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Afternoon all,

Figured I would ask here since a lot of you folks have actually laid down big game with the 6.5mm cartridges of all sorts and it will generate something besides "I heard", "I read" and "everyone knows" which....ain't worth much.

Have you ever noticed a difference in blood trail between the 6.5mm cartridges and 30 cal cartridges? Specifically 6.5x55 Swede and 308/30-06 with things like bullet selection being equal?

I know if you put either in the right place, nothing will ever know the difference. But my only 6.5mm kill was a good sized Quebec doe with a 120mm ballistic tip and a case of H1000 (was what I had at the time) put through the shoulder from broadside. That deer was down on the ground within sight of the shot and before you could say "boo" but the bullet did not exit. Heck of a lot of damage inside it though, no wonder it was dead so riki tik.

So, for you guys who do it a lot....if it ever didn't go so well and it came down to tracking...do 30 cal holes leak more?


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In my experience, the .30cal holes do leak a bit more, typically. This assumes similar bullet construction. Even with a .30cal, I still will get some headscratchers at times. On average, I have had fairly good blood trails with the 6.5 stuff when using bonded bullets that expanded well.


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Originally Posted by JPro
In my experience, the .30cal holes do leak a bit more, typically. This assumes similar bullet construction. Even with a .30cal, I still will get some headscratchers at times. On average, I have had fairly good blood trails with the 6.5 stuff when using bonded bullets that expanded well.


Very cool! And I know what you mean about how sometimes, that is just the way it goes.

Thinking 130gr Fed Terminal Ascent (their trophy bonded tip type) or 120, 127gr TTXS/LRX and 300 yards or under, emphasis on usually under.

Probably not what I will be shooting this season, but just wanted to ask.


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I have used a 260 Rem since 2004 or so. A few times I have used something else, but mostly that. I lost 1 deer to it due to blood trail petering out. Shot felt good, deer was 60 yards away, using a 140 Accubond. May have made a bad shot, don't know. Most kills with the 260 have gone down within sight, so really no need to trail. The other caliber I have had some experience with is the 35, either in the 35 Rem or the 358 Win. I would say that the 35 caliber holes tend to leak more, but the deer do not die any more quickly. The 260 puts meat in the freezer pretty easily. The biggest blood trail I ever have seen on a deer that I shot was a 45/70 with a 420 grain bullet that I cast myself. It had a very wide flat meplat. Talk about painting the ground! Deer made it 10 yards. Beauty of it was there was very little wasted meat, no bloodshot meat, dime sized going in, quarter sized going out. That flat meplat sure hit hard!
All these were in Pa woods so all under 100 yards


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Blood trails are for bad hits or arrows...

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I would not expect a 120 gr Ballistic tip to exit after a double shoulder shot

I use a 5.6 Swede with 130 gr AB's on pronghorn and the blood trail is usually less than ten feet from where the goat was hit as it is lying there.

30 cal.a lot of elk again,no long blood trail.

Three longest tracking jobs was an elk I hit with a 7mag 160 gr Sierra MK , and a buck deer with same. Trails were 1mile+ . Bad shooting on my part.The other was a cow elk that someone had hit with a .270. mile plus.It turned out to be gut shot.

A lot depends on the location of the hit low body cavity more blood comes out faster than high hit which takes longer for the body cavity to fill up before it starts leaking out.

6.5or 30 cal, same velocity, same construction, same weight,same hit location, will most likely yield the same blood trail


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"A lot depends on the location of the hit low body cavity more blood comes out faster than high hit which takes longer for the body cavity to fill up before it starts leaking out.

6.5or 30 cal, same velocity, same construction, same weight,same hit location, will most likely yield the same blood trail."


This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


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My 300wm used to bowl little bodied TX deer over when hit in the shoulder. My 6.5cm had one run about 40 yards with liquified heart and lungs. It hemorraged where it fell and looked like the prom scene from Carrie. Both deer were equally dead, the 300wm just seemed to wreak a little secondary bone damage on the off shoulder. But the 6.5 was much closer shot with a bonded bullet so I'm not surprised it passed through easier.

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Not a Fan of blood trails and i never shoot a deer or anything else with a blood trail in mind, no matter what chamber and bullet the rifle i am shooting has, DRT is my goal with every shot,and i never depend on blood trails. but i keep a tracking dog handy, just in case I need him. Rio7

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Originally Posted by dogcatcher223
Blood trails are for bad hits or arrows...


Guys, I promise I’m not being smart.

I have many pix to illustrate I’m telling the truth.

IF you hit them in a FEW spots (1shot only), they DROP right where they are and
the only blood is ON the ground right there.

Below ear, Center neck, HI shoulder (spine) OR Spinal cord farther back.
I have pix of each of those—-no trailing.

You must know your trajectory intimately. It’s been a long time since I blood trailed a WT.

Good Luck

Jerry


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I would think it would largely depend on if you created an exit hole or not....


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Originally Posted by jwall
Originally Posted by dogcatcher223
Blood trails are for bad hits or arrows...


Guys, I promise I’m not being smart.

I have many pix to illustrate I’m telling the truth.

