Hi velocity will kill like the hammer of thor on a broadside shot on deer, it will also bruise half the deer with a jelly muck of nasty crap...Hi velocity can fail from time to time and you will have to deal with that, particularly in smaller calibers..for the most part you are locked into broadside shots with hi vel as the bullets explode and a raking shot is not a good idea because of this...

Hi velocity does not work well on the bigger animals and tends to fail.

Hi velocity has a tendency to not leave good blood trails, whereas medium velocity and a larger bore will always leave a good blood trail.

Low velocity is about as bad as it sometimes kills very slowly, and contrary to common belief does not always leave good blood trails. I tracked an elk this year that went 300 yards with a lung shot and I found only two fingernail spots of blood, the wound closed. It was a Fed load with the Nosler bullet...The bullet was perfectly mushroomed but no exit hole..

I have chosen the middle ground, a 30 cal. 180 gr. or 200 gr. bullet at 2700 to 3000 FPS and I use a premium bullet, as that covers all the basis....I can take any shot offered, get a big hole, a good bloodtrail that is short, but I don't normally get instant death.

Take your pick.

My knowledge is limited to common sense and the Few deer I have shot. The first deer was at 20yds and went 3feet, down. It was shot with a 300 Weatherby and a 165gr Gameking. I forgot to practice at close range an thought I was shooting the heart & lungs, instead I hit the deer 4 to 5" below the back bone and completely missed the vitals. His back was broke immediatly. Yes velocity and mass put a 4" hole in the opposite side. When in doubt. More velocity and More Expanding Mass kills faster. Yes the toilet paper proves a good point but a better senario would be a tank Vs a BB gun. I'll bet he doesnt take one step using the tank.

Once a King always a King but once a night is enough

HI,

I think a lot dependens on the size of the bullet, and penetration, two holes are better than one in my mind.If the animal has one lung it can run, if two lungs are gone it is a hell a lot harder.I also like bigger bores as I do not have to worry as much if the bullet will expansed, if I start with a big diameter expansion is not as much of a concearn.Any bullet is not perfect so one can't count on it to expand.I would always like it to go through the animal for sure than have any question of it not. Thanks,Kev

With my 7mm rem mag I feel like I need to use premium bullets to realize the full potential of the cartridge. I've had failures at close range with Federal Hi Shok and Rem Core Lokt. With my 8mm Mauser plain jane factory loads work great every time. Core Lokt for deer and Power Point for bigger stuff.

I keep reading about big slow bullets and wound channels ect....Very few people shoot deer in the shoulder.....The ultra high vel. rifles at med range /shoulder shot/ in my opinion die instantly.And it isn t from a wound channel.The deers neurological system is ko d.They either die instantly or are paralysed for the seconds it takes for them to die.

I have taken deer with large, medium, and small calibers moving at velocities from slow to fast. I have NEVER had one drop at the shot from a hit in the heart, lungs. What gives? The most extreme example I can recall was a spike buck that I shot so close to the muzzle of my 300 Winmag. that my scope was useless. I just lined the barrel up and shot. This deer had ran about 75 yards when I pulled the trigger on him for the second time thinking my first shot must have somehow been off. The first shot had hit just behind the shoulder taking out both lungs and doing damage to the top of the heart, leaving a sizeable exit hole and an Extremely good blood trail to say the least. At the time I was using factory Rem. 180 grain Core-Lokt ammo.

I have taken a fair number of deer, some were "suspicious" some were not. Some were in high pressure areas and some were not yet none have ever dropped to the shot. Again, what gives? Sorry to interupt this thread with another question but every time I read about so many drop at the shot deer I can't help but wonder why that has been so elusive to me.

Hit a deer in the shoulder bone or the muscles surrounding the shoulder with a 30 06 from inside a 100 or a 300 mag form inside 200 and it will drop every single time.They say it wastes meat,but the shoulder isn t the best cuts anyways.The idea is to hit a large bone or muscular area,with enough energy,realitively close to the spine and kenetic pulse,hydrostatic shock,hydrolic wave ect. will kill the deer.That has been my experience,and that of all other high powered hunters I know.Most deer will die instantly without twiching.That can only be accounted for by shock to the neurological system.

I have shot a truck load of deer and elk and a boatload of plainsgame in Africa and with shots behind the shoulder with various calibers, I have had about as many instant kills as I have had animals that moved 20 to 50 yards. I don't really see what difference it makes one way or the other.

I've had a lot of instant deer kills with 7 MM Rem. A lot of people brag up the 300 Magnums, so I built one to take hunting last year. I only shot one deer with it a medium size Muley with a 180 Hornady. He was shot through both lungs at 100 yds. He ran approximately 80 yards; I have never had a deer hit there go close to that distance before. My wife shot 2 deer last year with a 22-250 and 70 Gr. Speers. One was an instant kill at less than 50 yds, through liver and 1 lung. The other was a Huge Buck that went maybe 3 steps, with one lung hit from 70 yds., severe downhill shot.

What can I conclude from these 3 kills? Nothing. The instant kill that my wife had reflects previous experience. Both of the others did not.

Ray, you are right, it doesn't make a difference if they run a little ways. About half the time they run in my direction or at least end up closer to me when they expire and that aint a bad thing Just can't help but wonder after reading about all the drop at the shot heart, lung shots why I havn't had it happen yet. Maybe the deer in my area are tougher than most

If you lung shoot a deer,even if you get the heart,it still has to bleed out.A relaxed deer may drop,or it may run no matter how powerful the round.Hit the shoulder,for that is wear it pays to shoot a powerful rifle.Ray,it doesn t matter unless you are buy a swamp or on heavily hunted state land,but its still cool to see them drop.

The best deer dropper i have ever had was 243 with 100 corelokts,usually no steps. the next best was a 264mag shooting a 140gr round nose.The worst experience was with a 32special & 170gr flat nose bullet.After 50 or so deer i would think a good controlled expanding bullet at 2650-3000fps ,with good sectional density,regardless of weight will do the job on deer at short ranges.