Mixed results-.307+ TSX

[xxclaro]

Yesterday evening I got a shot at a good size doe at about 150-175 yards. At the shot, she jumped high in the air and kicked her back legs out. She took off into the bush line and down a steep embankment. I looked for a blood trail but couldn't find anything before dark. It was going to be -16C overnight,so I wasn't too worried about leaving her except for coyote's. Anyhow, came back this morning with two friends, and we searched for a long time and finally found a small pool and a few drops of blood several hunderd yards from where I hit her. The trail was about ten yards long and then dissapeared. We searched all around and found nothing, till we noticed magpies and crows another few hundred yards away. We went over and there she was. The birds had started to peck at her a bit, but she was okay. I cut her up, and found the entry hole on the left side, throught the shoulder,about and inch above the knuckle,smashing the shoulder and a rib. It exited the opposite side, about 6 inches back of the shoulder and halfway up. Both lungs were damaged, though it looked like they weren't completely destroyed. All in all, she probably ran between 500-750 yards, and left almost no blood. I backtracked from where she dropped, and found almost no blood after 20 feet. What I found was that the hide seemed to have slid infron of the holes, to where it looked at first like I had hit her in the neck and exited very low out the bottom of the chest. Once the skin was removed, I could see the true entry/exit. I'm not sure what to think about this bullet now. I've never seen a deer travel that far and leave that little sign with that type of hit,and I'm not sure if I want to continue using it. This is the Barnes TSX 150 gr FP designed for the 30-30. I'm shooting it at a bit over 2600 fps. What do you all think?

[Tycer]

What were the diameters of the holes?

[xxclaro]

The entry was about bullet diameter, hard to tell becuase it hit the bone and made a bit of a mess. The exit was about 1.5, but took out a rib on hte way out too, so that may hae made it bigger.

[handirifle]

Sounds to me like it expanded and did what it was supposed to do. Most of the blood must have stayed in the body cavity. That happened to me on a buck I shot with a bow. High lung shot, got both lungs up high and back. Also sliced through the liver. The buck ran about 50yds and stood there for a few min and fell over. The shot was a pass hrough shot too.

Yours ran a LONG way. A 30 cal hole through the center of both lungs would have most likely dropped her in sight.

Nice job trailing the doe, by the way. I lost a buck this Oct in Ohio. We trailed it for about 200yds and the blood started to get sparse.

We waited about 2 hours before resuming the tracking.

This shot, too, was a high pass through. We got my brothers dog to trail and trailed it for over a mile. We saw blood, sometime quite a bit. We saw it bedded down and I snuck up on it to try a finishing shot. My brother had seen it and I had not, but was stalking to where he pointed (he didn't have his bow) I got to about 10yds, and stood looking into the shadows where he was. finally was able to make out an antler and the could see he was lying with his rump to me and then realized his head was turned towards me. I slowly drew back my by bow for the only shot I had, a head shot.

He had seen enough and took off. We trailed him another half mile and lost him in the creek. Very disappointed but I think he lived based on how well he still moved. Reason for my story, blood sign on a similar hit buck to mine was sparse but the deer, we recovered this one (not mine) was full of blood.

[rost495]

One thing, if you want bang flops, TSX unless driven fast, 3000 and over ,isn't the best bet. Beyond that you need to break bones. I shoot my deer in the ribs with all kinds of tsx and most under 3000 fps, caliber in, double or so out, sometimes blood is a bit hard to find, but its never hard to find the deer, except in those weird cases. Nothing is 100% regardless. I have trailed a buck with a broadhead hole THROUGH the heart well over 300 and almost 400 yards, and the low pressure side so not much blood. Some just run more than others.

If you need a bang flop or more destruction, change bullets. You might be more of a ballistic tip type.

I'm about to shoot a few with a 32-20, I expect caliber in, slightly larger out and expect I'll let em lay up a bit after the shot, not expecting a lot of blood either but some trailing will be fun and work it out.

Good luck, Jeff

[Nath]

I just want to say well done on finding it, thats some tracking and good to your freinds.

Don't judge of this one, wait till you've done a few

Nath.