For those of us who love experimenting, the monolithic alloy hunting bullets made by Nosler and Hornady are great choices for hunting short range or long because the bullets maintain up to 95% of their weight and leave no lead behind. 

I resist shooting soft all copper bullets as they tend to create copper fouling that is hard to remove. 

Nosler’s Expansion Tip aka the E-Tip is a copper alloy bullet that is harder than all copper bullets and leaves your barrel fouled as normal gilding copper jacketed bullets do. I like that because having hard to remove heavy deposits of soft copper can create confidence issues when I test a bullet for group. Was it the bullet, the powder, seating depth or the copper fouling I can’t get out of my barrel from shooting soft copper? 

Nosler offers the E- Tip for many calibers. I have experience taking a 300 pound boar with its thick shield  and the 30 caliber E-Tip devastated the boar.

The exit wound below!

The Hornady GMX (Game Expanding) bullet is another fine spitzer style bullet that has a polymer tip to initiate expansion like the Nosler E-Tip.  They offer a vimeo that I can’t show you here unless you go their website.

Quote they state:

“Featuring a long, sleek profile with cannelures, the design reduces overall bearing surface and drag, while achieving some of the highest ballistic coefficients from monolithic, non-traditional bullets. Initiating expansion upon impact, the hard polymer tip drives into the hollow cavity at the front of the bullet, creating a mushroom-style projectile as it travels through the animal. Fully California compatible and appropriate for use in areas requiring the use of non-traditional bullets, GMX^® is ideal for any sized game, from antelope to moose.”

https://www.hornady.com/bullets/rifle/30-cal-308-180-gr-gmx#!/

I have not tested the GMX on game yet but it is reported to be highly successful in expansion critical to delivering tremendous energy inside game as its petals expand just like the Nosler’s.

Check them out!

©Copyright 2021 Game Images.

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There are some websites that say shooting deer with a rifle in the Autonomic Plexus drops them fast. Say What? But it is not where the center mass of heart and lungs are exactly. Really? Ok so what is the autonomic plexus? 

It is a point just forward of the front leg where there is a nerve and artery junction entering the lungs. I have learned that it is sometimes called the hilar zone.                   

image taken from www.ballisticstudies.com

So why am I telling you this? Honestly, after 50+ years of hunting deer, I have never used this point of aim on a whitetail or an ungulate with rifle or bow. Too much chance to miss vitals, I think. I aim rearward three or four inches of the above crosshairs striking the upper heart arteries and lungs. Below, this 50 cal muzzleloader shot was two inches high but he will never tell. He collapsed on the shot.

There are slightly differing point of aim for bow vs rifle.

Where shooting with bow slightly behind the front leg on a broadside shot to clip the heart and center punch the lungs. On rifle, there are many other professionals that teach to shoot on the front shoulder or just behind it on the lower 3rd of the body if on the ground. Or about three inches higher if shooting from a 15 ft high tree stand.

The truth is, if the angle of the deer changes, so should your aim point as the deer quarters toward or away.

Visualizing the 3D anatomy of heart and lungs are essential to strike them with bullet or arrow. Thus the use of the autonomic plexus as an aim point is, in my estimation, a poor common aim point as it is seen best when broadside and requires precision shot placement. 

Bowhunter education, for example,  drives home the concept of visualizing the heart and lungs at different angles so your arrow may find them. Rifle hunting is much the same but is, at times, not covered as well educationally as in archery. Shoot for low center lungs, on the shoulder or just behind. What looks like the shoulder above the front leg is where the scapula and leg bones make a triangle shape that has no bone.  Some anatomic charts vary a bit but you get the picture.

Good Shooting!

I am so pleased to have spent time fishing safely in the Florida Keys. Check out Kendall Jones of TPUSA Fishing for Lunkers below. But first check out Benny on the Block below. Antifa OUT!

Thank you Governor DeSantis!  Local town governments and police work together. This add was created by Turning Point USA (its members include hunters and fisherman) and lauds the work of Governor Ron DeSantis. Antifa is a hate group that is nurtured at the college campus level where Turning Point USA has a presence to thwart Antifa brainwashing. Check it out!

Go Ron DeSantis. First to get rid of Masks! First to warn Antifa!

Donate any amount to Turning Point USA, it is tax deductible!!!!

https://www.tpusa.com/donate

https://www.tpusa.com/join

Come On New Hampshire a little anti-Antifa Legislation at the State level like Florida gets the ball rolling for all States! 

Turning Point has the best public speakers, like Ambassador Nikki Haley, Candace Owens, Ambassador Rick Grinnell and Col. Allen West just to name a few!

https://www.tpusa.com/speakersbureau

Fishing for Lunkers is Kendall Jones of Turning Point USA

Announcement;

Unit L Antlerless Deer Permit Lottery Application Period Opens July 8 at 9:00 a.m.; Unit M Permits Available Beginning July 22

I published this article in February 2021.

