Barnes terminal performance

[Spitpatch]

I just wanted to report a couple things that happened to me this year while hunting the doe season on Thanksgiving weekend here in the land of Magilla.

I shot a 160# doe at 85 yards slightly quartered toward me. The bullet passed through the shoulder and lung entered the liver and came to rest in the hind quarter. She ran about 100 yards and left no blood trail! I almost didn't find her in the switch grass where she finally went down.

I checked the gut pile and couldn't locate the bullet. I used a metal detector on the carcass and that is how I found the bullet in the hind quarter. Here is the bullet. I consider it a real trophy though I really don't know why....

She was shot with a 195 gr. Barnes Spitfire over 115 gr. 777 ffg out of my Knight disc Elite 45.

A few days later I shot another doe with the same load and the same gun equipped with a 3-9 Burris Ballistic-Plex scope. With this deer I had the opportunity to wait for a quartering away shot....and I needed just such an angle to increase my odds of a good kill. Point of impact was within a couple inches of my point of aim. The wind was calm as the copper Barnes zipped through both lungs and lost itself somewhere in the grass beyond. The yardage was 240 yards!!! My farthest to-date. She went 75 yards and left a good spray to follow. Entrance was 2" and exit was about the same. Really good damage.....

It DOES pay to PRACTICE!!

Shot angle and shot placement mean everything.

My advise.....Keep PRACTICING

 

[cayuga]

way to fill the freezer first off... those Barnes are a good projectile without a doubt. That first one made a lot of travel through a deer. I am surprised that the blood trail was so lacking..

 

[Smoke-em]

i have been using the Barnes Bullets for 6 years, and have never had a deer go so far that I had to track it. Most were drt. I especially loved the 180gr Expander, that was packaged for Knight Red Hots. Howerever, I gues Knight and Barnes decided to atop making that greaat bullet. I bought up as many as I could find, and even some 200gr, just so I could continue to shoot the smaller bullet.
When I read that you shot that deer with the 195gr spitfire I imediately went to the Barnes website, but didn't find that bullet weight there. Where did you find them?
BTW, I shoot a Knight Disc, loaded with 100grs of 777, and my longest shot has been 150 yards. I also have tw of those cool expanded bullets. They are definately killers.

 

[Spitpatch]

Smoke-em.....You get an A+!!!! 8) Good catch!

They are in fact the Barnes manufactured, Knight Red Hots.
I am so used to shooting the Barnes in my 50 cal. Disc Elite and my Encore that I just always refer to them as Barnes.... My mistake.

They are a fine bullet and I love the performance.....perhaps even more than the SST/Shockwave but I'm not sure.

Both deer had large entry and exits. In fact the entry puzzles me. Why so big and why so much damage? It did in fact clip a rib upon entry as opposed to sliding between the ribs. I wish I would have taken a picture of the wound.

My feeling is that the bullet expansion was not as great with the longer range shot. Just not enough velocity left to expand that bullet to its maximum. I guess we'll never know as the bullet was not recovered.
I believe that bullet needs around 1000 fps to really expand well. I'm just pulling that from my memory now, which has on occasion failed me miserably.

Anyway the jerky is great!!! That to me is what doe huntin' is all about. Jerky and loins. 8)

 

[Smoke-em]

Ok, I finally figured out why you can get 195gr bullets and I can't! You are sooting the .45cal, I am shooting a .50cal. I don't know why Barnes and Knight have decided to stop making the 180gr and the 200 gr. They are excellent bullets for the .50.
Although I love the Barnes bullets, I can't justify shooting such a heavy bullet as the 250gr. I'm in Virgia, and our deer are not that big to start with. Plus, the larger the bullet weight the harder they are to stuff down a barrel.
So, I guess once I have used up all of my hoarded 180's and 200's I will have to change over to the T/C Spitfires. They do have a 200gr.

I have never had a large entry wound. There have been times I actually had to look hard for the entry. But then, I am a shoulder shooter. You can't mistake the exit wound though. You should have seen the exit wound on a black bear with the 300gr and 150gr of powder! I could put my hand in it. Needless to say that bear stayed right where I shot it.

 

[jaybe]

Way to go, spit - that was a good shot - you'll enjoy that venison.
It is surprising that you didn't have a better blood trail with hitting the lungs. The doe I shot last week was also hit in the lungs quartering back to the rear ham. The big 460 gr. Bullshop conical cleanly cut a .50 cal hole in the hide at the entry behind the shoulder. But there was very little blood for almost 50 yards, then just a few drops here and a little splash there until she dropped about 125 yards away. I guess every shot is a little different, eh?
Congrats again!