Discussion of ballistic gel and caliber

[Russ16]

Someone sent me this video and I thought it was interesting. Obviously it is focused on defense ammo but a lot could translate to DG ammo.

The discussion of elasticity made me wonder if the reputation for toughness of African game is in some way related to them having a higher elasticity than other game. Just speculation but an interesting thought.

I’d love to hear these guys talk about about DG ammo the way they are talking about defense ammo.

 

[BJH65]

There used to be a common saying, “African game are tough and tenacious of life.”

Over the years, many experienced hunters of the past who’ve posted about this very subject here on AH and a variety of famous gunwriters with lots of African hunting experience say no, African plains game and the big cats are no harder to kill than North American game like deer, wild pigs, black bear, elk and the big bears grizzly/brown bear.

I would exclude elephant, hippo on land and buffalo when comparing to North American game but maybe the American Bison could be compared to Cape buffalo in toughness?

My owner personal experience which is limited to a dozen African plains game animals ranging from springbok to eland, they were no tougher or harder to kill than North American deer, wild pigs and elk.

I’ll exclude the hippo I killed since no comparison. I guess I could compare a bison I killed with 375 RUM 235 TSX 3200 FPS and Cape buffalo taken with 416 Rigby 400 grain TSX 2400 FPS.

Both took about the same time to expire except the Cape buffalo traveled about 50 yards with double lung shot and the bison did not run far at all but didn’t drop to the shot, seemed to stand upright for a minute or two before collapsing and expiring.

 

[deewayne2003]

You bring up an interesting point about ballistic gel, some years ago guns and ammo molded an elk shoulder blade inside blocks of ballistic gel and then put a piece of hide elk over the outside of the blocks then fired a 30-06 with 180gr TSX, Partitions & Sierra game kings through the blocks and discussed the benefits of different bullets.

They showed the Game King open up instantly and shatter on the shoulder blade and I thought it was a very well made video but I cannot find it.

As far as the African animals are extra tough..... In the words of Arnold

Use the right bullet and it's no problem, I've only shot 3 African animals and both the Impala and Bushbuck were "bang flop" with .300win and 200gr partitions..... Which was left over ammo from a Moose hunt years ago.

The tuskless elephant, this is what a .470ne 500gr Woodleigh Hydro looks like after it severs a 3" diameter tree limb, breaks the front should, penetrates the heart, breaks a rib on the opposite side and is found with an axe while butchering..... notice the tip was cut by the axe.

 

[Flbt]

There used to be a common saying, “African game are tough and tenacious of life.”

Over the years, many experienced hunters of the past who’ve posted about this very subject here on AH and a variety of famous gunwriters with lots of African hunting experience say no, African plains game and the big cats are no harder to kill than North American game like deer, wild pigs, black bear, elk and the big bears grizzly/brown bear.

I would exclude elephant, hippo on land and buffalo when comparing to North American game but maybe the American Bison could be compared to Cape buffalo in toughness?

My owner personal experience which is limited to a dozen African plains game animals ranging from springbok to eland, they were no tougher or harder to kill than North American deer, wild pigs and elk.

I’ll exclude the hippo I killed since no comparison. I guess I could compare a bison I killed with 375 RUM 235 TSX 3200 FPS and Cape buffalo taken with 416 Rigby 400 grain TSX 2400 FPS.

Both took about the same time to expire except the Cape buffalo traveled about 50 yards with double lung shot and the bison did not run far at all but didn’t drop to the shot, seemed to stand upright for a minute or two before collapsing and expiring.

I think a lot of depends on the animal it’s self
I saw a under 100 lbs doe take a 338 rum. 180gr bt right behind the shoulder it went down a zipper her
She ran 75 yds dragging everything.
Really and truly that should not have happened. It did the hart was like hamburger.

Saw a pig less than 50 lbs by best guess
It took 3 338 wm 200 gr silvertips to put it down it went over 100yds.when it was cleaned no heart lungs jelly

The first buck I shot with my 358w o should not have gotten.
I shot low hitting it on the brisket.
Most definitely not a good shot.
He fell over dead did not move.

With guns and ammo things don’t all ways work like it should

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I posted about this once before but there's a difference between actual FBI Calibrated Ballistic Gel and the Clear Ballistic Gel often used in YouTube videos that claim to be FBI Calibrated Clear Gel. The results are often different between the two. They're using the legit FBI Gel in this video, so that's good.

This gel is calibrated to replicate the elasticity of a human body so it could differ slightly from that of an animal. My experience on a variety of of animals is that African animals are no tougher than North American animals. The difference is their vitals are in a different spot so the common NA behind the shoulder shot isn't as effective and they run further. I do think African Game has a little more fight in them when wounded with a marginal, or non lethal shot compared to some North American Game animals but overall a shot in the right place makes them no harder to kill.

 

[grand veneur]

I also don't believe that African game is much tougher than in terms of size and weight comparable game from other continents . However, one should keep in mind that we are comparing game species that are not the same. We want exclude the DG and therefore, when we talk about comparable game, we primarily think of deers. But in Africa, we hunt above all antelopes in this weight class, which belong to the bovid group, which is a more defensive species than deers. This could perhaps explain why some African game was considered somewhat tougher than game from other continents. Ultimately every game will die after a good placement of a suitable bullet for it.