Ain't no such thing as a brush gun, or a brush bullet, except in the fact that an 18 inch barrel is easier to maneuver than is a 30 inch barrel.
Write ups from actual test attempts indicate that a long skinny bullet with high RPM is actually more resistant to deflection than the old brush busters touted by hunter"s mythology.
I have only dealt with the phenomenon once. I punched a five point pull elk from broadside and twenty degrees above in elevation at 380 yds with a Ruger #1 in 7 STW. The load was a 162 Hornady spbt at 3200 fps mv..
The bullet entered behind the shoulder, about mid height on the ribs, and passed through the aortic arch. The bull took two jumps uphill, then turned and walked down the trail to rest behind a willow patch. I could make out his silhouette through a 12x Burris, and he was standing in the trail with his front feet wide apart, and his nose in the dirt.
The last thing I wanted was for the bull to run off a couple hundred yards into the canyon he had just come up out of. It was going to be tough enough to get the horses to him as it was.
So I took another shot through the brush. And another down through the loin when he came into the clear and turned turned his butt to me. At that point he walked out of sight below a ridgeline. I found him about fifty yards from where he was at the last shot.
All three shots ended up right in the boiler room, and the bull was still walking.
But this was about deflection. The willow tree was only ten feet from the bull. But the bullet impacted about a foot from POA. Most importantly the entrance wound looked much like an exit wound with a two inch hole, and bloodshot meat around it. And there was a fist full of elk hair pulled into the wound . I do not know if the bullet entered the animal sideways, or just partially expanded. But it was definitely upset.
