Well, I can understand that at the rate a standard 30.06 powder charge will whip a lighter 125 gr bullet, it would most likely not hold up well when hitting dense matter such as bone. I wonder what the comformation of the bullet would look like even before it came in contact with the deer?
For the record, I do not reload, nor do I even know much on the basics of it, though I do know a couple in this area who do. Also, I am not into ballistics and the like, as most others in this area are not either. In this area, we have always just picked up our old deer rifles (whatever they may be) and headed for the hills. Several years ago, when trophy hunting finally caught on in this large area, I got caught up in it as well. Since I added trophy hunting to my routine, I get all of my meat deer out of the way in the early season and switch to "horns" soon after. So, the bucks I persue with the largest horns are usually on the most thick and sinewy deer in the area. Here, the mature bucks seem to develope wings and fly over the prairie like a jet, as most of all the cover here can be accessed by 4x4. Also, the mature bucks here will put the run on you well in advance, in most cases, without even looking back to see what spooked them. So, your shot opportunity averages about two full seconds as your big buck kicks up dust and leaves you behind. You can see where hunting antelope is little different than hunting mature bucks in this country. Under these circumstances, your bullet may at times, only strike the edge of the vitals, and on these larger bucks with a 100 gr bullet, it may not implode enough of the surrounding vitals area for a more reasonable "put down". Though, these circumstances "DO NOT" happen often, they "do" happen. And the fact that they "do" at times happen, it makes it my duty to try and terminate such a circumstance from happening again! This is where I thought that by stepping up to a larger caliber I could add more "shock" to the deer's body and gain that much more for "put down". I also was thinking that with a larger caliber I could utilize a larger bullet that would obviously cause more damage to the vitals and surrounding area, even on the more marginal shots. I may however, be getting ahead of my self on this thinking, though, as I wonder if all I really need is a bullet shot out of my .243, to be of a more explosive or damaging type such as the suggested "Barnes XLC" or the similar. If I can match the right bullet for my .243, that will spread wider damage to the vitals on the, sometimes occuring, marginal vital shots, than I may be able to keep my "well" shooting game getter. Now that I defined my situation better, what do you folks have to say of my thinking?
Huntrap
