I know several of you used them this year. I killed three deer with the 143 from a 6.5 Creedmoor. Here's the low down..

1. Buck at 75ish yards. Broadside. Took out the top of the heart and jello'd the lower lungs. The deer ran 50ish yards and rolled. Pencil through the hide, golf ball size through the entrance on the inside of the rib cage, punched meat on the opposite side, didn't exit the hide. I felt for the jacket/core/bullet and couldn't find anything. Chest cavity wasn't as messy as several other bullets I've used.

2. Doe (today) at lasered 176 yards. Busted lungs, no heavy bone. She ran 75-100 yards through the alfalfa and collapsed. Golf ball size entrance and golf ball size exit. Chest cavity was soup.

3. Doe (today) at lasered 128 yards. Busted lungs, no heavy bone. She too ran 75-100 yards and collapsed. Same details as #2 above.

I took a zillion pics with messy hands after dressing the does. Not easy with one hand holding the rib cage open -- on the ground -- in the dark. Oh well.....

Notice the round hole below, almost a perfect circle. That was an entrance hole. Exit holes were jagged.

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I didn't really look for blood trails with the does. I had two on the ground and lots of work to do. The buck didn't leave a good trail -- hardly any to be exact. I saw him fall though, so no big deal.

I was worried about the bullets being soft before I stuck one into something. I'm pretty happy with the results at Creedmoor velocities. Three isn't enough for me to fully decide on the bullet. I should have busted bone on one of the does.

Share your stories with the bullets. Especially if you busted shoulders.


I enjoy handguns and I really like shotguns,...but I love rifles!