BALLISTIC COEFFICIENT
Apex’s site states the BC of the 194 at .357 G7, which is what I used throughout my testing and usage of the 194. The Apex site states that this bullet needs a minimum of 1:8.6 twist rate. The rifle these were fired from has a Bartlien 1:8 twist, 20” barrel chambered in 30 Nosler. I confirmed drops out to about 1100 yards, and this BC kept me on the waterline, coupled with velocity gathered from my Labradar, which ended up at 2930 fps.
LOADING CHARACTERISTICS
This rifle has not been particularly picky in the past, loading hybrid-type ogive cup and core bullets. These bullets did take a little more tuning, however once I figured out what they wanted, it was rather simple to get great accuracy out of them. In my rifle, they wanted a minimum of .030” jump and really tightened up at .075”. Anything under .030” jump and groups were erratic. Still, the longer jumps calmed them down. Really anywhere from .030” – .090” jump seemed relatively consistent. As far as powder charge weights, I found them in line with what I would expect from a cup and core bullet of similar weight. While this 30 Nosler has a .215” free bore, and does not line up with conventional 30 Nosler data, I was able to use a significantly higher charge before observing pressure signs with this 194, than I did with a 208-grain c & c bullet. My load of 2930 fps with Retumbo is a soft load in this rifle, and in a pressure work up, I observed a little over 3075 fps before pressure signs appeared. However, this low node exhibited great performance on my 750-yard ladder tests and gave great day-to-day consistency in varying shooting conditions, so I stuck with it. Additionally, I have noted that these bullets are very consistent from one to another in BTO measurements, and CBTO lengths have been extremely consistent during my loading.
TERMINAL PERFORMANCE DESIGN INTENTION
The desired terminal performance that Apex strives for with these bullets is nearly instant initiation of expansion as the bullet impacts the animal and a continued “trauma path” as the bullet sheds petals/fragments from the entire nose section of the bullet, eventually leaving only a flat fronted, soup-can shaped bullet shank that continues in a straight path penetration through the animal. The intention of the flat front is to create more shock than a rounded frontal section would as the bullet continues on its path. I have taken a couple of these apart, and the hollow point beneath the aluminum tip of these bullets extends all the way down to about the ogive, making for a very large, deep hollow point. In this particular bullet, the hollow point is approximately .800” deep, and .100” in diameter. Apex bullets are a monolithic (entirely copper) design.
TERMINAL PERFORMANCE OBSERVATIONS
In testing this bullet, one bighorn ewe sheep and five elk were harvested. Unfortunately, neither I nor any of my hunting partners this year acquired a pronghorn tag that needed to be used with my rifle. Ranges observed were 250 yards to 744 yards. I will break down my observations into bighorn sheep and elk.
Bighorn Sheep
Bighorn sheep, similar to mule deer, are middle ground animals, and many different bullet styles can be suitable for them. They offer a light enough build that light, small, fragile built bullets can still do sufficient damage to be effective, but at the same time, offer enough resistance that even heavily constructed bullets still stand a good chance at functioning correctly. However, bighorn sheep are often found in treacherous locations and need to be put down quickly to avoid the animal falling off a cliff or getting into a very hard-to-access location. This demands a bullet that can either break them down structurally, have significant internal trauma, or both.
One bighorn ewe sheep was taken with this bullet this season. I loaned my rifle to my neighbor’s 15-year-old son, who was fortunate enough to draw a Wyoming bighorn ewe tag. He harvested a nice bighorn at 280 yards. The sheep was quartering away, and the impact was through the shoulder on impact and exited at the point of the shoulder on the offside. At impact, the sheep jumped forward, attempted to take a couple of steps, and quickly went down. The exit hole was approximately 1.5” in diameter, and the lungs were completely destroyed, resulting in a very quick harvest.
Elk
While elk are not the armored tanks they are sometimes made out to be, they are very tough animals with thick, heavy muscle tissue, very thick hair, and tough hide. They are often in or around very thick, dark timber, limiting visibility if they cover much ground after the shot, and can also put themselves into some very hard-to-retrieve areas if they are not put down fast. A combination of enough penetration to consistently reach the vitals and enough bullet-induced trauma to the organs to cause fast hemorrhaging are desirable attributes for a quality elk bullet.
The first elk harvested with this bullet was a 6×6 bull I harvested at 744 yards. The bull was uphill nearly 400 feet elevation, facing to the right and quartering towards me. The bullet retained 2,175 fps at impact, which was at the center of the large humorous bone, just below the large ball joint, on the point of the shoulder.
As the bullet traveled through the animal, it impacted the top of the heart as well as both lungs, then the rib cage on the off side at the back of the off side shoulder. At this point, there were smaller holes indicating bullet fragments and the shank raked along the rib cage for approximately six inches, leaving a tear approximately 1.5” wide through the ribs before lodging under the hide on the exit side.
This was the only bullet that did not exit. I observed the impact through my scope, I knew it was a good hit, and saw the bull hunch up and start to lean forward. At this point I quickly reloaded, however by the time I was back on the bull, well under two seconds, he was already going down.
