6.5x55 140gr SST terminal performance

tomblincoe

Well-Known Member
Chest shot a big fallow buck (77kg dressed) at 30m(ish) and found this under the skin. The cup and core had separated and I found them about 2cm apart

05802ff992eb23621b6261405f11e04c.jpg


Not bad for a round with a reputation for exploding on impact!

It was factory SST superformance" out of a 20" barrel so doing 2650-2700 fps probably.
 
Chest shot a big fallow buck (77kg dressed) at 30m(ish) and found this under the skin. The cup and core had separated and I found them about 2cm apart

05802ff992eb23621b6261405f11e04c.jpg


Not bad for a round with a reputation for exploding on impact!

It was factory SST superformance" out of a 20" barrel so doing 2650-2700 fps probably.

Not looking for a Bun fight :thumb: But you shot a Fallow at 30 metres and never had a clean pass through !!!!!
Well I certainly wouldn't be happy. I've shot a helluva lot of Fallow mainly with a .25-06 but the last three years a 6.5x55 and never ever had a Projectile stay in the Fallow even at 250yrd.
Some of these have been Big Rutting Bucks where do to where they was I had to place a shot high into the shoulder again all when in through and out . I was taught to settle on a Projectile that mushroomed well when in and out giving a Good blood loss and trail.
 
Fair point!

All the other deer, big fallow included have exited.

This guy was quartering towards me, the bullet hit a bit high, taking both lungs, the aorta and clipped the spine. It then carried on and lodged under the skin in front of the diaphragm. Penetration of 80cm or so. Deer dropped on the spot.

Im happy with that performance.
 
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I homeload the 140grain sst in my 6.5x55 doing 2700 fps I have shot approx 40 deer so far with these muntjac to fallow bucks and I have been impressed so far IMG_2057.jpgIMG_2055.jpg
This was the damage from a fallow prickett shot this week distance was 130m
 
Not looking for a Bun fight :thumb: But you shot a Fallow at 30 metres and never had a clean pass through !!!!!
Well I certainly wouldn't be happy. I've shot a helluva lot of Fallow mainly with a .25-06 but the last three years a 6.5x55 and never ever had a Projectile stay in the Fallow even at 250yrd.
Some of these have been Big Rutting Bucks where do to where they was I had to place a shot high into the shoulder again all when in through and out . I was taught to settle on a Projectile that mushroomed well when in and out giving a Good blood loss and trail.

I've had two failures to exit in just the last 2 weeks. And this with 130gr soft points from a .270 with a 24" barrel, so probably going upward of 3100fps. One medium sized buck at 280 yards, through the shoulder. One very large buck at 30 yards, chest shot with no shoulder hit.
 
IMO failure to exit is more likely at short range than long range (from my calibre and bullet choice at least)

I don't see failure to exit as an issue unless the bullet choice has not matched the target and terminal velocity to cause enough internal damage.

one of the few FtoEs I have had with a .270 was a 40 yds side chest, no shoulders, one rib bone on a large red stag.

took two steps

to the OP..

one recovered bullet doesn't discount a thousand grenade effect carcases
 
Not looking for a Bun fight :thumb: But you shot a Fallow at 30 metres and never had a clean pass through !!!!!
Well I certainly wouldn't be happy. I've shot a helluva lot of Fallow mainly with a .25-06 but the last three years a 6.5x55 and never ever had a Projectile stay in the Fallow even at 250yrd.
.
You are far more likely to have the bullet stay in the animal at 30 yards than 250. At close range the high strass of impact causes the bullet to mushroom to a wider diameter and shed more weight more quickly, the end result is a wider but shorter wound channel. The opposite is true at long range.

Anyway, I'd say that looks like very good bullet performance to me, in what is a good stress test. There is a school of thought that the perfect bullet performance would be if the bullet expends it's last ounce of energy to just pierce the skin on the off side and drop to the floor. This bullet wasn't far off that.. Plus with him quartering away it penetrated more than normal.


I've shot two big fallow bucks where the bullet didn't exit. One with a 150gr accubond, one with a 150gr SST out of a .308 , both bucks died very quickly, I never thought of either as bullet failure.
 
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