Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting AccuBond leaves me speechless!

It always seems when you have what you think is bad bullet performance it's always the bullets fault and not a user error

above all other things, I can't even start to relate to anyone's manner of thinking when they believe "If the animal died, the bullet didn't fail." To me, that truly is one of the biggest un-truths out there in our little hunting world.

It might just be my opinion, but when we talk about "bullet failure", I always think of it with respect to the bullet performing as advertised - meaning, did it expand properly as well as penetrate "as advertised"... NOT "did the animal die" ...

I would liken the "if the animal died ..." argument to someone driving a vehicle who's brakes didn't grip the rotors when the brake pedal was pushed ... if the vehicle eventually stopped, does that mean that the brakes didn't fail?

With respect to everything I've said above, you have to make SOME assumptions ... like, were you using a bullet designed for the task you asked it to perform? Let's not consider someone using a light varmint bullet to try to penetrate a deer lengthwise, and without it 'exploding' into a million pieces of shrapnel ... We also have to assume that the shot was well placed. And I don't need to hear about what happens when assumptions are made ... I already know how that goes.

In the end, anything and everything will fail to some degree ... I simply choose what I consider to be a reliable bullet that allows me the most latitude in my shot selection, and rely on my ability to place the bullet in a spot that the bullet can handle to do the job of killing the animal.

I might just be too lucky yet, but I've never lost a deer by using a quality bullet and drilling the shoulders ... I have, however, lost a few deer to using a quality bullet and placing it somewhere that doesn't typically "anchor" the deer on the spot. For that, I have chosen to never shoot another deer (if I can help it) in the body anywhere other than the shoulders ... the other shots I'd use, if available and within my abilities to perform, would be a head or high neck shot, each causing instant death or at least paralysis so that I don't have to hunt the deer after the shot ...

Don't kill the messenger!

you talking TO me, or ABOUT me ?! ... (grin)

Dang Son! I have never heard it said better!

It took me a long time to learn this very hard lesson!

I always aim for the shoulder on the off side when shooting from any angle.

By the way, I have never had a 140g Nosler Ballistic tip fail me.

"An education always costs money".

I use(mostly) partitions for my deer hunting.I am a bit amazed at the problems I see posted about "behind the shoulder" shots with good expanding bullets.I'm not doubting the experience of the posters,but I'm completely ambivilent about whether I shoot them "through" the shoulders or behind the shoulders,as I have not seen a ton of difference, as a large hole through the lungs, or shoulders, or both,have generally meant a dead deer with little tracking.

My experience has been that,hit properly through the chest with a good bullet that opens sufficiently(could THAT be the problem with the Barnes?),deer just die;and if they don't,they were not hit properly, or the bullet did not open well against the relatively light resistance offered by the lungs and ribs.

I am just puzzled as well. Many different factory loads and handloads shot thru the lungs of WT deer. I have just never lost a deer that I double lunged. But then I have never double lunged a deer and not had a good blood trail. I have heard however that if you double azz shoot a deer this does not produce much blood and sometimes you lose the animal.

I would expect a DOUBLE ass shot on a deer to produce copious amounts of blood; that's a lot of muscle back there. Couldn't say from experience though, having only single ass-shot a deer <g>.

It took a lengthwise shot through the hip joint at 40 yards with a magnum rifle to finally recover a bullet, even from the small blacktails I shoot. Calibers that have shot right through 'em for me include 30-30, 30-06, .358, .32 WS, 7mm-08...

Penetration in and of itself is waaaay down the list of attributes I want from a DEER bullet.

Hmmm is right. Sorry for the losses and hope you weren't paying by the B&C points for those deer.

I am not a big fan of tipped bullets in general, but the Brush Country is one place where I think they are ideal with careful shot placement. That brush can swallow up an animal pretty quick. I have had some hair raising encounters crawling on hands and knees through the stuff.

The SST is another that I wouldn't hesitate to use in South Texas. On a heart shot animal I expect them to run. The distance maybe only a few feet but sometimes much more, I have heard it depends if the animal was in the systole or diastole phase when hit, another Hmmmm.

I used to be a go for the bone African shoulder shot type, but after ending up with an entire freezer full of blood shot shoulders I kind of modified that approach.

I have always shot deer textbook, behind the shoulder. None, be they whitetail or mulie, have ever run more than 40 yards following this shot placement. The majority never went 10 yards. Most were shot with .270 WIN, .257 Wby Mag. or 300 WSM.

The accu-bond behaves very similar to the partition, in that when it expands it has a very narrow frontal area and will penetrate better than a scirroco, or inter-bond. For smaller Texas whitetails i would stick with the BT. If it aint broke,......as far as where to place the bullet, a double lunger or shoulder shot, either will kill em, thats personal choice. I always go for a double lunger, and will continue until i see a need to change, it works great for me....

180gr accubond this morning exit entrance

Blood trail?

No, I really don't. For lack of any hard data, I personally think it's a 130 gr bullet problem. This is why I do not use 130's in my 7's.

You idiots can laugh all you want. I am telling you what happened to me just like Powder did and was lambasted by the board for it.

I don't care what you think. If my emotions were hurt by your opinions I would not even be here.

Have you never had an unexplainable experience?

i had a bt blow up on the shoulder of a boar.( notice i included a period) i shot a boar at 30yd in the shoulder it made a big hole on the surface but did not penitrate enough to kill him. he jump up after laying on the ground about ten seconds and hauled azz. i did'nt shoot him a second time as i had sat my rifle down becauce he should have been dead from the first shot. i also watched a deer this season that had a hole the size of a grapefruit on his shoulder. looked just like the boar i shot with a bt

Thanx for the corroboration STXhunter. Bullets don't always do what we would think they should.

I shot a big deer in the shoulder one time, too. My buck dropped at the shot when I hit him with a 100gr TSX. He never got up. Yup, sometimes bullets do weird things...