ORIGINAL: gleason.chapman
ORIGINAL: spaniel
This is what I will say about some of those reviews. I read Cabelas reviews a lot and sometime they are good and sometimes they amuse me.
1) One guy says the deer traveled 50 yards but he was not impressed with the damage. The deer traveled 50 YARDS. That is hardly a far run and perfectly acceptable. If you want them DRT every time, use artillery!!!
2) Another claims they don't expand, entrance and exit same size but good damage in between. #1, no bullet recovered so you can't say for sure it didn't expand (see my pic of XTP). #2, if there is good damage in between and the deer drops in short order, what's the problem??
3) Another claims they don't expand, pencil through, and they let SEVERAL deer go 2 hours before finishing off with another load (STILL ON FEET). Buddy, if your deer is still on its feet after 2 hours, YOU STINK, not the bullet. You did NOT shoot it in the heart or lungs. You gut shot it and expect an exploding bullet of some sort to make up for your p!$$ poor shooting ability. No deer shot through the lungs with ANYTHING will be alive after 2 hours. I can buy poor blood trails, but this is evidence of just bad shooting and I cannot blame the bullet. Fifty or so deer I've shot with this bullet, maybe 10-15 of them shoulder shots, the rest though the ribs/lungs and none made it more than 100 yards. If this 2 hour stuff was the norm with a lung shot I'd have seen it!
I posted 2 pics of bullets I was able to recover because I shot them through the shoulder. This is not reflective of the majority of the deer I shoot with the 200SW, which are shot lower through the ribs/lungs and exit every time yet drop DRT or within a short distance. Hard to recover such bullets downrange. No, I cannot post pictures showing them expanded but I have a lot of dead deer that couldn't tell the difference!
The wife is out of town unexpectedly so she can't stop me from trying to fill my last 2 doe tags tomorrow morning!! I'll see if I can gather some more evidence...I just loaded the long-range Omega with a 200SW and the X7 with a 300 bonded SW.
Spaniel, I agree with you assessment of the reviews. I also agree that SW is good bullet, but I would claim it is designed for long range shooting, not close back east in the wood 50 to 80 yard shots. Most guys have problems when the see the BDC scope, get a 250 sw and shoot it 50 yards at a deer and then because of smoke, not a poor hit can't find a blood trail. I just wanted to point out that there is a downside to SW, as evidenced by the reviews and some testimony of fellow members on this board.
Chap
Chap,
Don't get me wrong, I do agree with you that the SW is probably not the best bullet out there if you know your shots are going to be under 100 yds. I'm sure a true hollowpoint design will, on average, lead to better blood trails (I'm not an XTP fan though, but a Barnes or Precision Rifle HP or Nosler).