Telling on myself... 2 lost deer.

[gopherslayer]

The OP had the same thing happen that happened to me once. 120 Xs from a 7 mag at 3400fps close range, 30 yards.

Big 9 pt dropped at the shot and onto his back. I never loaded anothe round as I thought he was dead. He rolled up and took off. He was shot in right leg just above heart level quartering to me so the bullet could get both lungs and exit. Bullet never exited.Tracked until blood disappeared. Neighbors knew he was around and shot him 4 days later taking another 5 shots from a 270 using NBTs. All shots from 270 were pass throughs of the chest cavity.

I had bullet failure for sure. But the 270s? Who knows. Sometimes things happen.

 

[veriest1]

To the OP,
Man that sucks! You might get told it's hard to blame the bullet if you can't see the end results. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I'm sure those two deer are dead so the bullet probably did it's job, just not as proficiently as you would like(as in my case). A change in bullet might be in order, if nothing else to restore your confidence.

I hope not. They were both moving like they hadn't been shot hours later (3 or 4 hours for the first and 13-15 hours afterwards for the second). I haven't seen any buzzards around the areas either.

I tested the 150 BT on a hog last night with similar results. The only difference is I tried to intentionally gut shoot him. The light was fading fast though so it's hard to say what happened. He was at a little under 100 yards and took up about 80% of the FOV on 22x so I centered and squeezed (crosshairs to hard to see and the illumination was to bright). If I can recover him it'll be interesting to see what the bullet did.

 

[HUAINAMACHERO]

Sad to know you lost those bucks, anyway, I have had excellent results with my 270 Win loads with 140 grain Accubonds. Most of the deers have been DRT. IMR 4831 56.5 grains. Keep us posted!!!

 

[veriest1]

I found the pig I shot earlier. The 150 grain BT splashed but it was only about 50 pounds so it only got about 70 yards before expiring. There was a ton of flesh damage since it didn't hit bone but it still splashed and exposed most of his guts and hind quarter down to the bone. There was no exit wound.

If my phone hadn't died I would post a picture of the damage but, needless to say, the damage was severe on the little piggy. I would not shoot another deer with this lot of bullets after seeing this.

 

[bamadawg2009]

Sorry to hear about the bad luck with BTs, but I've shot 180 gr BTs for 15+ years out of my 30-338. The only deer I ever lost was my fault it was a rushed shot at about 35-40 yds hit low front leg and blew up never had penetration to go into chest cavity. Ive shot over 20 deer with BTs and that is the only problem Ive ever had. Im even about to start loading the 22cal 60grainers in my AR-15 for deer.

 

[bufferjim]

I read your comments briefly, really very interesting about deer hunting. I like it.

 

[win270wsm]

Switched to accubonds because BT dont leave exit holes. Lost a nice buck due to no blood trail. Accubonds leave great blood trails. Switch and never look back.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

I've also experienced similar results with BTs, 150's in a 308, 130 in .270 and 140 in .280.

Only deer recovered was the one shot with the .280. It was a yearling doe and hit her square in the shoulder at roughly 250yds. NONE of that bullet penetrated the shoulder blade. all flesh damage. Bood trailed her for over 2 miles in the fresh snow( without the snow it would have been impossible) before my dad put another round in her.

If they cant penetrate a shoulder blade of a yearling doe from over 200yds (lower velocity) they sure as heck wont penetrate a 300lb buck @ 100.

Havent shot a BT since that day. accubonds or tsx for me now.
do have some berger vlds to try out though.

PS this goes for Hornady sst as well

 

[veriest1]

If I can get some sunlight I've got a ladder test to do for the 165 grain Hornady Interlocks.

Until them I'm shooting 150 grain Corelokts because I've had good luck with them in factory loads in the past.

 

[kherter]

I have switched to burger VLD's and was wondering on the performance of them on game, but have had great success. I am shooting 140gr at 2850fps out of my 6.5-284 Norma. I shot a few deer and antelope from 250 out to 860 yards and never had to shoot one twice. The most they ever did was jump turn around and fall over kicking. The whitetail I shot this year at 300 yards dropped like a sack, as if you turned off the switch.

I also shot a few moose with a 7mm Rem Mag and 168gr Bergers and they did the same as the deer, just stood there for a second and fell over kicking. It seems like you get an inch or two of penetration and then they fragment into a massive wound channel. So far I love them.

Sorry for your luck and hopefully better next time.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

I have switched to burger VLD's and was wondering on the performance of them on game, but have had great success. I am shooting 140gr at 2850fps out of my 6.5-284 Norma. I shot a few deer and antelope from 250 out to 860 yards and never had to shoot one twice. The most they ever did was jump turn around and fall over kicking. The whitetail I shot this year at 300 yards dropped like a sack, as if you turned off the switch.

I also shot a few moose with a 7mm Rem Mag and 168gr Bergers and they did the same as the deer, just stood there for a second and fell over kicking. It seems like you get an inch or two of penetration and then they fragment into a massive wound channel. So far I love them.

Sorry for your luck and hopefully better next time.

Any of these go through the shoulder?

 

[kherter]

Some through the shoulder and some through the ribs. Didnt seem to make a difference they both worked well.

 

[Landkiller]

I shot a whitetail buck broadside at about 50 yards with a Nosler B T years ago, right after they came out. He ran into a thicket and I heard him fall about 50 yds into it. I found the deer, he was shot right behind the front sholder with a bullet size entrance and exit hole of the same size. There was no blood trail, only a tuff of hair where he was standing. I have never used a B T again for hunting. The load was a 150gr. out of a 30-06.