Blue duiker and FMJ

[Jamie D Van Roekel]

I have never been a fan of FMJ for anything. The wife is a great rifle shot but not much for shotguns so I was wondering how a 308 FMJ would be for blue duiker. My fear would be that it would zip through and the animal would be able to run off. I know they are very small so thought I would ask you guys what you thought? My other thought was a Barnes loaded to minimum load so as to not expand. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[Aaron N]

Can she handle a 375 with solids?

 

[AimSmall]

Be aware some jurisdictions may not allow FMJ, or in some cases, solids.

However, had great success loading CEB solids for 6.5 and 300. Very accurate, deadly on the tiny antelope. Very close poi to softs.

 

[Frederik]

Try get a solid that has a cutting edge not a normal FMJ.
Blue duiker are very small and I would drop the velocity to around 2500fps or lower in order not to blow the hide away on exit even if it is a solid.

You want to punch a good hole and not rip it with speed.

300gr Impala solid out of my 375 H&H at 2470fps worked great on my red duiker dropped on the spot but it was also a frontal. Even with that big bullet and exiting right back at the back leg mninimal hide damage. Range 40 meters

300gr Safari Bullet Company premium soft this time out of my 375 H&H at 2470fps you can see the entrance wound and exit was not that bad either. So I would rather say speed is more an issue that the bullet as long as its well constructed. Range 30 meters

6.5 x 55 with 160gr Hornady RN interlock this was not a premium bullet but at 2450fps velocity was mild enough range 60 meters exit was a neat 1" hole no hide damage either.

 

[dchum]

The blue duiker running off after shot with a .308? Even FMJ I don’t think so haha.

But yes slow velocity is your friend.

 

[Nhoro]

Blue duiker is about the size of a house cat without the fur. Smaller than a jack Russel terrier. As said above, slow velocity projectile, so 308 is not great unless you use heavy bullets and maybe download. But then you have to rezero and can't use higher velocity rounds for other plainsgame. I reckon a handgun cartridge like 44 magor 357 mag in a lever gun might be ideal. Hard cast solid lead bullet. Otherwise a 308 with 180 gr solids, try for round or flat nose solids. Military ball tends to tumble. Kind of difficult to justify buying a gun for a blue duiker so you should just use what you have. They are easy to kill, the trick is having anything left to mount.

 

[Red Leg]

Center of mass with a solid will anchor any of the little guys. I have taken most of the tiny ten with 300 gr solids from a .375 with no issue of excess damage. I should note that included a Suni which is roughly equivalent to a blue. I took my blue with a 170 gr Oryx from my .275. He has a .275 hole going in and a .276 hole going out. A heavy for caliber SP or round nose solid would be a better choice than a FMJ spitzer in military or target configuration. As @Nhoro notes, there is also a chance such a bullet will tumble.

Shoot center of mass. A shoulder shot that strikes bone will cut the little guy in half regardless of bullet type.