Hunter-Habib
AH legend
Alright, Gents. A discussion for you all.
It goes without saying that those of us who've hunted with cup & core bullets... have all experienced jacket-core separation at least once or twice (if not more) in our hunting lives. Especially older hunters like me who began our adventures at a time when bonded or monolithic bullets were completely unheard of.
My question is: Do you always consider jacket-core separation to be an example of bullet failure ?
Take myself for example:
In 1974, on my life's first Safari to Africa (Kenya)... I lost a huge male lion (over bait) after my bullet (a 300Gr Winchester Silver Tip fired from a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum BRNO ZKK602) had failed to reach the vital organs. After my white hunter, Mr. Cheffings successfully spoored & finished off the lion with his .458 Winchester Magnum B.S.A Majestic... a postmortem revealed that my Winchester Silver Tip had experienced jacket-core separation & failed to penetrate the six inches of hardened feline frontal chest muscle.
In 1989, I attempted to make a double lung shot on a man eating Royal Bengal tiger with a Winchester Super X 175Gr cup & core point fired from my 7x57mm Mauser Churchill Gun Makers Model Deluxe. The animal succumbed to the gunshot wound on the following day. Postmortem revealed that my bullet had broken through the scapula & only penetrated one lung before experiencing jacket-core separation. The man eater died but one can hardly claim this to be a clean dispatch by any stretch of imagination.
Now, on the flip side of things... I've frequently shot (among other game animals) wildebeest & zebra with the aforementioned Winchester Super X soft points for the 7x57mm Mauser. And also (in recent years) the Prvi Partizan 173Gr cup & core soft point. When used on wildebeest & zebra, both the Winchester & the Prvi Partizan 7x57mm Mauser bullets are guaranteed to experience jacket-core separation (especially when hitting hard bone). But the wildebeests and zebras all gave out within mere seconds of getting shot.
So I'm basically asking: Have any of you experienced jacket-core separation with a bullet during the hunt ? And if so, then what was the ammunition & what was the game animal ? And did you successfully drop the animal or not ?
Warmest Regards,
Habib
It goes without saying that those of us who've hunted with cup & core bullets... have all experienced jacket-core separation at least once or twice (if not more) in our hunting lives. Especially older hunters like me who began our adventures at a time when bonded or monolithic bullets were completely unheard of.
My question is: Do you always consider jacket-core separation to be an example of bullet failure ?
Take myself for example:
In 1974, on my life's first Safari to Africa (Kenya)... I lost a huge male lion (over bait) after my bullet (a 300Gr Winchester Silver Tip fired from a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum BRNO ZKK602) had failed to reach the vital organs. After my white hunter, Mr. Cheffings successfully spoored & finished off the lion with his .458 Winchester Magnum B.S.A Majestic... a postmortem revealed that my Winchester Silver Tip had experienced jacket-core separation & failed to penetrate the six inches of hardened feline frontal chest muscle.
In 1989, I attempted to make a double lung shot on a man eating Royal Bengal tiger with a Winchester Super X 175Gr cup & core point fired from my 7x57mm Mauser Churchill Gun Makers Model Deluxe. The animal succumbed to the gunshot wound on the following day. Postmortem revealed that my bullet had broken through the scapula & only penetrated one lung before experiencing jacket-core separation. The man eater died but one can hardly claim this to be a clean dispatch by any stretch of imagination.
Now, on the flip side of things... I've frequently shot (among other game animals) wildebeest & zebra with the aforementioned Winchester Super X soft points for the 7x57mm Mauser. And also (in recent years) the Prvi Partizan 173Gr cup & core soft point. When used on wildebeest & zebra, both the Winchester & the Prvi Partizan 7x57mm Mauser bullets are guaranteed to experience jacket-core separation (especially when hitting hard bone). But the wildebeests and zebras all gave out within mere seconds of getting shot.
So I'm basically asking: Have any of you experienced jacket-core separation with a bullet during the hunt ? And if so, then what was the ammunition & what was the game animal ? And did you successfully drop the animal or not ?
Warmest Regards,
Habib