In field dressing and processing the animal, I saw lungs that had more damage than any other past animal I can think of. It wasn’t just some chunks of gelatinous lung, it was two of the four lobes, completely and entirely turned into a gelatinous mass, with the other two lobes showing significant damage and bruising, and a large amount of coagulation in the chest cavity. Considering my impact was on the entrance shoulder humorous bone, I fully expected to lose nearly the entire shoulder to bloodshot, however, as you can see in the following photos, meat loss and bloodshot was actually very minor. I recovered 3 good-sized petals in the exit side rib cage and under the hide. I lost more meat to clean up of the bone fragments than actual bloodshot meat.
Elk Number Two
The next elk was harvested by my lifelong friend and hunting partner, who was in need of a rifle, as his was getting worked on. He took a rag horn 3 point bull at 520 yards, the 194 retaining 2,385 fps. His first of two impacts, while the bull was broadside and downhill a couple hundred feet elevation, was low and a little forward, hitting the leg first, just in front of the leg bone, then went through the brisket. After the impact, the bull was obviously hurt, turned around and walked about 10 feet towards some timber, but stopped. The second hit was centerer shoulder, even with the top of the heart. After this impact, the bull stumbled forward into some timber, about 10 to 15 feet, and went down. The exit was golf ball sized, and showed signs of fragmenting bullet petals. The lungs were heavily bruised, and large chunks of gelatinous lung was inside the chest cavity.
Elk Number Three
The next elk was taken by my good hunting buddy who had his optic fail and needed a rifle. He took a large cow at 400 yards. Retained velocity was 2,500 fps. Again, the large cow was a couple hundred feet downhill from his shooting location. The impact was center chest cavity through the shoulder, barely missing the scapula, on a broadside cow. After the impact, the cow ran down hill about 40 yards and tumbled down before a follow up shot was even possible. Upon field dressing, the lungs of the cow showed multiple wound channels where fragments did their work, and the exit wound also showed evidence of multiple wound channels from bullet fragments, with the main exit being approximately 1-1.5” diameter. Chunks of coagulated blood and gelatinous lung were found in the chest cavity.
Trophy photo
Elk Number 4
The next elk was interesting, and taken by my brother in law, who had never hunted big game before, so I loaned him my rifle. He took a good sized cow at 250 yards, impact velocity was 2,645 fps. This was actually somewhat of a rushed shot, we thought the elk were in a valley just over the ridge, so we were traveling just below the ridge line, and discovered that the herd had moved over the ridge, and were on our side of the ridge. When we saw them as we were moving along the ridge, They had obviously seen us and were on alert. I threw up my tripod, and my brother in law took a standing shot, resting on the tripod, as we could not get lower and still see the vitals of any of the elk. His shot hit very low in the brisket, and at impact, the cow rared up on it’s back legs, then took a couple steps forward and stopped, and while we were waiting for the rest of the herd to get out from in front of and behind the cow for a second shot, the cow fell down, exposing only her neck and head. It took several minutes for the rest of the elk to clear out, and us to move approximately 100 yards closer. During this time the cow was watching us, but could not get up. Once we were about 150 yards away, he made a final shot through the neck from kneeling, resting on the tripod, to put the cow down.
During field dressing the cow, I observed a large amount of blood in the chest cavity, and there was some damage to the heart, and portions of the lower lungs. Once I had her back at the house and hung up, I discovered that the bullet shank had barely entered the chest cavity at all, as you can see in the photos below, it was the radiating bullet fragments that caused enough hemorrhaging to inhibiting the cow from being able to run for more than about 20 feet, despite the less than ideal shot placement. While these types of shots are not desired, I do believe they are the most telling on bullet terminal performance. I also discovered 4 petals under the hide, on the exit side of the cow.
Elk Number 5
The last elk was my late-season cow/calf tag, and I harvested a large cow at 497 yards. The cow was approximately 200 feet above my elevation, and the impact speed was 2400 fps. The hit was high, tight against the shoulder, a couple of inches below the spine, a little above the center body. The exit was only just below the spine due to the uphill incline. While the spine itself wasn’t directly hit, the cow immediately dropped in her tracks behind the top of a tree, and her head went down about 15 seconds after impact, and she had completely stopped moving about 10 seconds later. During processing, there was a large amount of blood and lung chunks in the chest cavity, and the upper portions of the lungs showed a large hole through the entrance side lung, and the off side lung showed a distinct center hole from the shank, surrounded by 5 distinct and separate holes from nose fragments. By the time they got to the rib cage on the exit side, the total diameter of the petals around the center shank was 4.75”, 2 of the 5 petals exited the rib cage and nearly went through the hide, the other 3 petals were in the meat of the shoulder.
Review
While the testing of this bullet on smaller game, such as deer and pronghorn-sized game, is limited to only one animal, I am overall encouraged by what I have seen with the terminal performance on elk. Also, I believe that this heavier .308 caliber offering from Apex is mainly directed at larger game anyway, and this bullet has shown to be very effective terminally in that arena. The combination of accuracy, attainable velocity, surprisingly high ballistic coefficient, and fantastic observed terminal performance, all in a monolithic designed bullet, is encouraging to see. I am excited to see what comes next from Apex for the long-range-oriented crowd.
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***The information in the terminal performance section of the Bullet Break Down does not endorse nor detour the use of any given bullet for any given game at any given range. It is meant to inform viewers of our observations and experiences on game. We do not hold any liability for your choices. Every hunter should strive to be informed and make appropriate choices to be the most effective hunter they can be. We only hope to give you a database and an additional resource to help you choose.
