Unless the deer is recovered, you have no idea where you hit it. Just because you shoot it well on the bench does not mean you did that particular shot equally as well. Nor does knocking it off its feet.

I made the worst shot I have made on a deer in a decade last week. Prone off a bipod, rock steady, 300 yards at a 7-pt. He was quartering and stopping briefly while walking, but still I had no excuse to make anything but an easy shot on him. He dropped like a rock at the shot (I have it on film). Flopped a couple times, then still as 3 does practically ran him over fleeing. Dead deer, or so we thought. The shot felt perfect.

We turned our attention to 3 other bucks bedded further down in the field my buddy wanted to shoot at. After about 15 minutes while we were sizing them up, my buddy turned to get something from his pack and told me my buck was sitting up! I wheeled around and put another round into him.

Turns out I made an honestly poor shot for no apparent reason and hit him through the back hips; with the angle my bullet was about 6 inches right of where I'd aimed. I validated the gun by taking a similar shot on a rock at the same range, and hit within 1/2 inch of where I was aiming. Shot another animal 2 days later at 550 yards again perfect. If I had not retrieved that buck I could have blamed it on the bullet as every other shot I took was perfect, but having recovered him I KNOW I screwed up that shot somehow.

For all you know you may have done a similar thing. Without finding the deer you will never know. But if you've lost faith in the bullet I'd switch anyway, the last thing you need in your mind when you pull the trigger is doubt in your equipment.