To continue my thoughts of yesterday about bullets: I must state that in this part of the world Barnes -X and other homogeneous bullets have a very bad reputation. Greg and his team consider this type of bullet to be completely unsuitable for mountain hunts. In their information brochure, sent out before the hunt starts, they ask hunters not to bring ammunition with them that uses these bullets.
This opinion is definitely backed up by experience. Bullets of this structure will not expand, but behave like their full-shelled companions. At least, those are the results suggested by the game
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species and hunting conditions found here. In their time, Greg and his fellow hunters have seen a lot of mountain game bagged; they've had ample opportunity to observe the effects and practical killing power of the various types of bullets used by different hunters. When judging bullets it seems a good idea to ignore the claims of those people referred to by László Kovács as back-room experts; they, unfortunately, have too much influence over hunting journalism and literature.
It is very hard to define what makes a good bullet.
One camp holds that the best caliber and bullet is one that will pass straight through the animal and out the other side. Their main argument is for the copious bleeding caused by both the exit wound and the entrance wound - which makes it easier to track the animal and hastens its death
- and the bilateral shock effect. The other camp thinks that the best caliber and bullet is one that stays in the animal's body, passing on its entire kinetic energy to the neighboring tissues.
I don't belong to either camp.
I just try and shoot accurately, which is why I am a frequent visitor to the rifle range. The result is that it's not often hard to find an animal after I've shot it, though, as I've already written, there have been one or two exceptions. In my opinion it is the accuracy of the shot that counts. If the bullet hits the right spot, its type and brand generally won't matter. We must not forget that Inuits shoot polar bears with .222 Remington, and they rarely need two shots! If I had to say what I thought made an excellent bullet I'd say it's one that stops just under the skin on the opposite side to the entry wound. This is as close to both of the above views as it is possible to be.
A hunt can be a success with any kind of bullet.
The SST is a good all-round cartridge because it expands immediately on contact - I have seen this many times myself - but also has the capacity for deep penetration. This latter quality is not as pronounced as it is with a stronger-structured bullet, but it is still effective.
Based on my current experiences, which are still on-going, I will use three different types of bullet in my .300 caliber Winchester Magnum;
Hornady SST Interlock: the "Expedition Cartridge". When shooting over great distances in open spaces - every hunt on this trip has been under these conditions - it is unrivalled. When fired accurately, it killed the musk ox with one shot, proving its good impact depth. It expands well when hitting entrails, which is very important in North America. The vast shooting distances and the innumerable difficult shots - while lying down, while the game is running, or just on the spur of the moment - all increase the risk that the animal will only be wounded. It's no surprise that this bullet is sold by Hornady, a 100% American manufacturer. They are perfectly aware of what hunters over here need. Accurate bullets.
RWS Evolution: if I keep using this caliber when I'm back in Hungary - I feel it might be unnecessarily powerful for a Hungarian hunt - this is the cartridge I will put in my magazine. Over
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covered ground it travels much more accurately than the SST, which is inclined to expand as it flies.
Norma Oryx (13gm. version): When I'm hunting specifically for brown bear or grizzly this is what I use. Its bigger mass and blunter nose obviously suggest a greater killing power, and it is absolutely essential on a bear hunt, which could turn dangerous. I think the same killing power will be achieved as with either of the previous two bullets, but a little extra insurance can't do any harm, particularly if you don't lose any of the other advantages. Oryx has the lowest BC value, and consequently flies more slowly, but at a bear hunt this is not of great importance.
The guides think that, for a mountain hunt, you should only need enough bullets to fully load your gun twice. With my gun that means eight cartridges. So far, that has always sufficed for me -
apart from the crazy day I spent bagging the Mad Fox, when there just weren't enough.
If, by any chance, I lost my job, then I could certainly become a meteorologist in Alaska. My summer forecasts would go like this: " Changeable, windy weather, probability of rain 80%". For at least five days of the week I would have a public grateful for my precise predictions.
The few hours of sunshine yesterday have long gone, and the weather has returned to normal.
The only change is that it has returned with the hunter's arch-enemy: fog. In fog you can't see the goats, you can't find your way back to camp, you can't even see the end of your nose. However unlikely it might sound, we have actually been lucky with the weather. We could be up in the mountains, stuck in our tents, waiting for it to lift. But, instead, I'm now sitting here in the main room of the yacht, eating grapes and waiting for my latest hot breakfast, being cooked by Bob. As I sit here I've got one eye on a real rarity: a cartridge for a Lazzeroni Caliber 7.82 Warbird. It was left here by another goat hunter. It's got a lot of gunpowder in it! It must kick like a horse. I have my other eye on the TV: Greg has just put Rambo 2 on the DVD player.
Now, as we have our goats, and the boys have even managed to find them, and have rested and celebrated enough, we might as well get on with the black bear hunt. Especially as, though there is still quite enough time to bag this particular species, the days are passing. Yesterday, I arranged with Andy that there would be no more relaxing, and today we will start stalking the baribals.
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