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This topic comes up enough that I thought I'd toss out a picture of two 300 grain, .44 caliber XTP's recovered inside deer. Both bullets saw a lot of bone in the neck/shoulder/spine areas of both deer. The one on the left traveled from the upper shoulder along the neck and spinal column to a point right at the back of the jaw bone on the opposite side of the entry. The other bullets traveled from a bit high in the shoulder on an approaching quarter angle shot, thru about 8 inches of spine, two ribs and lodging just in front of the opposite hind quarter. Both deer were on dirt on contact. Both deer were shot at less than 100 yards but over 60. The load for each bullet was 77 weighed grains of 209 powder and the bullets wore a green crush rib. The wound channel on both deer was about 2" with minimal amounts of damage to usable meat. As can be seen, the bullets did what they were supposed to.
Sometimes I wonder if bullet function doesn't get passed by when people are working up hunting loads. Certainly accuracy has to be a factor but if a bullet gets over-loaded will it still perform as these have or will it completely fragment? If its under loaded, will it still function as its designed to. Like many others here I prefer a pass-thru on my hits to get blood on the ground if needed, but if , like in these two instances, a shot has to be made in bonier parts of the animal will the bullet do its job the way it should? I've been totally happy with the way the XTPs work but I am wanting to get the lead out of the hunting equation and wonder how well the Barnes coppers work in similar situations as these two. Has anyone recovered any of the copper bullets from similar hits with similar loading to offer as a comparison? I'm not talking copper bullets from end to end mush hits, I'm talking serious bone in the neck front shoulder area type of hits.
Sometimes I wonder if bullet function doesn't get passed by when people are working up hunting loads. Certainly accuracy has to be a factor but if a bullet gets over-loaded will it still perform as these have or will it completely fragment? If its under loaded, will it still function as its designed to. Like many others here I prefer a pass-thru on my hits to get blood on the ground if needed, but if , like in these two instances, a shot has to be made in bonier parts of the animal will the bullet do its job the way it should? I've been totally happy with the way the XTPs work but I am wanting to get the lead out of the hunting equation and wonder how well the Barnes coppers work in similar situations as these two. Has anyone recovered any of the copper bullets from similar hits with similar loading to offer as a comparison? I'm not talking copper bullets from end to end mush hits, I'm talking serious bone in the neck front shoulder area type of hits.