Hornady 130 Grain GMX Results

[Picher]

See the attachment. I wrote it as a follow-up for Hornady website post written earlier, before the meat cutter found the bullet.

[hooligan1]

Please tell us the exact path of the bullet.

[Picher]

As the buck ran flat-out, directly away from me and about 45-50 yards from my position, the bullet was angled downward, entering the deer's back at the spine, about a foot behind the shoulders, then went through the lungs and ended up in the lower forward portion of the neck.

[hooligan1]

And did it hit any bone through the "path"??

[Picher]

I believe it did hit bone, especially the spine, but only got the final information from the (part-time) meat cutter and he didn't remember a whole lot about it. He was way behind in his work, so it took six days from the day I shot it to the completion of the cutting. I didn't even know he found the bullet until a day or so prior to picking up the meat.

[1goodshot]

Would you use it on an elk?

[Picher]

I would if I lived in a western state and had multiple opportunities, but would prefer a larger caliber and heavier weight bullet for a once-in-a-lifetime hunt for a huge elk.

A friend killed a large elk with a 30-06 from an Encore handgun. This cartridge/bullet would have done much better than that did, according to his account of the event.

[hydroholic]

I have shot the GMX in my .300 WMand my 30-06 and although it is an outstanding round, I still like the SST better. As far as would you use it on Elk, I would say it would be a good round for Elk although in a heavier grain , Say 165 gr or 180. Not saying the 130 would not do the job if shot was placed right , but would feel more comfortable with the heavier rnd. Just my .02

Hydro

[SFW]

I use the Hornady 165gr SST in my .30-06. Great bullet. I have yet so use this bullet where the deer didn't hit the ground immediately... lights out. My deer last year was taken at 215 yards. Bullet went in behind the front shoulder. I found the bullet lodged in the skin on the opposite side of the deer. Exploded the heart, and went through both lungs. Minimal meat damage. She hit the ground where I shot her, and never lifted her head.

[bamaranger]

Hey Picher

I not open your photo............

But I gather this is a .30 cal 130 gr slug (dia .308) ? shot from some sort of handgun.

I am considering this same slug for use in my .308 dia, 7.62x39 rifles, driven to aboiut 2300 fps or so. Can you add some details.

[Picher]

Sorry that some of you couldn't open the attachment. The bullet was a 130 grain GMX fired from my 24" barreled Rem 700 BDL SS, .270 Win, at about 50 yards.

I'd grunted the 130 lb. buck in and it passed quickly within 8 feet of my tree stand and stopped about 35 yards away, looking back toward me. The only shot I had was left-handed, but in the few seconds it took to brush the sling away from the trigger guard with my left hand, the buck saw me and took off low and fast, but straight-away.

Looking somewhat downward, the multi-x crosshairs quickly found the good spot directly behind the deer's shoulders and, in a flash, the rifle fired and the deer was somersaulting.

[Brian Pfleuger]

A bullet that passes almost full-length through a deer with a perfect mushroom and essentially 100% weight retention should be no question for elk. A 270 is enough gun, 130 is enough bullet and 4+ feet is enough penetration.

I'm glad to see the bullet. I use the similar Barnes TTSX for deer but don't expect to ever find one. I can tell from the exit wound (only 1 so far) that they expand well but that's about it.
They'd go through 3 deer with a typical broadside shot. ;)

[AllenJ]

Thank you Picher for the info but I have one question: What kind of accuracy are you getting with this bullet?

[Picher]

Accuracy is excellent. I couldn't believe how good. At 100 yards, I'm getting 1/2" groups, but haven't shot a lot of bullets into targets, due to cost and lack of desire to target shoot with hunting loads.

Three bullets on my sighting in target went into a slightly enlarged hole. That's as good or better than any bullets used to date. Bear in mind that the rifle has a very good 24" sporter-weight, stainless barrelled action in an HS Precision Sendero stock with a skim-coat of Acraglas over the aluminum bedding block to cradle the action perfectly. I'm also a competition benchrest shooter, if that means anything.

[bamaranger]

Guess I won't be trying our bullet in my Mini-30!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks

[Picher]

peetzakilla:

As an expert, perhaps you could answer this:

Placed pie to pie, how many Pizza-Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizzas could be penetrated, point-blank, by this perfectly performing projectile???

Sorry, couldn't resist a bit of humor this morning. JP

[Brian Pfleuger]

I'm not an expert on anything. You don't have to be an expert to understand that 4 feet of penetration on small, thin skinned, light boned game from a cartridge larger than many people use for the animal is still going to be sufficient for medium sized, light skinned, medium boned game from the same cartridge which is a popular choice for the animal.

[Picher]

Peezakilla: Hope you weren't offended by my previous post, all in fun!!!

I agree with you about the penetration and would probably use the bullet for Elk if I had experience shooting them.

The only problem for me hunting elk is that it would be the only opportunity of my lifetime, a $25,000 venture, and I'd want to bring "enough gun". In that case, I and might just bring a 30-06 with heavier GMX bullets. Better to be safe than sorry.

JP

[Brian Pfleuger]

No offense taken, wasn't sure if you meant real humor. ;)

$25,000!? Let me know when you want to go... I can tell you how/where you can do it all for $12-$1,500 if you "rough it" a little. :)

[Picher]

Thanks for the thought Peetzakilla, but I'll be 68 in a couple of months and my passion to go elk, sheep, antelope, and goat hunting has faded considerably over the years.

The past few years, I hadn't been all that fired up about deer hunting either, but after retiring this year, got back into it and had fun with the grandkids.