Just back from my first hunt in Africa, this one for Plains Game. Hunting with HGR2 and his bride. Of a Sable, Kudu, Blue Wildebeest, Zebra, Eland and Mountain Reedbuck taken; these 3 were the only bullets recovered.
The 2 on the left are 225 grain Barnes TTSX, launched at 2,750FPS from a 338 WM. The first struck the point of the shoulder of a zebra quartering toward me, breaking the shoulder and stopping under the hide behind the diaphram on the off side. I figure it lost 3 petals while smashing the shoulder. The Zebra staggered about 25 yards before collapsing.
The second hit a few inches high and behind the shoulder of a broadside Sable. It was found under the skin of the opposite side. The Sabel stumbled about 50 yards before stopping, and I stuck another round through the boiler house.
The third bullet is a 285 grain Barnes TSX, which load I had worked up in case I decided to go after something bigger. We were after Eland, and I had the 285s loaded, when the Blue Wildebeest popped up. The round hit the on-side shoulder as he was quartering toward me, and came to rest against the pelvis on the other side of the midline. Apparently, the launch velocity of 2,300FPS was insufficient to cause expansion. It should be noted, however, that the animal dropped in his tracks, DRT. To be fair, I'm sure this bullet was developed with the 338 Lapua in mind, so I'm not too dissapointed that it acted as a solid, and did not expand at 338WM velocity.
As mentioned , the Wildebeest dropped in his tracks. So, unaware that it had failed to expand,I continued to stalk Eland with the 285s; taking a nice bull with that round later in the day. No bullets were recovered from the Eland. I guess that a 285 grain 338 "solid" is not that bad of a hunting bullet. <G>
