Bullet Failure???

[toddc]

You are on the money with the adrenaline thing! I have shot a considerable amount of game, including elk, at distance and have yet to have one run. They may stand there after being hit, or even walk slowly, but never run.
I don't think that a golf ball sized hole is bad performance. I think he just had a somewhat normal experience. ...........Rich

You're right I think. I have had very few run past 400 or so depending on wind direction. If they don't hear it, they have no clue what it is.
I know a guy who used to kill a ton of 150 animals with a 22lr. Most of the time the critter would just walk off he told me.

 

[WildRose]

Glad you found it and have an answer. I've lost count of the threads about bullet failure which were probably bad shot placement, but the bullet was blamed because the animal was not recovered.

In my mind, you can't blame the bullet if you can't do an autopsy. I've recovered a lot of deer for people that were "hit right" that were in no way hit the way the shooter thought they were.

You are in a tough situation. The only way to anchor a deer the way you need it is to definitively break both shoulders. And if the lungs aren't taken out I've seen deer with the front landing gear broken cover more than 50 yards. Would a more frangible bullet have reliably penetrated and broken both shoulders?

The range argument is actually reversed here. A deer shot at 400 yards is far less likely to be driven by adrenaline from the report and cover ground under duress. I've actually had much better luck with deer going down quickly at long range than at short range, where the blast kicks in the adrenaline. A few years back I shot a buck in the front at 10 FEET across a ditch with a muzzleloader driving a 325gr FTX at >1800 fps. I would later find the bullet in the back ham, great retention, after having destroyed the heart, both lungs, the liver…pretty much the most destroyed deer insides I've ever seen. It turned and covered about 180 yards before it piled up.

While both shoulders is good it is not the only shot that anchors them instantly. Any shot that bisects the spine will do it.

I killed a deer last week that was quartering away at a little better than 45deg. The bullet entered well back of the left shoulder transecting the spine and breaking the off shoulder.

He never even kicked.

Actually sometimes it would be helpful if they ran a bit before cratering when you are shooting in a lot of the terrain we have out west.

There just aren't any perfect bullets that do exactly what we need in every situation, sometimes it's up to us to put them where they will do the most good based on the circumstances .

 

[WildRose]

You are on the money with the adrenaline thing! I have shot a considerable amount of game, including elk, at distance and have yet to have one run. They may stand there after being hit, or even walk slowly, but never run.
I don't think that a golf ball sized hole is bad performance. I think he just had a somewhat normal experience. ...........Rich

Abnormal?

 

[WildRose]

You're right I think. I have had very few run past 400 or so depending on wind direction. If they don't hear it, they have no clue what it is.
I know a guy who used to kill a ton of 150 animals with a 22lr. Most of the time the critter would just walk off he told me.

I've killed many, many coyotes with a .22lr using 40gr HP's and your buddy is right. Hit them anywhere in the chest cavity and they usually walk or run off quite a ways and then just lie down.

I killed one the other night with a 10/22 with a head shot and it dawned on me that it was the first one I'd ever shot with a .22 that went down instantly.

 

[elkaholic]

Abnormal?

Ya

 

[WildRose]

Ya

Had me scratching my head for a bit there.... .gun)

 

[WildRose]

Folks, We have an answer. Found the deer floating yesterday. It was hit within an inch of where I was holding. Evidently it was just shy of broadside, or had its left leg back. It was standing in knee high grass at the edge of the beanfield. . Bullet went in at the front point of the shoulder. Exited just forward of shoulder blade on other side. Golf ball exit. Didn't open it up, it was stinking pretty bad. Been 85 deg here. Had to have pieces of shoulder bone tear up the lungs. Frag bullet likely would have anchored it. I'll just have to be more careful the rest of the season. No more of these for me. Rather lose the meat. Reality is shot was a about 3-4" in front of optimal. Made a mistake giving myself a little cushion for wind, that wasn't needed. This is the first deer I have shot with this bullet. Same hit with an SST from my 7mm, or the RUM would have ruined both shoulders. While the Scirocco's may be great bullets, and meat savers, every shot isn't perfect. Everything would be fine if not for the water. Everything is flooded. Deer only went about 50yds. Some folks would say not to shoot so far under these conditions, and they may be right, but would seldom kill a deer on our place. This field is a little over 900yds, and it is not our biggest one. It also would have been nice if the deer had gone further out in the field, but it was getting dark, and there was no time. Hate it, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. We did kill another doe and an 8pt without incident, with frag bullets. the 8pt was hit in the liver at a little over 300 yds and died on the spot.

OD I feel for ya and I've had my own issues with the SiroccoII but this is another case where the failure wasn't a failure of the bullet to perform, it was a failure to put it in the right spot to take out the spine or brain.

In most cases they are going to run some distance before cratering absent taking out the CNS.

I've even seen deer and antelope both manage to cover as much as fifty to a hundred yards with both front legs and the lungs and/or heart taken out.

One of the reasons I quit shooting NBT's was that even with all of the extra wasted meat it wouldn't drop them dead in their tracks unless one way or another the CNS is interrupted.

Hunting where you are you're simply in a tough spot and a bonded or solid bullet is much more reliable when it comes to taking out the CNS.