Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Is a pass through necessary, beneficial?

Now, I've always been a fan and taken up for the SST but today it let me down, sort of. I shot a buck at 40 yards with a 30.06, SST hand load. Buck took 20 steps and fell over dead like so many of the others I've killed with the same combination. However, I was surprised to see that bullet did not pass through? Shot was right beging the shoulder. Obviously, a pass through is not required however, should it be the goal? Why or why not?

I don't care if I get a pass through or not, never has been important to me, as long as the deer is DRT.

With a bow a pass through is a favorable, two holes = more loss of blood = easier blood trail, a bullet kills different then a broadhead. Most deer I've shot with a rifle the bullet passed through, some it did not. If I put the shot in the right place the deer died regardless. I hardly ever get a pass thru with my .50cal muzzleloader, bullet moving to slow, usually find the bullet against the skin on the other side. Deer always die.

X2

I shoot the 139 gr SST in 7mm-08 and rarely get pass thrus but most of the time they are DRT. But on the other hand I shoot 168 gr Berger VLD in .300 win mag and rarely get pass thrus also, but they are deadly also.

X3

As long as they fall where they stand I don't care. ... But when I start getting repeated failure to exit it makes me nervous and I start wondering if I can trust it on a non-optimal shot. I have not lost a deer yet, but I know others that have and not finding blood upset them to the point they require any ammo to produce reliable exits.

To me, getting 100.00% exits no matter the angle requires using a bullet tough enough that you really never get DRTs - unless you use magnum calibers and partition, a-frames, etc. Everyone has an opinion though. Whatever gives you confidence.

Not neccessary, but definitely beneficial

x2 the beneficial side to it is that you will most likely have a blood trail to follow if the deer runs off.

A bullet fired from a 30-06 that hits a broadside deer behind the shoulder and doesn't pass through would definitely cause me to reconsider my bullet choice. This same bullet "could" blowup in a shoulder and not reach the vitals, resulting in an un-recovered deer.

With that being said I'm not a fan off bullets that pass completely through with minimal damage (i.e- 270 cal 110 gr Barnes TSX or 140gr Fail Safes). I shot both of the these when they first came out and and when placed behind the shoulder, they caused minimal internal damage with small entry and exit wounds which resulted in poor blood trails and deer running farther than they would if shot with a bullet designed to expand more.

For whitetails, I prefer a bullet that will penetrate relatively deep will expanding fairly well. After shooting 100+ with various bullet designs, I've decided bonded bullets such as Fusions and Coreloks are hard to beat for whitetails. Accubonds and Partitions are good choices as well. I can't think of a circumstance where an SST would result in a deer being recovered that would not also be recovered if shot with a bonded bullet. But I can think of several circumstances where a bonded bullet would result in a recovered deer whereas the SST "may" not.

I put SST's (ballistic tips) in the same category as Rage Broadheads. They perform extremely well most of the time but their downfall is less than desirable penetration under circumstances. I prefer to shoot something that is also lethal under less than ideal conditions, even if that means having to track a deer 20 or 30 yards farther when shot under ideal conditions with perfect shot placement.

I have only witnessed two deer out of (conservatively) 100 deer shot with a barnes tsx or ttsx that did NOT pass thru. Both were shot head on in the chest shoulders and both bullets were found in the hind quarters. Both bullets had a perfect 4 petal expansion. They are some awesome bullets, would highly suggest anyone try them.

These folks who are not finding blood trails and blaming it on a non pass through bullet, how many of the hose do you think just missed?

Depends on where you are hunting. Big fields and open hard woods, it won't matter. Thick pines and swamp, I want a pass through and good blood trail.

I've shot plenty of deer that were drt but I've shot some that ran 40 to 50 yards. That doesn't seem like a long way unless they get in stuff so thick you can't see 5 feet.

ZERO!! I've shot this year 3 with SST's, zero pass thru's, no blood, 3 recoveries. I will be shooting something else next year.

Lots of bullets won't exit at that range. Up close like that, a bullet is really cookin, and likely won't hold together. I've never shot one with a SST, but I know some hard core deer killers that love them. I would expect a different result a little further out. For the record, I like 165 Game Kings. Usually get a pass thru, but not always. If I dont, it's usually on a very close shot. CD.

You've seen a lot more deer killed with them than I have, but I've seen several killed with them and have been impressed every time. The exit hole usually isn't very big, but if you shoot one a couple ribs back most everything forward of the liver turns to soup. I believe the opened petals cause a great deal more hydrostatic shock; especially if they are going fast.
I don't think I'd wanna use a bullet that didn't either provide a good pass thru 99% of the time or a DRT 99% of the time. A running deer with only one hole in it sounds like a bad deal to me.

I think we had this same exact conversation a week or so ago about a 25-06 didn't we?

If you shoot behind the shoulder to keep from busting up meat, then a pass through is definitely a plus, IMHO, because they are usually going to run a little way. the exit hole is almost always bigger and usually lower than the entrance hole, so therefore, it almost guarantees a better blood/chunk trail. If I am going to have to trail one, I want to be able to follow the trail really easy. If I'm not worried about busting the shoulder, I still like a pass through because I can bust the far shoulder up also, thus taking out two of the four legs. They don't tend to run very far on two legs. LOL
I used to use ballistic tips and never had one run very far with them either. However, on occasion, there will be no trail to follow, or at least a very sparce one. And in thick cover that can be bad. I shot a doe in the thick stuff at Kinterbish WMA at last light, several years ago and she ran off apparently unscathed. I never heard her crash, and I didn't know enough back then to notice if she was flagging or tail tucked as she left the scene. But I had a gut feeling that I couldn't have missed, so me and a buddy searched until about 10:30 that night. We found her tangled and kinda propped up and buried up in a mess of vines and pine straw about 35 yds from where I shot her. I tried back tracking from where we found her and still only found one drop of blood and it was five feet from her. That is when I swapped to Partitions.

Yep. We did

Yep, 25.06 still love the gun just not the ballistic tips with it. Still using Nosler Partitions too. No need to change that. I do use Ballistic tips in my 7 rem mag though because the bullet is big and heavy enough that I have so far, always got a pass through with it.