Ammo choice for 308 win on blue wildebeest

[223]

Does such a lighter, faster bullet cause more bruising, or less?

There are 2 contributors to bruising:

1. Bullet fragments from the forward portion of the lead core that disintegrates at high velocity.  The mono copper expanding bullets usually don't do that, so this cause is eliminated.

2. Bone fragments that go out from the bullet impact.  This is about the same with both types, although with the higher impact velocity of a mono there may be more damage, all else being equal.

So you get more from the one source and less from the other, the 2 should mostly equal out.

Also keep in mind that retained weight is usually considered a good measure of bullet performance, as the retained weight is the part of the bullet that does the actual deep penetration, as opposed to the lost weight of the bullet that usually does the bruising.  If you compare a 130gn mono Cu .308" bullet with a 180gn lead core .308", I expect the Mono bullet to retain more weight, usually close to 100%, whereas the lead core would do great to retain just 60%.

Jinne, jy laat my nou baie inghils tik...

[Ds J]

My reason for asking is that I have experienced all types of damage with all types of bullets.

Basically zero meat lost from broadside shots - from a 300 Weatherby with a 130gr Impala at +-170m, as well as from a 308 with a 180gr Sierra Pro-Hunter at 40m. I also had similar results on blue wildebeest and waterbuck with 35gr Impala mono's from my 222. (Note: these last two were done when I didn't know better!)

The trick was that I did not hit bone with any of the shots. As soons as one hits bone it tends to become messy. Hitting bone with soft (target/varnint type) bullets makes it even worse.

[Treeman]

Mono bullets seem to make a wider surface area of blood meat than lead based bullets, I think this may be due to velocity. Lead core bullets cause deeper blood shot meat than mono's, but the mono initial appearance can be worse looking on the surface between skin and meat.
shots behind shoulders between ribs have less meat loss, but death is much less "there and then" than a lead bullet same POI

I used to be very VERY mono bullet pro, I have now come full circle and use Interlocks for all but the biggest animals.
Nothing beats a mono for penetration, but that DRT or just a few paces affect is seldom matched by a mono bullet that has not destroyed the nervous system - lung shots are notably slower to have fatal affect using momo bullets.
I have started playing with Mono bullets at lower velocity and the results seem to indicate we are just shooting too fast.