Minimum Energy to Harvest Game -- The Real Gunsmith

[j.p]

I wish I had a Grandpa like him. The amount of knowledge a young shooter could soak up is just immense.

[jayblayney]

Thank you sir! Finally someone with common sense, ethics and experience that’s not afraid to speak the truth about HUNTING and ETHICALLY taking game. Too many target shooters on here. Game deserves more respect than paper and steel targets.

[stillbill]

Watched this again. Gotta tell you that a guy I know killed a 204” mule buck at 740 yds. with a 6.5 PRC. HORNADY
ELD XYZ thing.
That bullet blew into pieces. That the guy got home with the deer is remarkable. A couple inches to the left and that buck takes it in the shoulder and lived to die a dreadful death.
Randy Selby is the most important rifleman since Jack O’Conner and Elmer Keith. He’s smartest mind since Otto Ackley.
People, listen to the man.

[billyhill]

I feel the same way when I hear people try to tell us we need a certain level of energy to kill game . Ft/lbs of energy is just a number. Deer moose and elk don't die from ft/lbs of energy they die from a hole in their lungs or other organs that cause a disruption in blood circulation and respiration. Handguns and arrows and buckshot still kill game every year without the prescribed 1000 ft/lbs of energy. You need a bullet constructed well enough to make it into a deers vitals at the range you are shooting and you need to be able to put the shot there at that range. I know this might be over simplifying the matter but that is really all the science there is too it. You can shoot a deer with a high velocity round that has over 1000 ft'lbs of energy but if the bullet shatters into tiny fragments on impact and doesn't penetrate deep enough with enough mass to do some damage the energy is useless. You would be better off with a Colt 45 handgun at short range that will punch a 1/2 inch hole right through a deer. Use a bullet that will penetrate deep enough and stay together and work on your shooting skills to put a shot where it needs to be at whatever range you are shooting at. If you can't hit a deer or elk in the boiler room at 500 yards then DON'T TAKE THE SHOT ! More energy wont help if you can't put a shot where it needs to be or your bullet fragments and doesn't penetrate.

[peterrobins]

I agree, Shot placement is King, Shot penetration is Queen and everything is angels dancing on the head of a pin. We need quick clean and decisive shots that kill as quickly and cleanly as possible. As much energy as possible. I get frustrated when a game animal is more than 600 yards away. To be honest I dunno when I shot game more than 250 yards away last. Long distance I might hit it, I might scare it, I might wound it...so I don't shoot. I just think "See you next time" 
I think/hope not everyone that brags at shooting long distances with too small a calibre are doing much more than telling tall stories. Sadly some new shooters could be tricked into buying the wrong rifle and expect waaaay too much. Appreciate your video views.

[fistfullof]

great listening to your words Randy. I agree with all and would add that it is respect for the game we hunt that we do all possible to ensure a quick dispatch. Mate I appreciate you taking the time to make these videos. a fan from Oz

[russellkeeling]

The Lyman 47th reloading manual has what they call the Optimum Game Weight which advises the amount of energy you should have in order to ethically harvest most game animals. It is a good base to start from for less experienced hunters.

[kurtjensen]

Thank you so very much I appreciate your professional opinion it seems to be a subject that others ignore, in closing I hunted deer with a 308 with my friends for five years needless to say we were not professionals but I still dropped A five pointer at 200 yards with one shot.

[outbackjack]

