So I take it you did in fact kill the deer and were able to do a post mortem to verify bullet performance ?
Yes, I killed the deer, but with my knife, not the rifle. Basically all the shot did was stun it enough for me to close the distance on foot. Was not what I planned, but it's what it was. It would have escaped .. probably would have died, can't imagine how it wouldn't have, but not for some time and distance.
We gutted it on the spot, then took it 15-20 minutes home to skin. The bullet hole was right where I meant to hit it. The bullet had traversed some tendon, muscle, blood vessels, etc for about 8 before it hit the spine and stopped.
I didn't keep the bullet, but as I remember, it was in decent shape, guessing 65-70% weight retention. I think it performed ok, just wasn't a good choice for the day's job. I think it would have worked very well quartering into the chest cavity from behind.
