200sst hair test at high speed / close range
Nov 23, 2014 22:55:03 GMT -5
Post by madcityhoosier on Nov 23, 2014 22:55:03 GMT -5
Last year was my first year of hunting with my RemPac .45 (thanks again to hillbill... I love this rifle!!). I used the 200 SST to take 2 deer, both of which were over 200 yards. Both of the shots resulted in passthroughs, and very easy, quick recoveries. I wasn't sure how the little 200 SST would do up close at high impact speeds, but I decided to load one up for this year's opening day, since the 200 SST is a touch more accurate for me than the 195 Barnes. The load is 10/51 SR4759/H4198 in a Harvester smooth blue, lit by a Federal 209A. Muzzle velocity is around 2845 fps at 40 degrees.
Last Saturday was the opening day for our gun season here in Indiana. I spent the first few hours in a treestand, but around 10:30am I took a position on the ground overlooking a brushy, overgrown grassed waterway that serves as an escape route for deer when the neighboring hunters start moving around on their property. I had a series of bucks come by chasing a hot yearling doe. This area I'm watching is basically a 100 yard by 100 yard bowl, and I was just sitting on the rim as the bucks chased this doe round and round in circles. Eventually, she came around and stopped just below me, inside 20 yards. I couldn't hold back any longer, and I took a carefully-aimed shot so I wouldn't hit the shoulders. She was slightly quartering away. I calculate the impact velocity to have been about 2780 fps.
Below is the entrance side.
Below is the exit side (just barely caught the tip of the leg bone on the way out):
This is what the inside of the chest looked like. On entrance, the bullet impact broke a total of four ribs (3 towards the head from the impact point and one towards the rear from the impact point).
I was impressed by the 200 SST's performance. Sure, I was expecting a dead deer, but from some of the stories I've read/heard, I feared that the bullet wouldn't perform too well at this speed. Perhaps if I'd hit the shoulder, the outcome would have been different, but I'm a bowhunter, and still think like one even when I have a gun in my hand...if I don't have a clear shot through the ribs, I don't take the shot.
Last Saturday was the opening day for our gun season here in Indiana. I spent the first few hours in a treestand, but around 10:30am I took a position on the ground overlooking a brushy, overgrown grassed waterway that serves as an escape route for deer when the neighboring hunters start moving around on their property. I had a series of bucks come by chasing a hot yearling doe. This area I'm watching is basically a 100 yard by 100 yard bowl, and I was just sitting on the rim as the bucks chased this doe round and round in circles. Eventually, she came around and stopped just below me, inside 20 yards. I couldn't hold back any longer, and I took a carefully-aimed shot so I wouldn't hit the shoulders. She was slightly quartering away. I calculate the impact velocity to have been about 2780 fps.
Below is the entrance side.
Below is the exit side (just barely caught the tip of the leg bone on the way out):
This is what the inside of the chest looked like. On entrance, the bullet impact broke a total of four ribs (3 towards the head from the impact point and one towards the rear from the impact point).
I was impressed by the 200 SST's performance. Sure, I was expecting a dead deer, but from some of the stories I've read/heard, I feared that the bullet wouldn't perform too well at this speed. Perhaps if I'd hit the shoulder, the outcome would have been different, but I'm a bowhunter, and still think like one even when I have a gun in my hand...if I don't have a clear shot through the ribs, I don't take the shot.
