Hornady 140gr BTSP Failure to penetrate???

Got invited to a MLD property for a Hunt and shot a 205lbs 8point at 50yds with a .270win 140gr Hornady BTSP.

Bullet hit the buck right in the shoulder where I wanted it to and he stumbled for 10feet and fell over dead.

Happy ending right?

well after looking at the deer the bullet failed to penetrate, at 50yds and the oposite shoulder was not even broken.

while cleaning the deer we found MASSIVE internal damage and the entire chest cavity was filled with blood and its obvious that it got the job done.

However it did surprise me that it failed to exit, anybody ever have a problem like this....the deer is dead so it may not be a problem but it is puzzling.

Did you recover the bullet ? I'm not a fan of hornady but at that range it should have blown the opposite shoulder out.

Sounds like it did its job, enegery kills. With no exit wound you know the deer ate all of the enegery. I would rather have massine internal damage that a pencil hole. I love hornaday bullets that's all I will use.

I shot a buck with the same bullet in 243 (100 gr.)at 230 yds. last year and it punched straight through. Maybe it was just a fluke.

I reload and was thinking of switching back to Hornady from the Sierra Prohunters . I like both bullets but Hornady is a little more accurate in my Rem 700 SPS.

Quoting Ashley Emerson from this.. 2nd page.

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I reload 44 mag so that is one of my favorite articles. I've got the issue of Guns and Ammo at home. Seems like it'd pertain to any caliber.

Lots of different opinions/preferences on what a bullet "should" do to a critter. Personally, i want a bullet to expand quickly, and penetrate as deeply (good weight retention), preferably 100%, as it can. This is obviously the description of the perfect bullet.

I've hunted with rounds that would not exit. And while the huge portion of animals taken with them fell dead instantly due to absorbing mass amounts of energy, occasionally one would run and make for a very tough tracking job. I've since tailored my rifles to give me that exit wound every time. And the funny thing is, since then I don't have to track them at all. If they do run, it's usually less than 50yds. But when the day comes that I do have to actually track one, I'm more confident that I'll have a good blood trail to follow.

At 50yds, that 140 gr bullet should have exited. At least that's what I'd think. Stranger things have happened though. But if I were gonna be shooting medium size game in the shoulders, as a habit, I'd be investing in premium bullets like the partition, Accubond, TSX, and something along those lines. Weight retention is key to penetration. I'd be curious to take a look at the bullet from the deer you describe above. A weight measurement might be an eye opener.

bullet blew up
too close of a shot at the shoulders
if you want to do that again and want an exit, switch to Barnes bullets

I can testify to the effectivness of the premium bullets. 22 centerfire with Noslers partitions exited everytime for me.

i have killed many whitetails using a 7mag and the hornady 139 btsp. i learned early that it is just like a ballistic tip, very rapid expansion. i had the best luck shooting behind the shoulder with that bullet. trust me, i love shoulder shots on big bucks and am trying the barnes ttsx this year. i too want an exit if at all possible.

I've been using that very bullet... Hornady .270 win 140g BTSP at 3100fps muzzle velocity... for years and have never had that happen.

I shot a running blackbuck at 270 yards through the butt and the bullet traveled his entire body length before lodging just under the skin in his breast.

Every deer, hog or coyote I've shot with those bullets has done massive damage and often the exit wounds are nearly as large as my fist.

Last year I shot a large (250lb) boar hog in the forehead and the bullet traveled his entire body length before lodging in his left rear quarter. That's a lot of penetration through a lot of heavy tissue and bone.

How much deader was the deer supposed to be? At that range, my guess would be that the bullet came apart due to higher velocity. The Hornady Inerlock is not a bonded bullet, so jacket separation is not unheard of. Don't loose any sleep over it.

The faster any given projectile is going, the quicker it will upset or expand. It is a common mistake by hunters to think that the faster a bullet is going, the deeper it will penetrate with a given equal projectile. A Hornady BTSP bullet is a conventional design bullet and probably not designed to perform well with 50 yd shots or impact velocities over 3000 fps. The bonded bullets really shine when up close shooting is a possibility. Alot of African PH's claim more bullet failures on really hot loads. Thats understandable. If I am shooting a really FAST load or going to have a close target such as in heavy brush, I am going to go with a well constructed premium bullet. SPBT's don't really shine until past 300 yds anyways.

Not from the hornady but had the same expereince at 100 yards with Serria game kings in both 270 and 243.

Found the bullet seperated from the jacket on both calibers

Folks don't think about optimum performance range!Not at muzzle and not at 1000 yards! Certain things perform at a medium range,thats life! I have shot a yote so close with 308 that you would have thought heart attack had got him...in chest and exit out hind quarter and not one drop of blood just small amount of hair in the breeze!Next day same bullet and gun and shot one at 175 and it was gruesome scene!

LOL, I shot a coyote at 30 yds in the head once with a .308 Remington core Lokt. It took out everything west of his teeth. If you drew a centerline from the top of his head to between his eyes, then over to his right ear...all that was GONE! ...hey RLoving, I grew up in Odessa. It is my hometown.

Talk to a coroner or homicide det. and they will tell you that bullets can, and often, do some pretty crazy thing on their way thru. It all depents on what it comes in contact with.

Someone else said it above, and I will say it too, I dont like hornady bullets. I loaded 150 gr interlocks in my 270 and my brothers 270 and the 153or 154, which ever it is grain interlocks in my dads 280, and the only bullet that exited where the ones I shot in the neck or head. Not a singel one of the others made a pass through, not even behind the shoulders. I have over 30 of them loaded for my 270 and will continue to shoot neck/head with them till they are gone, but never agin will I buy them.

