I have a young 8 point whitetail buck hanging in the back yard that is proof positive that .45 can be strong medicine for deer. The specifics are:
Gun: 5" Springfield XD-45, Trijicon tritium sights, Springer Precision trigger kit.
Bullet: 230 gr Speer Gold Dot, 1050 fps.
Range: 35-40 yards
Shot: Off-hand from a seated position (hanging stand, 25 feet up in a cottonwood tree), broadside.
Terminal effects: Bullet entered through the right shoulder area. Broke a rib and destroyed front half of right lung. Ruptured several major blood vessels. Passed in front of left lung, but caused hemorrhaging to front 1/3 of the left lung. Broke a left rib, and is lodged somewhere under the left shoulder or skin (to be recovered during butchering).
Tracking: This deer ran 50 yards and left no blood trail that I could find. I was lucky to watch him all the way down. The bullet left the typical entry pucker (though much bigger than the .243 pucker I am used to seeing), but with no exit wound all of the blood (and there was a lot of it!) stayed inside the chest cavity.
My thoughts: Skinning this deer tomorrow morning will shed more light on where exactly the bullet went on entry. As of now, I'm not sure what it went through outside of the rib cage. Did it pass through skin and flesh, or bones too? If the slug never hit a scapula or other bone, I will have to be selective about when I do this again because the lack of an exit wound would have made tracking very difficult if I hadn't seen the deer go down. If the slug did pass through shoulder or leg bones, I believe better shot placement (behind the shoulder) would create an exit wound.
All other things being equal, shooting this deer with a rifle would not have made him any more dead. Only easier to track due to the likely presence of an exit wound.
If you are inclined to try this, know your capabilities with the exact equipment you intend to use and do not exceed them. I limited myself to 50 yards maximum after determining that I could not consistently put rounds into an area the size of deer vitals from unsupported field positions at ranges greater than that.
(This part not particularly hunting related) This experience boosts my confidence in .45 ACP as a defensive caliber with the right ammunition and shot placement. I have no medical training beyond first aid & CPR, but I would say this deer died of asphyxiation (ruined one lung, damaged the other) and traumatic internal bleeding (ruptured arteries). Those may not end a fight immediately (given a highly motivated or drugged aggressor), but they will end it soon. I don't care who you are or what you're on, you can't keep fighting for long if you can't sufficiently put oxygen into a rapidly decreasing volume of blood. A deer is a pretty danged tough animal and doesn't have the "oh man, I'm hit!" reaction humans do, so I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine that the effects would transfer at least generally.
I will take some photos tomorrow when it's light outside and if any of them are germane to the topic and not too graphic I'll post them here. I'm particularly interested to find that slug to check it for expansion and fragmentation.
[ON] Flamesuit [/ON]
Gun: 5" Springfield XD-45, Trijicon tritium sights, Springer Precision trigger kit.
Bullet: 230 gr Speer Gold Dot, 1050 fps.
Range: 35-40 yards
Shot: Off-hand from a seated position (hanging stand, 25 feet up in a cottonwood tree), broadside.
Terminal effects: Bullet entered through the right shoulder area. Broke a rib and destroyed front half of right lung. Ruptured several major blood vessels. Passed in front of left lung, but caused hemorrhaging to front 1/3 of the left lung. Broke a left rib, and is lodged somewhere under the left shoulder or skin (to be recovered during butchering).
Tracking: This deer ran 50 yards and left no blood trail that I could find. I was lucky to watch him all the way down. The bullet left the typical entry pucker (though much bigger than the .243 pucker I am used to seeing), but with no exit wound all of the blood (and there was a lot of it!) stayed inside the chest cavity.
My thoughts: Skinning this deer tomorrow morning will shed more light on where exactly the bullet went on entry. As of now, I'm not sure what it went through outside of the rib cage. Did it pass through skin and flesh, or bones too? If the slug never hit a scapula or other bone, I will have to be selective about when I do this again because the lack of an exit wound would have made tracking very difficult if I hadn't seen the deer go down. If the slug did pass through shoulder or leg bones, I believe better shot placement (behind the shoulder) would create an exit wound.
All other things being equal, shooting this deer with a rifle would not have made him any more dead. Only easier to track due to the likely presence of an exit wound.
If you are inclined to try this, know your capabilities with the exact equipment you intend to use and do not exceed them. I limited myself to 50 yards maximum after determining that I could not consistently put rounds into an area the size of deer vitals from unsupported field positions at ranges greater than that.
(This part not particularly hunting related) This experience boosts my confidence in .45 ACP as a defensive caliber with the right ammunition and shot placement. I have no medical training beyond first aid & CPR, but I would say this deer died of asphyxiation (ruined one lung, damaged the other) and traumatic internal bleeding (ruptured arteries). Those may not end a fight immediately (given a highly motivated or drugged aggressor), but they will end it soon. I don't care who you are or what you're on, you can't keep fighting for long if you can't sufficiently put oxygen into a rapidly decreasing volume of blood. A deer is a pretty danged tough animal and doesn't have the "oh man, I'm hit!" reaction humans do, so I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine that the effects would transfer at least generally.
I will take some photos tomorrow when it's light outside and if any of them are germane to the topic and not too graphic I'll post them here. I'm particularly interested to find that slug to check it for expansion and fragmentation.
[ON] Flamesuit [/ON]
I just ain't in to auto pistols for outdoor uses. Revolvers are more accurate, more powerful, more versatile.
