.308 Norma
Member
I've got you beat. My first deer, a doe mule deer, I shot five times through the chest with a Model 100, .308 Winchester semi-auto because:My first deer, I shot at it four times with a SMLE, just to have it jump behind a bush. Bullet proof deer? I looked behind the bush, and there was a dead deer with four holes in it!!
1. I didn't have the knowledge or experience to know that I'd hit her hard with my first shot.
2. I'd been told by "old timers" that unlike the 30-30s they "used to have," a .308 Winchester would "knock a deer down."
3. I'd been told by those same "old timers" that a deer "always" runs downhill if they're hit. And that doe ran a good 50 yards uphill while I kept putting bullets through her chest.
Luckily, she stopped running and just stood there while I was trying to shove a fresh magazine full of ammo into my rifle. Then, just as I was about to shoot her a sixth time, she tipped over, and slid back downhill a few yards.
You could cover all six of the bullet holes in the right side of that deer's chest with your hand. The other side of her chest however...what a mess!
At any rate, I'm an "old timer" now (74), but you'll never hear me spewing such nonsense like the 3 listed above.
BTW, I also have a 30-30 that I killed a doe mule deer with. It didn't "knock her down" (just like those "old timers" said), and she did run about 80 or 90 yards downhill before collapsing after being hit in the side of her chest. But I was about 40 years old by then, had killed quite a number of mule deer, and had enough experience to know when a mule deer has been hit hard.