Who knows is right, at least at this point.
I'm going to ssee what the NF guys say too. It's dead isn't good enough for me because next time it might not be.
Stuff happens with all bullets (some on a regular basis)) and I've never heard of this happening with a NF, so definitely want to see what I can find out.
Follow up to this post. Below you'll find my email to North Forth, along with their reply, which John gave me permission to post. I'm satisfied with John's answer and after much back and forth in my mind believe that the recovered bullet was most likely the hip shot. If I had it to do all over again I'd check the pelvic bone for a bullet hole, but I didn't. This is only my personal opinion and the argument can certainly be made that almost the entire length of an elephant is a long way for a deformed bullet to travel.
I also weighed the bullet and it weighed 496.1 grains out of 500.
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John,
I know Phil at least mentioned this to you, but I wanted to share what I at least perceive as a failure I had on an elephant. Picture attached.
The biggest challenge is I'm not positive which shot the bullet came from although I know it was one of two.
The bullet was found at the base of the neck near the spine. The shots in question were as follows.
1. Straight on frontal brain shot at 15 yards or under. It certainly didn't hit the jaw nor anything else of substance from this angle... This was the killing shot by the way.
2. Going away hip shot (taken the evening before). This shot would have gone through the hip and then travelled the length of the bull and tumbled I guess as the bullet was found facing the rear of the elephant. If so, the penetration was awesome but the deformation surprising even hitting the hip I would think? Distance was probably 50 yards or so at time of shot.
The rifle was a .458 Lott shooting at a muzzle velocity of 2250 fps. I'd love to get your feedback as the bullets are highly accurate but the deformation was concerning.
By the way, there was a third shot that went through both lungs and even creased the heart and was total pass through. How that didn't kill the bull (first shot) I have no idea! Amazing....
If you want entrance pictures I have those as well. Let me know if there is anything else you need. Thanks !
Hello Royal,
I believe you retrieved the second shot, or the hip shot. An ele brain will not deform the bullet as bad as you have shown unless it hits were the tusk and the upper jaw come together. A frontal brain shot does not have the bone density to cause deformation and mostly like passed completely through.
The hip is a very hard and strong bone as one might expect from such a large animal of that weight. With that shot, I don't believe any bullet would not have any deformation. Copper is not strong (compared to steel) but very tough and does not want to come apart unless something really hard causes the copper to smear, as what I have seen from your picture. I would have expected the performance and penetration you witnessed even with the hip shot.
If the bullet was close to underneath the skin when recovered, it probably experienced the "trampoline" affect where the skin stretches and snaps back. The bullet no longer has the speed and usually the nose is larger, preventing complete penetration of the skin. The trampoline affect will usually cause the bullet to look as though it tumbled. From the penetration you witnessed, the bullet did not tumble until the end, otherwise, its ability to travel the length of the bull would not have been possible.
You have experienced why we always recommend the FPS on elephants. They are large, tough animals, whose ability to absorb bullets is quite amazing. Having deep, straight line penetration of a large caliber is the most important thing to have for this type of animal (over speed and expansion).
Thank you for your report.
Regards,
John
