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Hunting & Fishing Hornady AMAX for hunting?

Nomad Farrier

Nomad Farrier

Nomad
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 25, 2009
136
30
NE Oregon
Hey guys was wondering if anyone have hunted with any of the AMAX boolits? I have soo many of them I'd like to just hunt with them this year instead of worrying about loading up my normal loads with all the powder and primer shortages.
Thanks!!!
 
this has been visited tons of times already but yes, amax work great for most game in north america in my opinion. i have killed all kinds of stuff with an amax and it still requires good bullet placement just like any bullet. good in=dead out...
 
Shot a small beat up 8 point last year. Shot placement was down thru right front shoulder and into the bowler room. He went about 40 yards. I shot him just at dusk with other deer on the field. After the recoil pulse I saw what I thought was my deer running to the right and off the cut. We couldn't find any signs that night after letting the deer sit for a hour or so. I heard him crash but we could find him or any signs. The next morning I went back and we had walked within yards of him. He had run right at me and I saw a different deer running to the right so we where looking in the wrong place. I found the deer and then back tracked the blood trail he had come right at me in the stand and then angled off to the right went in the woods about 10 yards and crashed at the edge of a spring. So yes the amax will kill just but the bullet where it should be and you'll be ok.
 
Great hunting round. Here's bucks from the last two years...both over 200 yards and neither took a step.

 
Ummmm, yea they kill things dead. Notice what's laying on the ground next to it. 7wsm 162 amax 69.2g H1000

r91y6e.jpg
 
If your running them over 3000fps I wouldnt shoot anything close. 308, 30-06 velocity sounds like the're great
 
Amax will kill the deer anyway but it will depend on how long it'd take them down on the track.
 
Niles Coyote said:
Entrance
005-5.jpg

Slicing the spine
004-3.jpg


And almost a exit
006-5.jpg


The 140g Amax (.264 from a 260) performed well!
Click to expand...

How many yards? I'm launching the 140 at 2900. I put in for deer in the fall. If i get drawn, it'll be between my 260 or 308. I believe its got enough energy to ethically kill at 375 or so but i don't wanna push it.
 
bodywerks said:
How many yards? I'm launching the 140 at 2900. I put in for deer in the fall. If i get drawn, it'll be between my 260 or 308. I believe its got enough energy to ethically kill at 375 or so but i don't wanna push it.
Click to expand...

Right around 135y and my muzzle velocity is 2830fps.

1800 fps or 1000 foot pounds of energy is where I call it quits and that would take me to 700y provided the conditions allow it.
 
Last edited:
bodywerks said:
How many yards? I'm launching the 140 at 2900. I put in for deer in the fall. If i get drawn, it'll be between my 260 or 308. I believe its got enough energy to ethically kill at 375 or so but i don't wanna push it.
Click to expand...

I know the 168 amax out of the .308 will kill at 500 yards so the 140 out of my creed I would have no problem killing at 700+ with the right wind conditions. I have seen elk taken with the creed at over 500 yards and they are a lot harder to kill than deer. the key as with any cartridge is shot placement shot placement shot placement
 
The 168 AMAX worked incredibly well on everthing from coyotes to hogs in my 308. Just wish they werent so hard to find right now.
 
I shot my elk last season at 517 yards with a 208gr a-max fired from my 300wsm at a muzzle velocity of 2875fps. I hit high shoulder and knocked her flat, meat damage wasn't terrible, I did loose some but not enough to worry about considering she was the lead cow. I did end up giving her one in the head with my 40s&w when I get up to her because she wasn't finished yet.



I would use the 208gr a-max again on anything I will hunt in the lower 48, its got a lot of weight to it so chances are if it does over expand it will still penetrate.....there was an exit on that cow by the way.
 
I've shot everything from mice to whitetails with them in 22, 6.5, 7, and 30 caliber. The bullet performed very well and I don't sweat it. There's no such thing as a magic superkiller bullet, you need to put the bullet in the right spot one way or another, make that happen and there isn't much out there that won't die from a rifle bullet.
 
I haven't shot anything bigger with them, but the 168's drop coyotes like they've been hit by lightning.
 
75 gr Amax (223 Rem.) on doe at 300 yards tore heart to pieces, Fox at 100 yards died instantly with no fur damage.

162 Amax (7mm) on doe at 365 through spine stopped dead, Coyote at 200 yards through stomach went about 40 ft.
 
All of these shot with a 140 A-max, .260 Rem

February 2013, 300 yards



January 2013, 100 yards.



January 2013 (next day) , 200 yards, little much for a bobcat, exit wound was brutal! The taxidermist fixed it up though.



 
While definitely not big game. And probably kind of off topic. Here is a 208 amax on a groundhog at about 150M. From a 20" barreled 308.

 
Burton said:
Anyone have any pictures of the expanded bullet? Just curious.
Click to expand...

