Not one drop of blood

[jackson a. bowen]

Years ago shot 2 deer with new ballistic tip (30/06) ammo, 1st zero blood, not an exit wound but literally mush - jello like - on the inside when cleaning, just scrambled the insides but didn't exit. Thought it was odd, (long time corelok user) but chalked it up to "not sure why". Anyway, 2nd deer shot, same thing - no blood trail, no exit wound - but mush inside. Seems the velocity was so high on those bullets that they fractured into zillion pieces upon impact inside.... not like the coreloks that stay intact typically and mushroom thru...

i have been reloading nosler 150 grain ballistic tip 3006 ammo since 1978 and have these bullets to break shoulders, backbones, necks, ribs and the ones that go through side-to-side don't hit the thickest bones in a deers body he msjority of the time but most of the time the bullets go through and they leave a fairly good blood trail ,

 

[Spotlite]

I’ve killed several with a 357 lever action. They don’t go far but they don’t bleed.

Glad you found him!! Congrats to your son!!

 

[tcward]

Do I read this correctly? Are you saying you killed 75 deer with the same bullet before you gave up on it?

You are a patient man!

Sorta thinking the same…

 

[tcward]

View attachment 1264185
Yep, totally sux. No blood trail either, DOA, 140 grain federal fusion

A lot of folks bash the 6.5…I’ve never had a problem and love the softer recoil.

 

[Todd E]

A lot of folks bash the 6.5…

They do don't they. I knew there would be at least one nay sayer in this thread as I started reading it.

I have a thermal'd 6.5cm precision bull barreled rifle and a thermal'd 7.62x.39 AR.
I'm out just about every night chasing hogs. The 6.5cm gets carried the most. I shoot 140gr Norma Whitetail rounds in the creed. It is a beast on hogs up to 300# from spitting distance to confirmed 285 yards. I can't tell ya how many it has bang flopped.
I love mine. I know for a fact it will put a round through both shoulders areas of a shielded boar.

 

[furtaker]

It was the 6.5cm's fault. I absolutely despise that round for hogs and deer.

Great round for coyotes, which is what I use mine for now, but if I am shooting anything larger than a coyote I am grabbing a different gun.

Yeah, Lord knows the 6.5 CM is underpowered for deer. After all, the Europeans have been killing moose in Scandinavia with the similar powered 6.5x55 for a hundred years.

 

[Mackie889]

His dad said, 150 grain winchester ammo. After all that tracking, he said he will no longer use it.

First off, way to stick to the search on that deer and glad he was found! About 25 years ago, my Dad started shooting ballistic tip ammo. He killed 4 bucks over a two year period, none of which had exit wounds, even though the shots were textbook broadside double-lung hits. I told him maybe it was that plastic tip ammo.He switched to a nosler partition (what I had been shooting) and he got pass-through from then on. Hopefully the technology is better on the polymer tip bullets now, but I will never shoot them because of the experience with my Dad. I used my last 2, 7mm-08 rounds w/ the partition I had on a buck and doe last season. I was bummed to discover that the partition is no longer available. Had to switch this year to accu-bond … hope it works as good as the partition.

 

[furtaker]

First off, way to stick to the search on that deer and glad he was found! About 25 years ago, my Dad started shooting ballistic tip ammo. He killed 4 bucks over a two year period, none of which had exit wounds, even though the shots were textbook broadside double-lung hits. I told him maybe it was that plastic tip ammo.He switched to a nosler partition (what I had been shooting) and he got pass-through from then on. Hopefully the technology is better on the polymer tip bullets now, but I will never shoot them because of the experience with my Dad. I used my last 2 77mm-08 rounds w/ the partition I had on a buck and doe last season. I was bummed to discover that the partition is no longer available. Had to switch this year to accu-bond … hope it works as good as the partition.

I think Nosler has toughened up most of the BTs now. The SST used to be more fragile than the BT but I hear they're tougher now too. I still don't care much for plastic tipped bullets and never have.

 

[leroy]

There’s your answer. He hit both high and back. He covered the 155 yards in way less time than it took to fill up the chest cavity with blood and start emptying out. Part of our chosen sport. I didn’t hit everything perfect when I shot @ 14 years old either. Being his first, I’d say he did alright. He’s got a lifetime to work on bringing his shot closer to the deer’s oil pump.

What kind of bullet were you shooting? Just curious. I’ve killed more than a few and have had those same results with one particular brand of bullet. I’ve killed right at 75 with it and finally said to heck with it. (I love to experiment) of those 75, zero dropped right there, zero exited, zero left a blood trail. Many blew up when hitting the shoulder blade. Berger VLD Hunting bullets never worked in my situation.

Best of luck for him and get him to work on #2.

Experienced the high and back yesterday on a buck, little blood only found few drops deer didnt act hit but only ran about 100 yrds. Shot him with 7 mag 130 grain barnes ttsx.

