a stand that didn't have any type of rest, so I made an off-hand shot for the head. The bullet hit the deer on the left side of the neck, about 4 inches behind the ear. It travelled down the length of the neck, exiting the right side just behind the shoulder (where you would normally place a heart/lung shot... in the dimple.) After exiting, the bullet continued it's path and broke the rear right leg in half. First of all, since the bullet didn't hit a large bone like the shoulder the exit wound was reasonable... about the size of a silver dollar. What impressed me though was that the bullet maintained it's flight path through the deer and broke the leg. The bullet had a pretty long way to go down through it's neck, etc. That answered some questions for me in terms of the durability of the Remington Permier Partitions in 180gr. I also liked the hole size.
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Well old boy -- when I hunted I hunted with some double guns I own. I don't hunt today because it sucks to get up at 0200 and walk through the woods in pouring 42 degree rain just to not see or shoot a game animal. I can go to my gun club and shoot the whole day under a cover so I don't get soaked.
Well, I hunted with a double rifle, a Sharps Big .50, a Day Swivel Breech flintlock in .40 and .50 Calibers, and a Gostomski .20 guage Trade Gun. That Trade Gun is sweet. Smooth bore you know -- provided you aren't of the generation that thinks some sabot conical represents the 1700's.
So I had a 577 / 500 double gun with Damascus barrels. This rifle came with its leather case, loading dies, and bullet mold. I cast up a couple hundred bullets from this mold. They were a 350 grain hollow point bullet sized for paper patching -- what is known as an 'Express Rifle' bullet of that era.
I have a Lyon and Lyon 500 / 3 Inch double gun with exposed hammers and underlever action so I decided to go hunting with this rifle and that 350 grain pure lead hollow point paper patch bullet loaded on about 120 grains of 2F Black Powder.
I shot a 'Fort Stewart' size deer (maybe fifty pounds) at about fifty yards with a raking shot and totally destroyed the carcass in the process. There was nothing left to pack out or eat. That bullet went through its right shoulder and opened up diagonally to it's left hind quarters -- totally destroying the animal.
I hunted the same spot the next day and used some 400 grain solid lead bullets with the same rifle. My thinking was that the 350 grain solf lead hollow point was too devistating on a game animal (duhhh). I shot another beast in the same exact spot as the deer I shot the day before. Except that the solid lead 400 grain bullet went right through that animal with little effect. I saw the blood go out the opposite side of the animal. So this beast staggers directly under my stand and out of pity for the poor animal I thumbed back the hammer of the other barrel and blasted the animal from about ten feet right down through the neck. I actually was able to eat some of this carcass.
I then understood what "Too Much Gun" meant. I still have that Lyon and Lyon double rifle and it must represent the epitome of a dangerous game rifle.
I haven't hunted a wild animal for twenty years. Why? Because I can depend on others to go out in cold rain day after day and hunt. When they shoot an animal, they never have enough room to store the meat so they give it to me!
He, he, he.
Gene