anyone?

[mauser06]

anyone ever shoot a deer with a 338 ultra mag or bigger or something about that big??? heres the story....my friend was hunting with one....terrible shot and misses and wounds deer every year...so every year he gets a bigger gun...this year he done it again....a 338UM....loaded with 89 grains of powder and a 200gr nosler ballistic tip...... when me and my dad bring deer back he tends to get mad/jealous....just because he wants deer but isnt much of a hunter...not dissing him or anything i known him all my life...he goes hunting a day or 2 a year and thats it....doesnt scout or anything....well last year we brought deer back and it made him so mad he left camp and didnt come back.......this year he was at it again...storms out of camp grabs his gun and within 45 mins is back with a little tiny doe...maybe 80lbs.....the holes were normal...20 or 30 cal holes.....nothing huge at all...my 3006 has done way more....meat not bruised or anything excessive......i really dont know if he shot it....i mean when these bullets hit dirt it blew ALL over the place.....its like you light a GIANT firecracker where these things hit....i think the bullet moving about 4000fps would exploded or went right through but i think the shock alone would bruised the heck out of the whole area....what do you think? this is a kid that got pretty jealous.....and always has a decint bit of money on him.....and i honestly can see him buying a deer off somebody.....what do you think? anyone actually know?? i was just wondering....everyone at camp tends to think he didnt shot it......heck he could barely made it to his spot and back in 45 mins with a deer on the way back.....he would had to move pretty hard with that deer to make it back that fast.....alot of guys use the same trail he does to get to his spot......waht do you think?? i mean i know the bullets not designed for deer and may not exploded......but i think it woulda bruised most of it or something....more then the little bit it did.....and no im not jealous.....ive killed deer......i killed a doe much much larger then the one he came back with that day....it just amazes me something that big did so little to a deer.......anyone? thanx.......just thinking.....id like to know.....i think it would done more

[akbound]

Hi mauser06,

I have no opinion about whether your friend shot the deer or not. But I would highly suspect that even considering the velocity...that bullet was intended for game heavier than 80 pound deer. I've got a feeling that the bullet never expanded (or just barely started) and most of the energy was expended somewhere behind the deer. Which very well could result in caliber sized holes in and out!

[charlie brown]

I know a guy that shot an antelope a couple of years ago with a .338 RUM. Can't remember which bullet though. He said the exit wound was about the size of a coffee cup. I would think it would be like that with a ballistic tip at that velocity also, could be wrong though.

[mauser06]

thats the thing that gets me......i see both points.....but the thing that gets me is it wasnt even bruised badly.....i seen a good bruise from a 270...one of the only deer i actually looked at skinned.....now i open mine up and look...my '06 always bruises some meat....but my friends deer didnt even bruise badly or anything....just a plain old hole in and out....but a ballistic tip moving that fast i think would pretty much acted like a 55grain HP....just explode....i mean its a little heavy....but 180s open in deer perfectly....i dont see why a 200gr wouldnt open cruising 1000fps more then the 180s out of a 3006 or whatever....i can see both sides of the case.....its just hard to say.....now if it was a BIG bullet like a big soft nose...id definently say he shot it and it was designed for elephants not deer....but a 200gr ballistic tip.......its hard to say......but when they hit the mud around the target he was missing it was just exploding like a bomb was in the bullet.......nothing like a 3006 or anything "small" does.....ive never seen anything like it...so i really dont know......anyone else??

[akbound]

Well, especially if it didn't hit ribs or other bones it may well have sailed on through. Ballistic Tips are generally fairly "soft" compared with many other expanding bullets....but they aren't quite varmint bullets....especially in a .338. That bullet was probably designed with deer and other "smallish medium game" in mind, but an 80 pound deer doesn't offer much resistance. I would be kind of surprised to see no bruising....but stranger things have happened.

Though your original description sounds alot like a .357 to .44 Magnum at handgun velocities. (Not a HP but a rather good Soft Point....or even hard cast lead.) But who knows?

[popeye]

If several of your hunting group use the same trail to get to their spots it shouldn't be too hard to see where he dragged the doe out or find the spot where he dressed it. Ask yourself some questions and draw your own conculsion from the answers. Was he excited? Did he have a story on his kill? Every inexperianced hunter that I know likes to tell a very colorful story about the deer they tag. Did anyone hear a shot about the time and in the same general area your friend killed his deer?

Oh, a bigger gun doesn't make up for poor shooting skills. Sorry, I just had to get that in.

[James B]

Hits with big caliber bullets intented for moose or Bear size game often don't do much on smaller game. The tough bullets that expand well on a cape buffalo are not made to expand on small deer . There are many who think useing a cannon on deer will replace good shot placement. A hit in the leg with a 700 nitro express is still just a leg wound. With good shot placement a 30-06 will drop any animal on this planet. A poor shot with a 460SOB will be just that a poor shot.