.308 180gr E TIP, 39.5gr. IMR 4895

I just returned from a good hunt in Colorado where I downed a 6X5 Elk. The Elk was shot from approx. 120yds, with the bullet piercing both lungs and passing completely through the animal. The exit hole was about an 1" in diameter, not a whole different from the entrance. The bullet did its job, I would have liked to see a little more expansion though.

The volume displaced and disrupted by the hydrostatic wave was far greater than you could see, I daresay. I expect that the lungs were disrupted with copious blood flow quickly filling the thorax, and the heart was quickly stopped due to shock. In short, while tissue was not blown out, the bullet performed quite well. At least that has been my experience on several moose, elk and whitetail deer. The performance of the bullet has made me a believer.

DrMike":1sxyl5h3 said:

The volume displaced and disrupted by the hydrostatic wave was far greater than you could see, I daresay. I expect that the lungs were disrupted with copious blood flow quickly filling the thorax, and the heart was quickly stopped due to shock. In short, while tissue was not blown out, the bullet performed quite well. At least that has been my experience on several moose, elk and whitetail deer. The performance of the bullet has made me a believer.

Click to expand...

Amen. Awesome bullet. A 90 gr. bullet in my son's 6mm Remington and that thing thinks it's a 280 Remington shooting a 140 gr. bullet!

elktracker":38ner5px said:

I just returned from a good hunt in Colorado where I downed a 6X5 Elk. The Elk was shot from approx. 120yds, with the bullet piercing both lungs and passing completely through the animal. The exit hole was about an 1" in diameter, not a whole different from the entrance. The bullet did its job, I would have liked to see a little more expansion though.

Click to expand...

Small exit wound on my bull some years ago, 7mm Rem mag with a 175 Nosler Partition. Exit wound was maybe a half inch dia. Bull was dead within a half dozen steps, maybe faster though. No complaints.

Want bigger exit wounds, consider a bullet that expands more, like a Ballistic Tip. BUT then you're trading away penetration... If it expands a lot, it's not likely to penetrate all that well, and the other way around too. Most deep penetrating bullets don't produce a real big frontal area.

BTW, welcome to the Nosler Forum!

Regards, Guy

Exit wound size is a poor indicator of bullet performance. Mike's reference to hydro shock it spot on.

Also bear in mind that sometimes large exit wounds are a product of pieces of bone being blown out ahead of the bullet or alongside it at least. By the same token, some people who are aggrieved by huge entry wounds and decrying them as "blowups" are seeing sometimes a buildup of pressure blowing back out of the entry hole.

Ever shot a deer in the head with a heavy bullet in a 308+ class cartridge? The head is usually blown to bits. As a teenager I shot thousands of kangaroos in the head and chest with similar loads and often the head and chest was blown up like the poor animal had swallowed a hand grenade.

These were neither bullet blowups or excessive expansion on exit, nor were they failures to expand. They were a build up of pressure in the wound cavity that blew the body part into pieces.

Bullets do weird things at times, but so do body parts as well when little lumps of metal collide with them.

308 win?

Cartridge : .308 Win. (SAAMI)
Bullet : .308, 180, Nosler E-Tip 59180
Useable Case Capaci: 43.383 grain H2O = 2.817 cm³
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 2.800 inch = 71.12 mm
Barrel Length : 22.0 inch = 558.8 mm
Powder : IMR 4895

Predicted data by increasing and decreasing the given charge,
incremented in steps of 2.0% of nominal charge.
CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step Fill. Charge Vel. Energy Pmax Pmuz Prop.Burnt B_Time
% % Grains fps ft.lbs psi psi % ms

-20.0 79 31.60 2047 1675 31857 6048 91.0 1.458
-18.0 81 32.39 2094 1753 33692 6226 92.0 1.425
-16.0 83 33.18 2141 1832 35623 6401 92.9 1.393
-14.0 85 33.97 2188 1913 37655 6571 93.8 1.362
-12.0 87 34.76 2235 1996 39794 6735 94.7 1.331
-10.0 89 35.55 2281 2080 42053 6893 95.4 1.302
-08.0 91 36.34 2328 2167 44456 7045 96.2 1.273
-06.0 93 37.13 2375 2254 47015 7190 96.8 1.244
-04.0 95 37.92 2421 2344 49738 7328 97.4 1.217
-02.0 97 38.71 2468 2434 52638 7457 98.0 1.190
+00.0 99 39.50 2514 2527 55728 7579 98.5 1.163 ! Near Maximum !
+02.0 101 40.29 2561 2621 59021 7691 98.9 1.138 ! Near Maximum !
+04.0 103 41.08 2607 2716 62533 7794 99.2 1.113 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+06.0 105 41.87 2653 2812 66283 7887 99.5 1.088 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+08.0 107 42.66 2698 2910 70289 7969 99.7 1.061 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+10.0 109 43.45 2744 3010 74573 8042 99.9 1.035 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!

Results caused by ± 10% powder lot-to-lot burning rate variation using nominal charge
Data for burning rate increased by 10% relative to nominal value:
+Ba 99 39.50 2623 2749 65841 7377 100.0 1.097 !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
Data for burning rate decreased by 10% relative to nominal value:
-Ba 99 39.50 2368 2241 45952 7411 93.0 1.265
O NOT USE!