not sure how I came across this article but there’s so much wrong info in it, of course it is Outdoor Life LOL! Shot placement is a thing and a high single lung hit results in long track jobs because of little to no blood. Look at the pic of Dahlke’s buck and the entrance hole on the “shoulder”. Stepping up in caliber size won’t help this. Shoot an animal in the upper half results in bad blood trails because of physics. Shoot them in the bottom half to 1/3 and it’s more than likely a blood trail.
Experts LOL!
Experts
I read the article and I'm not sure what your issue with it is, are you an easily offended 6.5 guy??
They acknowledged all the variables that lead to quick kills and good vs poor blood trails.
Most importantly they accurately described what happens when you shoot an animal in the shoulder with an explosive small caliber bullet (143 eldx and 142 ablr).
I've been hunting with a 6.5 for 5 years and taken a lot of animals with it, there is definitely some truth to the arguments being made for larger calibers like an 06 knocking game down quicker, and a bigger hole will allow more fluids to escape than a smaller hole with equalshot placement, its physics..
Personally I've seen more shit go sideways with 243s than anything else..
This season I shot a bull at 300 yards at a very steep downward angle, I was on a cliff above and shot down into rear lungs quartering away. The 220 grain Berger passed through the top of one lung and penetrated all the way to the chest and lodged under the skin.
He tore into the brush and timber like only an elk can do, I searched around and surprisingly found a decent blood trail that turned into a 50' blood luge where he went down and skidded through the brush on a steep slope.
That one lung was shredded from the large diameter expanded bullet.
Now please make your case that a 140 class 6.5 creed woulda inflicted the same level of damage, penetration, and blood letting as a 220 grain mushroom.
