Stick with a quality soft point bullet. AMax are target loads, regardless of the load behind it.

165 Sierra Game King are my favorite, but hard to find right now. Federal's basic 150 gr soft point boattail is very good too.

If you would of had your scope turned down and hit him in the shoulder/neck crease he would of dropped. Regardless of internet stories the only way to drop a deer right there is to break his spine. Regardless of bullet construction a 168gr bullet is a big bullet for a texas weighttail, deer is dead and only went a short distance. I wouldn't loose faith in it yet. If you want passtrus you need to switch to a bonded bullet.

There are a whole lot of bullets that will do that at close range. depending on the velocities. I have seen it with the ballistic silver tips, the accubond, and most match grade bullets. still to the point the bullet did not fail. The deer is dead which means it delivered all of its energy into the deer. That is not a bad thing. just sucks if you have to trail it.

60 yards can be a long way at dusk in a wooded area with no blood trail.

I don't understand. U shot the deer w an amax an killed it. Sounds like a dead deer to me. Amax is a very versatile round and will kill as well as travel true out to 700-800 yrds (168 gr). No its not a game king but game king doesn't have the ballistic coefficient amax has.

A-MAX is designed to shoot targets not game. It has a very thin jacket. Like using a hammer to drive screws, you can get them in (A-MAX can kill), but it's not the purpose that the tool was designed for. Pretty much any 150 grain hunting bullet would be a better choice for your 100 yard feeder shot.

It sounds like to me that the bullet did fine. If a deer is quartering to you, and you hit it in the front shoulder, you impacted a lot of bone. This will deform and deflect most any lead bullet. When you get this deflection/movement, the bullet will come apart. It's turning about 200,000 rpm, and this rpm forces the bullet apart (same as an FMJ). Also, when an animal is quartering to you, you can easily double the length you would need for an exit wound. I shot a deer with a 300 Win Mag at about the same angle and the bullet didn't exit.

I've taken several deer and many pigs with the 155 A-max with an AR-10. I got several exits, but most dropped in their tracks. If I didn't get an exit but the critter dropped, was it bullet failure? I've debated the same thing with the Berger VLD's. The VLD's come apart and fragment dramatically. You will get about 12 to 20" of penetration, but the area the bullet makes contact with is total destruction. It sends bullet fragments in all directions. I shot a broadside doe at 90 yards with a 140 VLD out of a 260 Rem in the shoulder, and pulled jacket and lead fragments out of the rear hams. She dropped. So, the bullet did it's job. But for hunting and recovering the meat, I didn't like the damage and carnage it caused since I take all the meat I can. I lost some meat. So, the bullet did it's job. But from a hunting stand point, I didn't like the end result because of the meat loss. But the VLD is one of the most effective bullets for terminal performance. I think the same for the A-max. If you have good shot placement, then any A-max will work fine. I say this with great confidence from my own personal experiences, as well as my customers' experience. If you want more penetration, go to a heavier bullet, and less speed. This will give you more penetration. This is why I like the 208 A-max out of the 300 Win Mag (or similar).

I had a customer shooting a 30-378 Weatherby pushing a 208 A-max at 3200+ fps. He shot a black bear facing him at a little over 100 yards. The 208 went in the front of his chest, and the bullet was recovered under the skin in the back of the rear ham. The bullet went clean through the entire length of the bear from front to back. The bear went a very short distance. I'd say the bullet did a great job.

This game shooting with match bullets is interesting, for sure, but the question remains as to why you would elect to use a match bullet for a job it wasn't designed to do. Is it being used because it's extremely accurate? If so, just how accurate do you need to be inside of 300 or 400 yards? Pretty much any good actual hunting bullet will have all the accuracy you need. It's not like any of us are going to shoot a 5 shot group in the side of a whitetail. And, consider that a real hunting bullet just might give you a bit more room for error if you don't place the bullet in just the right spot. If you do place the bullet in the wrong spot, you absolutely want a bullet exit and a blood trail.

I said go light for caliber.

but if you go out and lung shoot a deer with a 150 grain TSX in a .308 your not going to be impressed

i disagree...amax is designed as a duel purpose bullet. are "hunting bullets" going to do more damage, probably, however dead is dead...

Where does the link below say anything about duel purpose, or match grade Hunting, and dead is not worth jack Sh@t without you being able to find your game.

http://www.hornady.com/store/A-MAX

I've had similar results with Hornady SST's. They hit bone, explode into pieces, and make mush out of the animal's vitals, with little or no exit.

If you want you can search my name and a-max. You'll find the proof that they're dual bullets. It's in their reloading book, 6th edition I believe. They changed their making process or something.

Not trolling here but it comes down to Ford, Chevy & Dodge.

If you had not located the deer because it ran off you may have figured bad shot placement or bullet performance.
You found the Deer and the bullet. Dead Deer fragmented bullet.
Call Hornady and talk to a bullet tech. May never happen again or every time.

Iv had issues with the exact opposite happening with tsx in that size bullet... but still love the rounds and that was only rare occasions

I rarely stray from Barnes when looking for hunting ammo... but i buy a lot of corelokt ammo

Why would I want to search your name we are talking about bullets. That link is from hornady's site today. Just because they changed their marketing doesn't mean the bullet is a hunting bullet, That's like ford saying that the focus was a race car now, if they didn't change the performance of the car then its still a grocery getter.

Some of y'all need to stop reading so much actually try some things to find out for yourself.
168 hornady TAP is good stuff

Yes, Hornady says they can be used for hunting. Probably because a lot of guys find them very accurate, with a high BC, and want to use them in their long range rifles. And at long range, where velocity has fallen off, they probably work, when conditions are just right.

IMO, your experience is exactly the reason the hunting bullets should be used for hunting and target bullets should be used for targets.

Varmint bullets and target bullets can work very well on deer when conditions are right. When placed broadside thru the lungs, the can be great killers.

But when a buck doesn't present you with the desired position (like your buck: closer range than expected, and only a shoulder shot option), a bullet designed with controlled expansion in mind, would have worked better.

they're good for hunting at lower velocities....ramped up, use more caution than if you were using BTs. Can't always whistle down a deer and ask them to go stand out yonder at the 400yd mark. Use caution.

Nosler Partitions for me. That's my final answer!

I like the Partitions and Speer Soft Point Boat Tails.

you shot a deer.... it died. dont understand what your worried about. I have the sacred nosler partion fail on animals and cheep sp bullets shoot right thru huge tough animals they shouldnt. at the end of the day all that maters is that what you shot died.

How would a hunting bullet have worked better. The deer was dead?

Walter

In several ways:

1) "exploded on entry shoulder": sounds like lots of unnecessary meat damage

2) "just bullet fragments made it to entry side lung": sounds like he was LUCKY that a few fragments reached a vital organ, or he could have left a wounded deer to die a lingering death.

3)"no blood trail" plus "if he had gone another direction, we might not have found him": again, the OP was lucky...

You shouldn't have to be LUCKY to kill a deer at 20 yards!

A good controlled expansion hunting bullet would likely have broken the onside shoulder, travelled thru the lungs, making soup of them, and exited out the opposite ribs, leaving a good blood trail. But the blood "trail" would be just a pool under the deer because the deer would have been dead right there. AND there would have been less meat damage.

If the only criteria for success is a dead deer, a hand grenade would suffice, and at least he would not have had to hunt for it.