Bullet exit on deer

[Saltydog235]

Bullets do strange things when they hit flesh. I’ve shot bucks at 150 yds quartering to me and had exits at the rear of the abdomen with a 150NBT the size of a tennis ball. I shot a doe in the head at 50yds a few years ago and no exit, the bullet hit and went straight down her neck. I’ve had one exit with a .243. Shot a buck a long time back with a 165grn NBT out of my ‘06, double lunged him and he went into a swamp. It ran 400yds before piling up on some cypress knees. I found it the next day, the exit was the same size as the entry passing between two ribs on each side. Shot a doe in the neck with a Barnes out of my 7mmRM at 100, the bullet hit her in the spine, blew bone fragments all through her neck and exited out of the back ham. Shot a big pig with a .308 the other year, 165grn NBT and the bullet lodged in his spine, a boy wanted it and cleaning it found two .243 bullets and buckshot in him already.

You never know what’s going to happen when that bullet hits. Heck, I’ve been hunting a lot with my .300wm and this 200grn ELD-X load. I’ve shot good sized bucks that drop on the spot and does that weigh 90# yet run 100yds with blown out heart and lungs. The only thing you can control is the shot, after that it’s chance.

[PharmHunter]

Salty gets it.

[Bad Habit]

I get it too, been shooting them with rifles for 44 years and never had this many no exits even at short range. I killed countless deer with the broadside heart lung shot and never failed to get a pass through and blood trail out to 200 yards.

I guess I will have to only take high shoulder anchor shots- hate wasting the meat. Usually only take that shot hunting around water.

[Gregory]

Nosler Partition.

I've tried a lot of different bullets but I kept coming back to the Partition. That and Accubond are the only two I load.

[Duckman#1]

270 130gr sst high shoulder or neck. Stacked 3 of them this morning with it. One at 80 yards other two at 350ish

[Swamp Rat]

I shot a big buck at 70 yards with a 7mm Mag using 7mm ELD-X 162 grain bullets last year … hit neck, didn't exit, deer as just paralyzed. Took a second shot to kill it.

My brother shot a decent doe last week at 225 with a7mm Mag and Barnes TTSX (forget what grain) - blood in the road at point of impact, so obviously exited. No seeing which way she went, a search finally found a speck of blood about 10-15 yards away, giving us a direction. She went into a grassy and dog fennel infested cutover. After 40 yards, I found the first spray of good blood and then it wasn't any problem finding her 70 yards maybe from point of shot. But I've seen that a lot with Barnes bullets. Tiny exit, little blood until the lungs fill up and they start aspirating.

With Bergers, my brother lost several deer due to a lack of exit wound and no blood to trail. Buzzards later confirmed the kill. They hadn't gone that far, but were in stuff thicker than hell.

I like fused or bonded type cup and core polymer bullets like Accubonds for the best of both worlds. Berger needs to work on their post-impact bullet integrity to get exits more reliably if I am going to use them. I know that's not their focus. Although that new 6.5mm Hybrid Hunter 156 grain intrigues me.

[Saltydog235]

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ELD-X quartering away slightly, 175yds. Shot another one same position in front of a feeder, went through her with the same exit, through the 2X4 band and the 4X4 leg. Your bullets are doing weird crap.

[Swamp Rat]

Brings it back around to general unpredictability. I've looked at more bullets dug out of people than deer, and it holds true there as well.

[mello_collins]

get you a 45-70 you WILL have exits

[Swamp Rat]

Good sectional density + enough velocity + maintaining sufficient mass/weight = exits. Soft bullet design without mechanical or electro-chemical bonding will rob you of mass. As will bone at times regardless of bonding.

One reason I like "heavy for caliber" bullets.

One area I pay close attention to this is in my Grendel. Sectional density on most bullets is okay, velocity is low, so I want a bullet that will hold weight AND expand. I'm considering reloading Nosler LR Accubonds in it if I can get them to fit in the magazine.

[Beachbird]

Usually when a bullet has enough umph behind it and it doesn't exit means it has expelled all of it's energy into it's intended target creating maximum damage. it just sucks if the deer moves anywhere with just one tiny leak and they can hold their breath for a long time before they have to exhale a lung full of blood out their mouth/nose then they set their mind to cover some ground.

