bullets breaking up ?

**2scoops** · 13-07-2009, 08:21

I've often heard of bullets "blowing up" on the shoulders of animals. It always seems to be a friend of a friend who this happened too. Has anyone had first hand experience of a bullet breaking up on the shoulder (or any other part of the animal) ? Would appreciate it if you could elaborate on the cailbre, bullet, distance and photo's would be great.

In the years that I've been hunting I've never seen this happen. The worst performance that I've had was with a 75gr Vmax from a 25-06 on a large baboon. The bullet did not have sufficient penetration, but I would not describe the bullet as "blowing up". BTW keep the light (75gr) Vmax's for the little animals such as dassies, geese, jackal, ...

**deonh** · 13-07-2009, 08:55

Originally Posted by 2scoops

I've often heard of bullets "blowing up" on the shoulders of animals. It always seems to be a friend of a friend who this happened too. Has anyone had first hand experience of a bullet breaking up on the shoulder (or any other part of the animal) ? Would appreciate it if you could elaborate on the cailbre, bullet, distance and photo's would be great.

Hi 2scoops. FWIW, there's been some discussion on several threads, see here for links to other threads as well:

http://www.gunsite.co.za/forum/index.php?topic=1534.15

**2scoops** · 13-07-2009, 09:09

thanks for the links Deon. Interesting reading. I did a quick scan but can't find anyone that has had personal experience of bullets breaking up on the animal (and not doing the job). I'm trying to find out if this is a myth or if anyone has had personal experience. It always seems to be the friend of the friend. The other question of course is the definition of "blowing up". To me this is a crater on the skin with insufficient penetration to get to the vital organs.

**Sean Murphy** · 13-07-2009, 10:22

I am not surprised that the VMax broke up/blew up. That is exactly what they were specifically designed to do. The VMax is a purpose made varminting bullet that is designed to "blow up" causing massive damage to small non edible animals and also to prevent complete penetration because in many areas of the USA varminting and problem animal control takes place near residential areas. So this was in fact part of the design brief. These bullets have very thin jackets that are also pre-stressed or segmented allied with tips that are designed to rapidly initiate expansion. Coupled with high velocity you get very rapid blow ups.

This can happen with target type bullets as well. Target bullets also have thin jackets that do not feature tapered thickening to control expansion. The primary purpose of jacket design in these bullets is to get the balance right and no mind is paid to terminal performance as they were never meant to be fired at anything other than paper or steel plates.

Sean

**deonh** · 13-07-2009, 10:42

Originally Posted by 2scoops

The other question of course is the definition of "blowing up". To me this is a crater on the skin with insufficient penetration to get to the vital organs.

Hi 2scoops, nope I can't recall that ever happening. There's an article touching on this topic in the current issue of SA Hunter btw.

**2scoops** · 13-07-2009, 11:21

thanks Deon, will check out the article.

Sean - stand to be corrected but in the particular case of SMK's the jacket is actually thicker than normal hunting bullets. I've also verified that by sectioning a range of common bullets. The Berger's if I remember correctly are thinner than most standard hunting bullets.

The Vmax's shoot beautifully in my rifle but after that experience and reading up on them I've decided to keep them for smaller vermin i.e. dassies, ...

**THOMAST** · 13-07-2009, 12:27

I have not seen a bullet breaking up on impact, but have seen bullet failure 10m from the barrel. A little grey puff is all you see as a combination of high speed, very high RPM (with resultant high centrifugal forces), weakened copper jacket as a result fo the barrel lands cutting into the cup and thin jacket come into play.
This particular case was a 110gr Hornady screaming out of a fast twist .300H&H at over 3600fps. If the bullet held together and hit an object down range it would probably destroyed itself on impact.

**Sean Murphy** · 13-07-2009, 13:36

The match bullets may have thicker jackets at the tip but the hunting bullets have tapered jackets that get thicker towards the base. Go check out the Sierra web site.

Sean.

**Longshot** · 15-07-2009, 23:17

Hi 2 Scoops, the Berger VLD's started as a paperpuncher, but after Walt Berger did extensive research he found that the VLD was an excellent hunting bullet capable of quick one-shot kills. There has been much said about the SMK's breaking up on game, not penetrating deep enough etc etc. I personally have not had any experience with SMK's breaking up and not penetrating deep enough to cause terminal damage.

I do not advocate the use of match bullets when hunting, but have taken a couple of animals with SMK's and VLD's without problems.

When using varminting type bullets on larger game and taking body shots you are asking for trouble, even headshots might result in large non leathal surface wounds.

I spoke to one of the guys who culled springbok on my brother in laws' cousins' farm when we went out with him about two weeks ago. As they only take headshots and are very carefull to avoid overpenetration he only uses vmax bullets. The guy i went with used his 22-250 and shot 50gr vmax bulets. There were several cases where the vmax didnt even exit the head of the springbok, so i can easily see them breaking up on the shoulder if it hit bone.

I have however seen a large rooihartbees go down from one shot to the head with a .222 and a 50gr vmax at about 40m. ( dont want to start the whole ethics debate here, the rooihartbees was blinded by some or other worm and the .222 was the only gun we had with us in the bakkie)

I personally wont go hunting with vmax, blitzking, nosler SHOT or any other varminting bullet.

**2scoops** · 16-07-2009, 09:12

I agree with all the comments. My experience with Vmax's means that I won't use them for hunting anything bigger than meerkats in my 25-06. Even saying that though, the bullets did not break up on the skin of the baboon. I felt that there wasn't sufficient penetration to my liking, but the bullets did penetrate enough to kill the animal.

The original point stands that I'm wondering if bullets "blowing up" on animals is a myth. I have never experienced it, nor have I seen it in the field. From the people that have replied to the thread it would seem that none of us have experienced it, or seen it in the field. (ThomasT's comment was very interesting)

Without getting into the SMK debate I can assure you that SMK's nor Bergers "blow" up on shoulders etc.