Round penetration or energy in the animal

[Glockem]

What are your thoughts on rounds blowing out both sides or all the energy within the body cavity. Let’s say within 100 yards
Thanks

 

[MuleyFever]

Doesn't matter as long as vitals are damaged enough to cause rapid blood loss.

 

[Glockem]

I guess dead is dead

 

[Headwaters]

Two holes make better blood trails if needed.

 

[Macintosh]

My thoughts are that its largely preference. Possibly religion. But this conversation is clearly not science and is rarely objective.

My own brand of religion is that there is more than one way to skin this cat, and while each of the presented options has merits, they both also have disadvantages, and the answer of whats best for any given hunter is going to be different depending on a pile of variables. AND its not an either/or, it’s a scale with options at every step of the way between the two extremes, so the choice actually isnt binary. Also its shades of grey on top of that, in that the “best” type of approach is also necessarily dependent on bullet size and impact velocity.

 

[7RemMag]

To me, the “ideal” projectile is going to expand reliably and consistently every time, create considerable, but not erratic trauma inside the animal, and ideally exit the animal. I have never worried about “ruining” a front shoulder on a deer or antelope because it got tore up a little bit.

I certainly don’t believe that the projectile exiting the body cavity is ever a bad thing-Particularly if it did its job on the way through. Most monolithic projectiles are damn good at doing that in my experience.

 

[Les_is_more94]

Definitely seem to have better blood trails with an exit hole. Usually they are not needed, cause they either drop on the spot or fall within sight, but even when they drop in sight I usually go to the the impact spot to follow the blood trail. I've had three deer recently that the bullet got stuck in the opposite side hide with very minimal blood trail if any at all.

 

[CJ_BG]

Energy dump means nothing. Did that bullet hit it frontal and ended up in the guts to dump it's energy? Did it disintegrate inside the lungs? Did it make a great big wide mushroom and just get hung up on the hide?

Bullets should be talked about by their wound channels, not energy dump or other generalized metrics. Under 100yds I want a 2-4 inch pcc carried at least 8 inches with a sub inch neck length. Exit doesn't matter because there's shots I'll take that I don't expect an exit on.