I will explain my point one more time. I have done this before, not on this thread, but here are some of the problems I have had with the 243, 6mm, 257 Roberts, and a couple other calibers in this group.. I will give only a couple, but over the years, this has happened maybe 8 times... I suppose I have used these on 60 to 80 head of big game..
First none of these animals were lost, none were failures due to poor bullet placement.. All were well hit, and the bullet exited..
First and antelope buck shot during a winter hunt.. About 200 yards, behind the shoulder with an 85 gr. Sierra HPBT..the little buck showed no reaction. It was very cold.. At the shot he looked at me, calmly walk up the hill about 200 yards and stood around .. I couldn't believe I missed everything was solid.. It was Jan. so I got in my vehicle and got warm.. I could see the buck standing there. After a few minutes, his head began drooping, and he lay down... I realized I must have hit him.. I cut the track and walked too him and found the bullet had hit just where I aimed.. It just took a long time for him to die..
Years later, this time with a .257 Roberts, I put a 100 grain Speer, behind the shoulder of a big doe antelope.. We had thousands of them at this time.. It was at the edge of a big herd.. At the shot she walked into the herd, and they milled around.. It was about a 300 yard shot dead rest/. My wife saw it hit, and I heard it hit.. I told her look at your watch.. Finally the herd started stringing up the hill away from us.. They didn't run, they just walked in a line.. Finally, there was only one left, she started up the hill, maybe a 100 yards later she lay down.. She had been on her feet seven minutes from the shot til she lay down.. When we got to her, she was dead shot though both lungs..
Another, This was with a 6mm Rem.. 100 gr. Remington factory load.. First day of season.. We left town after work and drove to the hunting area.. We saw antelope every where and finally came on a big doe drinking at a small pond.. I put a 100 gr. bullet behind the shoulder and she took off like a bullet.. I suppose she ran 200-250 yards across the prairie and finally went end over end.. When we got to her she was hit where I aimed and the bullet exited..But she bled very little the first 50 or so yards, and I have never had a well hit animal run this far..
Over the same span of time, I suppose we shot another 80 head of big game with hot .22-250s etc,, Never once did I have that type of experience.. We have also shot about the same amount of game maybe more with .30-30's, .32spl.. .7mm-08, .300 Savage, .270 and . the old .30-06.. Never anything like this with those calibers either.. Last fall we shot one buck antelope with the 6mm and an 85 gr. Sierra HPBT dropped him in his tracks.. Also a yearling whitetail doe.. same gun same load..Dropped her on the spot.. But she was eating and had her head down and the bullet hit the spine before entering the chest..
These problems do not occur with every shot or animal, but they have been irritating to me ... Some guys will say, you got your game, what is the difference.. Some people never learn either.. I like my current 6mm and plan to use it some this fall.. But I am very aware of bullet placement, something that has not be so trouble some with other calibers.. I know folks have been very successful with these calibers, but I have had a number of less than desirable things occur with them..
What did the bullet wounds look like on the ones that didn't die quickly ? The reason I ask is that I once shot a whitetail buck with a 100 gr. core-lokt {.243} and it was obvious from the tiny pencil wound with almost no bruising that the bullet didn't expand. That deer did not go far but I bet if the bullet had not pierced the heart {looked like you stabbed a pencil through it } it could have. That was the only time I've ever seen such little damage from any CF cartridge and I've never used .243 core-lokts again because of it.
