OK Sverre: It sounds like you had a good hunt but I would like to ask you a couple of questions: How large are the Blue Wildebeasts - don't they run to the 1,000 range???
You took two through the shoulder but haven't recovered the bullets - did they pile up somewhere in an off-site joint structure and you just haven't found them yet? On the one that ran 180m, did the bullet penetrate through the chest and you have just not found it??? What about the 2nd animal??
The 454 takes a 45 caliber slug: I'm wondering if at 100m that slug had just run out of pentration energy?
I was concerned about the same effect on a boar and Elk hunt last year, so I upgraded my 444 from factory loads to heavy 330 gn hardcast loads (almost 100 grains weight over factory) and did not have a problem with T&T penetration on either animal.
I'm now thinking that if you upgrade to the 380-390 gn bullets in the 454 caliber you should get the additional energy needed for complete penetration. Is there any way you can compare the penetrability of both the 325 gn loads and the 380-390 grain loads that would approximate penetration on those large animals? That might help.....
With the JDJ caliber - where did you hit the animals? The JDJs are hard hitting calibers as I understand them, and the 375 can penetrate significantly - but did you impact heavy bone like the shoulder girdles or did you put it through the chest?? If it was a chest shot I can understand the penetration. If it was a shoulder shot and you still got T&T penetration then that sure says something for that caliber and load but it may also have a better penetration profile (long and heavy for the bore) than the 325s did in your 454.
Just some thoughts. HTH. Mikey.