IF you hit them in a FEW spots (1shot only), they DROP right where they are and
the only blood is ON the ground right there.

Below ear, Center neck, HI shoulder (spine) OR Spinal cord farther back.
I have pix of each of those—-no trailing.

You must know your trajectory intimately. It’s been a long time since I blood trailed a WT.

Good Luck

Jerry

Don't forget the autonomic plexus. Works very fine too.


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My son was watching when I shot this Pronghorn in the shoulder at 235 yards with my .308. He said "you did it again"
I asked what?
He said shot it in the shoulder! Why do you do that?
I replied I do not like trailing wounded game.

[Linked Image from jpgbox.com]


The bullet actually hit the right shoulder and exited behind the left shoulder. Mattered not - broken shoulder really slows them down and is usually fatal PDQ.

Last edited by crshelton; 09/03/21.

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There's more than just bullet diameter at play regarding blood trails.

Sectional density plays a big role in this discussion. Blood trails are bigger when there is both an entry and exit bullet hole. Higher S.D. would yield more penetration.

There is bullet construction ( rapidly expanding bullet like a Ballistic Tip, vs. Partition, or monometal), lead core hardness, and jacket thickness).

There is bullet velocity at impact. Excessive velocity causes bullets to expand fully and fast, creating increased frontal cross section /frontal.area, which decelerates a bullet faster than a bullet partially expanded- with a smaller frontal area. It is possible to have a bullet with a lower impact velocity to have more penetration, compared to the same bullet at a faster impact velocity. If the lower impact velocity bullet has limited expansion ( less frontal area), it will decelerate less, and penetrate deeper. For example, the best penetrating bullet is a FMJ - which has minimal frontal area expansion, and can whistle through a game animal at low impact velocity, and cause a "two- hole blood trail."

For "blood trail" discussion ( not "drop dead right there" shot placement to the CNS) more factors than bullet diameter need to be included.


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Originally Posted by crshelton
My son was watching when I shot this Pronghorn in the shoulder at 235 yards with my .308. He said "you did it again"
I asked what?
He said shot it in the shoulder! Why do you do that?
I replied I do not like trailing wounded game.

[Linked Image from jpgbox.com]


The bullet actually hit the right shoulder and exited behind the left shoulder. Mattered not - broken shoulder really slows them down and is usually fatal PDQ.

Yup looks like a gawd awful place to track game.

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I just wave the crosshairs across the animal’s front half and yank the trigger. Then they run off into the briars. Meat tastes better when you work for it.


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Originally Posted by smallfry
Originally Posted by crshelton
My son was watching when I shot this Pronghorn in the shoulder at 235 yards with my .308. He said "you did it again"
I asked what?
He said shot it in the shoulder! Why do you do that?
I replied I do not like trailing wounded game.

[Linked Image from jpgbox.com]


The bullet actually hit the right shoulder and exited behind the left shoulder. Mattered not - broken shoulder really slows them down and is usually fatal PDQ.

Yup looks like a gawd awful place to track game.

Tracking may not be an issue but no need to drag farther than you have to.

About 5# actual good meat max lost on a shoulder shot.


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Create a good hole so you don't need a tracking dog. wink
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I've shot deer with a 264 win, 260, 6.5 creed. 6.5 swede and several with various 30 cal. I've not had to track any with the 6.5s except for one buck that was running when I shot it with my 264 with a 140g Hornady interlock launched at 3200.

I first I thought I might have missed when we got to where it was and there was no trail. It was only about 150 yards out at the shot and wasn't running very fast so I followed the tracks in the dirt about 100 yards and found the buck dead. No blood trail but it was a high lung shot. It had about a quarter size exit but it was up high enough that the blood didn't really come out.

Several of my friends in Africa prefer at least a 30 cal claiming it leaves a better blood trail. I think there are too many variables to break it down.

One of the fastest dropping bucks I've shot was about 12 years ago. I just built a custom in 6.5 Creedmoor back before anyone was really making one. I hit a nice 4x4 muke deer at about 220 yards in tight right behind the shoulder. It dropped instantly and was done. There was a small exit where part of the bullet exited.

I also dropped another mule deer like lightning about 15 years ago with my little carbon barreled 260. That was with a 130g accubond at a MV of 2900 fps. That deer was running about 175 yards out when I hit it through the lungs it did a flip and crashed dead. That bullet did massive damage with a large exit. I still take that little 5 pound 260 loaded with the same 130g ABs as a back up on a lot of hunts.

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Originally Posted by dogcatcher223
Blood trails are for bad hits or arrows...


I disagree, but it's conditional.

I shoot behind the shoulder, double lung and heart most of the time. I have the land, neighbors, and luxury of not losing a deer that runs a little. 45/70 placed like that = Stevie wonder can track it. And you lose zero meat.

That said, anything needing to go down NOW gets hit on bone. But you often lose a lot of the front quarter(s).

So, to the OP's question: I have noticed a little difference between .308 and 6.5CM with similar shots at similar distances. Not enough to matter tracking, but enough to notice. That said, I've only shot two with my 6.5, so not a big sample.

Hornady Whitetail Hunter factory ammo in the 6.5 and 180g hand loaded with the .308

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