Was ouyt shooting today and after firing 3.5" 00b i was feeling pretty good and i thought.Hey lets see what happens when you shoot 24" diameter pine tree with a 1 oz slug @ 1700 fps .Well soon as it hit i seen a bog a^^ hole .But when i looked close it appeared the slug either "bounced off" or vaporized.It only left a 1/4" deep hole .
Do not shoot at tree's !!!
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It probably disintegrated, they are pretty soft metal and not designed for trees.
There are lots reasons not to shoot trees.
There are lots reasons not to shoot trees.
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610 Posts
I would bet it bounced off. I hunted for about 10 years with 12 gauge slugs only. I have seen some pretty mangled up slugs but they will hold together surprisingly well. I have also seen them punch 1/4 steel plate at about 15 yards!
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If you carve at it I think you will find it in there about an inch or two.
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Wrong Slug
You obviously used the wrong slug for the tree. They make special slugs for tree hunting. Hard-cast for oak,elm,and beech,and the softer lead slugs for white pine and larch, and hollow point for balsam wood.
You should ONLY use the slug that is designated for the particular tree that you are hunting. To not do so could cause a complete pass through, or the slug could bounce off and you could ultimately shoot out your eye.
The end panel of the box shows a picture of the tree that the slug should be used to kill,along with the wood density. Check this before taking to the woods.
Lets all stay safe out there. -----pruhdlr
You obviously used the wrong slug for the tree. They make special slugs for tree hunting. Hard-cast for oak,elm,and beech,and the softer lead slugs for white pine and larch, and hollow point for balsam wood.
You should ONLY use the slug that is designated for the particular tree that you are hunting. To not do so could cause a complete pass through, or the slug could bounce off and you could ultimately shoot out your eye.
The end panel of the box shows a picture of the tree that the slug should be used to kill,along with the wood density. Check this before taking to the woods.
Lets all stay safe out there. -----pruhdlr
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573 Posts
A few years back I was out for the afternoon in the woods shooting with my girlfriend. on the way in we came upon a bit of a problem. A huge dead fir tree had fallen in the ditch along side the mountain road we had gone up, the 4 foot diameter trunk was in the ditch and the top of the tree with the majority of the limbs had been sheered off by lightening but but a limb that was about 10 inches thick at the trunk of the tree was blocking our way. I did not have a chainsaw. I did have a 12ga, some 00 buck and some 1 oz slugs. After unloading 7 rounds of double aught and 2 or 3 slugs at the joint between the limb and the trunk I gave the end of the limb a tug. Then walked it back toward the tree trunk in the ditch. It snapped off like it was nothing. when I pealed the limb back I found some of the rounds had penatrated quite a ways. 6-10"and some, perhapse most had not. This tree may have been dead for a while. not sure.
shooting live trees is not good form as it does a lot of damage. Shooting a hardwood tree may be taking your life into your hands. The best back stop is loose dirt, free of rocks. trees are less predictable.
shooting live trees is not good form as it does a lot of damage. Shooting a hardwood tree may be taking your life into your hands. The best back stop is loose dirt, free of rocks. trees are less predictable.
If he'd used one of Tang's Slug-Chunker Magnums that tree would be deader n' a stump! Or, something...
I dang near killed a small maple tree w/ a 357 magnum. SHot at a target tacked to a 2 x 12 leaned up against the tree. The hollow point blew shards of lumber into the tree as well as making a nasty gouge.
Gave the tree what was left of my beer, pulled the shards out and patched the gouge with some pruning paint. Tree was shaken, but pulled thru OK. Ex wife chopped it down a few years later.
Gave the tree what was left of my beer, pulled the shards out and patched the gouge with some pruning paint. Tree was shaken, but pulled thru OK. Ex wife chopped it down a few years later.
Some fight back
In Arizone, about 20 or so years ago, 2 bone heads were shooting shotguns at the base of big saguaro cactus and cutting them down. They shot one and the base kicked back away from them and the top fell on the idiots. Killed them both. Not much sympathy was expressed for them, but the saguaro was lamented.
In Arizone, about 20 or so years ago, 2 bone heads were shooting shotguns at the base of big saguaro cactus and cutting them down. They shot one and the base kicked back away from them and the top fell on the idiots. Killed them both. Not much sympathy was expressed for them, but the saguaro was lamented.
Pardon me for saying so, but shooting at trees with big, heavy, slow-moving slugs is pretty stupid -- not calling you stupid, but acknowledging that's what I was before learning (fortunately, with no lasting harm). It is amazing how big slugs will bounce off a tree, or be turned by it in some fashion, and come right back at the shooter. Whenever I take a hankering to use a tree as a target or backstop, I make sure I am at least 50 yards back. If that slu disintergrated, good -- can't hurt a thing like that. OTOH, experience has shown me that rather than fall apart it probably took off for parts unknown.
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I worked at a sawmill when I was young. You ought to hear a plaining machine when one of the blades hits a bullet in a piece of wood, especially the steel core military surplus stuff. Puts quite a notch in the blade. The metal fragments from civil war cannon balls was the worse.
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Agreed!
Very funny.
Terry
I second the nomination!i nominate pruhd as our dry humor specialist.. funny as heck..
i just hunt snakes,, but tree is a possibility..
just think ..pine slab steaks.. umm. good.
Very funny.
Terry
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