[Davers]

Well, yesterday Nov. 13th was our opening day for Rifle Season for Deer. Got out to my stand early & was situated at he edge of my back field. Took my Browning A-Bolt in .308 and factory 150 grain Silvertip (the old style) a friend gave me a couple of years ago. I think he bought the ammo back in the late 1990's. Anyway, a nice Buck shows up at the wood's edge trailing a Doe, about 150 yards away from me. He stopped allowing me to get off a shot which I had my crosshairs square on his Lung/Heart area & I fired. The Buck went down, but then got up and sneaked quickly off I fired again but missed. Got down and walked over to where I hit him but saw very little blood, just a few drops, so I started looking for him which I found him in a very tough spot fillled with vines, small pines & Blackberry briers. Got him out, with the help of a neighbor, who was hunting nearby. The Buck traveled about 100 yards into the brush area. When I got him situated to field dress him I noticed the exit bullet hole was only slightly larger than the entrance hole, again in the Lung/heart area. I though this was strange as I've used silvertips in my .270 and the exit hole was much larger than the entrance. Even on a 170 grain .30-30 silvertip bullet. Just wondering if the 150 grain Silvertip bullet Winchester used in this lot of factory ammo was 150 grain bullets intended for the .30-06 or .300 Win Mag. I know for a fact that a .308 will kill a Deer at 150 yards and my Browning A-bolt is very accurate, as the bullet hole was just where I placed it. The 150 grain S.T. seemed to act like a FMJ bullet on that particular Buck. What do you guys think what happened?? This is the longest shot I have taken with a .308 as most of my shots are < 100 yards.

 

[Sinbad12-2007]

Personally, I'd say that this was just "luck of the draw". The .308 should be just fine out to 300 yards. I'd say the bullet didn't impact ANY bone and simply bored thru. I used silvertips in my .30-30, .308 and .30-06 for decades with no problem at all.

 

[magnumitis]

Without heavy bone contact, it's not at all uncommon for a whitetail to make the 100 yard mark following a heart/lung hit.

Also, if there was a lack of heavy bone contact, that could explain the small exit hole. What did the contents of the chest cavity look like??

It doesn't sound like you really had too much of a bullet "failure". Just one of them things. I know from much firsthand experience that the .308 Win and the old Winchester Silvertip (we used 180's) is one of the finest whitetail combo's that ever existed.

 

[Chief RID]

You probably got one lung and little else. The high lung hit blood trails can be a challenge. Good recovery. I hope he eats good.

 

[jwp475]

What ddi the enternal organs look like where the bullet passed? Judging expansion by the size of the exit hole in the hide is missleading for sure.

 

[gypsy savage]

In my experience a deer will usually always run after a boiler room shot. I have used rifles from 222 up to 300 wsm. Unless you hit high enough for the shock to mess with the spine or drill it in the shoulder they will run a short distance. They are dead they just don't know it yet. Unless your silvertip hit a rib or two it is not going to expand much bigger than you described.

 

[Saskshooter]

From your description, I see nothing "weird" about it. There are many variables that affect the results of a shot on game. None of the things you mention are outside of the "bell curve" of my hunting experience.

 

[Jack]

I think the others have pretty well hit it.
BTW, you really can't judge bullet performance by looking at exit holes. Many times, if you examine carefully while field dressing, you'll see terrific damage of heart and lungs, and a caliber size exit hole.
Don't get fooled by all the 'DRT' stories you hear. An awful lot of whitetails will go a short distance with totally destroyed lungs and heart, and maybe even shoulders, too- seen it happen.
Every shot is different, and deer are individuals, just like people are. There are too many variables to expect identical actions every time you shoot a deer.

 

[Davers]

You probably got one lung and little else. The high lung hit blood trails can be a challenge. Good recovery. I hope he eats good.

The 150 grainer S.T. got BOTH lungs & the cavity was full of blood when I field dressed him. I am assuming it was just one of those weird things that happen sometimes. YES, he will eat well as he was not spoiled & no foul odor.

