Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer? Question on bullet performance

I have been hunting almost exclusively with an FN Mauser 270 for the last 20 years. We always used a 150gr Nosler partition in it. Last fall we changed to a 130gr parti. I shot a small spike blacktail buck at 200 yards. I found the deer after a short search, no blood at all to help. The bullet entered at the last rib and I found it when butchering on the INSIDE of the far scapula near the shoulder joint. The bullet looked like you would expect but I've been puzzling ever since, why no exit on such a small deer? And I wonder now if the 130 is enough for larger deer? I killed many both small and large with the 150 grain parti.What do you think, MD or anyone?

Perhaps you accidentally threw a squib load when you loaded up that one particular cartridge. That does sound strange.

Even 130gr C&C bullets usually exit on broadside shots through deer, and a PT should be even more likely to exit.

The 130 Partition will sometimes exit...amd sometimes it won't.....generally on shoulder shots I find them (when I find them)against the hide on the off side....

None of this is either here nor there as far as I am concerned because I have been unable to detect any improvement in killing effect between bullets that exit and those that do not....if they can break both shoulders on a broadside shot that is good enough for me.

The 130 Partition is plenty for deer of any size,anywhere you find them.

BlueDoe,

Many hunters get concerned when a bullet doesn't exit, and wonder if the same bullet will penetrate sufficiently on a bigger animal or an angling shot.

One thing I have noticed, however, is that so-called premium bullets are almost never recovered from halfway through the chest cavity of an animal. They keep going until they run up against something to stop them, whether the far shoulder or the elastic hide, especially on an angling shot--and that means the bullet went all the way through the chest.

I have seen 150-grain Partitions stopped by elk and moose several times. Once was even on a broadside shot on a 2-year-old cow elk, not all that big an animal. If that were the only time I'd seen a 150 Partition used, I might guess that it would only penetrate a foot or so, and wonder how it might do on an angling shot.

But previously I have seen a bullet from the same box of ammo enter a bull moose's chest toward the rear of the ribcage, and found the bullet inside the far shoulder, penetration of over 30".

This is the fallacy in the assumption that because a bullet doesn't penetrate X distance in one instance, that is all it will penetrate. I have even read the statement (from people who should know better) that if a bullet doesn't exit on a broadside shot it won't penetrate sufficiently on an angling shot on the same animal.

This is not how the physics involved work. Bullets are "caught" on the far side of animals when they run into something harder or more elastic than heart and lungs. By that time they have slowed down and often present a rounded mushroom.

I have never recovered a 130 Partition from a .270 on any deer, even big mule deer, but I have recovered 140 and even 160-grain 7mm Partitions from big mule deer. This is just the laws of chance at work. But in every instance the bullet was found under the hide or in the far shoulder of the deer.

Thanks, fellows. Sounds like this case of mine is not exceptional. This 200 yard shot is about as far as I have ever attempted, and when I got across the little creek canyon to the exact spot and found no blood, well, it was a bad few minutes for me. The small deer travelled less than 50 yards, I just stumbled around until I found it, and there was no blood around the entrance even on the hide.

You need to average out your results. Most contributors to this site get a dud now and then and ask the question you did.

I have seen big caliber heavy weight bullets vary in penetration depth by 2 feet or more simply based on how much bone was hit or something never covered in articles because it is harder to learn, and that is the texture and density of flesh.

An example would be pig shooters. When a Tyro goes out and shoots his first big boar, it is always a tough animal and his Remchester did a wonderful job.

When you have killed so many they are simply a "garbage animal" (Varmint Status?) in your mind, you look more at the way different bullets, meaning weight, design, caliber, velocity, etc average out, and then you can get a picture on how dense the muscle tissue is.

The bottom line is that we will all get performance that we question some time, but when you finish the box of ammo and relive the experiences in your minds eye, you will be more confortable with the decision you ultimately make.

As long as you are open minded to the issue, you will learn. By all means, keep asking questions, as the reason we all contribute here is to provide short cuts with the infusion of our experiences into the argument or dilema.

JW

JB/JW:Those are nice explanations.

Gotta agree with the above. I have taken 24 whitetails, 1 mule deer, 1 pronghorn, 2 caribou and 1 elk with a .270 using the 130 Partition. I have only recovered one, from the shoulder of a bull caribou. It's a perfect bullet for the .270 as far as I am concerned. I wouldn't change my mind if I found one in a dead whitetail.