I witnessed a deer shot today @ 50 yds. 250gr ftx 110gr-T7 and a harvester short black. Bang-flopped him. I bought these bullets strictly for punching paper. They were on sale and fly like the sst/shockwaves so I figured I had some good range bullets. Took a youngster hunting today and honestly didn't expect to have a whole lot of luck. Figured I'd try an FTX load. Boy was I mistaken. A high shoulder shot did the trick. The bullet was not recovered(pass through). I don't believe they are the best performing bullet out there by a long stretch. It just makes me wonder how so many guys can make these "well placed" shots with a .45 caliber projectile and blame poor bullet performance for a lost or wounded animal???
Anybody who claims the shot was "well placed" but the animal is not recovered, is probably a bit mistaken about how well-placed the shot was.
Archery is one story; with a gun, however, I've never shot a deer through both lungs or the heart and not recovered it.
I HAVE made a couple shots I thought were perfect, the found upon recovering the animal that my shot was NOT what I thought it was.
If the shot is claimed to be perfect, but the animal runs far enough not to be recovered, I assume the shot was poorly placed unless proven otherwise.
Story: Several years ago I was having a slow morning and gave up. I was carrying my Traditions Lighting LD ML and a Rem 11-87 belonging to a friend. I started walking in when someone started shooting in a woods 1/2 mile away. I stopped on my ditch and watched to see if they spooked any deer. Sure enough, 3 does started straight for me.
I dropped prone, getting the ML up on its bipod. The does stopped 75 yds down the ditch; the first one walked across and stopped broadside, and looked in my general direction (not AT me). I aimed carefully, prone on a bipod, and squeezed off the .357 Duplex Dead Center.
When the smoke cleared, the deer was FACING me, standing straight up on its back legs, and toppled over backward DRT. The other two bolted across the field, I switched to the 11-87 and emptied it dropping a second deer (kill shot was 1st shot of course, having more than 1 shot is over-rated!!).
I was shocked upon examining the first doe. I had NOT hit her broadside, but straight in the front of the chest!! I recovered the bullet flattened against her stomach. Somehow, between when the recoil ruined my sight picture and the bullet arrived, that doe turned 90 degrees. Had she turned 90 degrees the other way I would have shot her in the butt but sworn I had a perfect chest shot.
Only recovery tells the true story.