450bm....too much for Coues Deer

[Escape Pod]

While I'm waiting around for next fall I've been researching Western hunts that I can do a bit later in the season. One that jumps out is Coues Deer.

According to Chuck Hawke https://www.chuckhawks.com/coues_deer_cartridges.htm, "Bucks average about 80-90 pounds and does are smaller, probably more like 65 pounds."

He recommends mostly 6-7mm stuff, with 7.62 in non-magnum at the upper end.

Would I be destroying too much meat taking one with a 450bm? I see Black Butterfly load a smaller, faster 160gr bullet that moves at 2775 fps. The extra speed would give a longer, flatter trajectory for western stuff. But inside of 200 yards would a .45 cal bullet moving that fast destroy too much meat?

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Well. I’m sure you could kill one with a 450Bushmaster. But if you’re gonna be out west and you’re hunting a smaller deer, I think I would consider the 6.5 Grendel or a 6.5 Creedmore. My thinking is that you’ll be shooting at a smaller target and most likely from a greater range. I don’t know about range TBH, but western hunts typically are open range. I think the other thing to consider is what would the other hunters and guides think. Sure that 450B round will do the job. I guess this is one of those situations where our image as sportsmen could possibly come into play.

[Escape Pod]

Thanks for the candor. "Our image as sportsmen" is something I think a lot of us think about but nobody talks about.

Agreed that something in the 6.5 / 270 range would be ideal. Maybe time for a new Ruger Ranch

[s4s4u]

I guess this is one of those situations where our image as sportsmen could possibly come into play.

So our image will be tarnished if we shoot a small deer with a big bullet? How about a 45 Colt revolver with a 250 grain bullet? I never have played the "too much gun" game. Hunt with what you have. I agree a smaller diameter bullet travelling faster is better in the wide open spaces, but that would be my only qualification. If coues deer lived near population in MN we would have to shoot them with a 12 gauge shotgun slug. Image tarnished? Meh! Haters gonna hate, regardless.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

I’m not one that really cares personally. There’s not much difference in these scrawny arsed Texas deer and a Couse deer and I’ll blast either one right into my freezer and sleep very well at night. LOL. I ain’t gonna judge. But there are those that do judge us.

[AR Sarge]

I’m no genius, but this sounds like a great time to embrace the 6mm ARC and build a new rifle!

Flat trajectory, soft shooting, easily sub-moa with the ELD-X hunting load… Or, I suppose, a 6.5 Grendel.

[coyote wacker]

One thing can be said ....never too much ! .... smaller calibers are just not enough !

If your talking about 160 gr. bullets Cutting Edge Bullets have available they are the best bullet....I'am the person that got CEB to produce them for the 450 BM they were first produced with a sabot for hunting with a muzzleloader....I've shot whitetails no problem out to 200 yards with the 450 BM....
I can say none of the deer I've shot went more than a couple steps most just fall over dead....would also say there is less meat destruction using this bullet....

Last hunting season due to health reasons I only hunted two days and shot a 7 point and a 8 point using a Bushmaster 450 BM both at the shot fell and never moved one was 170 yards the other 160 yards using CEB 160 gr. bullets....

[plant_one]

One thing can be said ....never too much ! .... smaller calibers are just not enough !

sh!t.... you can wound a deer just as easily with a 3000 wiz-bang-ultra-super magnum as you can with "smaller" calibers.


shot placement is key, and yes there is a small window where a little more gun will get you a kill that a smaller caliber might not - but its as much or more about choosing the correct bullet for the job as it is having good shot placement than it ever is about caliber. this is why its illegal to hunt with FMJ's in a bunch of places.

a 1oz slug to the guts vs a 75gr bullet in the guts is gonna give you the same result - a gut shot animal thats gonna run for damn near ever and die a slow painful death, usually on the neighbor's property you dont have permission to access.



as for coues deer and 450 bushmaster - get a good vital shot, avoid the shoulder, and your entrance and exit should be reasonably sized without damaging ths Poo out of the meat.


my whole point is - if we do our jobs as the idiot behind the trigger, the caliber has very little to do with making 4 legged critters achieve room temperature, as long as an suitable hunting bullet for the caliber is chosen as your in the field round.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

One thing can be said ....never too much ! .... smaller calibers are just not enough !

sh!t.... you can wound a deer just as easily with a 3000 wiz-bang-ultra-super magnum as you can with "smaller" calibers.


shot placement is key, and yes there is a small window where a little more gun will get you a kill that a smaller caliber might not - but its as much or more about choosing the correct bullet for the job as it is having good shot placement than it ever is about caliber. this is why its illegal to hunt with FMJ's in a bunch of places.

a 1oz slug to the guts vs a 75gr bullet in the guts is gonna give you the same result - a gut shot animal thats gonna run for damn near ever and die a slow painful death, usually on the neighbor's property you dont have permission to access.



as for coues deer and 450 bushmaster - get a good vital shot, avoid the shoulder, and your entrance and exit should be reasonably sized without damaging ths Poo out of the meat.


my whole point is - if we do our jobs as the idiot behind the trigger, the caliber has very little to do with making 4 legged critters achieve room temperature, as long as an suitable hunting bullet for the caliber is chosen as your in the field round.

+1

[Al in Mi]

Years ago when I was doing crop damage permits for father inlaw, I used a 338 Win mag with 250gr Sierra's. Some comments were made on how many times I was going to kill them, just smiled and said no such thing as deader than dead.

Surprisingly that bullet was pretty meat friendly. Really wish Sierra would bump that bullet up to .452.