Which bullet in 300WM for Leopard?

[tygersman1]

This is the wrong angle to shoot a leopard or any dangerous cat. It’s too high and not broadside. Might only get one lung. It will die at this angle but often not immediately. That’s likely the biggest problem with this leopard, not the Accubond. I would rather shoot the 180 grain A-Frame or Accubond than the Partition. As stated earlier, a Remington Cor-lokt would also work on leopard but from a broadside presentation.

Thanks for talking the time to respond. But see my prior post. The shot on this cat was appropriate and called by an experienced PH. The bullet failed to maintain integrity and did not perform in this circumstance.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Leopards aren't tough to kill. I've killed far bigger game with Accubonds too. But rarely do I have occasion to shoot any of them at less than 50 yards out of a high velocity rifle such as 300 win mag. I don't believe it's purely an Accubond or Partition issue per se - I suspect it could happen to many general purpose jacketed hunting bullets fired at high velocity at close range. I've personally witnessed the Accubond failure, including in the context of a leopard hunt (which is what this thread happened to be about), and often leopard blinds are set up at 50 yds or less. I'm no engineer nor physicist, but understand that such bullets can be pretty finicky at close ranges and high velocity, but work great when they stabilize (distance increases and velocity decreases). Also not suggesting that the failure happens all the time, or a majority of the time, or even regularly. But if you have $30k+ tied up in a leopard hunt, it may be something to consider when picking a bullet and setting up your blind.

I see your point now. The shot placement looks good to me. Bonded bullets are not supposed to blow up, even at high velocity, and in my experience Accubonds never have. I guess anything made by humans or machines can fail. My only question now is, did the bullet exit? If it did, the bullet did not fail, it just missed an instantly fatal spot. If there was no exit on something as lightly built as a leopard we can agree on bullet failure. I have had other bullets fail at very close range a couple of times. Both were with a 140 grain bullet that I used to use in my 7mm RM. One very small blacktail at about 35 yards died instantly, but there was.not even a bruise on the opposite side of the rib cage. On another much bigger buck at about 50 yards the bullet just blew up and cratered on the shoulder and didn't penetrate at all. I had to track that one, and did kill him, but I could have lost him. I have never shot that bullet again. That's why I switched to Accubonds. Now I'm beginning to worry about them because of what you wrote...

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I’ve shot a very large male one with a 200Gr Nobler Partition out of a .300 Winchester Magnum. It was a one shot kill and the leopard was absolutely hammered.

 

[Kelly G]

I have killed numerous Cougars/Puma with 180 gr. Core Lokt in .308 and 30-06.

 

[WAB]

View attachment 525893
Here’s mine. Fell into a pool of water and never moved. Shot broadside with an A-Frame. Contrary to popular opinion, A-Frame will open up just fine on a leopard or mountain lion. I’ve seen it happen many times and never had to search for a wounded cat. If you want something softer, use an Accubond.

I agree Scott. On a much smaller scale, I have hammered a number of coyotes and bobcats with A-Frames while deer hunting. All I can figure is it doesn’t take much to open that bullet up, but once mushroomed it hangs together and drives through on the bigger stuff.

 

[dchum]

This sounds like an occasion for a 210gr Berger....

I can see the 180 berger being great too... but for me a big lead round nose like on the partion just screams reliable expansion on a soft leopard.

Ive heard of match bullets sometimes doing the exact opposite of what most would expect and actually pencil through game on a "Failure"

Threads like this are why this site are awesome. So much is to be discussed about hunting Africa!

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I’ve shot a very large male one with a 200Gr Nobler Partition out of a .300 Winchester Magnum. It was a one shot kill and the leopard was absolutely hammered.

I believe that! I never quite get the accuracy that I want with them, but I have used them quite often and the terminal performance is always great. I worked up some 160 gr. handloads for my buddy's 7mm RM. He's killed several elk with them.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Yes, that was the entry point. But because of geography this cat was shot from elevated machan position (shooter was well above the cat) not from below or on the same plane. The camera angle is not the same as the shot angle. It was just the camera used to monitor the bait.

The bullet didn’t just miss the vitals, it never made it there because it came apart upon impact effectively shrapnelizing and creating somewhat disabling but non-fatal and mostly shallow wounding.

Then that wss a bullet failure. If I ever do hunt for a leopard I will rethink my bullet choice.

 

[YancyW]

I can see the 180 berger being great too... but for me a big lead round nose like on the partion just screams reliable expansion on a soft leopard.

Ive heard of match bullets sometimes doing the exact opposite of what most would expect and actually pencil through game on a "Failure"

Threads like this are why this site are awesome. So much is to be discussed about hunting Africa!

I was just poking the "get off my lawn" crowd a bit. I would perfectly comfortable using a 210gr Berger vld or hybrid out of a 300wm, but if given the option of any bullet I wanted, it wouldn't be my first choice.

