How can we agree on what bullet is perfect if when there is disagreement on how a bullet should perform. That is, should it stay in the animal or exit. I've killed a number of coyotes with a .17 Remington where there is no exit hole, but ones at 200 yards or closer pretty much just flopped over dead. However, during the last couple winters I've shot a number of whitetail does with a 6mm-06 with the Nosler 70-grain Ballistic Tip bullet, mostly under 250 yards, and though all were recovered, some ran 50 to 100 yards. Over the last couple winters I've also shot a number of whitetail does, mostly over 400 yards, with a .338-.378 Weatherby with 225-grain Nosler Accubonds. Impact velocity was lower with the .338-378 and of course all bullets exited. However, even with the big gun, some ran 50 yards and one doe, hit perfectly ran about 200 yards. Since the 6mm-06 bullets were not exiting, all their energy was used inside the deer. Since the .338-.378 bullets all exited, those bullets still had energy after exiting, maybe a lot of energy. I would not be surprised if they could have penetrated 3 or four deer. Anyway, by the time the 6mm-06 bullets make it most of the way to the far side of a deer's chest cavity I think the velocity would be fairly low so that the lung on the far side of the animal would receive little hydraulic shock. I think the .338-378 bullets would have hardly slowed down so that the lung on the far side of the deer's chest cavity would still get a lot of hydraulic shock. However, I would not say it appeared the larger rifle was a lot better at killing deer quickly. The big difference was that the .338-.378's big exit holes made much better blood trails. The only rifle load I've seen that seems to consistantly make close to instant kills is the 120-grain Hornaday hollow points from a 7mm STW with a 1-in-12 twist barrel at 3,650 fps muzzle velocity and this is for antelope. My hunting buddy appropiately named that rifle "Sudden Death" after seeing how it performed.
