Engine room shot and runners

AlexN

Well-Known Member
Hi folks,

I have recently changes game dealers who pays the same for chest shot deer as head/neck shots, so naturally I have just been chest shooting all my last 20 or so fallow, however, every single one of them has legged it between 15-60 yards!

I'm using a .308 with Norma 150 grain BST bullets, yet I shot two earlier in the season with my 7mm rem mag and they both buckled on the spot!

Why is it they run so much with the 308 yet the 7mm they don't??? I can't work it out!!

Alex
 
Hi folks,

I have recently changes game dealers who pays the same for chest shot deer as head/neck shots, so naturally I have just been chest shooting all my last 20 or so fallow, however, every single one of them has legged it between 15-60 yards!

I'm using a .308 with Norma 150 grain BST bullets, yet I shot two earlier in the season with my 7mm rem mag and they both buckled on the spot!

Why is it they run so much with the 308 yet the 7mm they don't??? I can't work it out!!

Alex

99.9% of Rib ( hear/lung ) shot Deer will run on no matter what calibre or Projectile they are hit with.
In 40 years of Deer Stalking i have not found the " Magical " Calibre or Projectile that will drop Heart/Lung shot Deer on the spot
 
I have found that BT bullets in the chest tend to cause runners. Have switched to Barnes bullets which driven fast enough has got me back to bang flops. 120 grain Nosler BT in 6.5 Lapua at 2960 fps resulted in 80% + runners and a lot of carcass damage. 100 grain Barnes in the same gun at 3260 fps seems to be dropping them on the spot and causes much less carcass damage.

A few have reported that the 130 TTSX in .308 at around 3000 fps is very effective. Might be worth a try.
 
99.9% of Rib ( hear/lung ) shot Deer will run on no matter what calibre or Projectile they are hit with.
In 40 years of Deer Stalking i have not found the " Magical " Calibre or Projectile that will drop Heart/Lung shot Deer on the spot
Sorry in the 40+ years I've been doing the same, I can not agree.
I put this point across on the thread about tsx bullets.
I have had hundreds of Roe shot in the heart/lung area by my clients using 85 grn hpbt and 99% drop to shot, yet using soft points etc in the same gun 90% were runners, I can say the same for 7x64.
And when you go up in size, well it all depends, eg my 375HH has dropped all European game on the spot to a heart shot.
It just depends on what you hit the Heart with.
 
I shoot a fair number with .308 Norma 150 BSTs - fallow, roe and occasional red hind.

In general, I love it. None of the adult fallow I've shot with them have gone more than a few steps - even with some less than ideal shot placement. Most have fallen where they stood.

The roe and young fallow do tend to run a bit more - maybe 10-50 steps. I really have no idea why.

On balance, as far as I can tell after accounting for all the other things that affect whether a beast runs of not, they give the fewest runners of anything I've tried. And, as has been said, aiming a touch higher certainly helps.
 
I use the same Norma BT ammunition in 308 and find that many chest shots will run. Where possible I use 130g Barnes TTSX and have found almost all drop on the spot
 
NigelM was trying to do a survey on chest shots for deer/calibres/projectiles/distance/deer reaction. Unfortunately I'm the only person that supposedly contributed. However it was an extremely valuable exercise for me. I have found with a 30-06 that up to 250m only one bullet I've used so far has reliably dropped sambar on the spot with a chest shot. Sure there are some runners but I'm talking about the majority just fall over that's it. The majority of bullets completely penetrate broadside so actually recovering the bullet is not easy. On fallow though it they have run it abit but but never lost them, but then I've got two trained dachshunds to find them. I've had no problems with my 7x57R, 175gr Interlock combo.

Here's where you read about it, and I draw my conclusion on a large sample.

Woodleigh 30 Cal 220gr RN SN - Blaserbuds; the worlds superlative information source, for these products
 
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i have only shot a handful of Fallow , but many reds and I would expect them to run a wee bit as this is normal, using a 270. Out of interest you mentioned aiming higher, if you go much above halfway up you getting to the top of the heart, more lungs and this will result in the deer running a bit further before dropping.
 
Sorry in the 40+ years I've been doing the same, I can not agree.
I put this point across on the thread about tsx bullets.
I have had hundreds of Roe shot in the heart/lung area by my clients using 85 grn hpbt and 99% drop to shot, yet using soft points etc in the same gun 90% were runners, I can say the same for 7x64.
And when you go up in size, well it all depends, eg my 375HH has dropped all European game on the spot to a heart shot.
It just depends on what you hit the Heart with.

They OP was referring to FALLOW Deer not Roe .
Also i use Barnes 120gr TTSX and 127gr LRX @ 2900fps from my 6.5x55 and they still run with a Projectile through the Heart/Lungs . I shoot hundreds a year not the odd one or two
 
Also noticed shooting a fraction higher tight to the shoulder (through the lung/blood vessels above the heart, maybe 1-2" high) drops them like a stone, but have been told by one game dealer that the shock can spoil the loin. Never noticed it myself.
 
I always shoot them a bit higher as mentioned and most drop on the spot using 100gr soft point .243 (roe). Never understood heart shots as most run on.
 
The age old "magical mythical bullet/placement" argument

Hit the CNS (brain or spinal cord) ......Bang Flop

Hit the heart/lung/major vessels......sometimes bang flop, sometimes skip and run, sometimes shrug and run 100-200m , sometimes hunch,stagger and then flop

I hit two fallow this weekend with CNS shots....dropped where they stood. Hit a yearling roe with an 85gr HPBT...ran 15 yrds....fell over.....gralloch showed a hi lung shot.

Hit a sika once in the engine room...gralloch showed shattered atria...ran on 150 m...cleared a fence and ran 50 m into thick rhododendrons.

There is an interesting thread on "How do bullets kill deer" but I would postulate that a "high" chest shot not only causes massive blood loss in the chest cavity but the hydrostatic shock may disrupt the spinal cord causing the deer to collapse. Simple massive blood loss inflicted by a mortal wound whilst terminal will still allow the deer to run on before its blood pressure collapses and it loses consciousness.

Back to the supposed mythical toughness of various deer species....
 
I agree about a high chest shot as most of mine are. But we have reds, fallow, chital, sika, rusaand the largest and toughest is Sambar by far. There is no comparison
 
150 grain Federal power shock Soft point in .308 are yet to result in a runner when shooting them in the heart/lung. Granted, I have not shot thousands of deer, enough though to allow for a good variation in results.
 
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