Ridgerunner665
Handloader
- Oct 28, 2008
- 2,514
- 288
I've been wondering about this lately...I know the common, and correct, answer is to not exceed my ability to hit where I aim.
But for this discussion I'd like to leave shooting ability out of the equation, lets just assume we can all hit a pie plate at 300 yards with a pistol...from the hip ...hahaha, kidding about the from the hip part.
This is a discussion of terminal ballistics...and I'm specifically curious to know just how far a 200 grain XTP with a muzzle velocity of 1,305 fps can cleanly take a deer. The 10mm can muster over 750 ft. lbs. of energy at the muzzle...if you subscribe to the energy idea....I've taken several deer with a 45acp with only a little over 350 ft. lbs. of energy, all clean kills.
I'm talking a big deer...not a 100 lb. doe, I'm after them old bruiser bucks that often exceed 200 pounds live weight that have been known to absorb good hits and keep on going never to be seen again...I'm convinced an old whitetail buck just might be harder to stop than the big 5 if you catch them when they're all wired up.
I've got one of these bucks located at one of my hunting spots...
The place where I think I can corner him, the shot will be no more than 20 yards...but I'm still curious, just how far should I shoot with the 10mm and expect a quick, clean kill.
He was a big 9 point last year...the next trail cam pics should tell the tale about this year a little better, if I can get my wife to go check them for me...NOT EASY to get to this one.
But for this discussion I'd like to leave shooting ability out of the equation, lets just assume we can all hit a pie plate at 300 yards with a pistol...from the hip ...hahaha, kidding about the from the hip part.
This is a discussion of terminal ballistics...and I'm specifically curious to know just how far a 200 grain XTP with a muzzle velocity of 1,305 fps can cleanly take a deer. The 10mm can muster over 750 ft. lbs. of energy at the muzzle...if you subscribe to the energy idea....I've taken several deer with a 45acp with only a little over 350 ft. lbs. of energy, all clean kills.
I'm talking a big deer...not a 100 lb. doe, I'm after them old bruiser bucks that often exceed 200 pounds live weight that have been known to absorb good hits and keep on going never to be seen again...I'm convinced an old whitetail buck just might be harder to stop than the big 5 if you catch them when they're all wired up.
I've got one of these bucks located at one of my hunting spots...
The place where I think I can corner him, the shot will be no more than 20 yards...but I'm still curious, just how far should I shoot with the 10mm and expect a quick, clean kill.
He was a big 9 point last year...the next trail cam pics should tell the tale about this year a little better, if I can get my wife to go check them for me...NOT EASY to get to this one.