2017
Hard to judge the performance of a bullet on a bad shot! You hit a lot of dense bone.
2018
Not buying this story 1 bit. A deer hit in the heart and lung is not going to go 200+ yards and and bed 4 times. Every deer I have shot in the heart was on a short death run. Sounds like you hit 1 lung and the liver.
2019
Not buying this story either. Did you hit 1 or 2 lungs, because I find it hard to believe that it went 225+ yds after a double lung shot. I personally have never had a deer make it past 75 yds after a double lung shot using either my Ruger 450, H&R 20 gauge slug gun, or compound bow and never had 1 make it past 50 yds using the Hornady FTX. You could put a fist through the exit hole in the doe I shot last year at 20 yds. I immediately saw blood shoot out after the shot and watched it drop dead at 35 yds. The blood trail was 4' wide.
I am not selling anything to you so no reason to buy. I am telling my personal experiences. That would be like me telling you the doe you shot last year only had a 2' wide blood trail rather than the 4' you described.
2017 - One thing we can agree on, the spine shot was not my intention. I am very well-versed with my rifles and felt confident with the 100 yard +/- off-hand shot. The shot was about 4" high from my target point, but that can happen in the hunting woods and off-hand shot. I still would have expected a pass thru given my experience with other cartridges I have used hitting dense bone (pass thru front shoulders). [No pic of hole on this deer]
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2018 - this deer went all of 200 yards. When I say "bed", I should say fell over and struggle to get up long enough to melt some of the snow, maybe not technically "bed". I am glad the deer you have shot in the heart went on the death run. I have experienced that as well. This one didn't. Upon cleaning it, there was a .45" hole directly through the entrance side lung and top ventricle / aorta of heart. No expansion. [Pic is how deer laid when I walked up on it after giving it 4 hours to expire, exit hole as quartering away. Entrance shot placed directly behind front shoulder blade].
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2019 - sorry I wasn't a great "salesman" but I remember the story well, it was 5 days ago about 1:47 PM. All day sit in the UP and I changed to my archery stand as the bucks had been chasing in the nasty stuff. Buck came through seeking does at 18 yards. Completely broadside. Bullet placed exactly behind the front shoulder blade with absolutely no quartering. Upon cleaning found two lungs complete pass-thru. No expansion. When I say deer went 225 yards, that is being conservative. Second longest track I have ever had. [Pic one, blood trail for 1st 150+ yards. Pic two, deer as I walked up on it. Pic three, Exit hole .45" no expansion, blooding markings from running in tag alder's and spreading it.]
2017 deer was very large, no weight.
2018 deer won local buck pole and was weighed on a certified scale at 197 dressed.
2019 deer went 188 on a Cabela's big game scale.
Despite you selling me your personal experiences, I will still be looking for a different round for my .450 in the off-season. Fortunately all three circumstances ended in dead deer. I still would like better performance out of my round of choice.
