Expansion Vs. Penetration for Whitetail

[texhookem]

Whats more important on whitetail: expansion or penetration? (I believe a good mix of both is best.(i.e: accubond, etc.)

[DM]

I want plenty of BOTH on EVERY animial, not just deer!!!

You never know when you will get a quartering shot, so you need good penetration. BUT, the biggest reason i want full penetration is, you almost NEVER get any amount of bleeding out of an entrance wound!! You need an exit hole for good bleeding, and if you need to trail the animial, you want a blood trail!!!!!

I shot the buck in the pictures a "few days ago", and you can see in the pictures what i've seen over and over on 99.9% of the animials i've harvested.

I did "not" wipe the deer off in anyway, but the deer did land on the entrance wound side, after running about 20 yards through the brush..

I shot the deer with a Nosler partition, and the reason i like them so much, is because the nose blows off for good expansion, but the base at the partition drives on through!!!! I've literally shot hundreds of them!!!

There was a big hole in both lungs of this deer showing very good expansion, so the bullet did it's job well inside, before going on through leaveing an excelent exit hole!!

Drilling Man

Entrance wound,



Exit wound,

[Virginia7]

ORIGINAL: texhookem
Whats more important on whitetail: expansion or penetration? (I believe a good mix of both is best.(i.e: accubond, etc.)

Well, let's look at it this way, if it don't get into the vitals what the heck good is it?
So, I'd have to say penetration is the more important of the two, though of course, without expansion you may not have the terminal effects desired.
It's why I shoot Remington Core-Lokts, Federal Classic, and/or Winchester Power Points.
I want a bullet that will hold/penetrate, but not too tough so as to simply punch though
with little or no expansion.
This is one of the reasons the Nosler Partition became so popular. The front portion expands while the rear holds together to insure penetration. So, why don't I use them?
Cost. Whitetails, IMHO, just don't warrant the additonal expense as the other stuff noted will do the job.

Expansion without penetration is sort of like all show & no go (ask the Mrs.). Again, a good mix of both is best!

[texhookem]

yall know anything about using ballistic tips, do you think there a good example of "all show, no go". Ive heard to many bad things to even try them.

[texhookem]

DM....that picture reminds me of the same exact thing i see from my whitetail when shot with an accubond, tiny entrance big exit, maybe even a little bigger.... but i dunno what caliber ur shooting....anyways im thinking about using

[frizzellr]

yall know anything about using ballistic tips, do you think there a good example of "all show, no go". Ive heard to many bad things to even try them.

I use BT bullets. Nosler CT Ballistic Silvertips to be exact and sometimes plain Nosler BTs. I will tell you straight up they are not "all show". I trust them more than I would a CoreLokt. I have yet to have a BT fail to penetrate enough for a pass through and they leave a good exit hole.

[texhookem]

frizzle, what range do u normally shoot your whitetails?

[frizzellr]

Anywhere from bow range to 200 yards. Same result pretty much no matter what the range, a dead deer with mush for lungs and heart and a good size hole in one side and a small hole in the other.

[texhookem]

hmmm sounds good

[DM]

I have yet to have a BT fail to penetrate enough for a pass through and they leave a good exit hole.

Between my father and my self, we both have shot quite a few Nosler 165 Balistic Tips, out of a 30-06. On deer about 70% of them left exit holes.. (40 to 100 yard shots average) On Caribou, i'd say about 10% went on through. (150 to 200 yard shots) Many times on both deer and caribou the bullet broke up.

This is on rib shots, and if the animial was quartering they just didn't penetrate deeply enough for me. "If" you hit a big bone, they ruined quite a bit of meat!!! I can't remember right now what else i've used them on???????????

As a whitetail bullet out of an 06, it was a pretty good bullet, but for us, not all of them went on through.

Keep in mind, as you choose a round with a "higher" V, you will get "less" penetration with the same bullet used at lower V.

I shot the caribou in the picture with 165 BT's out of an 06.

Drilling Man