Like the Berger hunting VLD’s it is not a bonded bullet so when it expands it fragments. In the case of mine above I collected copper and lead fragments but didn’t take a pic of them.
 
Niles Coyote said:
Like the Berger hunting VLD’s it is not a bonded bullet so when it expands it fragments. In the case of mine above I collected copper and lead fragments but didn’t take a pic of them.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. I have never dealt much with AMAXes, and am just about to order some 140s for my 6.5. Thanks for the info
 
I took a whitetail doe at 720yds with a 208 Amax out of a 300 Ultra Mag, she ran about 80 yds.
 
Took this guy last year at a little over 150yds with a 162gr Amax also took several pigs at varying distances from 100-400yds with great results. Only downside I found is they didn't always produce an exit wound which can be a bit troublesome if hunting close to heavy cover and one is forced to track a critter.
 
I used the 178s in a .308 last year. I've killed two right at 100 yards that just fell down. The first one went through the ribs, heart and lungs were just a thin soupy mess. I thought since it was a light skinned bullet, you wouldn't want to hit any heavy bones but the second one I got was a broadside shot that left a .308" hole in one shoulder blade and smashed the other before exiting....so I'm not sure about that any more. I do know I like them a lot for pretty much everything.
 
Bigchaza said:
that is the greatest thing i have seen in my entire life
Click to expand...

I have the entire sequence. My buddy dragged out a "work" camera, no video but I have a 5 or 6 picture sequence of the gopher flying through the air and such. We did a crappy job cropping and moving the pictures to put on my lap top. When he goes back to work he said he will send me a proper edited sequence and a single picture that has the sequence on it. Like in sports magazines.
Ill put it up after he sends it to me.

Derek
 
I hunted whitetail with 168gr Amax this past deer season and killed 2 bucks with them. The first one was a heart shot and it completely erased his heart....I couldn't even identify anything as a piece of heart when I opened him up. He dropped right where he stood. The second one got hit in the shoulder and ran about 10 yards before he cratered. There was severe damage to the shoulder and I tried to clean it up a bit and then ground whatever I could salvage into sausage. For the most part, that shoulder was totally gelatinized, so there wasn't much left of it. So far, I've come across one tiny piece of bullet in my sausage. This was my first season to use Amax for deer hunting and I'm happy enough with the results that I will continue to use them.
 
Yes I think as a deer and smaller projectile the Amax in my 7 Rem mag has had undeniable performance they are not bonded they are not solid copper they are not partitioned but the BC is fantastic the accuracy is steller and the destructive performance gets a tic , its a bit hard to mark them down in any measure if your a deer and smaller hunter , when I heard they were going to be hard to get I brought the store out and put 800 of them away I really dont want to find myself without them for hunting.
 
I took a cow elk at 435yards this past october with 168 Amax out of suppressed Rem 700 .308 @ 2550fps. Elk didn't drop in her tracks at first shot, which was behind the shoulder, but just turned her head and sniffed the point of impact. A she stood there I knew it was a good hit but figured I'd pay the insurance. I put three more rounds behind the shoulder as it stood still, the rest of the herd standing there watching. I didn't need all four shots, but hoped it would allow a better opportunity of a recovered bullet, which it did, I was able to cover two nicely mushroomed slugs under the off side hide. Next time I will use the WM over the 308 for shooting elk at farther distances, while I was still around 1400 ft/lbs with the 308, I was just hoping for a little more oomph on impact.
 
Been using the 162Amax for a couple years now and have had great results from 500-700yds.
The vid below (720P) is my bud on the GAP 7WSM. He wasn't able to hunt much and just wanted to take a buck, so we set up where we could let the rifle do the work. He'd shot my rifle before, but never on game, so we took our time. I dialed, he fired...
Pretty funny reaction after the shot, and you can see the 162Amax entered mid rib and exited behind the far shoulder. Deer went 40 yds downhill...
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/n7d4Y1XsyDo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Thanks, pretty sure I had as much fun spotting as he did shooting!
I took this buck just under 600, pole-axed it with a front shoulder hit
hunting2012046.jpg

Look at the lump inside the skin (above the ele. turret), that's the Amax. This is what the recovered projo looked like...
hunting2012051.jpg

Ain't switching from these 162s anytime soon!
 
Enjoyed the video, it great to see a grown man that excited about his hunting experience, if it ever loses that excitement for ya then its time to quit and take up golf.
 
I also agree, for some reason the NY accent cracked me up (no offense meant) it reminds me of a Sgt. I had years ago that always had some hilarious (read crazy) shit to say.
 
I apppreciate the sentiments, fellas! We been hunting together almost 20yrs now and always make a high time of gettin' together...
 
Neck shots only for me with Ballistic tips. I have had far back lung shots turn and come out through the opposing leg..
 
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