In a book I have written by the late Jack O'Connor he summed it up quite nicely. In the particular article he was comparing the .270 (130gr. Bullets) to the .30-06 (150gr. Bullets). C'Connor wrote that while (in his experience) there is not a lot of difference between the killing effectiveness of these two cartridges (given these bullets weights) he felt the .270 had an edge in killing quicker due to the higher velocity bullet expanding quicker thus creating more shock to the central nervous system of the animal in question.
Several years back I damn near lost one of the largest Whitetail Does I ever shot do to the bullet failing to expand. The caliber was a 6mm Remington, and the bullet used was a 85gr. Speer Spitzer Boat Tail. The shot was at 200 yards, perfectly broadside. The bullet entered between two ribs, passed through the lungs and exited between two ribs. At the shot the Whitetail took off at top speed. I knew the bullet hit it's target as I heard the tell tale thwump, and besides my hold was rock steady due to the rest I was using. Luckily my hunting buddy saw the deer stumble and fall out in the cattails.
We tracked the deer, finding very little blood, and ultimately found the deer 1/4 mile from where I shot her. Upon field dressing the deer we found the above results, the bullet never struck bone. The holes through the meat between the rib were about bullet diameter, no expansion. Yep the deer was dead at the shot, but just had to run out of blood to convince itself it was dead.
I also shot a wounded whitetail buck for a fellow hunter one day (he ran out of ammo) with a 14" .223 Contender. The bullet was a 55gr. Hornady SX at a muzzle velocity of 2800 FPS out of the 14" Handgun. The shot was a perfect frontal shot, and I was using a Harris Bypod for a rest, so again I was rock steady. The shot was 112 yards. The bullet entered the chest slightly to the left of the brest bone, traveled the length of the deer and was found in the meat of the left rear ham in a perfect mushroom.
Over the years I have hunted with Single Shot Handguns quite a bit, in a variety of calibers. The one thing I have learned over the years is this, I have NEVER had to track a Deer because my bullet failed to penetrate, but I have tracked my share due to bullets not expanding properly when bone wasn't hit.
I am sure someone will take exception to what I have said, but in over 37 years of Deer Hunting this is what I have learned.
More on to the main topic of this. Personally I feel by trying to come up with ONE LOAD for our Dual Purpose Cartridge (for Varmints and Deer) is kind of defeating the purpose of these great cartridges. In my mind the real bennefit of cartridges like the .243 Winchester / 6mm Remington is that a load can be taylored for each individual task you choose for the particular gun / cartridge.
For my current Ruger SS .243 I use 3 loads. One is for small varmints in which I am loading 55gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips with Blue Dot Powder to a muzzle velocity of 3202 FPS. This load duplicates the recoil and ballistics of a .223 for small varmints under certain circumstances. Next I use a 70gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip at a muzzle velocity of 3360 FPS for Coyotes and long range varmints. In my Rifle to change from one of these loads to the other I need only click my scope 3 clicks left or right (depending on which load I am zeroed for). In the fall prior to Deer Season I switch to a 100gr. Sierra Spitzer Boat Tail for Deer at a muzzle velocity of 2866 GPS. With these 3 loads in my .243 I can shoot everything I want to hunt in my home county where I hunt, and feel like I have the best available load for the task at hand. The other thing is, every time I go to the range and check my zero I am getting all important TRIGGER TIME PRACTICING.
Larry
