Originally Posted by
koger
Speaking of conical, I have taken a ton of white tails deer with the Hornady Great plains in .50 an .54, always did a fantastic job for the most part, along with TC maxi Hunters and Lyman Plains bullets I molded. I shot one big doe, @ 35 yds, perfect double lung, she ran 70 yards and piled up, big exit hole. I shot her out of a herd of 8, they ran across the field to my brother in law, where he shot another one, she ran about 50 yds, with PRB and 90grains of 2ffg, again double lung. The PRB, had a much bigger exit hole, and double blood trails. I was impressed and learned something that day. 8 years later, a friend had taken several deer with his .40 longrifle, and PRB, with 60 grains of powder, all shoulder or lung shots, short blood trails, most never made it out of sight. In our late either sex ML season in Dec. her in KY, I had one deer tag left out of4, and was hunting in the woods and around a old grown up homestead here locally, had been daylight about2 hours, sun getting up high, and here came 8 does out of a bedding area I was watching, the lead doe a big one. She stopped looking for acorns in a flat, and I was siting on log, against a high bank, I took my time, and settled the silver blade in the buckhorn sight, on her shoulder facing me, in the meaty part, touched off the set trigger, and at the crack of the rifle she made a big lunge, wheeled around and ran 20 yds back uphill, piled up, DRT! The little .395 roundball, had went thru both shoulders and exited, and both lungs. When I gutted her, damage was equal to a .243 100gr slug, again a learning experience. While tying this, I pulled out my journal, and I have taken 44 deer with Conicals, best I can figure, from 25 yds to 165 yds, in traditional rifles, factory TC Renegades and Hawkens, and a custom .45 fast twist, 1-18, that I built, with stellar results. Bottom line, I used to think Conicals/Maxi's were the only thing to use, came a long way since then, by being open minded, and reaffirmed, that knowing your gun and loads, its and your capabilities is the most important part in this discussion. Every gun and person is different, each one of both have different abilities and levels of performance, and you can learn new stuff every day, being open minded is invaluable in life, and hunt the way you like, that gives you the satisfaction from the experience you desire!!!