Fall big-game hunting at Shawnee Ridge, OH
On Thursday of this week, Vicki and I, along with a cadre of close friends and colleagues, went on our annual big-game hunting extravaganza at our favorite place for such things, Shawnee Ridge in southern OH.
It was spectacular, as always!
I shot a beautiful Fallow Deer with my SA VHS2 (Hellion), equipped with an Osprey/Global 1×4 LPVO, the same rifle I travel with for personal security. Barrel length is sixteen inches w/flash-hider, but my rifle does not have a suppressor-can
I used my favorite “serious purposes” 223 (5.56×45) ammunition, Defiant’s 55gr all-copper TCX, and as expected, it worked as advertised!
Range was 50m. Animal was broadside, and my single round struck high on the shoulder, as intended. Did not exit. The animal took several hesitant steps and then collapsed. The bullet, fully-expanded, penetrated to the skin-line on the opposite side. From the instant the bullet struck, the animal was stunned to the extent that it could not maintain normal orientation, nor balance. I was on the link immediately, but ultimately elected not to take a second shot.
As we’ve seen so often, the high velocity of this bullet has a stunning/paralytic effect, independent of tissue damage.
This animal weighed seventy-five pounds, and the 55gr TCX bullet (designed mostly for anti-personnel use) is adequate and I believe, reasonable. I had an opportunity earlier in the day to take a heavier animal (175lb Yak), but I declined, since it was my judgement that the 55gr 223 bullet I had in my magazines was not appropriate for an animal that size. For the Yak, I would not hesitate to use a 308, but that’s not what I had with me.
Vicki took a beautiful Texas Dall Ram (about the same size as my Fallow Deer), but she used a suppressed bolt-gun, chambered in 8.6 Blackout (subsonic). The rifle (manufactured by “Q”) was borrowed from a friend, as we wanted to see how this new caliber worked in real hunting situations. Sixteen-inch barrel, plus suppressor-can.
Animal was mostly broadside and again 50m away. Vicki’s single shot hit on the shoulder and went through and through. We could tell from the exit wound that the bullet had fully expanded, as designed, but it was not recovered.
This rifle and ammunition combination is pretty quiet, indeed unrecognizable as a gunshot!
Muzzle velocity for this round is 1k f/s, nominal pistol velocity. The 350gr bullet is all copper and very long, manufactured by “Just Cause.” Barrel rifling is an insane 1:3″!
When hit, the animal immediately ran as if unaffected, but only got twenty meters. Terminal effect and tissue destruction were reminiscent of a broadhead from a compound bow! This round renders a relatively low-velocity impact, but with deep penetration. So, this rifle and caliber may be appropriate on light game, within 100m, and when relative silence is a necessity.
Between my 223 round and Vicki’s 8.6 Blk round, actual tissue destruction inflicted was nearly identical, indeed fatal in both cases. The difference in overall terminal effect is due to velocity, 1k f/s versus 3.1k f/s. High velocity has an “effect” all its own, stunning/disorienting/paralytic, and as noted above independent of actual tissue damage, although I’m not prepared to explain the mechanism exactly. Neurologists I work with are unable to provide a satisfactory explanation either, or at least one I can translate.
Regardless, I am persuaded that with any rifle I constantly have handy for “serious purposes,” I want that high-velocity impact, because I want the person struck to be immediately incapable of inflicting additional harm, and for the fight to otherwise end quickly. For this purpose, 5.56×45 (223) is eminently well suited, as are military rifles for which it is chambered. Again for the sake of velocity, I like 55gr bullets rather than heavier ones.
Big-game hunting with our serious rifles provides us with valuable experiences, plus crucial data, as we see.
As always, our hosts and guides were wonderful, as was the camaraderie, and we all look forward to the next time.
/John