 

[Davers]

I think the others have pretty well hit it.
BTW, you really can't judge bullet performance by looking at exit holes. Many times, if you examine carefully while field dressing, you'll see terrific damage of heart and lungs, and a caliber size exit hole.
Don't get fooled by all the 'DRT' stories you hear. An awful lot of whitetails will go a short distance with totally destroyed lungs and heart, and maybe even shoulders, too- seen it happen.
Every shot is different, and deer are individuals, just like people are. There are too many variables to expect identical actions every time you shoot a deer.

Jack, I agree with you & others on this, just never happened to me until yesterday. I was wondering if I were to use Silvertips, made for the .30-30, might allow for more expansion. I got over 200 of those type bullets. Then I could just use my reloaded ammo or Winchester 150 grain Power Points.

 

[magnumitis]

I was wondering if I were to use Silvertips, made for the .30-30, might allow for more expansion. I got over 200 of those type bullets. Then I could just use my reloaded ammo or Winchester 150 grain Power Points.

Wouldn't do that unless you are going to load them down to .30-30 velocities. The flat-nosed .30-30 ST's are sdesigned to run about 500 fps slower than the .308's and with all that nose surface they will surely come apart more violently than you want them to. I tried the 150 gr. ST'sfor the .308/.30-06 in a .300 Win Mag once. Again.....running 400-500 fps faster than designed to do. A good bit on the fragile side for reliable performance.

 

[Davers]

Wouldn't do that unless you are going to load them down to .30-30 velocities. The flat-nosed .30-30 ST's are sdesigned to run about 500 fps slower than the .308's and with all that nose surface they will surely come apart more violently than you want them to. I tried the 150 gr. ST'sfor the .308/.30-06 in a .300 Win Mag once. Again.....running 400-500 fps faster than designed to do. A good bit on the fragile side for reliable performance.

Thanks, great advise. Guess the .30-30 S.T's would be too lightly constructed. Good for Coyotes though!

 

[Old Grump]

Ditto the above, where it was hit not what it was hit with. I've had a doe at 100 yards hit twice with a 300 Wby stand there and look at me before trotting off to die 200 yards away on top of the ridge. I have had deer shot with 357 mag, 44 mag revolvers, 32 Win spcl carbine and a .308 rifle drop where they were shot at. Bullet placement is 90% of the battle.

 

[unclepaddy]

Quite often bullets expand to a great extent, then shed the rolled-back "mushroom" in pieces, only to exit with a small chunk of the base intact.

 

[BarkBuster20]

Thanks, great advise. Guess the .30-30 S.T's would be too lightly constructed. Good for Coyotes though!

In my opinion you wouldnt have any problems using the 150 grain 30-30 S.T's on deer, even with full throttle loads out of your .308, especially with lung shots, you might encounter slight over expansion if you were to shoot a deer on the shoulder at close range, heck i had a 225 gr (.338) nosler partition fail to exit on a broadside elk, shoulder shot at 10 yards. I would give it a try, especially in the situation you encountered, the 30-30 S.T's would have performed flawlessly.

 

[Bird Dog II]

I think the others have pretty well hit it. BTW, you really can't judge bullet performance by looking at exit holes. Many times, if you examine carefully while field dressing, you'll see terrific damage of heart and lungs, and a caliber size exit hole. Don't get fooled by all the 'DRT' stories you hear. An awful lot of whitetails will go a short distance with totally destroyed lungs and heart, and maybe even shoulders, too- seen it happen.

Had the same exact thing happen yesterday evening. I shot an average size doe with a 165gr .30-06 through the rib cage, lungs turned to mush, totally destorying one shoulder on exit. It was not an easy shot due to the angle and distance (100 yds quartering away in thich brush) and based on how she took off, I was sure I had missed.......until I heard her pile up. No way an animal should be able to run 100 yds with those injuries, but she did. It happens. Next time you might hit one exactly the same way with the same load and it could die in place. Go figure.