ted, you are definately not alone, I am surprised that the load you list did not offer better results. I was shooting a 300 grain XTP over 22.1 grains of 296 out of my Super RedHawk a few years ago and shot a decent 6 pointer that was trotting, angling away from me. I had what I thought was enough lead, but when I skinned the deer, I found I had hit him in the hip, and the bullet exited at the front of the opposite shoulder. Every vertebrae was destroyed, as well as the one hip and opposite shoulder. Very destructive bullets. Now I have to also say that I used the 240 grain XTP bullets on several deer, and never saw one go more than 20 yards with a soild hit, also I have never seen a well hit deer (buck or doe) jump when shot. I am guessing that either the deer was not hit as well as you think, or the bullets failed to open at all, and just cut a neat little hole through the deer. I was using a 45-70 a few years later loaded with 405 grain hard cast flat points over 53.1 grains of IMR 3031. A nice eight pointer was chasing a doe and they passed by me seven times, at a range of 10 to 25 yards. At each pass I would center the bucks chest or shoulders in the cross hairs and squeeze off a shot. Each time there was absolutely no reaction from the buck, but the doe would change directions. Finally the buck slowed down to a walk, then just laid down and bled out. All seven shots had passed through the lungs, both shoulders had two holes in them, and the heart also had two holes in it. I was able to recover one bullet from a tree stump, it showed almost no expansion.
