Explosive Tipped Federal Ammo?? ..Opps

[300magman]

I witnessed a whitetail (about 120lbs field dressed) being shot today with some of the new Federal Fusion Ammo. It was the 165gr variety and the gun was a 30.06 The distance of the shot 34 yards.

Now the interesting part, the deer was hit broadside while standing with its front leg (nearest the shooter) in the mid stride, partway back, position. The bullet grazed the flesh of the shoulder/leg and entered the ribs, contacting 1 rib directly but NOT touching ANY shoulder bone (mearly a graze on the hide and flesh) The deer received damage to its lungs and heart, yet still managed to run approximately 90-100 yards (TOUGH deer)

The reason I'm writing this is the damage done by the impact of the bullet. The entry wound was simply Massive, most of the flesh in the shoulder, as well as the side of ribs was bloodshot. The entry hole was ragged, torn, and big enough to put several fingers through.
The exit hole by contrast was small, it contacted the side of a rib as it exited the other side of the chest (a straight through and through shot) and left a hole not much bigger than a large man's thumb.

My usual bullet in my 30.06 is the Federal 180gr pointed soft point and taking such close shots in the past has given me small entry holes and slightly larger exit holes.....so I'm rather confused as to the wounds I'm seeing on this deer. Has anyone else seen such things, or could someone hazzard a guess as to what is to blame for this gapping entry wound?

BTW, I was standing right beside the shooter watching the shot, so I can confidently say which side of the deer is entry and which is exit (most people who saw it getting skinned figured the entry/exit holes were the other way around)

[Jimro]

My best guess?

"Grazing the flesh" caused the bullet to destabilize, hitting the rib area off center. When a bullet is destabilized it has a tendency to tumble in the terminal media, so the bullet may have impacted nearly sideways with the rib, before the heavier tail of the bullet's greater momentum caused it to exit from the other side of the animal tail first.

Just a guess though.

Jimro

[2damnold4this]

I shot a doe this Saturday that weighed maybe 120-130 lbs with a 150 grain Fusion in .308 Win at a range of 65 yards. The bullet entered the left shoulder and stopped under the skin in front of the right ham. The left shoulder was shattered and the bullet traveled about thirty inches through the animal. The bullet had expanded and had five copper petals that were almost completely folded back on the core. I suspect if it had exited, it would have left a small exit wound.

I shot a coyote with the same combo at 130 yards and the exit wound was much larger than the entry but the bullet only went through about ten inches of chest before exiting.

I suspect that at close ranges, the bullet expands rapidly and folds back in on its core which continues to penetrate.

[impalacustom]

That is what is called splash damage, it usually occurs when your bullet is traveling very fast and is a destructive type of bullet. I have never seen it on large caliber weapons but I have seen it many times on sub calibers. It happend on those when they were too close and had a very high velocity. I have a picture of a coyote that was shot with a 20-250 and is a lot like what you described. It is a combination of the bullet and velocity, if you were further away it probably wouldn't done that.

[Horseman]

IMO a pass through @ 34yds from a high velocity cartridge means the bullet performed well. A bullet with less integrity(not bonded) at that range would blow up on the shoulder and NOT have much penetration at all. Certainly not pass through.

[JKump]

I also shoot the Federal Fusion, but 180 grain .308. This year both deer shot had small entery wounds and good exit hole. One was at 180 yards the other at 60 yards. I have used this bullet since they came out.:cool:
In the past, I have seen similar results as described above. Last year I shot a deer, at around 30 yards, the bullets blew up on the shoulder breaking it, but not passing into the body cavity. The second shot put him on the ground. I have also shot a Big deer (over 200 lbs) at 10 yards. On this one I had no blood trail, because of small entery and exit. Luckly he ran about a 75 yards across a hard wood bottom and stopped and fell over. I was ready to change bullet after that, but decided to use up what I had. ;)
I have shot the Winchester 150 grain Ballistic tips, but lost that deer, it was a shot at 200 yards, watched the deer jump as hit and fall over, then get back up and sprinted off. Found hair, but no blood. :confused:

[300magman]

Just to clarify, the bullet did not contact any meaningful amount of shoulder...certainly not the bone. I've hit shoulder bones at close range before..Explosive disintegration of the shoulder and bullet were the results (180gr federal soft point) This case had me thinking simply because of so much damage despite no "hard points" in the deer being hit which would typically cause such explosive failure of the bullet....I've just never seen it before, especially with a small (smallish) exit hole afterward.

[Art Eatman]

Aw, you just saw the deer wrong-end-to. Confused which was in and which was out. :D:D:D

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[300magman]

LOL, sure sure...jump on the popular concensus bandwagon why don't you:rolleyes:

[jglsprings]

Man 34 yards is AWFULLY close. I think there are a lot of factors at play here. Point blank range... bullet stabilization, high velocities - the bullet may not have been designed for... dramatic hydrostatic shock.

I've seen the same thing with a close range 150 gr bullet and a deer - but my bambi didn't make it one step farther...

[Horseman]

This case had me thinking simply because of so much damage despite no "hard points" in the deer being hit which would typically cause such explosive failure of the bullet....I've just never seen it before, especially with a small (smallish) exit hole afterward.

I don't think it's a failure. A LOT of deer class bullets wouldn't even have exited @ 34yds. The Fusions are more robust than average. IMO it's an indicator of a good bullet to stay together enough to exit at that velocity.