BALLISTIC COEFFICIENT
Apex advertises the BC of this bullet as having a .298 G7. In my testing, I loaded them in three different rifles, an 8 twist 28 Nosler, an 8 twist 7 Sherman max, and a 7.5 twist 7 Sherman max. I shot out to a little over 950 yards and ended up using a G7 BC of .308 in all three rifles to line up with my observed drops. I began noticing this slightly while doing ladder testing at 750 yards, and after final 100 yard zero with my loads and shooting groups at 950, I confirmed the slight increase in bc over advertised in these rifles. This was observed in all three rifles I used them in. I would still recommend starting off using the advertised .298 G7 prior to shooting out to range until these bullets can be further tested by others, as this is only a sample of three. Or, if the advertised BC gets adjusted on Apex’s site.
LOADING CHARACTERISTICS
All three rifles seemed to prefer these seated .025” or closer to the lands, with the sweet spot ranging from .010-.020” OTL for all three rifles. I would say that these were pretty easy to load for. I used data for similar-weight lead core bullets, using Retumbo in the 28 Nosler and H4831sc in both 7 maxes. I conducted a pressure ladder, getting to know the pressure curve of these bullets and finding the maximum charge before pressure signs, then conducted a seating depth test at a known safe pressure. Afterward, I conducted a 750-yard ladder at optimum seating, staying under maximum pressure. This yielded a couple of nodes in all the rifles, and I then conducted another 750-yard ladder with smaller increments, ranging through the lower of the top two nodes in each. This yielded right around half MOA loads at 750 yards in the good conditions I was shooting in, for all three rifles. Certainly acceptable. During my loading procedures, the bullets all seemed very consistent with BTO length and seated very consistently.
Something to note on these bullets: the surface of the bullet that is seated in the case mouth is very slightly under bore size, so I did use a slightly tighter neck bushing and was getting around .0025” neck tension. I did not test different neck tensions, however being that these are magazine fed hunting rifles, I wanted this much neck tension, and it did not prove problematic. This was also at the suggestion of the bullet designer, Mark Dille.
Another consideration is the ogive section of the nose of the bullet. Contrary to the rear section, it is slightly larger. This did not matter in the factory browning barrel on the 28 nosler, nor the Krieger barrel on one of the 7 Max’s, finding the lands was the same as any other bullet. However, on the 8 twist Proof barreled 7 Max, there was a very slight bolt feel as soon as the bullet entered the freebore section of the chamber, prior to contacting the rifling. Though these two 7 max’s were made with the same reamer by the same gunsmith, sequentially (with the Krieger being first), I have noticed that the proof barreled rifle pressures out slightly earlier than the Krieger barreled rifle, so I am not surprised the proof barrel is slightly tighter. It was a little more challenging to find exactly where the lands were, as there was slight resistance in the free bore itself, but after I determined where the lands were, I conducted my loading procedures the same as the other two. The resistance was not significant, but enough to be noticed while determining seating depth.
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.
TERMINAL PERFORMANCE OBSERVATIONS
In my testing, This bullet accounted for four elk, one mule deer, and one pronghorn buck. Impact velocities have ranged from a ~2070 fps impact up to a ~3015 fps impact, and terminal performance has remained consistent. I will break down my observations into Pronghorn, Mule deer, and Elk.
Pronghorn –
Pronghorn can create their own challenge terminally for bullets. Pronghorn, even the larger bucks, are built light, with very low-fat content and very thin skin. Trauma needs to start rapidly on these critters, as doe pronghorn can be as little as 4” wide in the lower brisket area where the heart lays. Conversely, meat yield is not great on these small animals, with doe pronghorn being as little as 25-30 lbs and bucks rarely rising outside of the 50 lb range, so too much meat loss is a concern.
The terminal performance observed on a buck pronghorn taken at 465 yards was exceptional. The buck was slightly quartering away, and the impact was at the center of the shoulder, with the exit at the front of the shoulder. The impact was center body level, through the upper half of the chest cavity, but still a couple of inches below the spine. At impact, the reaction was quite dramatic, the buck went stiff legged, and tipped forward, with the first part of the goat to hit the dirt being his nose. The lungs were collapsed into a couple of balls of gel, and the chest cavity was filled with foamy blood. It was obvious that expansion happened quickly, the entrance shoulder with skin off had a pin hole, however the rib cage itself had a nearly 2 inch hole through it. The exit side rib cage also had a large exit, with a 1.5” hole passing through the front section of the shoulder and a 1” hole exiting through the hide. Though this would seem violent, shoulder hits typically mean a large amount of meat loss, it was very little, as you will see in the photos. Bloodshot surrounding the entrance and exit was minimal, and meat loss equated to a few ounces of meat surrounding the entrance and exit, with the bloodshot between the shoulder muscles being scraped off as the animal was being processed.
