Sig Subsonic on deer??

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H T
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Sig Subsonic on deer??

Post by H T »

New to the forum and glad to have this resource. Have started hunting with a Remington 7 in 300 blackout and suppressor. Shot 4 pigs without incident, but head shots only. Didn't trust the FMJ bullets for a deer so switched to the Sig factory ammo of 205 grain hunting bullet. Brush is so thick I didn't want to track and retrieve a deer, and needed it pretty much dead right there.

So.....got a nice, mature, heavy bodied 8 point whitetail buck walking in front of feeder and when he stopped I shot in the middle of the middle of his neck. Expected it to put him down. But....reaction was pretty much nothing !! He looked a little stunned but kept walking, so I shot him in the neck again, and this time he went down for good.

Neither bullet exited - no surprise. But surprised that there is such a lack of shocking power with this cartridge/bullet combo. Have shot a lot of game in the neck with regular calibers for the game (deer, elk, kudu, impala, etc.), but never had this reaction before. Won't try that again on a mature buck, for sure. Pretty well limited to head shots is what I figure, if using subsonic.

Any others have similar experience?

H T in South Texas
BlogSarge
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Re: Sig Subsonic on deer??

Post by BlogSarge »

Congrats on the venison heading to the freezer.

There’s not a lot of velocity or energy to give shock with subs, think of them as pistol rounds. You really need rifle velocity, 2000 fps or so, for any kind of ‘shock’ to kick in.

Check out gds’s thread on subsonic hunting, he and others share a wealth of experience.

viewtopic.php?f=145&t=87186
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bangbangping
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Re: Sig Subsonic on deer??

Post by bangbangping »

The results of the neck shot don't surprise me. Hunting with a 300 BLK sub more akin to bow hunting than it is a "regular" hunting rifle. And unless you're from New Zealand, you're probably not good enough to consistently head shoot deer with a 300 BLK sub. Personally, if I needed the deer to be DRT I'd choose a different gun. Or shoot through the lungs with a sub that you know will expand and do a little tracking.
H T
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Re: Sig Subsonic on deer??

Post by H T »

Probably good enough for these conditions. 40 yards, shooting sticks. Probably need to stay subsonic out of courtesy to the neighbors. Probably need to head shoot since overgrown cedar, cactus and mesquite make direct tracking difficult. Have taken 5 hogs from same blind this month, all head shots. So, not from New Zealand, but probably good enough.
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Walkers Bay
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Re: Sig Subsonic on deer??

Post by Walkers Bay »

H T wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 12:51 pm Probably good enough for these conditions. 40 yards, shooting sticks. Probably need to stay subsonic out of courtesy to the neighbors. Probably need to head shoot since overgrown cedar, cactus and mesquite make direct tracking difficult. Have taken 5 hogs from same blind this month, all head shots. So, not from New Zealand, but probably good enough.
Congratulations on the kills. Do you do butcher your hogs?
40 yards why not just use a suppressed .22 then or a heavy rock. When I started reading I'd thought you were asking about something say 100 yards or so
H T
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Re: Sig Subsonic on deer??

Post by H T »

The feral hogs get to the processors if they're not too large. The big ones tend to be very poor eating. In the 40-80 lb. range, I've found they are generally very good table fare. Have had some with wounds that were infected, so they go by the wayside. Mostly a challenge to shoot well, even at 40 yards, trying to hit a target the size of a quarter. And they don't hold still very long either !!
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Walkers Bay
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Re: Sig Subsonic on deer??

Post by Walkers Bay »

H T wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 5:36 pm The feral hogs get to the processors if they're not too large. The big ones tend to be very poor eating. In the 40-80 lb. range, I've found they are generally very good table fare. Have had some with wounds that were infected, so they go by the wayside. Mostly a challenge to shoot well, even at 40 yards, trying to hit a target the size of a quarter. And they don't hold still very long either !!
My fathers station has a feral pig problem, so I understand the frustration caused by them..
I butcher the bulk of them but like you said the big ones are less appealing so I tend to mincer them into sausages, or wet cure bacon then smoke it.
Blackout!
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Re: Sig Subsonic on deer??

Post by Blackout! »

You know if you shoot enough animals, something bizarre is bound to happen. I wouldn’t consider this a normal reaction, or a even a reasonable reaction. But it happened.

If you made me guess, I’d say you just barely clipped/touched a vertebra. This will usually cause a shock to the nervous system. The reaction could be anything. A good clip to the spinous process (fin on top of the vertebrae) will knock an animal out, and then they get up and walk away. Have seen it both hunting and guiding.

When someone shoots high, and they go down hard, I always shoot again or have them shoot again if they are a client. Trophy fees are expensive and bullets are cheap.

I wouldn’t doubt your bullet. I’d shoot a dozen more to regain faith in the bullet.
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