Update on my pet load mentioned above (129 gr Hornady interlock in front of 36 grains AXMR 2495). Collected my first deer with this load on 12/1, a 110# field dressed 3.5 year-old 10 point buck. Shot was quartering forward at 100 yards. Aimed just past shoulder in an attempt to ruin less meat, bullet hit about an inch further left than where I was aiming because he turned away just as I fired. With the angle this meant the bullet penetrated at about a 45 degree angle through the rear 1/3 of the rib cage, slicing rearward through the diaphragm about 2 inches below the spine, and exited the opposite flank right at the front edge of the ham. Left about a dime-sized exit hole with very little blood leakage.
Needless to say, not the best shot placement, but the result was remarkable. Dissection later revealed an intact heart, both lungs, and liver, no damage to the digestive tract, and no spinal injury. There was a good amount of blood in the chest cavity, though. The only thing I can figure is that the rearmost section of the aorta and/or vena cava just before the diaphragm must have been ruptured.
Despite no major organ hits and no spinal injury, the buck went straight down upon being hit. Four or five seconds later he jumped up and turned 180 degrees around and fell immediately in a heap only about 5 feet from where he first went down. After waiting five minutes with no movement I approached and he was stone dead.
Last year I shot a good-sized buck in the same area of the rear chest cavity, rupturing part of the liver and no other organs (very similar damage to this year's buck) with a 130 grain .270 bullet. That buck ran about 130 yards before piling up. There does seem to be something about the bullet weight/velocity combo of the Swede that seems to put them down, at least so far in my limited experience.