Mule deer –
Mule deer are a middle-ground animal, 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 properly. Mule deer can be very tough, though, and can oftentimes soak up heavy impacts and still cover significant ground if they aren’t broken down structurally or have significant internal trauma.
One mule deer was taken with this bullet during our testing at 528 yards. The shot was taken in the steep mountains around the Greys river in Wyoming. While leaning against the side of the hill, with the front of the rifle supported on a rotten, ant-infested stump, the shooter’s first shot placement was slightly back. The mulie was steeply downhill and quartered away. The entrance was center body in the flank, and the bullet exited in the pocket just behind the shoulder, low on the brisket. Upon recovering the animal, the bullet traveled lengthwise in a straight line through the paunch, barely clipped the liver, and peppered a small portion of the exit side lung, though it only appeared to be bruised. The bullet then exited the chest cavity, leaving a 1-1.5” exit wound, and re-entered the off-side leg shank, missing the bone and lodging under the hide on the off side, where it was later recovered.
The mulie traveled approximately 400 yards downhill and bedded down, leaving a very easy to track blood trail. Upon finding the buck, the shooter put another round through the shoulder at approximately 20 yards, finishing the job. After breaking the animal down and seeing how little was actually hit, as you will see in a photo below, I am surprised that the animal traveled as short of a distance as it did and was able to be recovered with a far less than optimal shot placement.
On the second 20-yard shot, there was a full pass-through, with small copper fragments/petals recovered under the hide on the exit side of the animal, that had passed entirely through the chest cavity and exit side shoulder and left an exit wound approximately 1” in diameter. Some more fragments were also recovered in the exit side shoulder while processing the animal.
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.
This is where the majority of our data on this bullet comes from. The four elk taken were three large cows and one spike bull, one being taken with the 28 Nosler at 265 yards, resulting in an impact velocity of 3015 fps, and the other three being with the 7 Max’s at 250 yards, 290 yards, and 690 yards, with the longer range impact being at 2070 fps impact velocity. All four elk went down with one shot, however the 265 yard impact was a low brisket hit, just back from the heart, but at the level of the bottom of the heart. The exit went through the off-side leg of the cow, hitting the shank bone and leaving a large exit wound. The cow went down immediately, with the lower portion of the cow’s lungs destroyed. As she lay there, a follow-up shot through the neck put her down hard. The spike bull was hit center lungs through the ribs behind the shoulder, with an exit about 1” diameter. This elk traveled a short distance, approximately 20 yards, and layed down where it was recovered.
The next cow was taken with the 7 Max, at 690 yards. The cow was slightly quartered away, 560 feet elevation higher than the shooting location. The entrance was center chest cavity for windage and elevation. The exit was just under the spine, just into the shoulder on the offside. The cow dropped in her tracks at impact, though the spine was not severed. She tumbled about 20 yards down the steep mountain and stopped moving approximately 20 seconds after impact. Though the impact was in front of the diaphragm, fragments from the bullet lacerated the liver, lungs, and a small portion of the paunch. Copper fragments were found in the exit side shoulder after processing this cow. The exit hole was approximately 1” in diameter.
The last cow was taken at 290 yards with a 7 max, resulting in an impact of 2550 fps. The cow was approximately level with us, slightly angled away. The impact was four ribs forward from the diaphragm, and the exit was through the front of the off-side shoulder, center chest cavity, destroying the large shoulder ball joint before exiting. At the impact, the cow immediately dumped to the ground, then struggled up and took about five steps, and tipped over and tumbled down the hill before the shooter could even get back on for a follow-up shot. The bullet destroyed the lungs, and fragments impacted the top of the heart and were found inside of it. Again, during the processing of the cow, copper fragments were found along the wound path on the exit side shoulder and throughout the large destroyed ball joint. The exit wound was slightly larger due to the large amount of bone hit on the exit, approximately 2” in diameter.
In Review
While this is a relatively low number of animals taken, I have observed a varied range of impact velocities and animal types taken, and the performance across all of these observed harvests were consistent. At this point, the way I would describe terminal performance is as follows; after a very short amount of penetration, 1-2”, the entire nose section of the bullet begins to continually “fragment” as it travels through muscle, bone and organ tissue. After fragmenting/shedding it’s entire nose, which I have found to still be continuing after the thickness of an elk chest cavity, the remaining shank continues to penetrate in a strait line, for a substantial distance.
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The information in the terminal performance section of the Bullet Break Down is not endorsing nor detouring the use of any given bullet for any given game at any given range. It is simply meant to inform our viewers of our observation and our 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 with your choice.
