Let me preface this by saying I have been hunting a long time but I would consider myself a beginner still at deer hunting. I shoot a 30-06 and use Hornady Whitetail ammo. I shot decent little 8 point Saturday evening (my second ever deer at 48 years old) and hit him in the shoulder quartering away at about 70 yds. Blind sits on a hill so I am shooting down. I dropped him in his track and it was a quick humane kill which is exactly what I like. I was looking for exit wound and there was none. Just wondering if this happens some times or if this is the ammo?? Bullet went through his heart and liquefied the lung on the opposite side so again quick kill and no tracking but if I would have had to track him, it would have been tough I think. By the time I had him drug, cleaned and in the truck, the only obvious wound was a very small trickle of blood from the entry hole. By comparison, the deer I shot last year, same gun same ammo I hit him a little lower again through the heart but the bullet came out of the sternum and made about a dollar bill sized exit wound that bled just fine.

BTW I started to drag my deer up the hill and pigs walked out to the feeder, I said well OK, chambered a round and shot one of those nasty suckers too. It was a fun evening!!

BassBuster
If you hit the shoulder bone with a soft point there is a good chance the bullet will not pass through. What you experienced from your soft point bullet is very common. (with that bullet placement)
Congrats on your kills

Most of Hornady's stuff is loaded with their typical soft point interlock bullet. I have had varying luck with them. One does exactly what you want it to the next does what you describe. I shot them in my 270 a 280 rem and a 300 wby for several years. I shot a few deer in the neck with a 150 grain 270 and the bullet didn't go through same for shoulder shots. Some the exit holes were massive. I like a little more controlled expansion in my hunting ammo so I don't use Hornady's any more and I for the most part stay away from typical cup and core bullets unless heavy for caliber and kept to modest velocity.

I shoot a .270 with 130 grains and shoot all deer in the shoulders and rarely get a pass thru, so for me that sounds normal.

I will say after shooting that same ammo in both .30-06 and 7mm-08, I will never shoot it again. I cannot get it to group decently with either and it's just as cheap as they come. I would highly recommend that if you are after good cheap ammo without reloading, go with the Rem Core-Lokt. It's the best ammo for deer hunting at that kind of price point. I have never had it fail. I reload now, and use Sierra GameKings now, but will be trying out some Hornady SST bullets this weekend. Good Luck, and congrats on the buck!

Bullet did it's job...

I shot 100gr .243 Corelokts for years, and shot several just like you did (shoulder) and did not get a pass-through. However, most of the time it was under the hide on the opposite side, perfectly mushroomed. I shot one doe in the near shoulder facing me with 130 gr .270 Corelokt, and it was under the hide on the outside of the far hip. None of those animals ever made it more than a few yards.

The Hornady bullet did what you want, expanded all energy inside the target. The ammo is fine, if it shoots well for you keep shooting it. If you're going to shoot bone, you'll get good shock and devastating organ wounds. You won't have to track any of them far if at all, they will most likely be in sight. If you shoot behind the shoulder I bet you'll get an exit every time but you may have to track them further.

I shoot hornady exclusively in my .270. The interlock doesent like bone.

A heart or lung shot at modest ranges normally produce an exit. A shoulder shot almost never. Shot a deer square in the neck and it didn’t exit either. Common denominator in these cases is all the deer died.


I will continue to shoot the interlocks as I like them in that gun.


For bigger game or In a faster caliber I use accubonds. For deer the hornady is a great bullet.

I’m no expert on ballistics or bullet construction but that isn’t unusual in my experience. I shot my buck yesterday at about 200 yards with federal fusion .308. Hit just behind left shoulder. Bullet stoppped just under the skin at the point of the right shoulder. I’d prefer pass through but he died in 30 yards so no real complaints.

Fusion isn’t really my preferred bullet but I didn’t get any hand loads done and they group moa out of my gun. They’re also cheap enough I don’t mind slinging them at hogs.

