Bushdog wrote:
If this is the case then the advice only to shoot foxes at close range may not be helpful as velocities at closer ranges would remain higher, meaning that the chances of bullet break-up before penetration would be higher.
I wish there was a 25-30 grain soft-point bullet option at 2200 for the HMR - I reckon that would be excellent for foxes at close - moderate range.
You might be right there Brian
Last year, summer time, I was lying in a field with a .22LR pinging bunnies as they descended from a railway bank. It wasn't particularly sporting but it was clinical pest control and it needed to be done
Im sure all of you reading this will be familiar with the feeling you get when you are being watched?
I had the .22-250 with me (I am conditioned to take ground game with it) as the embankment extends another 200 yards or so, plus the fact that I know the field I was lying in was a major transit route for fox en route to a nearby chicken farm...So there was always a chance of shooting a fox.
Anyway, I digressed there a little.
As I was saying, that feeling when you know something is watching you?
I looked over my shoulder and there stood not 40 yards away was a fox! The '250 was loaded, with the chamber empty. As stealthily as possible I picked the '250 up, racked the bolt, quick check for a backstop over the top of the scope and shot at the fox with a 55gr Vmax. As another little digression, the 55 gr bullet travels at ~3850fps and around 1700ft/lbs at the muzzle.
On impact the bullet floored the fox, knocking lumps out of him and after a high pitched squeal the fox took to his heels and I never saw him/her again.
The point is, there is a massive difference in the velocities and muzzle energy of a .17HMR with a 17 or 20 grain bullet and a .22-250 with 55gr (VMax) bullet at 40 yards.
Im sure, and as pointed out by Leadpig IIRC, that the bullet didnt get a chance to open up OR never met enough resistance to open up on the fox. I am however sure that I seen an impact in the ground beyond the fox which could have very well been the bullet exiting.