Bullet blow up on Tahr.

Here's a pic of a 95 grn 243 Targex blow up on a bull Tahr (last weekend). It dropped the animal. It was running away from me at 200 yards and I was aiming for the base of his neck. The bullet did not penetrate the neck bone at all.

Up to now I have had a fantastic run with these bullets and it won't put me off using them because most bullets have a fail. But this fail is very spectacular.

NOTE: Pic is gory and might cause offense. Don't open if you are not interested in the topic.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4...ps1eddaf65.jpg

If anyone on here cant handle that they may need to change hobbies!!;)

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Originally Posted by Tahr

....It dropped the animal..... But this fail (sic) is very spectacular....

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I... uh...

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Originally Posted by gimp

I... uh...

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...but didn't kill it. The bullet penetrated to the neck bone, but caused very little physical damage to the actual bony structure.

Yeah. Did you find the fragments or did it exit?

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Originally Posted by gimp

Yeah. Did you find the fragments or did it exit?

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In thinking you didn't hit it square. More of a graze that worked.

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Originally Posted by gimp

Yeah. Did you find the fragments or did it exit?

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Yes, there were plenty of tiny fragments in the wound, and a couple in the lower shoulder by the hock when I boned it.

As I said, I wasn't too worried.

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Originally Posted by R93

In thinking you didn't hit it square. More of a graze that worked.

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Maybe. He was straight opposite me but not exactly in line, and running up hill. So it wasn't difficult to go for the base of the neck/withers.

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Originally Posted by Tahr

Maybe. He was straight opposite me but not exactly in line, and running up hill. So it wasn't difficult to go for the base of the neck/withers.

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I doubt it now, especially if you found fragments. Must of been pretty square.

Probably a lot of shock damage to the spinal cord

Yes. There would have been a lot of nervous system shock I'm sure. But its still pretty much a surface blow up, eh, and that's not optimal.

But if it was a in behind the shoulder lung shot it would have been perfect performance yea?

Personally I like an explody projectile for neck shots as if you just miss the spine(like it appeared in your pic) it will transfer plenty of shock to drop it and plenty of damage to muscles and bloodvessels/arterys so hopefully it should bleed out before recovering from the shock.

Im wary of neck shots if I have Barnes in the mag and always ready with the follow up if necessary.(because of the lack of fragmentation)

Is it possible it penetrated a few inches under the skin in a raking shot before the blow up? its what they are designed to do.

The shot i took on that fellow was the same shot distance except he was facing me looking down to me so the bullet went into the base of his neck and i pulled the projectile out of the inside of his back leg,i missed his shoulder blades an the round ripped his guts apart also peircing the gut bag.the amax didnt alter its course at all.Tahr i found the 80gn targex to be very fragmental aswell but still with reasonable retention and knockdown.Interesting pic still and i could of had this happen on a big billy but wasnt able to rocover the billy to find out using 80gn targex.

That certainly did some damage. Is there a damage report on the ute after the swim??

Personally I like a bit more weight out there. Sometimes you hear of lighter projectiles not doing the job. But in saying that not every shot is deadly straight off. Hate to think how many animals have been lost over the years by anyone and everyone. I know of a guy shot a deer the other night and found the blood but no sign of the animal, even the next day with a dog. Ohh bugger.