Originally Posted by
yeoman
Well then, this seems settled. Plenty of deer have been killed with a 22LR.(Though the 45-70 references are the opposite end of the spectrum from a 200xtp). I didn't like having to use my fingers to search the offside of the deer I killed just to find the exit wound nor following his tracks 100yds across the field with not a drop of blood in oncomming rain. Maybe I pushed the bullet too hard with 100gr but I'm looking for a bullet that performs from 10 to 200yds and the 200xtp doesn't appear to bo it for me. Might be fine at 200 but was not at 25. I guess that's why god made both blondes and brunettes.
I wonder if the hollowpoint got plugged somehow, causing the bullet to not expand? Keep in mind, one experience can be misleading, though I don't blame you for looking for a different bullet after that one.
I've killed 5 deer with the 200 grain XTP. My experience was opposite of yours - if anything, I thought the XTP over-expanded and fragmented on close range shots. This was with 95 grains T7 FFFG. It did just fine on longer range shots (80+ yards).
Based on 5 kills, at close range the XTP at this velocity would generally pancake and sometimes fragment, though the base of the bullet would still penetrate fairly well - 3 of the 5 kills were at close range, and I recovered all 3 bullets.
The other 2 kills were at 100+ yards, and both times the bullet passed thru and was not recovered. One was a neck shot that showed minimal signs of expansion. The other was a broadside shot that left a golf-ball sized exit hole. Both deer were DRT.
I stopped using the XTP because I wanted better penetration- switched to the 200 grain Shockwave/SST, and have had great performance from this bullet both in terms of penetration and expansion.
I think that 65 grains of powder with the XTP would work for deer, but personally I would keep the range shot. I set my dad up for the past few years with 70 grains of powder (but with a .45 cal 250 grain Deep Curl) that has worked very well at close range.
(by the way, nice shooting Semi!)