first chuck of the season

[Ridge Runner]

well it seems to do well until the game gets over about 8 pounds in weight. seems any adult groundhog shot at 50 yds to the shoulders get back to they're holes. young ones, or lighter built game like rabbits and jackrabbits get dispatched rather well.
I would be willing to wager that if I'd have shot that same hog at 50 yds, at the same angle in the same place, she would have gotten down her burrow instead of dieing at the entrance. Its my opinion that the bullet slowing down helped with its penetration.
I know a guy who'm I trust that was with a buddy shooting long tailed blackbirds with his new HMR, he said out of 15 or so birds at close range, the 17 gr v-max only exited a couple of them. the rest were mush inside with no exit wound. but out of my HM2 that same bullet at 400 fps slower will exit most of the time from the blackbirds.
RR