Hi
I am not advocating use of army AP(armor piercing rounds) on elephant,but curios to know . How this kind of bullets would act for barian shot in elephant. i am sure it had happened, because I have heard many stories about cullings which are done by using . 308 and army surplus 147 gr fmj rounds.
regards
YES

quote:

Originally posted by yes:
Hi
I am not advocating use of army AP(armor piercing rounds) on elephant,but curios to know . How this kind of bullets would act for barian shot in elephant. i am sure it had happened, because I have heard many stories about cullings which are done by using . 308 and army surplus 147 gr fmj rounds.
regards
YES

YES, It can be done, but I don't think it is a good idea if one has a choice, also illegal! Every AP bullet I know of is a pointed bullet, and as such tend to veere off instead of traveling in a straight line in the target. Think about it, these thing were designed for two purposes. #1 to conform with Geneva Convention, and #2 to penetrate a about 12" of the human body, wearing an armored flack jacket.

For large animals, like Elephant, or Buffalo one needs straight line penetration, for 3 or four feet,to reach the brain, or off side lung, and no deformation so the bullet will go right through large, very heavy bone, and thick hide! Army APs will always bend, and go off line, when it hits a large bone. The bullet should have a wide flat, or buff point solid, that will not deform. If you are useing a bolt rifle, the the Mono-lithic solids are very good, if useing a double rifle then a steel jacketed solid like the Woodliegh is indicated. Besides I don't know of an Army AP that is shot from a shoulder arm that is large enough to be legal for Elephant. Th minimum in some countries is .366", and in most is .375", and both of those are medium calibers, and small for the job! Ele rounds should start a .400", IMO! Also, if you can afford an Elephant hunt, then it isn't much of a strecth to assume you can afford proper calibers, and bullets

Yes

A 646gn, military 50 BMG bullet loaded back to front in a 510 Wells Express works extremely well.

Brad

yes,
I thought you lived somewhere in africa?

there's a gentleman name WM Bell, you might want to look up, that will answer your question.

with round nosed FMJ bullets...

jeffe

hi jeffosso
well not exactly living in africa but not far from africa either(by SAS planes it takes simply a day of voyage) LOL. wel i supose caramajo used 6,5x54 manlicher with 156 gr RN solids. beleive me AP 190 gr 7,62x51 will outpenetrate those 6,5 mm solids by great margin, but it is not RN it is rather spitzer shape, which many beleives will bounce from the jumbo's skull, but i ve never seen it bouncing from steel plates!??
regards
yes

quote:

Originally posted by Brad_Rolston:
Yes

A 646gn, military 50 BMG bullet loaded back to front in a 510 Wells Express works extremely well.

Brad

Was this an AP bullet, or standard ball? Either way, was the bullet recovered? If so, what did the bullet look like afterward

7.62 x 51 mm (NATO) 147 gr spitzer will penetrate about one meter of tissue. (As I recall only German or Dutch 7.62mm breaks in two at the cannelure where it was weakened with too deep of a cannelure).

172 gr will penetrate about a meter.

They both turn over 180 degrees at about two feet penetration.

While good penetration for common barricades like european or central american/central asian adobe block buildings, it is barely adequate for elephant.

Steel cores used in AP 7.62 and 50 caliber has a specific gravity of just 7.0. Lead is 11.0 and tungsten steel from 11-13 depending on how it is sintered.

Main advantage of steel core is if you heat treat it up into the C70 Rockwell scale. (This is equal to hardness of steel used in a bullet proof vest or the little 10 grain penetrator of the 5.56 x 45mm Nato). Our 50 caliber and Russian 5.45 and 7.62mm steel cores are only B50 Rockewell. This is the hardest you can impact extrude but no harder than hardest copper.

Andy