 

[TERMINATOR]

I have killed numerous Cougars/Puma with 180 gr. Core Lokt in .308 and 30-06.

The Remington Core Lokt is a very underrated bullet in my mind. A staple on our Big Northern Whitetail often shot at bow range with 30-06’s

I have never heard of one failing

I am interested to see if the new tipped version performs as well. They felt the need to up the BC and join the “Tipped” crowd because it is all the rage now…but I am curious to see if they mushroom as perfectly as the old standard

I have the same curiosity about the newer TBBC Tipped bullets compared to the original TBBCs

 

[dchum]

The Remington Core Lokt is a very underrated bullet in my mind. A staple on our Big Northern Whitetail often shot at bow range with 30-06’s

I have never heard of one failing

I am interested to see if the new tipped version performs as well. They felt the need to up the BC and join the “Tipped” crowd because it is all the rage now…but I am curious to see if they mushroom as perfectly as the old standard

I have the same curiosity about the newer TBBC Tipped bullets compared to the original TBBCs

They are more rapid exapnsion in my eyes. Seem like a SST now. But I think they will still produce regular Core lokt as well.

 

[TERMINATOR]

They are more rapid exapnsion in my eyes. Seem like a SST now. But I think they will still produce regular Core lokt as well.

Not surprised

Luckily I have a lifetime supply of 30-06 in 180
Gr in the original Core-Lokt

And yea, they are still making the originals for now anyway

 

[Scott CWO]

Thanks for talking the time to respond. But see my prior post. The shot on this cat was appropriate and called by an experienced PH. The bullet failed to maintain integrity and did not perform in this circumstance.

I guess I still question this shot, even from above if not broadside. No reason to rush if cat doesn’t know you’re there.

 

[DLSJR]

I can see the 180 berger being great too... but for me a big lead round nose like on the partion just screams reliable expansion on a soft leopard.

Ive heard of match bullets sometimes doing the exact opposite of what most would expect and actually pencil through game on a "Failure"

Threads like this are why this site are awesome. So much is to be discussed about hunting Africa!

No disrespect and I realize you think differently, but there is no way in hell I could be paid to shoot a Berger bullet on any dangerous game animal, even a leopard. There are so many other great options available that I can’t wrap my head around using a Berger. Way too fragile & explosive for my taste. But perhaps that’s just me because I don’t shoot a 6.5 Needmore either. Also, having slowly crept up to a tree in pitch black darkness a while after shooting a Tom and fervently hoping we’d find a dead leopard (he was very dead) the last thing I’d want to do is confront a very angry leopard that wants a piece of my ass due to a fragile bullet not doing the job.

Last time I sat in a leopard blind was 17 months ago and I had a 225 grain TTSX chambered in my 338. Next leopard blind sit is in 5 months and I’ll probably have the same bullet chambered again. I don’t think TTSX’s are a best choice for leopard, but they’re a pretty good choice. As Alan Vincent said last time, “Just shoot it well and the cat won’t know the difference”. I think he’s right in that view.

 

[Bapu]

I have shot all my man-eaters in India with the 06 using 180grs SP S&B and all dropped dead in the tracks. We unfortunately do have access to a variety of ammunition so we believe in shot placement and only shot if it’s a sure shot.

 

[Bapu]

Man-eater of Dhanpur and taken by 06 180SP S&B.

 

[Bapu]

Sorry the picture didn’t get uploaded.

 

[Bapu]

I would also invariably switch over to the shotgun when we would approach him - just in case.

 

[Bapu]

Not surprised

Luckily I have a lifetime supply of 30-06 in 180
Gr in the original Core-Lokt

And yea, they are still making the originals for now anyway

I believe they are wonderful ammunition.

 

[One Day...]

Yes, that was the entry point. But because of geography this cat was shot from elevated machan position (shooter was well above the cat) not from below or on the same plane. The camera angle is not the same as the shot angle. It was just the camera used to monitor the bait.

The bullet didn’t just miss the vitals, it never made it there because it came apart upon impact effectively shrapnelizing and creating somewhat disabling but non-fatal and mostly shallow wounding.

Thank you for clarifying. That must have been a very, very unusual setting indeed, and I guess that the only way you could see the Leo's chest from well above was that the cat was looking up straight at you.

I had never heard of a Partition or an Accubond disintegrating upon impact, and I had never heard of ANY big game bullet disintegrating upon impact from a .300 Mag. The Win or Wby Mag are certainly faster than a .30-06, but they are no .30/378 Wby... and we are not talking about a 90 or 110 gr varmint pill...

As to the velocity difference between a 50 yards shot or a 75 yards from a .300 Mag / 180 gr, it is only ~50 fps and it is unlikely that it makes a fundamental difference in bullet performance.

Anything is possible, and there have been inexplicable bullet failures from any and all makers, as well as many cases in dense vegetation (as appears to be the case in your picture) where a bullet hits a twig before impacting the animal, and THAT can certainly reshuffle the cards...