Had to shoot a thieving....

[Medley86]

Raccoon. Went to check my trail cam and 2 raccoons were under the feeder, they scampered up a tree and I decided to put a stop to the theft. All i had was my XDm 40, took a couple of misses to figure out the correct hold for the 35-40 yard range but managed to hit and kill one and knock the other out of the tree. The second ran off so not sure if I hit it or not.

All that was said to say this after all my research on different bullets and penetration tests and everything else this was the first living thing I have ever shot or seen shot with a pistol hollow point. And to my surprise a 175 grain hornady critical duty completely stopped inside a raccoon. I did not dissect to see the internal damage but I fully expected to find an exit wound, from the entry it would have been about 7 or 8 inches to exit.

Moral of the story, if you have to shoot, and are using quality hollow points anything behind your target should be safe if you aim well.

[treadlightly]

Hope there was a better backstop than blue sky.

[Medley86]

Hope there was a better backstop than blue sky.

Tree tops are thick in that area, actually saw the 2 misses hit the limb it was on, but there were very few holes that a bullet could have slipped through clean and the land behind is part of the same private property that I hunt on. I was totally confident that the bullets could not leave our property and I was the only person on it that day.

[WTR]

And to my surprise a 175 grain hornady critical duty completely stopped inside a raccoon.

Is it just me or does that sound like it might be too little penetration when translated to humans?

Lucky gunner shows over 19" of penetration in gel goes to show gel ain't real life.

[Medley86]

And to my surprise a 175 grain hornady critical duty completely stopped inside a raccoon.

Is it just me or does that sound like it might be too little penetration when translated to humans?

Lucky gunner shows over 19" of penetration in gel goes to show gel ain't real life.

That was mostly what I was trying to point out with the story, due to the angle it might have been up to 10" before it would have exited. And it went in near the spine so I was definitely hitting bones. Just don't expect those gel penetration numbers to hold up in real world situations.

[Abraham]

Try some Speer, Gold Dot, JHP's in the future.

You may get better penetration...or not...but Speer does produce a great JHP.

[Medley86]

Try some Speer, Gold Dot, JHP's in the future.

You may get better penetration...or not...but Speer does produce a great JHP.

When I was buying JHP's the first time I was wanting either gold dots or federal hst, unfortunately academy didn't have either. Of the options available the hornady was the best pick. Haven't shot up my supply yet to change brands. If I had more time I probably would have swapped my hp for fmj to deal with a raccoon but I didn't think about it before hand.

[jason812]

I had a 68gr bullet out of a .223 not go through a racoon at 80yds dead center of his chest while standing on his hind legs trying to figure out what my call was. I believe these were Hornady match bullets chronographed 2800 at the barrel.

I had a 130gr out of a .270 not go through or knock down a doe at 20yds broadside in the chest. She ran 30yds before bleeding out. Her chest cavity was jello and the bullet hit a rib on entrance and was recovered in a hind quarter.

Of course I've seen the same .270 completely destroy an opposite shoulder over a 150yds out.

Had a hollow point .40, forget brand, 180gr not go through an aggressive Pyrenees stray dog at 5yds. Another solid chest shot.


Point being, bullets do strange things when hitting flesh and bone. No 2 shots are the same, which is why there are the controlled tests performed in gel.

Also shot a skunk with same .40 hollow points but I didn't inspect the damage,

[LeonCarr]

Raccoons are tough animals, and very smart too.

A buddy of mine has game camera video of a raccoon climbing a corn feeder, hanging from the varmint cage with one claw while sticking his other front claw through the varmint cage, and hand spinning the spinner plate for 5 minutes to spin out corn.

I once rolled one (while stealing corn from a corn feeder) with 41 Pellet 3 Inch Magnum #4 Buckshot from an 870 12 Gauge with a .675 turkey choke from 15 yards away. He ran another 15 yards before he expired.

Pound for pound they are the toughest varmint out there, except for maybe an Armadillo.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr