Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 6mm Remington + whitetail doe + 100 grain Federal = ??????

I was hunting earlier in the week and I was able to harvest a doe with my 6mm Remington. I was using the blue box Federal 100 grain factory load. The doe was quartering toward me roughly 50 yards away. I am a lung shooter, so I put it right in line with my target. The bullet entered the left shoulder and traveled through the lungs and just barely bruised the top of the heart. It continued back through the chest cavity and this is where it gets weird. Part of the bullet made its way through the diaphragm and just grazed the liver and I am assuming it was part of the lead since I could find anything other than the wound channel. The rest of the bullet being the copper jacket changed direction and traveled up and lodged just under the hide next to the one of the vertebrae. In the pictures you can see the bullet retained 18.6 grains.





After the shot the deer ran about 70 yards before expiring. There was no blood visible for the first 20 yards and then the blood trail looked like you had used a garden hose to spray the grass for the next 50 yards. In other words really easy to follow. The doe had no visible blood on either shoulder, so the blood was coming from her mouth and nose.



Now with all the facts, would you say the bullets did its job or would you say the bullet failed?

Nothing to complain about as far as I can see. I'm surprised she made it as far as she did.

Me too. She was traveling with another doe, so maybe she had some motivation to keep up.

Worked as it should on a tough angle. It is a standard cup and core at the upper end of its velocity window.

It worked just not optimal. Buddy's boy shot a doe quartering away at ~80 yds using a .243 with 100gr factory Rem corelocts. Entered LR angling in taking left lung but somewhere inside got weird and exited about midship on right via two holes..

Who woulda thunk...

Weird things happen when copper and lead meet flesh and bone at high speeds and funny angles.

I'm a fan of the 6mm and although I didn't take a deer with mine this year, I would still be happy with the chance. Either the 95 grain Nosler ballistic tip or the 100 grain Hornady works very well for me.

Like others have expressed, I am surprised that she went as far as she did, but some cling to life harder than others.

Congratulations on the recovery.

Chili

While some might argue bullet failure and most us us would rather see the jacket and core stay together, the bullet killed the deer. The core, though separated from the jacket, still did it's work and from the sounds of it, fairly well. Back before all the premiums I saw a lot of cup and core bullets perform in a similar manner. Especially when run at high velocity.

I hunted with a .243 win years ago. My own observation is weird stuff just happens on game with smaller calibers with cup and core bullets. Sometimes they work just flawless then out of the blue things go astray, more so than with bigger calibers bearing more bullet heft and diameter.... Game should be broadside and keep the angle shots to a minimum angle with light calibers and non-premium bullets

With the 243 win I have witnessed or killed myself elk, coyotes, deer and black bear. With big game, lack of blood trails was not uncommon, neither was the critter hitting the dirt asap with very precise bullet placement.... Cannot say the same for the varmint line of animals, they were dispatched quite well, large exits, pieces missing, easy short to follow blood trails. But every now and again with cup/core built bullets things just happen with big game.... Like a 100 grain 6mm soft point not making it completly threw a 100 yard broadside deer chest cavity or failing to completely pierce an elk spine, put the elk down, finisher needed but first bullet not make it threw vertebra 100-ish yards also. I am in very firm belief a 'premium' bullet would have helped considerably....on every incident with the .243 win.

I moved up to a larger caliber rifle '30-06' and things changed... mostly large exits and well, exits with cup/core bullets.

Try a premium bullet, smaller calibers really benefit from there performance

Never used that particular load, but I've killed a truck load of deer and hogs here at the Ranch with both my 6mm and 243 using Factory 100 gr Remington Coreloct Ammo. Kills em DRT, 95 % of the time. Every great once in a while, they will run 40 or 50 yards, though.
Hornady Superformance ammo loaded with their 95 gr SST bullet works good, too.

It also seems that cup and core bullets stand a better chance of coming apart when the 3000 fps mark is either met or exceeded.

^This

Thank you to everyone for the replies. I feel the same way which most of you expressed. It is a cup and core bullet at its top velocity with a tough angle. The core and jacket separated, but it still killed the deer. Dead is dead.

^^^^^

This, Exactly...even down to the bullet choice.


Except substitute .243 for 6mm


( theres a HUGE difference, and the .243 is better.... )

Phillistine.

Dead deer. Typical performance from cup and core. Don't recall ever loosing a 243 cup and core deer ever.

That being said, Barnes only makes the 243 just that much better..

Barm: The bullet performed quite well it seems to me - your shot selection not quite so.
I recommend you wait for a "clean" heart/lung shot and you will save venison - NO shoulders (muscles or bone!) should be involved.
I never shoot Deer/Elk/Antelope/Mt. Goats in the shoulders.
I wait to be able to place the shot through the lungs/heart and like your doe did they soon expire (6 seconds is typical) and, they will be "bled out", which improves your meat in addition to there being MORE of it.
Your core/jacket separation is a separate issue but still that bullet imparted all its energy inside the Deer and quickly rendered it dead - so I would not lay much fault on the bullet.
A 6 m/m 100 grain bullet at 50 yards IS going to travel through much tissue/bone and after impact with the shoulder blade/muscle I am not surprised it separated.
Enjoy that venison.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Schit happens. I'm not that surprised by the bullet's performance. I would happily use that load on deer if I had a 6mm.

In the end, it doesn't matter a whole lot. 6mm's don't offer a great deal of leeway IMO. Truth is though, deer often run a ways, no matter what. As far as bullet performance is concerned, better bullet performance doesn't always yield better results.
I once shot a mule deer doe with a 6mm using Nosler 85gr Partitions. The range was about fifty yards and the deer was standing broadside. At the first shot, the deer humped up and stuck her tongue out then started walking back in the direction from which she had come. I ejected the spent round and dug another out of my pocket (shooting a single shot rifle). I loaded up and gave her another. She walked another twenty feet then tipped over. Both shots went clear through and left small exits. When I dressed the deer, there were two holes, about an inch apart, through the heart. Sometimes they just don't fall.
The other day, I shot a whitetail buck, at about fifty yards, with a 30 caliber 150 Sierra which started out at about 3000 fps. That bullet blew right on through after destroying the deer's lungs. Because I was shooting through some foliage, I had to place the shot a little higher than I would have liked but I kind of expected the deer to drop where he stood. Instead, he took off and ran about 75 yards before he piled up after running out of blood. Sometimes, they just don't fall.
I've seem similar results from a host of other rifles and other bullets, from large to small. Enough so that I think it is just typical. GD

Years ago my father put a first generation 130 grain Ballistic Tip through the lungs of a deer at about 125 yards IIRC. It was started out of a 26" barreled 270, powered by 60 grains of H4831 so it was moving right along.

Despite an exit wound you could put a fist through, and the majority of the chest cavity contents hitting the ground on the exit side, the deer still managed to run a good distance.