TargetPanic,
As promised, here is my field report on the Bloodlines.
As mentioned in a previous post, I've used Barnes for years but decided to give some 250 grain Bloodlines a try.
On paper, with 100 grains of BH209 I was able to shoot a 1.5" group at 100 yards. I only shot 4 shots and was fine with that for now, I can fine tune later. On paper they were as advertised.
After seeing several small deer over the past week, a mature doe finally gave me a shot this morning. I was slightly higher than her, I would estimate a 20 degree incline? and she was slightly quartered towards me I would say, her front was slightly lower than her back and only about 40 yards out. I put the crosshairs behind the shoulder, center mass figuring I'd hit a tad high and squeezed it off.
After the shot, the deer (5 or 6 total) kind of scattered but were still around, after the smoke cleared I wasn't sure what deer I hit, if she dropped in her tracks or....if I had missed. So, for a few seconds I continued to watch when I noticed one deer with her tail tucked and occasional flick (as they do at times when they're hit). Sure enough, she went up and immediately bedded down and quickly expired. I would estimate from bang to down was only about 10 seconds at most, mentally, it was about 30 seconds but we all know how that goes.
She only went about 40 yards so I went down to where she was when I shot. I could not find any sign of blood. I went to where she was laying and backtracked to find blood. There was some about 5 yards from where she expired and very little between there and where the shot was. Granted, for the first in several years, we don't have snow on the ground in Iowa right now. I looked her over when I got to her, entry wound was right on the mark but, much to my surprise, there was no exit wound, low on the opposite side forward of the diaphragm area as I expected. I could see a couple spots where hair was messed up and upon further review of those areas, were probably where petals exited but, I missed the massive exit wound I'm used to with the Barnes and the bloodtrails I get with them. Granted, this time, 40 yds and watching her go down, blood trail was not required.
However....field dressing revealed significant damage. Her vitals, to put it mildly, were destroyed! I think every ounce of blood was in her chest cavity. Quite the mess for sure. Then, I noticed that her gut/stomach was nicked by either the bullet base or a petal ripping through there. I was not particularly fond of that. I'm still reliving the shot to figure out how it would be possible that the base of the bullet would take that path, I don't know. So, if that was the the main exit wound, the bullet base did not travel a straight line. Didn't expect that either. I guess, the base being lighter could tumble and go off path?
My assessment: I need a few more test cases to be totally sold. I will say, the bullet more than did it's job! It did the job and she expired quickly. That's really what matters most.It did that! Terminal performance was unreal. When I opened up her chest cavity, the Lehigh Defense/TwangnBang video quickly came to mind. This video clearly demonstrates the massive shock. Hope I'm violating any rules by posting here but if you've not seen this video, it's a good one on controlled fracture of the 300 grain 45/70 bullet that sabotloader uses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmpFcIhPY34.
- I was not impressed with the exit wound or lack of. Even if there was spot on exit wound, it will never be larger than the entry wound. That concerns me (bowhunting mentality where large open exit wounds are everything and if those get clotted or plugged, it's not a good thing for bloodtrails or tracking). My son shot a decent 9 point a few days ago with a 290 grain Barnes. Perfect shot, right through the vitals, that deer still managed to travel about 100 yards before going down. It went though swampy area, grass and pines, without a good blood trail, it would have taken a little more work for sure.
- I'm not really concerned about the petals finding there way into the meat really, again I didn't like it going past the diaphragm area and into the stomach with a well placed shot but, not like you can control where those things go.
- I was impressed with the terminal performance. I don't know the science behind it but I'm guessing there must be more shock and trauma than a traditional expanding bullet. Again, watch the above video and imagine that going on in the rib cage.
- It worked very well this time period. If it performs like this every time where shot placement is right on, then I won't need to worry about a blood trail.
- These are for sure not a one and done (i.e. Powerbelts) I'll hang on to these and try them out on a few more deer.
I hang/age my deer for 7-10 days hide on so I'm sure I'll know more once I skin her and see what's what a little better.
There you go, it worked awesome for me this morning, if I can get over the lack of massive exit wound hangup, I might stick with them.
I look forward to your report out as well TargetPanic, hope you season treats you well (as well as everyone's)