bamaranger
New member
I recovered the bullet from a whitetail I killed recently, so obviously, mission accomplished. The deer tipped the scales at 170 lbs, with 8 pts, a very good buck. Deer collapsed at the shot and was killed very cleanly. Distance was 50 long paces. The bullet struck just at the rear of the near shoulder blade, took out a rib, and raked forward to clip the lower edge of the spine, and was found high in the tissue under the off shoulder blade. The wound, especially on the near side, seems a bit ragged. The entrance hole is a bit elongated, and a small swath of hair was cut before the slug entered tissue. The deer was quartering away, but not overly so, as near as I could tell. The light was not good.
The bullet was a .30 cal, 135 gr Sierra flat base Pro Hunter, intended for the .30 Herret, but in this case, shot from my Ruger 7.62x39 MkII, a reload showing an honest 2100 fps plus on my chrono. I have killed other deer with this combo, as has bamaboy, with no complaints, but this is the first such slug we've recovered.
But this slug is not expanded in any fashion one would like. The bullet appears near intact, the nose showing a slight skew with a distinct curved detent just behind the tip. The detent is about half the curvature of a drinking straw, say. The lead at the tip is missing and gives the appearance of one of the steel cased import hollow points that are so common, but it is indeed a Sierra PSP. The heel shows a bit of deformation on one side, but the bullet can be pressed back into a spent case, where in fact it resides now on a shelf with other such treasures. I wish I could do a pic, but hope this description suffices.
I guess anything is possible, and any comments are purely speculation I realize. But I'd be curious to hear any comments......Did the quartering away aspect "tip" the bullet prematurely, or did I hit a limb or twig and the bullet landed skewed from the start, did the shoulder cartilege or rib tip the bullet ? Other bullet failure stories welcome as well
The bullet was a .30 cal, 135 gr Sierra flat base Pro Hunter, intended for the .30 Herret, but in this case, shot from my Ruger 7.62x39 MkII, a reload showing an honest 2100 fps plus on my chrono. I have killed other deer with this combo, as has bamaboy, with no complaints, but this is the first such slug we've recovered.
But this slug is not expanded in any fashion one would like. The bullet appears near intact, the nose showing a slight skew with a distinct curved detent just behind the tip. The detent is about half the curvature of a drinking straw, say. The lead at the tip is missing and gives the appearance of one of the steel cased import hollow points that are so common, but it is indeed a Sierra PSP. The heel shows a bit of deformation on one side, but the bullet can be pressed back into a spent case, where in fact it resides now on a shelf with other such treasures. I wish I could do a pic, but hope this description suffices.
I guess anything is possible, and any comments are purely speculation I realize. But I'd be curious to hear any comments......Did the quartering away aspect "tip" the bullet prematurely, or did I hit a limb or twig and the bullet landed skewed from the start, did the shoulder cartilege or rib tip the bullet ? Other bullet failure stories welcome as well