Hey all,
I'll try to keep things somewhat concise but I do need to lay down some details.
Three years ago I set out for my first white-tail hunt with my Pedersoli Tryon. I had practiced with this rifle a fair bit over summer and really got familiar with its behavior and had the sights set well for 50 yard shots. I would be hunting from a stand for morning and evening, and still hunting the woods during the day. I had been loading the rifle with 100 FFg and a 495 Hornady ball with patch.
At least that was the plan. I busted deer in the morning heading into my spot. I sat anyway for a bit and only saw a doe. I knew I had blew the deer out of there so I slipped away. I entered again late afternoon for a typical evening sit and sure enough, right around 5:15pm a nice old mature buck came sauntering in. I waited until he stopped, which happened to be about 15 yards. I settle the sight just inside the shoulder and fired. The buck dropped immediately and I could see something was strange. He was kicking legs and trying to drag himself off, but expired very quickly. It looked as though it were a spine hit, but that seemed odd considering where I had aimed. But a dead deer is a dead deer and it hadn't moved more than a couple feet.
That said, during field dress and field autopsy, I was curious about the performance of my first round ball hunt. Broadside shot, slight decline from the stand and I jusr clipped the scapula. The ball flattened like a quarter piece, deflected and clipped the spine. There was very minimal penetration and I thanked my stars it all worked out.
I had been reading previously about hunters getting full pass through on deer and what not but I certainly did not experience stellar performance. Instead I had experienced over-expansion, and no penetration of even slight bones like a scapula.
The next year I tried a different ball, using a Buffalo 490 and 90 grains of FFg. I had a nearly identical hunt. This time I stayed clear of any shoulder, the ball broke two ribs on entry, passed both lungs, broke one rib on opposite side and the ball stayed there, inside the hide. That deer wandered about 40 yards and died quickly. The scary thing was I was worried about the previous years performance and I saw almost no blood trail. It was a tough recovery because of the October foliage and zero blood to follow.
I'd like to hunt a black bear this spring, going out for a first sit this weekend. Do you think a load like 100 grains FFg and 490 ball is enough gun for the old black bear? If not, how do 1:48 twist barrels shoot conicals like the TC Maxi ball?
Thanks for your time and thanks for reading.
Venison soup. Hold the peas please. Turnips are ok though