[britton40]

Shot a 160 lb buck this morning off the front porch. 190 yards broadside heart/lung- big mule kick, ran like hell, no exit and almost zero blood trail Federal premium 30-06 165 grain sierra game king.

I had the same experience with those in a 270. Never lost a deer but they typically didn’t exit.

Switched to Nosler accubond and never looked back.

[BRR]

Exit or no exit, some people just aren't good at killing things, the end.

[CWPINST]

This thread made me drag out my log book to review some data. For years I shot mainly Ballistic Tips and had very good luck with them overall. I kept up with the number of kills and exits. These were with different calibers and different ranges. Bullets were mostly standard or light for caliber weights. My last record (which might not be up to date) was 72 kills. 61 had exits and 11 did not. Oddly enough, 3 of the last 6 did not exit, so it is probably wise to not read too much into data from a small sample size. Calibers included 25-06, .260, .270, 7mm-08, 7mmRM, and 30-06. Deer were all from SC and obviously varied in size, as did shot placement/angle. Many were smallish deer but a good many were 160lb+ bucks including a 210lb 6 point (that made the record book).

Bottom line, you never can tell exactly what a bullet will do, but my experience with the NBT has been quite good,..... contrary to what some believe. Again, I would caution about making generalizations (good or bad) based on a small sample size of, say, 2 or 3, but the right shot placement does make bullet selection less critical. Speaking of generalizations, my experience with the TTSX has so far pretty much mirrored Swamp Rats observations. Plenty of internal damage and always an exit, but TINY exits with very little blood on the ground. It is still a little too early for firm conclusions, since I am up to only about 8 animals including a couple of hogs but I am beginning to get concerned. I prefer a large exit with good blood on the ground.

Edit: In case there are some new hunters reading this......if you double lung a deer, it is completely expected that they will run 40-80 yards. You might get lucky and drop one with a high lung shot, but a low double lung or heart shot means a tracking job. 60-70 yards is pretty standard. Once you track more than about 150 yards, your odds of recovery begin to drop sharply. I prefer high velocity and somewhat soft (but not fragile) bullets, but then again my .308 loves Accubonds, so what the heck.....feed it what it likes and put the bullet in the right spot.

[walt4dun]

I’m still a fan of NBTs and double lung shots.
Godzilla would be dead within 40 yards from a 115 gr NBT threw both lungs with a .25-06
Why would you intentionally shoot a deer in a shoulder blade, literally the hardest part of a deer, ruin both shoulders stew meat, and potentially have the deer get up and run off bc you just shocked the spinal cord and hit nothing vital - short answer you wouldn’t.
Don’t be a fool. Shot the largest softest vital target with a rapidly expanding bullet

[Gregory]

I've had Ballistic Tips blow up. Not a fan.

[FLS]

I've had Ballistic Tips blow up. Not a fan.

Please explain “blow up”.
I’ve shot a good many deer with 150 NBTs out of a 300 WSM, muzzle velocity was 3250, so impact velocity was at the top of its performance window, and always got an exit. If I hit solid bone , spine or shoulder, they would expand violenty, but still exit. Deer always died quickly.

[Saltydog235]

I've had Ballistic Tips blow up. Not a fan.

I had a Savage 11 Predator in .243 I sold to someone on here. I loaded 90grn NBTs over 45.5grn of H4831sc and that gun would eat the center out of a bullseye. I killed a lot of deer with that load but you picked the hair you wanted to hit. I never got a single exit but heart, head, neck or high shoulder they were just dead. It was like a grenade went off inside.

Wish I’d of never sold that one. Put together a 700 Varmint in .243 that took forever to get dialed in.

[Saltydog235]

Please explain “blow up”.
I’ve shot a good many deer with 150 NBTs out of a 300 WSM, muzzle velocity was 3250, so impact velocity was at the top of its performance window, and always got an exit. If I hit solid bone , spine or shoulder, they would expand violenty, but still exit. Deer always died quickly.

Think he means shed weight and expend all their energy in the critter. Light NBTs yes, rarely the heavier bullets.

[MolliesMaster]

The jury is out, just shoot them in the hams.


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