Synthetic Deer Scents – Do they work?

Yesterday June 6,  I went Mackerel fishing out of Hampton, NH on a party boat with my son Jason and grandchildren Amelia, Thomas (fraternal twins) age 9 and Calvin age 6.

No masks! Hurray!

I had happily planned on paying for the trip for all.  As I neared the parking in Hampton,  NH, my son called my cell and said; “Just pay the $5 dollar parking fee Dad”. I’ve paid for the trip, “Happy early Father’s Day”, he said.  

I parked my truck right beside his and when I got out, the kids each greeted me with warm hugs. I love it! So long with masks on that it was very special to not have one on my face.

Jason and I were prepared for the trip with food, snacks, drinks and warmer clothing, hats, sun screen and of course fishing rods and a 5  gallon bucket for all the many  mackerel we would catch.

This was a first for the grandkids to not only fish for the first time but a first for dad and grandfather (me) to share time learning to fish in the ocean, get splashed near the bow with cool salty ocean waves, and jig with a fishing rod.

The kids took to jigging the rod under Jason’s patient tutelage, and I was right there praising him. And they were eager and happy to learn.

In the middle of all that we caught a few fish, not as  many as we expected but the inquisitive nature of the kids, each in turn picked up the fish by hand and examined them closely.

It was not mackerel madness that can sometimes happen if we ran into a big school of them, but it gave us Dad’s close loving time with the children.

We shared potato chips, watermelon, bites of my ham sub sandwich as we fished and giggled and hugged to stay warm in cool salty air up near the bow. What I caught was more than any fish, I caught the love of my son, and my loving grandkids. It was a great Father’s Day! Sometimes what you catch, can’t be measured in fish, but can be measured in love! 

Enjoy!

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The Hornady GMX means Game eXpanding. The bullet is all gilding copper and has a cavity that opens up on contact like the Nosler E-Tip.

The advantage is that it retains 95% of its original weight, has no lead in the GMX bullet and appears to expand and penetrate better than some lead core Hornady spitzers.

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2009/7/20/hornady-gmx-bullet/

I hand loaded the 180 grain GMX using RL 22 and got about a 1.5 inch  bench rest group at 100 yards. The velocity should be close to 2800 fps, thus packing a real whallop. Great on Moose, Elk and Deer. Felt recoil is quite a bit more, rightly so, than my  6.5 Creedmoor but for Moose the 30-06 would be my choice of the two cartridges.

On big deer, I think that the 180 grain is a good choice for a  300 pound Northern Maine bruiser buck or a bull moose. it will drop them fast. You just got to make the first shot count with the T/C Encore!

Energy at 200 yards is a huge 2200 ft-lbs. Is it a brush bullet? I don’t really know, but if t hits vitals, that animal is going down. I do like the fact that if it hits bone, it stays together and there is no lead in the meat to cut out. The big difference is that the 180 grain fully loaded,  has more recoil than the average hunter would be used to. A 150 grain would recoil less. When dealing with heavy recoiling rifles, be smart, get a new state-of-the-art recoil pad that reduces felt recoil by 50%, like the Pachmayr Decelerator. And don’t shoot a whole box of ammo at the range, get bruised, and complain about your rifles kick. It is the shooter that needs to get smart, not the rifle.

Good Hunting!

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I have yet to kill a nice buck here in  New Hampshire or Maine with Speer’s Hot Core 235 grain semi-spitzer. It is more like a round nose than a spitzer. I like round and flat nose for thick brush hunting. And it drops them fast!

I have been writing about them for some time as a great bullet for the .375 Ruger or .375 H&H when loaded down for Whitetails at medium to short range. It is easy on the recoil and hits-em hard. Muzzle velocity is 2200 fps with powders like A 5744. I am still using up my SR 4759 powder but they no longer make it.

Good mushrooming is accomplished near to 2000 fps, give or take  leaving the optimum distance to game at just over 100 to 150 yards or less. Typical shot distances for heavy timber and brush is around 40 to 60 yards so this bullet will work well and  make a big hole in, and a bigger hole on exit. This bullet, I believe, being more round nosed,  is more of a brush round. It should stay together if it encounters some twigs and small whip saplings.

I took some to the range this week to give the .375 Ruger and me some exercise. I expected  sub-moa groups at 100 yards and I was  not disappointed, though I shot only 2 rounds. I have proven this round already as an excellent performer on targets.

I will be comparing this round to my 6.5 Creedmoor with 155 grain Lapua Mega flat nose ammo very soon. Which round will be better? Time will tell…

Good Hunting!

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