6.5 SAUM whitetail

hunter24605

Handloader
Apr 30, 2016
2,365
3,614
So, a buddy of mine who has only ever hunted small game and turkey, has decided he wants to get into whitetail and perhaps black bear. The only center fire rifle he owns is a 6.5 SAUM built off a savage that his brother bequeathed to him. Included with the rifle is a quart ziplock bag of ADG brass, a few hundred 140gr NBT's, and a Redding die set. He's leaning toward a 140 Partition in fear of the old horror stories he's heard about BT's blowing up at close shots, but I can't see any reason why the BT's wouldn't be a dandy whitetail and bear bullet at the SAUM velocity..Maybe I'm wrong about it for sub 100 yard shots?
 
I shot some of the fancy 140’s out of a 26 Nos, know 2 people that shot them with slower Creedmoor. Blow ups happened to all 3 of us. Now if you hit perfectly in the ribs every time, better chance of not happening. Both these guys almost lost dall sheep over them, I almost lost a goat on Kodiak.

I now use 140 PT in all my 6.5, yeah not as good BC, but BC doesn’t kill animals.

Will it happen to him? Hard telling, but I don’t like gambling on a wounded animal. The BT’s are a whole lot sexier, easier to make the exact measurements when reloading, as the PT tend to not be exact tips. That being said, I buy factory seconds from SPS that have bad tips, and still have zero problem making MOA.


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The 140 grain BT will work just fine in his 6.5 SAUM. There will be no problem with either whitetail or black bear. To be certain, the PT is a more robust bullet, but the BT will have sufficient punch to drop any whitetail or black bear. He needn't worry about the bullet "blowing up."
 
DrMike knows way more than me, so I will defer to him on the BT, I’ve gotten to the point I lump most tipped bullets together.

A-max, SST, LRAB, Berger are the main ones I have seen blow up, I wish I had the pictures of them, a max on bear, SST on deer, LRAB on goat. I just gave up, and now have a lifetime supply of PT tips, I quit chasing the new stuff, saves me money and time.


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coop22250":6rfy1i20 said:
DrMike knows way more than me, so I will defer to him on the BT, I’ve gotten to the point I lump most tipped bullets together.

A-max, SST, LRAB, Berger are the main ones I have seen blow up, I wish I had the pictures of them, a max on bear, SST on deer, LRAB on goat. I just gave up, and now have a lifetime supply of PT tips, I quit chasing the new stuff, saves me money and time.


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I should just tell him to do what I always do when deciding between fast expanding and stouter bullets; Split the difference and go with the AccuBond. :grin:
 
hunter24605":1qrckiuq said:
coop22250":1qrckiuq said:
DrMike knows way more than me, so I will defer to him on the BT, I’ve gotten to the point I lump most tipped bullets together.

A-max, SST, LRAB, Berger are the main ones I have seen blow up, I wish I had the pictures of them, a max on bear, SST on deer, LRAB on goat. I just gave up, and now have a lifetime supply of PT tips, I quit chasing the new stuff, saves me money and time.


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I should just tell him to do what I always do when deciding between fast expanding and stouter bullets; Split the difference and go with the AccuBond. :grin:
I do have some of those, some 180/200 .30’s. They seem pretty good, some guys call them Accubombs but I haven’t had that happen yet, but I also run them heavy as possible in 308 and WSM.


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