The REAL Gunsmith: Just found your channel today. We think along the same lines. I started to handload when Barnes came out with their X-bullet. Went thru all the different versions up till today. I have a Win 70, Classic Stainless BOSS in .338 Win Mag I bought when I got stationed up at Eielson AFB, AK in 1994. I handloaded the 250gr. Speer Grand Slam and Nosler Partitions for all my hunting, moose, griz, whatever (although my first Black Bear I shot with handloaded 12 ga smooth foster slugs in a AA hull with a trap wad, was accurate to 150 yards with the Mossberg 835 rifled slug barrrel with integrated scope mount) Cloverleaf groups at 300 yards all day long with the .338.. That .338 would not shoot anything bad. When I finished my four year tour in AK I went to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho in '98 and that is where I retired and still live in town. I started handloading the Barnes 185gr X-bullet for all my hunting down here except for .243 for Antelope, Lion (calling them in!)and the occasional yote and deer. I used that load for all my deer hunting on our property in SD as it was accurate and having a 1.5-6X32 Burris scope it was perfect for walking draws and canyons and jump shooting mulies and WT and the occasional 200-300 yard spot and stalk. People told me I was overgunned with that .338 but with that 185gr Barnes XBT It was like shooting a 300 Win Mag with a 180gr bullet. Really like your down to earth no bones about it style of videos. Thanks for your experience. I'll turn 58 in a couple months and still love to get out and hunt. Actually going tomorrow afternoon for some "short range wpns only" deer hunting down on the Snake river. Either sex so unless old mossy horns shows himself broadside at fifty yards I'll try to take a dry doe (we have both mulies and WT down on the Snake.

[ryanbranco]

It’s always nice to see what you thought were good to great bullets actually are just that! I would rave about the Nosler Partion in 180 gr 300 win mag. Just by doing CSI work on things we hunt out West. Big hogs, tough blacktail deer, big Mulies, and elk. A 95-105 pound blacktail buck shot at 200 yards through both shoulders would run anywhere from 20-75 yards! My Bullet choices:
.243- 100 grain grand slam
.277- 140 grain accubond
.308- 3 choices:
.300 win mag- 1. 180 Barnes TSX- no tip
2. 180 Nosler Partion
3. 180 Nosler Accubond
New 28 Nosler Rifle still working up a load. I need to have a solid copper Bullet as a backup, but I am going to start with the Long Range Accubond. I will take all these wonderful videos I watch several times each, for my situation. Like others have said, there’s no more of these guys left to teach our generation (I’m mid 40’s). They don’t need some type of algorithm or whatever, they do the shit, they eat, sleep, dream, about rifles. PRECISION, it’s all gone, just volume. I would love to make a rifle someday, but With today’s world, it’s not very probably, possible, just not probably. I will not live confined to a communist/Marxist way of life. The wolves video is spot on, have them kill all our game so we can’t eat and claim it’s for the environment! Look at Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, all eaten up. The 3 S’s and call it good. Thank you Randy!

[virgilpalmer]

Studied ballistic for years, this guy might be worth listening to, even if you don't completely agree with everything he says..
He has experience, which is most important in any craft.

[jonathanjordan]

I love these videos. As a member of the younger generation I suppose I am one of a few that actually pays attention to the terminal ballistics of so called hunting bullets. Whether it’s my .44 magnum revolver or my .30 cal magnums or what my hunting companions use. Nosler has never let me down. People get too hung up on the “ballistic tip” crap. I’ve personally seen two elk shot under 300yds with Hornady ELDX and the bullets turned into shrapnel without a pass through (no heavy bone hits either). Both elk were recovered, eventually. A .300 Win mag should do better than that. That’s what putting too much emphasis on BC gets you. Great on paper though ha ha.

[fdegeorge]

I have bin big game hunting for 50 years now. The longest shot I ever took was 412 yds. My personal limit is about 400 yds. I have met people at the range that claim 600 - 1000 yard kills yet they can’t seem to hold 1 minute at the 100 yard range. I pray that it is all talk and that they are not trying to hit animals with their 6.5 at long distance.

[yooper]

Excellent video! Now only if the hunters would actually use this bullet knowledge you're providing.

The biggest problem for hunters is ammunition manufacturers not loading proper hunting bullets for taking big game into cartridges such as the 6.5 Creedmoor. The 6.5 Creedmoor has a maximum 300 yard deer hunting range at best, but still depends on which bullet is used.

