Originally Posted By: SnowmanMo
This guy wasn't "making" a bad shot, he was intentionally shooting them in the gut. We all make bad shots from time to time, but I don't do it intentionally. I know that we make good shots that end up as runners, but we do not intentionally take a gut shot. It is about ethics. Many of us pride ourselves in a clean kill. If someone doesn't, and they are trying to inflict pain, then I won't deal with them. You are welcome to do as you choose, but I won't deal with folks like that.
Orkan, I know that you hunt a lot of wide open areas from some pretty extreme distances and there are a LOT of variables that you have to account for to make a good shot, so sometimes a bad shot happens. I also know that at longer ranges bullet weight is important in putting them down and you have seen a lot of different things from different bullets.
As for bullet choice, sure, there are always exceptions to the rule. I too saw the Vmax's fail to anchor them. But the Amax is specified as a target bullet. It has very thick walls, that most often fail to get expansion in something like a coyote. I know hog hunters who use them on hogs, because there's enough animal to get it to expand.
I have seen a lot of good results from Berger and SMK, as well as Scenar. I think that their accuracy comes from the way that they manufacture their bullets and not on just the the thickness or weight.
Personally, we found a big variance in the weight of the Vmax's, which might account for their failures.
Well I'm not going to advocate for amax's. I don't shoot hornady bullets for the consistency reasons you cite in your last sentence. I'll simply say that "target" bullets provide the best terminal performance on game I've ever encountered. I also agree that people intentionally shooting animals in the guts need to be gut punched themselves.