 

[B. White]

I've killed a lot of deer with '06 using Winchester soft points. Picked up a box of silver tips many years ago when and shot two heavy bucks. One squatting in a scrape at about 70 yds. No blood. Quartering away slightly. Squirrels were tore up about 70 yds from where he was standing and went to them and found him. Shot another chasing a couple of does across an approx. 3 yr old clearcut about 150 yds. No blood. Found a fire ant mound kicked up and went it that direction. He didn't go far, but with no blood and weeds head high it was not an easy search. Went back to 150 gr soft points. I have seen them have pass throughs from one end to the other with some poor shots folks made.

 

[B. White]

And for the 6.5CM comment above, I've shot quite a few with 140gr match and didn't need to worry about a blood trail. I like my '06 after killing deer for about 40 yrs with it, but carry the 6.5 most of the time now.

 

[furtaker]

I've killed a lot of deer with '06 using Winchester soft points. Picked up a box of silver tips many years ago when and shot two heavy bucks. One squatting in a scrape at about 70 yds. No blood. Quartering away slightly. Squirrels were tore up about 70 yds from where he was standing and went to them and found him. Shot another chasing a couple of does across an approx. 3 yr old clearcut about 150 yds. No blood. Found a fire ant mound kicked up and went it that direction. He didn't go far, but with no blood and weeds head high it was not an easy search. Went back to 150 gr soft points. I have seen them have pass throughs from one end to the other with some poor shots folks made.

The old Silvertips or the Ballistic Silvertips? Ballistic Silvertips are nothing more than a NBT with a lubalox coating. The old school Silvertips had a reputation for being good bullets. I only killed one deer with them many years ago. I'm not sure why Winchester quit making them but it made a bunch of people mad.

 

[B. White]

The old Silvertips or the Ballistic Silvertips? Ballistic Silvertips are nothing more than a NBT with a lubalox coating. The old school Silvertips had a reputation for being good bullets. I only killed one deer with them many years ago. I'm not sure why Winchester quit making them but it made a bunch of people mad.

Ballistic Silvertips

 

[WOODIE13]

And for the 6.5CM comment above, I've shot quite a few with 140gr match and didn't need to worry about a blood trail. I like my '06 after killing deer for about 40 yrs with it, but carry the 6.5 most of the time now.

What brand of match?

 

[rattlesnake1]

years ago i loaded some 30 cal 165 gr. ballistic tips
two deer shot , no exit wound ,no blood.
lungs and heart were mush , they each made it about 50yds.
I load Nosler partitions now.

 

[WOODIE13]

First deer with a 30.06, 180 grain soft point Remington core lokt, no exit from 100 to 10 yards...1985

Guess its a good thing with a bullet expending all it's energy inside the deer.

 

[rattlesnake1]

First off, way to stick to the search on that deer and glad he was found! About 25 years ago, my Dad started shooting ballistic tip ammo. He killed 4 bucks over a two year period, none of which had exit wounds, even though the shots were textbook broadside double-lung hits. I told him maybe it was that plastic tip ammo.He switched to a nosler partition (what I had been shooting) and he got pass-through from then on. Hopefully the technology is better on the polymer tip bullets now, but I will never shoot them because of the experience with my Dad. I used my last 2, 7mm-08 rounds w/ the partition I had on a buck and doe last season. I was bummed to discover that the partition is no longer available. Had to switch this year to accu-bond … hope it works as good as the partition.

the Nosler Partitions are available if you hand load, that's all i load now days.

 

[B. White]

What brand of match?

ELD

 

[Liberty]

His dad said, 150 grain winchester ammo. After all that tracking, he said he will no longer use it.

Was it the Deer Season XP or the regular soft points? I’ve thought that the deer season had huge hollow points where the plastic tips are inserted and suspected they would grenade. I killed my first deer with a 150 grain Power Point out of a borrowed rifle years ago. Since then, I’ve both shot 150 grain Power Points in factory ammo and reloaded them for a rifle that really loved them in factory ammo. If it was the soft points and your friend butchers his own deer, I’d really appreciate knowing what happened when he cut the deer open.

 

[175rltw]

Early on, the BT’s would expand very fast. Nosler constantly tinkered with each of their BT’s, most of the time toughening them up with thicker jackets, altering the composition of the lead, etc. Some went through 8-12 iterations before Nosler was happy with the terminal performance of a particular caliber and weight. Some were tough as nails from the get go….7mm 120 grain was tough as a brick, as it was specifically designed for metallic silhouette shooting. There are larger BT’s that are tough enough for elk hunting. If you like BT’s and I do, buy some current production bullets and you’ll be good to go.

I’ve killed elk a moose a mtn goat black bears and everything else like mule deer pronghorn whitetail and hogs with 120 ballistic tips running at 2850. From my 20” 7mm-08. Max charge of h4350.the load is compressed and only runs at 257 roberts pressures. Like 44,000CUP as per Hodgdon data. I through

the load together in 2006- it shot clover leafs and I said it’ll be good enough for the girls I go out with… and went hunting. I’ve always alwYs always in my mind felt like it was anemic- but really it’s still within it’s operating velocity / expansion window clocking 1800 fps at around 550 yards at it’ll still shoot through an elk up close

I always want to work up a 3000 fps load for my rifle with varget or something but on everything from elk at 20 yards to pronghorns at 480 it’s been impeccable. I just can’t see changing anything.