300 gr Deep Curl for elk?

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MSalyards

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Anybody use them? What are your thoughts about them? I haven't chronographed them yet . Are they a sturdy enough bullet?
 
Will you be able to drive them hard enough to work as they're intended at ranges over 100 yards? I think if you know that any elk may be taken at , say, 150 yards or less using a hefty charge you should be fine, but a 300 grain bullets that depends on its opening as designed has to have some extra umph on elk sized animals, especially if large bone is contacted or the range gets long enough to not have enough retained bullet energy to open adequately and still plow on.
 
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The bullet captured at point blank range was pushed by 105g BH, as was the bullet captured at 200 yard. The bullet captured at 300 yard was pushed by 110g BH. The rifle was was the X7. Primer was W209. Sabot was crush rib.




Not elk, just water filled gallon milk jugs. Bullets were captured prior to summer 2012. Here is a video of the 300 yard capture
 
I shot that very bullet on several Deer. I was only able to judge expansion by the entrance verses the exit hole about like a 50cent piece. At ranges from 50 yards to 206 yards I had the same size exit holes and only used 100GnV or BH. The DC is a Bonded bullet so it holds together but has very good expansion as noted in Ron's Pic and video. If I were going for elk and was not shooting the Lehigh bullets I would load up a 300DC and not think twice about it.
 
Anybody use them? What are your thoughts about them? I haven't chronographed them yet . Are they a sturdy enough bullet?

For several years now I have referred to them as a 'poor man's' Nosler Partition. Of the production pistol bullets there are very good.

For many and for many years the XTP has been suggested as a very good ML bullet and several years back I attempted to show the difference. I never had real good luck with Hornady bullets and elk. This picture shows a test that I used to show myself which might be the tougher bullet. Especially on elk

GD-XTPComp.jpg


The Deep Curls/Gold Dots worked well for me as a sub for a Nosler Partition.

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Those are some pretty good recovers. I see very similar recovers from a sand berm at 50 yards using XTPs, and the Deep Curls. Actually I don't see a whole lots of difference between the two, but this is a dandy comparison..
 
Those are some pretty good recovers. I see very similar recovers from a sand berm at 50 yards using XTPs, and the Deep Curls. Actually I don't see a whole lots of difference between the two, but this is a dandy comparison..

Look more closely at the bottom left in the first picture. you will see the XTP stripped of lead and just the copper recovered. Often times the XTP work as you might want but on occasions - and more often than I would want the XTP separated lead from copper.
 
I've never seen anything on a deer that indicated any total separation with an xtp like what you show, but I have seen it in the sand berm. Makes a guy wonder.

As mentioned here in a few posts, I am thinking strongly of going the Barnes copper route starting this fall. Here in Minnesota there's a lot of people squeaking about lead and eagles ingesting it from gut piles. Its not like we have a shortage of eagles but it won't be long before these "green" people will have our legislature passing legislation banning lead from rifles and shotguns for the purpose of deer hunting. I haven't had a shot at a deer over 50 yards in years where I hunt so my thinking is that the copper will do the job well if I keep the shots inside 100 yards. But if the copper doesn't pan out, I know I can use the Deep Curls I also have on hand to do the job and will likely use those now in place of the xtps. Pictures go a long way with me and Ron's testing along with what you show just makes me wonder about separation in the xtps now.
 
I don't know about the ML bullets Barnes makes but I shot a bear last year with a centerfire 4 times. Farthest was maybe 50 yds and 2 were up close and personal. All they did was poke holes like an FMJ. Nothing like the vids they put out. 1st was in the chest, 2nd was broadside through both front shoulders, 3rd was at 10 ft while he was trying to climb a tree between the shoulders and the last was point blank in the neck. 250 gr 338 win mag. Never again unless I have to.
 
I don't know about the ML bullets Barnes makes but I shot a bear last year with a centerfire 4 times. Farthest was maybe 50 yds and 2 were up close and personal. All they did was poke holes like an FMJ. Nothing like the vids they put out. 1st was in the chest, 2nd was broadside through both front shoulders, 3rd was at 10 ft while he was trying to climb a tree between the shoulders and the last was point blank in the neck. 250 gr 338 win mag. Never again unless I have to.

Too much power on a bear with that heavy magnum. They're all mush and fat. Good old 30-30 is a good plenty on a bear. 170 grain works wonder on them. A 12 gauge slug works super good too. A twenty gauge slug is plenty much for black bear. One in the head from any center fire is a sure thing, and is a sight better than putting holes in every organ the bear owns..
 
I don't know about the ML bullets Barnes makes but I shot a bear last year with a centerfire 4 times. Farthest was maybe 50 yds and 2 were up close and personal. All they did was poke holes like an FMJ. Nothing like the vids they put out. 1st was in the chest, 2nd was broadside through both front shoulders, 3rd was at 10 ft while he was trying to climb a tree between the shoulders and the last was point blank in the neck. 250 gr 338 win mag. Never again unless I have to.


I will just mention this and you can do with it what you might want to...

I know exactly what you mean about punching holes through the animals with some of the sharp pointed bullets of today. The shorter the range the more you might see this happen. Mostly dependent on the powder load (velocity of the bullet) when it hits the target. Think about it a whitetail is not really that thick - a pointy type bullet can get through pretty darn quick not even have enough time to expand. At longer ranges when the bullet slows down it will work like a champ.

Because of what I have mentioned I have switched the Lehigh Defense bullets. The way they are designed with the open nose hollow point they expand well with the collection liquid in the nose of the bullet. Even in a skinny whitetail. Your job is to shoot the animal in a place where there is blood and/or organs...

This is a dang good bullet for that purpose

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I know exactly what you mean about punching holes through the animals with some of the sharp pointed bullets of today. The shorter the range the more you might see this happen. Mostly dependent on the powder load (velocity of the bullet) when it hits the target. Think about it a whitetail is not really that thick - a pointy type bullet can get through pretty darn quick not even have enough time to expand. At longer ranges when the bullet slows down it will work like a champ.

Actually, my opinion is, exactly the opposite is true. All the data i have observed indicate when fast 'pointy' bullets expand most/best; slow 'pointy' bullets expand least/worst. At longer ranges when the bullet slows down, it doesn't work at all; it is moving too slow.

This is common knowledge, is it not?
 
If the 300gr DeepCurl was the only bullet i could get, i would not hesitate to use it for elk. Overall i think it would be a very good bullet for that application.
 
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