For those using BT, are you regularly getting exit wounds? CT, with the TTSX, are you getting reliable expansion at 7mm08 velocity? I’d expect the BT to expand—-more concerned with the Barnes given troubles I had decades ago.
I have never seen a Barnes of any flavor not expand in a deer.I have killed a bunch with them and somewhere just past 100 have been killed with Barnes that I loaded. I have examined all but a few. All of them showed solid evidence of expansion. The vast majority, perhaps 90 per cent were one shot kills and the few that required a second shot were plain and simple bad first shots. The Xs and XLCs I killed deer with did exactly what I expected and were all one shot kills.
I have seen caliber size in and caliber size out holes in the hide But they have always been associated with a normal internal wound channel for an expanding bullet, and sometimes really massive damage.
I have seen poor to non-existent blood trails. That doesn't surprise me at all. I frequently shoot to take out the heart or the great vessels just above the heart. It doesn't take much thinking to figure out that reducing blood pressure to zero instantly does nothing to improve the probability of blood coming out. I have not seen that poor blood trails are associated with the monos any more than cup and core bullets. One deer I shot with a mono was shot through both scapula low on the blade. The hole was big enough all the way through that I could have run a shovel handle through easily and that deer left blood for three jumps and then not another drop until it tipped over. One of the first deerI shot with a TSX I shot at a fairly steep quartering away angle. I put the bullet through just above the heart. The heart was not penetrated but it did rupture and exposed all for chambers and valves as nicely as the most skilled surgeon could have. That deer hit the ground, jumped up and ran 50-80 feet, fell and jumped up and ran right back to exactly where it was hit and went down for good. Not a drop of blood other than where it lay. If you turn off the pump the only possibility is a very low pressure leak, and that just isn't going to be as predictable as a pressurized leak. It's why bow hunters prefer double lung shots, once the chest pressurizes blood trails tend to be pretty gruesome.
