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.

I shot a doe yesterday with a 243 and the 95 grain Partition. She was angling towards me. The bullet entered her chest just in front of the left leg and exited just behind her rib cage on the right side. Both lungs and the top of the heart were destroyed -- but she still ran 100 yards or so...

I shot her in an open field at about 150 yards and knew the hit was good. I was surprised she made it as far as she did, especially after examining the damage. I saw her fall and it was raining pretty good, so I didn't even look for a blood trail.

They can travel a ways when properly motivated!

Unless she jumped up and hauled a$$ after you snapped the photo, I would say the bullet worked perfect!

yeah with a dead deer laying there, even if she ran 50 to 70 yds...with the deer still lying there dead, I don't see how it can be called a bullet failure...

I've had deer run as far as any other that ran, after being nailed with a 30/06 and a 180 grain RN, destroying the lungs and winging the heart... still made it 150 plus yards... before belly landing nose first into the snow....

from the spot she was hit to where she expired, the snow looked like it had been sprayed by a red paint carrying crop duster...

I think if they've got their adrenaline up, they will run until the lack of blood flow drops them, because the brain shut down...

Typical of my results with 6mm cup/cores and non-broadside chest shots. While dead is dead, this is why I like Partitions in these chamberings.

We've lost two does shot with bullets of two different conformations -- Nosler Partition factory and Sierra hand load, both 100-grains. If you don't hit something "important" and hunt thicker stuff finding them may be a trick. Sometimes the bullet "failing" has to do with not retrieving the animal. Rifle is 6 mm Rem ADL.

A 50 to 70 dash is typical, and with Cup-N-Core, I was not getting a lot of exits. Bear in mind most of my shots are at close range, so impact velocity can be rough on the bullet.

I have a couple of .243s, and I've found several bullets I like. Those being the 85 grain TSX, the 80 grain TTSX, the 95 grain BT, and the 95 grain Partition.

The 80 TTSX is noticeably more accurate than the TSX in the rifle I use it in, and I've not had one of either flavor stop, yet. And they are virtually immune to bones.

The 95 Ballistic tip is one I'm trying on the word of the 6MM experts here, and it has proven to be a dandy so far. It is extremely accurate, and I've managed a through and through on a 20 yard shot, though I didn't try to take bone out. It has bested the Sierra and Hornady offerings given a similar shot in the fact that it exited, and is more accurate.

The Partition needs no explanation, it does what Partitions do. The BT is just more accurate in my rifle, so I use it, instead.

What I have noticed is that the blood trail is not as profuse with a 6MM rifle vs .30 caliber, but the deer are just as dead.

My take on your bullet performance is that, yea, I would have liked an exit, but there's still a deer in the skinning shed.

In the thick stuff in your area, having a dog might be a really good addition.

My wife killed her one and only bull moose - probably a 3 year old - with a .243 and 100 grain bullet ( I think probably a Corelokt, but might have been NP - I don't remember), through the lungs, at 70-80 yards. Threaded it between ribs coming and going, no expansion, jellied the lungs. Moose walked about 50 feet until behind a screen of willow, stood there for 2 minutes or so before tipping over.

Damned thing was a complete failure......

Didn't even have the common courtesy to spread some bone chips through your groceries, huh?

My favorite are CNS hits, the absolute longest tracking jobs were double lung with a 405gr WNFP out of my 45-70 at 100 yards and a 165gr BT at 10 yards out of my 308.

I have killed over 100 white-tails with my 6mm and 100-grain Hornadys. It never failed to kill as quickly as any of my other rifles.

I have seen white-tailed deer take tremendous hits and run quite a ways. They can do it with any bullet, any caliber. The only way to make it a guaranteed bang flop, is a cn hit.

I think that they are tougher than elk pound for pound.

I know what you mean. The longest tracking jobs I have had were with other cartridges. I shot a doe at about 140 yards with a 35 Remington and the Winchester 200 grain factory load. The doe made it about 200 yards across an open field before piling up. Another doe I shot at 235 yards with a 257 Roberts and a 115 Nosler BT ran 150 yards before expiring. Both were shots broadside right behind the shoulder.

What were the shot presentations?

They were both broadside and grazing. They didn't know I was there. I shot both right behind the shoulder taking out the lungs.