Subsonic deer hunting question

[One Shot]

We have a local LEO who uses a 300 Whisper for in town deer control. He said you have to shoot the deer in the forehead when their head is down. Otherwise it will ricochet off. Anyone else had experience with this ? How about a side head shot ? This is aside from a body shot, which I know will go through.
Thanks

[Titleiiredneck]

heh never , tell him to stop using rubber bullets. A whisper will more than easily penetrate a deer.

180gr is more than enough I personally use them all the time in 308 and 300 whisper sub loads. My neighbor uses his 308 with 200 gr smk's in a sub load on them all the time as well..

[One Shot]

He told me if he shoots them in the body, they just bleed like shooting them with a arrow. I believe him on the ricochet. Everytime I shoot at a target on the ground, close or far, I get a ricochet. I'm using 220 gr sierrra boatail at about 950fps.

[320pf]

Originally Posted by One Shot

We have a local LEO who uses a 300 Whisper for in town deer control. He said you have to shoot the dear in the forehead when their head is down. Othersise it will ricochet off. Anyone else had experience with this ? How about a side head shot ?
Thanks

Pull up your pants.... It's too late to save the shoes!!!

Originally Posted by One Shot

He told me if he shoots them in the body, they just bleed like shooting them with a arrow. I believe him on the ricochet. Everytime I shoot at a target on the ground, close or far, I get a ricochet. I'm using 220 gr sierrra boatail at about 950fps.

The statement about body shots is true. However, if he hit the CNS (like a head shot) they will go right down. I would crank up the velocity on the load to ~1050-1080fps.

Is the LEO using a can/suppressor? If not why is he shooting sub-sonic loads? I would suggest that he use a light jacketed bullet like a Speer 125 TNT at about 2250 fps and take the body shots. Another option would be a frangible bullet like the Barnes MPG (Mult-Purpose Green):

http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/rifle/mpg/

You should be able to push the Barnes 147gr MPG to about 2100fps. You would not have to worry about ricochets and body shots would be pretty effective.

A good hit up in the shoulder/lungs near the spine will drop them pretty much where they stand. With a suppressor, this load would be pretty quite except the the super sonic crack witch is not that loud. Even without a suppressor, this load has no more report than a pistol.

320pf

[One Shot]

He is using a can, shooting in town at night.

[JFettig]

Regarding MPG, I wouldn't eat an animal thats been shot with these, Its powdered metal, its not lead but its other stuff, copper, tin, and who knows what else.

I realize he probably isn't shooting them for meat, just something I thought I'd bring up.

I think if twas me, I'd shoot them in the back of the head, or spinal area back there, that aught to take them down quick?

Jon

[Titleiiredneck]

An idea my buddy and I have is to take some 200 gr rn and make them hollow point in my mill. If we can make them the same weight from pill to pill then this may create awesome expansion we just have to keep then between 185-190 gr with a cone shaped hole

[LouBoyd]

Has your friendly Leo actually chronographed his loads? That sounds more like the perfomance you'd get at under 500 fps. If he's using a long barrel rifle and just calculated the muzzle velocity or used a manufacturers "specs" without accounting for bore friction that may be what he's getting.