thanks guys for the reassurance, im still a little shy of the load because of the lack of pass thru. normally im a .243 man and have shot dozens of deer with the rem 100 grn load and never failed to have a pass thru at any angle. a little update on the second buck i mentioned, when i skinned him yesterday morn, i found the bullet in the hide just forward of the right hip. this would correspond with the angle and the entrance in the shoulder. this was a very large deer and in retrospect it passed thru about 4 ft of deer getting where it got.normally i hold out for a broadside shot or pass it up but this deer was the biggest ive ever seen in the wild and he wasnt getting away.i may explore some other bullet options but id like to stay with the 150 grn. thanks guys for your advice!wade.