Just in from a 4 day muley hunt...took another "pepperoni buck" in the last hour of the last day...just a 140 class 4x3. The Ruger performed well again.



Off to catch up on sleep..

Cheers,
Canuck

hey pepperoni keeps and ships well...
let me know if you need my address

How did you hide the gore this time?
Details of hunt, carnage infliction, and necropsy report please!
Congratulations!

How far away was he when you shot him? What was his reaction?

George

Nice pepperoni buck, and glad to see that the Mighty 375 Ruger proves itself once again to be The New King of the 375's!!

HI Canuck
You've been having fun again. Good to see it's all working out good for you. Maybe you and Gatehouse will have to come Spring bear hunting with the 375's. Will I be shunned with my lowly 375 Weatherby
Take good care,
Dave

Hey guys, sorry for the "drive by" posting...had just gotten in from a 12 hour drive and unpacking my truck, hanging meat, etc.

Here's how it went down...

While hunting back towards the truck at about 3:30 PM on my last day, I was working my way through some fairly open timber and spotted this buck trotting along about 150 yards away. He was quartering away, and I could only see him briefly between openings. I put my rifle up and followed him with the scope. Any buck was legal and I could see he was at least a 3pt...knowing he was as close to the truck as I had seen a buck on this trip, I decided to take him when he came out into the next opening. I took the shot and he bucked and took off....good sign of a heart shot. As he ran I tried another hail mary just in case, but either shot over him or hit a tree...there was no second bullet hole in him. He went about 75 yards and crashed into some blowdown.

The shot was a little low, just above the brisket. I think this is likely because I didn't compensate for the fact the rifle is sighted dead on at 100yds...or it could be because I shot without a solid rest! The entry hole was the size of a softball. His near 'elbow' (jct of humerus and foreleg bones, radius and ulna -- if that's what they are called on a deer) was smashed, and the brisket was a mess. I recovered the bullet (which surprised the hell out of me) on the offside hide....see below (sorry I didn't do a better job of cleaning it, was in a rush)...





I was using the 270gr SP Hornady factory loads. Retained weight was 173.6 grains.

Both of these deer had hellacious damage to the shoulder from bone hits. Am thinking these bullets may not be tough enough for this velocity, at least for any application in dangerous situations...great deer bullet though. And I bet it would be great on bears!

RIP, the damage was on the near side in the photo. The softball sized hole was mostly behind the "elbow" and very low, so I just made sure the shoulder was positioned back a bit and leaned him into the shot to hide it. I had dragged it out of the massive pool of blood it was lying in, and unfortunately some of it got on the hind quarter...tried wiping it off but most of it stayed, and no snow to do a good job with.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Cheers,
Canuck

quote:

Originally posted by 470 Mbogo:
Maybe you and Gatehouse will have to come Spring bear hunting with the 375's. Will I be shunned with my lowly 375 Weatherby?
Take good care,
Dave

Dave, that sounds like a great idea. We'll have to work on Gates.

Cheers,
Canuck

Excellent report, as usual, Canuck.
Noted: Gotta handload with the proper bullet in the .375 Ruger if hunting anything bigger or meaner than deer.

Thanks RIP.

I failed to mention the best part. Knowing I had to leave first thing in the AM, my hunting partners said to signal them if I shot something so we could pack it out that evening. We agreed on two quick shots a few minutes after a bang-flop kill, or after I found the deer in the event of a follow up. So after I did the short blood trailing job, I gave a quick "double tap" with the Ruger. I hear whistling right away. Unbeknownst to me, my buddies had joined up only about 500 meters down slope of me, at a funnel point enroute to the truck. They joined me at the deer in time for the trophy pics and to help me render the deer into quarters and pack it out. We got back to the truck (a 2 km pack) just shortly after dark. Couldn't have worked out better for a last minute buck.

Cheers,
Canuck

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
How did you hide the gore this time?
Details of hunt, carnage infliction, and necropsy report please!
Congratulations!

He's been wiping his bloody hands on it's arse from the look of it.............

....... .,., WTG appreciate the pics ., pretty typical damage from standard 270 gr bullet in the 375 .,., I have found alot more Hornady bullets , or parts of them in deer than any other brand ,., , But it worked ..I wish Hornady would toughen up their bullets .,,. Great report ..

Canuck...seems YOU did YOUR part well

Regarding the bullet terminal performance...

Seems to me that Hornady 270's are not good...not that the deer did not die but the weight retention was low and it did not get a pass through with its what appears to be a 2.5 x diameter expansion.

For the intended game of the 375 ruger it seems a better performing bullet is needed.

Am I wrong here???

congrats again on the pepperoni to be

Canuck: was the bullet an IB or Interlock? jorge

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
Canuck...seems YOU did YOUR part well

Regarding the bullet terminal performance...

Seems to me that Hornady 270's are not good...not that the deer did not die but the weight retention was low and it did not get a pass through with its what appears to be a 2.5 x diameter expansion.

For the intended game of the 375 ruger it seems a better performing bullet is needed.

Am I wrong here???

congrats again on the pepperoni to be

Boomy, I hear what your saying, but dead is dead! It is unfortunate that Hornady can't seem (rather unwilling) to produce a premium bullet.

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:
Canuck: was the bullet an IB or Interlock? jorge

jorge,
It was the Hornady factory ammo, with the 270gr SP-RP bullet. Definitely not the Interbond, and they don't seem to use the Interlock name anymore (??).

Cheers,
Canuck

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
Canuck...seems YOU did YOUR part well

Regarding the bullet terminal performance...

Seems to me that Hornady 270's are not good...not that the deer did not die but the weight retention was low and it did not get a pass through with its what appears to be a 2.5 x diameter expansion.

For the intended game of the 375 ruger it seems a better performing bullet is needed.

Am I wrong here???

congrats again on the pepperoni to be

Boomy, I hear what your saying, but dead is dead! It is unfortunate that Hornady can't seem (rather unwilling) to produce a premium bullet.

Its a fine deer bullet IMHO...with that kind of damage you have lots of margin for shots around the fringes, although I wouldn't bother trying a "raking" shot.

I definitely won't be using these bullets for elk or moose. What I have seen scares me that if I inadvertently hit heavy shoulder bone, the bullet might not cause enough damage to the vitals (ie. may not even get there). Probably would, but I'd rather use a Swift A-frame or Barnes TSX and know for sure.

Cheers,
Canuck