I had handloaded some Barnes tsx. Only recovered one of them from a hog I shot going away from me. Bullet travelled from butt to shoulder in one piece.

It did as it was designed. Nice job on two kills in on the same hunt.

I shoot groups you can cover with half dollar at 150 yds so I like the accuracy of the ammo and I don't really care about price. If more expensive ammo was better I would use it. Sounds like shot placement may have a lot more to do with exit wound than bullet. I wanted to try higher in the shoulder this time after reading about that shot and I will say it worked, deer went straight down DRT.

The shot last year where I had the big exit wound was also quartering away, I was above the deer on a hill, but that shot I tried to put in the arm pit/ribs aiming for the opposite shoulder. I missed lungs but hit heart and the deer went 20 yds and laid down dead.

Just trying to learn all I can from folks who have more experience than me and learn from my time in the woods. Thanks for the input!

That's not uncommon, I had a kill in NY with an .06, and I hit the shoulder down through the lung, and the inerts, and not only did I not get an exit wound, I didn't get a drop of blood from the damn thing until it laid down to die.

For comparison.....

In my .257 wby using accubonds I have had three exits, one being a high shoulder/neck shot on a deer and another high shoulder on a sheep and the last a neck shot on a mule deer.

Two behind the shoulder on an elk, one in the shoulder on a mule deer, one behind the shoulder on a quartering sheep, one liver and heart shot on a mule deer and 3 in the heart lung area on another sheep All failed to exit, with bullets being found mushroomed up against the far hide looking just like they do in the advertisements.


From what I have seen, if you want a pass thru, aim for the heart and lungs. With bone it’s a 50/50 with common calibers.

I was successful yesterday with a Remy 30.06 Bonded Scirocco round, straight through a 175lb buck with a slightly high, just behind the heart shot. Had to look for the entry, exit was pretty gnarly.

That is my exact same experience with a .243 and Corelokts. Mushroomed on the opposite side just under the hide. I'd almost wait to hear the sound of the bullet hitting the ground while skinning it.

Bang/Flop. What's not to like?

Oh I liked it all right just trying to learn what to expect. That shot in the shoulder rocked his world!

Bullet did as it was meant to do. More often than not the bullet does not exit. Mainly depends upon where you hit it.

Sounds like the bullet performed good as it expended its energy and put the animal on the ground. I have had bullets not exit on shots normally 75 yards and closer as the bullet is hitting at higher velocity and expanding and fragmenting more. If they shoot accurately, I wouldn't worry about it and continue shooting them. Hornady ammo is what I shoot in most of my rifles.

Grass in the photo is about 5 foot tall on the edges of the road and scattered with sparse to dense brush. It all, even the grass, has thorns and seeds like spear grass. I prefer them to die where they stand in the open, truck accessible, but when they don't no GOOD blood trail is like an impossibility unless you have a dog. I like pass throughs two holes = more blood.

So that is why I asked the original question. This is the view from my blind, down the hill and to the left is a creek bottom which is over grown with privet brush. It would be terrible to track a non bleeding deer through that stuff. I will continue the shoulder shot in the future hoping not to have to track one.

This is my buck, he died right there where he stood in front of that clump of ceder/privet at the bottom of the hill at about 11:00. Was a tough drag up the hill, can't get the truck down there.

Any issue with shoulder shot with .243 95 gr? I am going to have my son shoot there next time.

Bullet design means more than caliber or weight. A 95-100 grain nosler partition would be perfect. Federal loads them in factory ammo. They cost a little more than corlocks or Winchester soft points but in the big scheme of things it very little cost and they are a lot better bullets for the task at hand. They set the bar for on game performance.

We are using Winchester Deer Season Extreme Point. Also have Hornaday American Whitetail Interlock.

You hoped to kill a deer. You intended to kill a deer. You humanely killed a deer. The opportunity worked out perfectly.

A pass-thru is wasted energy. That could be bad or not. Just depends on the trajectory through the deer - the damage it does along the way. If all of the energy can be kept inside that could/should be better.