It seems that all the crappy performance I ever had on deer were with boattail bullets. Hornady's 140gr. BTSP was especially bad, along with Sierra's Gamekings. I know, after I switched over to flat-based bullets, my problems all went away. I've had good performance with some boattails, but then bullets out of the same danged box would explode and crater on the deer.
Some folks swear by those 140 Hornadys (.277"), but I'll never use them again. Gamekings are hit or miss, sometimes they'll do the deed just right, and sometimes they don't.
For whatever reason, I've never been able to get Speers to shoot worth a hoot.
