Advice about 178 Hornady A max

[seek100plus]

I am seeking advice on Hornady Amax 178 grain bullets. I have been reloading some 300 Winchester mag shells and have put together a great load that my gun really likes .I have conograph the bullet at 2900 feet at 30 yards .I have also been producing 50 cent piece groups at 200 yards and I wanted to see at what range I loose tight groups. I went out scouting today for my deer hunt and brought my gun with me to do some long range shooting. I was again shooting 50 cent piece out to 300 yards and my last target ended up ripping after the wind kicked up , so I put a 6 inch round pinion log up on a large boulder with a wall of boulders behind me for a safe backstop. I range the log at 400 yards and hit the log first shot .I walk over to the log to set it back up and I look at the hole ,the 178 grain penetrated to half way in to the log , but the bullet decent grated. I have great concerns now, I know the wood is hard, but what is going to happen when I hit a animal at 200, 300 or 400 yards. I do not have time or the money to put together a new bullet with the same results.

[Hancock7WSM]

Thats the same bullet i use in my 300WSM and i have had great success with it. I have had a couple kills in the 350 yard range as well as one in the 570 range. It did the job every time and always put game down fast. It would recommed it at long ranges for sure. Jake

[catclaw]

When you use a target bullet, there is always the risk of poor terminal performance. The only bullets that seem to be very reliable are the Berger hunting bullets. I have had Sierra MKs work good one time and pencil through the next and explode on the impact the next time.

 

I have heard mixed reviews on the Amax. If you don't know better, you should probably work loads up with hunting bullets to begin with. Bullets such as Accubonds, interbonds, Scirocco IIs et al are both very good hunting bullets and very accurate. You are talking about 300-400 yds, there is no advantage to using target bullets at this range. If you want to shoot 800-1200 yds, then I would stick with the Bergers or other PROVEN ultra long range bullets.

 

I have never used the current generation Amax bullets on big game. It may work fine for you. If it disintegrates (correct spelling) after impact, it will be fine as long as it penetrates a few inches before doing so. This is typical with the Bergers.

 

Since you don't have time or money to change, you take your chances and let us know how it does.

[308Nut]

The AMAX (unlike match kings) are recomended for light boned thin skinned game such as deer. I have used AMAX's on sheep, deer and moose. I can say for certain they work well on deer size critters at various ranges and velocities (308 and 300 RUM) but NOT moose. This is in line with what Hornaday recomends.

 

They will work fine out of your 300 WM for up to deer size critters. They are a bit explosive. You must keep them in the ribs (heart lung area). You dont want to take hard quartering away shots on big deer where you need lots of penetration. Keep them in the ribs and the vitals will be soup.

 

Ranges and calibers:

 

Sitka BT buck @ 90 yards, 308 winchester. (155 AMAX) Bullet looked just like any other hunting bullet. Found in the hide on the off side.

 

Sitka BT buck @ 507 yards, 300 RUM. (178 AMAX) Bullet fragmented. Some peices exited. Lungs were soup.

 

Dall sheep @ 350 yards, 308 Win. (168 AMAX) Bullet hit through the scapula and exited the opposite scapula. Damage internally was good.

 

Dall sheep @ 700 yards, 308 Win. (168 AMAX) Bullet hit the spine where it met the scapula. 4" of spine was gone. The exit was impressive.

 

Moose @ 438 yards, 308 Win (155 AMAX) Note that this was not planned as I would never plan to shoot a moose with this load. My buddy wounded a bull and I had to finish it before we lost him in the alders. The bullet hit the 2nd vertabre and broke it but did NOT penetrate it. The bull dropped in his tracks but got up and made it a few yards more after 15 minutes.

 

All in all, these bullets are very predictable. Expansion is not an issue. If anything, they expand too easily. This is however why they make good long range hunting bullets. When the velocity is reduced heavily, they open up more reliably than most other hunting bullets.