When The Bullet Meets The Bone
The debate over the best bullets for handgun hunting with a revolver continues to rage–hardcast lead or jacketed. Cast bullets seem to get a lot of press, but are they really as effective as jacketed on game that the majority of handgunners hunt? That means deer, pigs and black bear.
Deer are by far our most popular big game. Deer are relatively fragile animals. Pigs are a bit larger and more solidly put together. The great majority of black bear taken are well under 200 pounds. All of these animals are easily penetrated, with the whitetail being the easiest to ventilate. Any suitable hunting bullet from any properly loaded revolver of .357 Magnum or greater power level certainly has enough penetration to kill a deer, assuming a properly placed shot.
Unless the central nervous system is instantly destroyed, an animal dies only when its brain runs out of oxygen. A deer struck with a double lung shot may run quite a distance before that happens- or he may not go far at all. Many factors are involved here, such as exactly what the bullet struck.
Did the bullet penetrate both lungs and exit without striking a major blood vessel in the lung tissue? Was it a fringe hit or center hit? Did it strike any of the major arteries or veins between the lungs or miss them completely? Was the animal unaware of danger when it was hit, or was it pumped on adrenaline? Did the bullet hit a rib going in, producing numerous tissue-destroying fragments? Or did the bullet slip between two ribs with no fragmentation? Did the bullet itself shed fragments, greatly increasing tissue damage and bleeding?
Animal reaction to a hit is fairly unpredictable. Sometimes there is almost zero reaction to the hit itself. Reaction to a hit which strikes major bones– not ribs– is usually unmistakable. A standing animal hit in the midsection or farther back will usually kick at its side while arching its back and beginning a run.