Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Can a person ruin a cartridge for you?

He may well have made the shot as claimed, but simply couldn’t track. Long ago my son shot one “right through the heart” with a .270 and Barnes 130gr TSX. Came over to me for help finding it. When I got to where the deer had stood, it looked like a crime scene. Problem was my son is red-brown colorblind and that blood was invisible to him. Actually, the deer was on a slope when shot and I think he mostly rolled rather than ran down the slope, leaking like a sieve the whole way. Hunting with a crossbow for five seasons has really helped me become a better tracker. My hits have generally been higher than I prefer and that of course means little or no blood for a while. Had to learn to look for really tiny spots on weed stalks and down in the ground debris until the internal bleeding reached the exits. Some simply don’t look, or look hard enough, expecting Bambi to just flop.

Interesting, heart shot with no carcass.

Hmmm…

DF

That was kinda my point with the “four shots through the chest” line. How do you know?

In all fairness I’m pretty sure O’Connor made the same point a time or two…….

My son’s buck was just out of sight due to the curve of the slope he rolled down, in the right direction for a change. My deer almost always travel the wrong way.

I don't hate any cartridge, but I did avoid the .30-06 for many years simply because my father and his buddies and so many USA hunters endlessly bragged about the virtues of the .30-06. I eventually got one, and found that it killed deer and bears and elk and moose just as well as my .308 or 7x64 or 8x57JS or .303 or several other cartridges of similar middle-power & middle bore size. I'll keep using the .30-06 because I really like the custom rifle it is chambered in. But for most of my purposes I think the .308 is "just right". Not that it's actually any better at killing game an any of the cartridges on the previous list.

I've avoided the 7mm Remington magnum and 300 Winchester magnum because they seem to be promoted by people who think they offer more killing power or range but who don't actually have the shooting skill to use that supposed advantage, or who don't have the hunting skill required to get close.

If I need more power than .308 for bigger critters I've jumped up to .35 Whelen with 250 grain bullets or 9.3x62 with 286 gr. or .375 H&H with 300 grain. Perfectly satisfied with that choice.

i occasionally have that problem too. two years ago, i shot a 4pt at 53 yards broadside. i was using my Winchester m94 in 35/30-30 with 200gr RCBS FN GC and 2400/tuft of dacron going 1726fps. i was going behind the shoulder shot, but i hit in in the upper lungs. the deer jogged about 10 - 15 yards, but the deer was behind a big tree and i could only see the hind quarters. i could hear the sucking sounds of the deer's chest caused by my bullet. 5 to 10 seconds later he fell over dead. when i was done gutting him, i went to the spot where i first shot him and there was hair with no blood. i tracked him and there was no blood till he dropped.

Out in left field? Nah! I'm spot on.

But you are entitled to your opinion. 😉

In a word, no. Like Pappy, I tend to aim high and it might take a bit for the blood to flow.

He may well have made the shot as claimed, but simply couldn’t track. [/quote]

Maybe, but after talking to him for about 45 seconds I realized the odds were far stronger that he was just an idiot.

Yes I've seen this. Took an 6x6 bull elk with two .243 cal bullets in one of hams that had very shallow penetration and one expanded 243 bullet and two broadleads I'm his spinal area encased in tough white scar tissue. This guy still had a herd he was tending to when I caught up to him. 308win thru the lungs and he ran 300-400yds on a steep slope then expired.

He may well have made the shot as claimed, but simply couldn’t track.

Maybe, but after talking to him for about 45 seconds I realized the odds were far stronger that he was just an idiot.

Well, as they say, sometimes the simplest explanations…….😛

some years back I might have to go look to get exact but probably 15 at least maybe 20 I loaded up a bunch of ballistic tips and I don't know if they were 130s or 140 for a co-worker and a 270. he come back from his mule deer hunting and kind of pissy at me that all they did was punch holes in the deer and did not open up... I replied don't gut shoot him when that won't happen it's kind of pissed him off..

Not one person - but many many people!

I loath the 458LOTT not because of any shortcomings of the cartridge, but because everyone tells me that l should get rid of my .458WM and buy a LOTT!
Really?
My .458WM pushes out a 550gn Woodleigh at 2100fps and a 450gn Woodleigh Hydro at 2300fps which hardly put it in the
pea-shooter class...
I'm so, so sick of constantly being told l need a LOTT I now absolutely loath that cartridge...

Russ

No, I am adult enough to make mine own decisions.

They were expanding regardless of where he was hitting.

On a side note the Varmint and Hunting Ballistic Tips are 2 different animals.

For me, it’s easily a 243. Had a friend in our hunting club while I was in college who I helped blood trail a number of 243 shot deer, never recovering a single one. He insisted it was a deer killer, using only the very lightest varmint hollow points.

He was invited to join another club after blood trailing a dozen or so.

I’ve held that unfounded prejudice my entire life because of that guy.

Yes….I know….a 243 will kill deer.🙄

pretty sure it was 140s. and I do not believe they make the varmint version in a 270...

A friend has about 6,000 ac of his ranch he leases to a hunting club..he keeps a voluntary 'logbook' of the buck harvest, most of the hunters in the club check in with him when they are done for the season. I will tell you...he is no fan of the .243.

Man, there's a lot of opinions about bullets.

I never let others influence what cartridge I shoot . Liking the platform that contains the cartridge is more important to me . I had two Remington KS 700s in 7 Mag that shot accurate with about anything I fed them . They took quite a few Mule Deer at moderate to long range no problem . I have also had several rifles chambered in 280 AI . It seems every body brags them up yet the difference between them and a 7 Rem mag does not amount to a pinch of schit. Now I am older and have found that standard non magnum cartridges work just fine . 270 Win and 7MM08 are two I really like . I am even thinking of building a 6.5 Grendel . Anyone who lets some one else influence what they shoot and hunt with should probably take up golf .

i used to shoot alot of deer with 130gr Nosler BT in my Ruger #1 in 270 Winchester. i was using a max load of IMR4320 that was around 3000fps. most of deer i shot with it were at ranges of 30 - 40 yards. the BT was like a hand-grenade, it goes in and it fragments on the lungs and heart, lung soup with chunks of heart. you lose alot of shoulder meat that way. then one day, i see a buck at around 125ish yards. i line my sights up on a shoulder shot and bang, dead deer. what surprised me is that bullet went out of the deer. when i gutting it, the top part of the lungs were smashed along with the aorta and it takes 2 ribs on the way out. hmm...i wonder....the whole way home. i have a Hornady book with ballistic charts (volume 2) and the bullet was going 2800ish fps when it impacted. hmmm......slow the bullet down? hmmm.....next year i got a doe with a slower Nosler BT (2800ish fps) at 30ish yards. i look at the doe and i find that it has an exit wound. i load the Nosler BT and the Hornady SST to only get 2800+/-fps. now i use BT/SST and 2800fps or less on the 25-06, 270, 7 Mauser, 7-08, 308, '06, 6.5x55 and 6.5CM and they still exit the deer.

i like a blood trail if it runs. it makes it easier to follow.