Thread: The gentlemen’s caliber

Originally Posted by 300CALMAN

To be honest I have only ever shot goats (including my first) with 243 and noticed that their thin bodies often failed to expand some projectiles. I must say it was a fun caliber to shoot but that experience made me question it's suitability for deer.

The way I look at what you say here, and I get what you're saying, is that its the other way round... I'd be questioning the suitability for the bullet on the goat more than the deer. The over penetration and under expansion on the goat is a function of its very light skinned frame. As you increase the "toughness" and bodyweight of the animal, you reduce the tendency to over penetrate, and increase expansion. So a much heavier deer with increased muscle mass and much larger internal organs is a totally different proposition. The bullet will open up much more readily.

To counter this problem on goats, you can decrease bullet hardness, on goats the 75gr and 87gr V-Max for example are instant death with a broadside chest shot. But on a good red hind? They are well iffy for sure, especially if you hit the scapula.

Hard bullets, thin bodies? Bad combination. Lots of bullets generate over penetration these days, the current craze for controlled expansion bullets in smaller calibers for use on light game animals is a fool's errand as far as I'm concerned.

So soft is good, not full on varmint soft, but definitely not "controlled expansion". Somewhere in the middle. Traditional cup and core soft points with relatively thin jackets. Sierra had it right with the smaller ProHunters and GameKings since forever.