I personally choose Nosler's Partition bullets for hunting big game for several decades. My elk cartridge is the 338-06 A-Square cartridge loaded with Nosler's 210 grain Partition bullets.

I cringe on the thought of hunters selecting and using Nosler's Ballistic Tip and Hornady's SST bullets for big game.

Unfortunately Hornady has discontinued some of their Interlock bullets for the thin jacket SST lineup.

Although Nosler's 120 grain Ballistic Tip out of my Thompson Center Encore 15 inch 7mm-08 Remington pistol barrel will efficiently kill deer. The 120 grain bullet has a better construction than the 140 grain offering.

Ethically taking big game comes down to bullet construction at adequate range, so there's enough energy for the job.

[jonathancrew]

Dear Mr Mrs Selby it’s been too long and I have missed you all thank you for your videos. Hope to get out to Wyoming again and would love to just shake your hands. Please stay safe and I pray that you stay healthy. I know that you are better off out there than the east coast I miss my time in Wyoming and hope to return stay safe please do more video.

[theoldbear]

I built a 308 Norma Mag. on a P17 Remington base with a full length military barrel as the P 17 came with. I shot 180 gr. Norma Nosler Partition. I only found two of my spent bullets they weighted in some were around 125 to 128 Gr. One was a head on shot into a black bear shot between the eyes about 100 yards the spent bullet came out the left rear hind quarter and was caught in the hair. The second spent bullet was a chest shot into a bull moose about 250 yards same results instance one shot kill with the spent bullet just under the skin high in the left hind quarter.
I have the greatest respect for what you are saying and fully agree with you.
Best Regards
Fred Thompson

[aaronbuckmaster]

He’s absolutely right about the effective design of bullets. I have heard and come to know what younger hunters and shooters think. There not correct most of the time, and I talk with them about what is said and what is reality. The most effective design for a hunting bullet, in my opinion, is the traditional A frame also known as a partition bullet. My father explained this and I observed the effectiveness of that design in the late 1970’s. You have to make a clean kill. I was taught it is a sin not to. That’s why you have to be sure you can put the bullet into the vitals at a given distance. If not, don’t shoot. My fathers youngest brother spent many years working and hunting in 1960’s Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and home in California. He spent many years developing and perfecting extremely long range hunting. He instructed me on this kind of shooting, and I did the development of his last Wildcat design. Even with those heavy rifles and my experience, it would have to be ideal conditions to go past 800 or 900 yards. You can come into those conditions, but the vast majority of the time you won’t.

[michaeledlin]

That is fine about elk but where I am we have taken whitetail with 223 and 75 gr bthp.. distance traveled after shot less than 25 yards for all. Shot placement is critical. Heart and lungs liquified. Distances shot from 75 to 200 yards. All deer recovered. Enjoy your videos and learning your knowledge.

[jaydemay]

I agree completely! 100%! I settled on the 180 grain Swift Sirocco out of my custom 300 win mag about 20 or so years ago. I've killed several elk here in Colorado over that time out to 450 yards and not a one went more than 60 yards. I have recovered about 70% of those bullets on the off side under the hide. Great expansion and weight retention. The Swift A Frame in my opinion is a Nosler Partition on steroids! Heavier jacket and bonded! The ELDX and Berger bullets are piss poor hunting bullets! I had a friend tell me that he hit a large bull at 860 yards with a 300 grain Berger "hunting" bullet out of a 338 Lapua. They never recovered the bull. He sold the rifle!

[duke]

Well said and I agree with your facts. I've been hunting all my life and reload everything I hunt with. I match the bullet to the game I'm hunting, and have passed on shots that I wasn't sure would create a clean kill. The animals we hunt have given us many years of
pleasure just being out in Gods creation, people fail to realize the animals deserve are best
as they bleed and feel pain. If I do my part with the right equipment and marksmanship
all goes well and the animals deserve nothing less. We will not tolerate a person who is out there just to kill or the person who is a poor shot. We are very picky with who we allow to hunt, and as I said the game deserve nothing less.