In my opinion, the nosler partition is the perfect bullet. It has the front core which is very soft and readily deforms and expands at virtualy any velocity, and then has the partition and base that wont break up to retain enought weight to drive the bullet through. I am a big believer in the barnes/Hornady GMX(all couper bullet), and nosler E-tip, but only when used in Hi-velocity applications. I have experienced all of those bullets not expanding at all due to velocity and not hitting bone.

Cant beat a partition for an all around bullet.

matt

i've killed alot of deer with 130 grain interlockts, from around 75 yards to 300 plus.

dug one outta the buck i killed last year, hit about 310 yards. shot him quartering away, bullet made it thru the far shoulder and ended up just under the skin. perfect mushroom shape.


i've had bullets fail to exit, i neck shot a buck at around 110 yards, solid spine shot, bullet didn't exit.


i really could care less if the bullet dosen't exit, as long as it makes a mess of the insides and kills the deer

if neck and head shooting yes, but my dad and brother tend to body shoot, I like blood trails to follow.

matt

Hornady bullets suck. I like passthrus and after my personal experience with them, I will never shoot another Hornady bullet again.

if you wanna follow a long blood trail, lung shoot a deer with a barnes X bullet.

those guys run forever.


I like a partition style bullet in smaller calibers like the .243, but I really feel you have to hit a shoulder blade for them to get knocked down, which is fine by me.

I dont like "long blood trils" especialy not in our south texas brush and 4 foot tall grass, but when your deer/hog runs off without an exit wound you either will need a good dog or the hand of GOD to find it.

matt

i use the hand of god......it comes at them at about 3000 fps......

Why do you think John Nosler designed the Partition all those years ago? He wasn't happy with the preformance of the standard cup and draw bullets of the time, the standard cup and draw hasn't changed much since then. If you want a bullet to exit every time use one of the bullets designed for the task. About every bullet manufacture makes one or more now. Other bullets that are being coppied a lot now, the Barnes X and Swift Sirocco. Califirnia banning lead core bullets no doubt helped with the proliferation of monolithic bullets like Barnes X, Hornady GMX, Nosler E-TIP... Swift Sirocco was the first plastic tipped bonded core bullet, now you have Accubonds, interbond, and others.

We all complain about ammo costs but when I think about it, I spent more in corn filling feeders than my bullets cost every year, including a lot of practice for just a few shots at game.

The only way I know to drop a deer or anything else on the spot is a hit to the central nervous system. Take out the CNS with either a brain or spine shot and you have a critter DRT.

Many of us have seen or made that hit to the lungs and had the deer fall right there with massive internal orgsn damage. The lungs when a critter has exhaled are much more suceptable to hydrostatic shock (not full of air) much like if you have ever been hit in the stomach after exhaling hurts more than if you have the lungs full of air.

yep...
you hit bone at close range with a standard cup and core bullet it will most likely explode, especially on fast cartridges.. back off to 150 yards and perhaps it wouldn't..

you need to choose the bullet for the game, where you like to shoot them and ranges expected..

Bullet manufactures design their bullet to preform best within a given velocity. Too fast and they blow up with out penetration and too slow they do not expand. I expect that at fifty yards the 270 140 gr. was not within the given velocity for proper expansion. Years ago I shot a buck at about 35-50 yards with a 30-06 in the neck and he went down like a lead ballon but there was not 2 inches of penetration. His neck was a mass of jelly with hundreds of very small pieces of lead almost like he had be shot with a shotgun & #7's at 20 yards. I could not find a piece of lead as large as a piece of rock salt.

Good point DLALLDER

My cousin shot a buck at 50yds with a .300win IN THE FACE!!!

And with a 180gr winchester balistic silver tip you think it would blow the head open like a ripe melon.

The only way you could tell the buck had even been shot was the entrance hole just below the left eye, no exit wount, no massive head injury just the bullet entrance hole and a bloody knose.

The buck was mounted and you cant even tell where the entrance wound was; I know its hard to believe but I saw it first hand and it opened my eyes to bullet performance.

Good post!

there is no "across the board" bullet design. each one has there pro's and con's.

One word, Hornady

then you must match the round to the weapon you are shooting.

I can shoot a 150 Gr Hornady TAP out of my 308 and get pass through every time. I can shoot the same round in 168 Gr and get a harder thump, expansion, occassional pass through and they drop where they stood.

Ive said it befoe... I think the Nosler partition is an accross the board bullet. The front half is constructed just like any of the other cup and core bullets, like the hornady's and sierras. If you contact bone or have a high velocity impact the rear core will hold together and do what its designed for. Short range long range, high or low velocity, it will get it done. The only complaint I have ever had with them was cost, since I started reloading its not bad at all.

matt

choose a caliber for the distance you'll be shooting not the bullet.
a 270 was made for 200 plus yds
300 mag for 300 plus yds
give or take
either way if you use the caliber for it intended purpose youll find your regular ol corlock typ bullets will work.
50 yds ? get a turdy turdy

How many guns do you carry when hunting?
I hunt some places where the shot distance is not over 50 yards, and others that can see far enough to never consider the shot. On several ocassions I have been setup for a longer shot and the deer showed up close 10 to 20 yards. That is why I prefer a good close as you can get to an all around bullet like the Partition, Accubond, Sirocco etc.