It's interesting to read, in this thread and others, the different experiences with the same bullets. There is a lot of consistency in most experiences, but also some stark contrasts. For rife hunting I am all in favor of doing as much internal damage as possible, although I do not like seeing large masses of blood shot meat... and generally in favor of an exit that will leave blood for trailing if necessary. Trailing is obviously not an optimal situation but it is necessary on occasion and part of the hunting game, and is usually the result of an errant placed bullet. With the exception of one deer, I have never had to track any of my game animlas. They all either went straight down or wandered just a few yards. The one that I did have to track was my first deer and an attempted head shot from a tree stand almost directly above it. Also had to track a friends deer once that was put straight down with about a 100 yd offhand shot with a 30-06. We got across the coulee and to our surprise, the deer was gone. We followed a blood trail for over a mile that eventually dried up and disappeared on private property. No idea if the buck survived or not.
I have used many different bullets for taking game and all have performed well. There is no one perfect bullet for all situations, especially in LR. IMO, shot placement is the greatest critical factor.
To put this in a greater light, bow hunters have a whole different view of terminal performance. Options 1 and 2 do not apply and yet they get the job done. Just something to think about.
Mark
