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Bullets Pencilling Through

I don't use Hornady bullets, but I will say that differing weights in 6.5 appear to have different construction and hardness.
Accubonds tend not to have large exits, ABLR on the other hand do, Sierra do sometimes while other times not.
I shoot several 6.5's, 6.5x47, 260AI, 264WM & 6.5-300 Weatherby. Light bullets in the magnums, lighter than 130g tend to be bombs, except the Barnes 127g LRX.
Heavy bullets, 140/142/150/156g tend to expand normally.
I really like how the 140g Partition works on game, I used those on Moose in Sweden, fantastic 1 shot kills every time.
Honestly, you need to choose your bullets to match your cartridges performance. I wouldn't use 100g bullets out of 6.5-300 Bee, but I would with a 6.5 Creed.
Maybe not penciling through, just not expanding fully…

Cheers.
 
Varmint Hunter said:
If the bullets didn't expand and just "penciled through", I'd expect those deer to go a alot farther than "less than 50yds". Small exit holes don't necessarily mean that the bullets didn't properly expand. Nosler Partition bullets often leave small exit holes, and they normally shed their noses off completely.

What did the deer's lungs (or whatever you hit) look like when the deer was field dressed?
Click to expand...
Decent amount of internal damage. I'm just concerned about the size of the exit wound and zero blood trail.
 
Jon Bischof said:
I prefer to see at least a golf ball sized exit hole. But you need velocity to get expansion like that. I've noticed that bullets perform better once you get somewhere around 2800. Always get good exit hole with my 270 WSM at 3080 fps.
Click to expand...
That probably explains why my handloads seemed to leave a better blood trail.
 
I loaded some Accubond LR bullets for my buddy's 6.5 Creed. He shot 2 deer with that load. An 8 point buck was shot in the neck and it nearly took the off-side of his neck off. UGLY! He shot a doe in the chest and it left an impressively large exit hole.

That was the most tissue destruction that I've ever seen from a 6.5 Creed.
 
If you want big exit holes, range needs to increase. Impact velocity at close range causes the bullet to shed weight "eccessively". Or got to a bigger caliber, same affects, however the "pencil through" will be bigger diameter.
 
OP, the bullet did it's job! The bullet expanded with massive damage inside, with the base or core exiting. I butcher my deer. A deer that has been shot with a bullet that does not expand will run 200+ yards and more. I have shot deer with them still standing there after the shot when using non expanding bullets.

I have had excellent results for two decades with the 129g Hornady sp, 6.5x47 Lapua to 264 Winchester, this old school bullet never fails on close and long shots with MV from 2700-3150 that I have shot them.

Also have had great luck with the 130g ELD Match in 260 Rem.

Long range accubonds are your bullet to use if you love to see blood and guts flying , 142s.
 
Last edited:
bill123 said:
Decent amount of internal damage. I'm just concerned about the size of the exit wound and zero blood trail.
Click to expand...

Where were the entrances and exits, exactly, on the deer? Pictures would be best.

If the hits were above mid-body, the fact that the deer expired within 50 yards leads me to believe that there just wasn't enough time for the blood to make it outside the body and it was all sloshing around the chest cavity.
 

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