BULLET DEFLECTION – PART I

Hunting conditions in much of Southern Africa (and indeed much of Australia) would be what South Africans describe as bushveld. Good numbers of full-sized trees plus lots of scrubby, bushy growth, all interspersed with coarse grasses. Shooting distances tend to be modest but will most likely involve trying to find a clear path from the shooter to the animal. Under these conditions, one often-repeated saying is “just shoot through the brush – it’ll be fine”. With dangerous game hunting, this saying may be modified by the PH to say, “just use a solid – it’ll go straight”. I have always had doubts about this particular piece of “field wisdom” so I decided to set up a trial to find some answers.

CARTRIDGES AND BULLETS USED FOR THE TEST

I tested four cartridges. A .450 NE and a .375 H&H would cover the dangerous game cartridges, and a .338 Win Mag and a .30-06 would cover general hunting cartridges. All rifles had