XTP Exit Hole Or Entrance Hole? You Decide
 

XTP Exit Hole Or Entrance Hole? You Decide

The winner of this game I will send a video for free called “Trophy Score”. The DVD will be a gift to the first person who can guess the picture that contains the exit wound. Think hard. There is no trick photography. These are the actual pics we took of my deer shot with a 240g XTP using 100g BH 209.

This is a follow up from my original thread on “First BH 209 Dear”.

As we remember, I have great respect for XTP bullets for deer hunting. However, I had no blood trail on my latest deer that I shot at 120 yards. Even though the deer was recovered just 90 yards away, my concern was that maybe BH 209 pushes the XTP to fast for its intended design.

So for fun, I thought I would post some pics of the entrance and exit hole of the deer. What I would like is for you to tell me which picture you guess is the entrance hole and which one is the exit hole?

After a couple of dozen guesses I will tell you who got the question right. The winner can PM me their address and I will send them the video.




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The bottom pic is the exit.

Wow they look the same,guess someone had a 50/50 chance of guessing right lol!been my experience the exits wounds are larger and nastier looking from expansion and pushing parts that may be hit on the way out...interesting

Doug100g

Guessing... #4 entrance #3 Exit... really hard to tell - should be able to tell more with shots inside the chest cavity....

2&4 are entrance, 1&3 are exit holes.

NICE! Perfect shot placement

1&3 are exit holes
2&4 are entrance holes

1 and 3 are entrance holes. 2 and 4 are exit holes.

The holes are the same diameter. Where the XTP entered, it hit a rib and split the rib. Upon exit, it hit between the ribs. Both lungs were struck in the hoop.

As I told you before no blood trail of any significance. And no mushrooming of XTP upon exit.

Looks like Grouse got it right from the start. PM me your address Grouse so I can send you the video.

Thanks to the rest for guessing. I know it was hard to tell from pics where the bullet entered and exited but the holes where that small.

My next deer will be shot with a Barns Tez and I will post pics of what it does upon entering or exiting.


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Doug100g

Somehow I knew you were throwing reverse phycology(sp) in there but I went with my eyes...

Although, not always is the size of the exit hole the detirming factor. It is really what the bullet does as it crosses the body.

A couple of examples would be the Nosler, Barnes, and Lehigh.

None of these bullet may create a large exit hole, but the destruction they do inside is noteworthy.

Example:

This is a recovered Noser .458/300 Partition from an elk I shot a couple years back. For a Nosler this is absolute best expansion.



This particular shot did not make a large exit wound at all. Came out of the hide and made a 3/4" hole.

The results... the animal took a couple steps turned 180* and dropped on the spot.



I am pointing to the exit wound... not very impressive huh?

But what did it do in between.



Inside... when I opened her up - all the organs in the chest cavity were ruptured... not much were you able to recognize other than all of the dark red jello in the chest cavity.

Another example might be this year deer harvest. I was shooing a 40 cal/200 grain Lehigh. The entrance hole was really less than impressive.. 40 is awful small, and the exit was also 40 cal but what it did in between was awesome if not amazing. This animal also only moved a few feet and turned 180*

The exit wound on this deer is just to the left of the objective lens on the scope - you can see some blood in the area.... not real impressive at all. But it was pretty much a bang flop.



But again the internal damage was so great it over road the animals instinct to run... it just simply could not...



I should also say that are times when I do not get these clean shots and the bullet contacts a solid bone on the way out and really creates a big hole on the way out....

So all I am trying to say is not everything can be judged by hole size...

Inless you have the bullet in your hand, you don't know if it mushroomed...The faster a bullet is travelling the faster it mushrooms the more internal damage it makes and the faster it slows down...

The problem is, once it slows down it will not make as large of an exit hole, it will simply punch through the hide...The hide on the off side actually acts like a catcher's mitt...It expands out and stops many bullets that have slowed down and mushroomed...

Where that deer was shot you wouldn't have had a blood trail even if hit with say a 150gr Nosler Partation from a 30-06...

You'll have a higher percentage of exits and blood trails if you are hunting from a tree stand and hitting them about 4 inches above the bottom of the chest...

That bullet actually did a good job it killed the deer and did enogh internal damage that it fell within a hundred yards of the hit... :)

Doug, which 240 grain XTP bullet were you using?



Bingo!!!! A lot more bang flops too. Most of my deer and hogs are shot from tree stands.

After I thought this one over I decided not to guess, why? Well after shooting 240gr XTP's for over 15 Years I have seen some remarkable Entrance and Exit Hole's made by them.
On a few occasions I have seen Entrance Holes as big as the bottom of a can of COKE and the same for Exit Hole's. So this one can go either way.
(BP)

I still don't see a problem with the performance of this bullet. However like Falcon said, "What type XTP did you use?" I personally don't use the magnum bullets in my ML's. They were meant for the lever guns, using centerfire cartridges.

Afte seeing the entry and exit holes, I bet you had a lot of blood trapped in the body cavity. Did you shoot it from the ground?

I used the T/C XTP with the black mag sabots. They come in boxes of 30 at Gander Mnt. I also have the Hornady with the green sabot but did not use it on that day.

The shot was from 12 feet up in a tree stand at about 120 yards. So I guess it was more of a level shot.



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Hey thanks for that SL. Good info there. I'm still learning. It's a big bridge to cross after killing many deer with riffled slugs (12 gauge) over the years, but I am doing it. :)




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There are two 240 grain XTP bullets. One is the 240 grain .430 XTP and the other is the 240 grain .452 XTP magnum. The two bullets can behave very differently on deer. The 240 grain .452 magnum bullet is very tough and may not expand on a deer if bone is not hit.

i use the .430 bullet. A couple guys i sometimes hunt with use the .452 bullet on hogs but not on deer.

The bullet on the left is the 240 grain .430 XTP bullet. The 240 grain .452 XTP magnum bullet has a nose like the bullet on the right.

Doug100g

Normal lead copper bullets will normally provide a larger exit than entrance hole.

The bullets I try shoot are geared more at penetration than flay expansion. But in that penetration they must provide a dramatic would in between the entrance and exit. Because of the a .458 bullet going in will make about a 1/2" and coming out expeanded to 3/4" they make a slightly larger hole... in the norm.

A normal lead copper bullet will do some things differently.... It will go in being somewhat near 1/2" and when the pass through they might come out more on the 1" side. Usually resulting in a larger exit hole. Also because the expand larger - closer to 1" they tend to slow down and loose penetration. These same bullets can and often do close to same amount of damage in between the layers of hide.

This being my favorite lead/copper regular priced bullet... You can see how much expansion has taken place and how with it's new surface area will slow down quicker than the Nosler, Barnes, Lehigh.



Also remember these are bonded copper/lead bullets that are engineered to provide controlled expansion. Compare these to that expanded Nosler and you can see what I mean by surface area. You can see the difference.

Rifled slugs act a bit different that the bullets you might be using now. The thing is I think you are using your capacity of investigation to find out and get suggestions.

ML hunting is a great activity... you will make your way along... make some decisions and some choices - learn and end loving the activity... A little bit will never be enough....

@ Falcon. The XTP on the left is the one I am using. Thanks for the clarification.

@ Sabotloader: That expertise is what I was looking for. I think the light bulb is going on.

@ BP: What you are saying is making sense to me.



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Doug100g

When it becomes a full bright light and not a night light you will never turn back from ML shooting - you might even start all hunting with a ML..

mike