I've had 2. Made a bad shot on a bear an never found it, I dont think caliber woulda mattered there....And had a rodeo with a buck a a 243. Considering the hole in the bottom of that SOB it shoulda bled....ALOT.....but it didnt..
Also for your kid look at brownells. Howa mini barreled action in 6arc/grendel/whatever. Would make a sweet lil rifle in a CF stock.....
I recall another situation, which led me to getting my first 223 (sig m400 predator)
I called in a lion one afternoon, he came all the way to the call through a little band of salmonberry and I didn’t see him until it was sneaking back up the hill away from me.
It was 37yds, federal fusion out of my kimber 7-08, super steep hill, so the shot angle was like shooting straight down from a tree stand, I aimed just left of spine, right behind the shoulder blade, exit would be right between the front legs
I took the shot, and it went straight down and started rolling around in the brush snarling, this is where inexperience at the time got me, I just watched waiting for him to quit moving rather than racking the bolt (I knew better but didn’t) and all of a sudden he comes out of the brush, paused for a second, then trotted off as I worked the bolt
I assume I shot at 6:30-ish in the evening, late April. I hurried across the draw to see if I could catch it moving off.
Below me was a big swamp, and in this section of swamp it was solid 7’ saw grass with reprod on one side and solid salmonberry on the other
When I got over there I heard something rustle a little by a dead alder about 50yds out in the swamp, but didn’t know if it was the lion I shot, birds, beaver, etc… it wasn’t much
Now I go back to look for blood, thinking I must have an exit, I go back to where it was and I see no blood, but it reeks like cat piss (go figure)
I get on the track and follow it down to the edge of the swamp, mark that spot then watch the swamp edge to see if I can get lucky and catch its tracks (not looking forward to wading around in the zero visibility saw grass with only a bolt gun)
I walk that trail, it’s pretty soft and the cat just didn’t go that way, so back to the trail I marked hoping to find blood
Long story short I walked around that swamp until dark and didn’t find any sign of the cat, it stormed that night but I already knew I didn’t have a blood trail
I came back the next day and gridded the whole swamp for 8hrs using my tracker on onX, then walked every trail I could find on both sides… nothing
I looked every day for 6 days, last night I was on my way down to the south coast for a work stretch where I would be on the ocean for a week…
I glassed from the top looking for birds and listening like I had every day, then dropped down into the swamp like I had every day… as soon as I got down there I flushed a couple buzzards… there were 2 half circling and one that didn’t want to leave that same dead alder I heard something by, but I had focused that first night and next morning there… couldn’t be, I scoured that area.
What I couldn’t see was as I walked each side of that creek, there was a little 6’ island, so I thought I covered both sides of the creek right there thoroughly, but that cat ended up dying right there on a little tiny island, and with it all being over head high saw grass, I just couldn’t see there was a little island there, I had track lines within 5’ on all sides, but with the terrain I couldn’t see that there was a coffin size island.
The bullet went in, clipped the back of the scapula, and the bullet got caught in the hide inside the right leg… I didn’t cut it open to see if I got one lung or 2, but it made it 111yds from the shot… a blood trail would have really helped me there… worst case scenario got me there, but instantly chambering another round would have completely changed the outcome, such a dumb mistake I’ll never make again, now it’s instant, I don’t care if it dumps in the scope, I am running the bolt just in case
I did switch to an AR for lions after that for awhile, and the next big Tom I called in I lit up, I put 4 rounds in him before he could do anything, 77gr smk’s, and he didn’t get far.. 3 were in the chest cavity then one steep quartered away shot as he tried to flee, and I knew he was toast, which was nice because it was zero visibility dog hair reprod tracking, and I was glad to not have a maybe dead big ass lion to track
For reference, this is the swamp