deflected wound channel?

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

This season I got a doe with my .54. I used a soft lead roundball and had a beautiful broadside shot. The ball entered just behind the arm. For some reason it took minutes to expire. Upon opening the gut cavity I was surpised to find blood below the diaphram. The ball went through one lung then into the liver. The far-side rear femur is also broken. I suspect I'll find the ball in the hind quarter when I butcher it.

Anyway, I would prefer a more predictable wound path from a ball/bullet. Is this problem inherent to roundballs? Or can it be prevented by alloying the lead to increase the hardness?

I was impressed with the wound cavity, just not the wound path. After observing this drastic deflection, it has me wondering about past episodes where a shot that should have been easy didn't go well, but if we don't recover the animal we don't have an opportunity to examine ball performance.

 

[Crow-Feather]

I would think that you had to hit something that would deflect a ball into a hard right/left turn. Or you had one heck of a spin on the ball.

 

[Phil Coffins]

That’s a very hard turn for a ball to make, I have never had more then a bit of defection on a broadside shot. I shoot a 54 on most deer and to get that wound channel takes a quartering pose.

 

[Britsmoothy]

What twist is your barrel?

 

[tenngun]

I have never seen it on my deer. However if you watch you tube video shooting ballistic jell you will see the odd one with almost any projectile that goes in an unusual path. This for not only ball and ml projectile but from modern gun loads also

 

[Spikebuck]

Black Jacque. First, congrats on the deer.

I wouldn't worry about this one deflection. It's not an inherent function of a round ball. I've hit ribs and shoulder bone with .54 round balls of pure lead and never saw a major deflection. But anything can happen on occasion in hunting.

 

[Caterpillar Hunter]

Black Jaque Janaviac, your story reminds me exactly of my .54 round ball shot a few days ago. Broadside shot at 40 yards, just behind foreleg. What could be better than that? Round ball went completely through chest and clipped the tip of the heart. But what's that fine stomach material doing in the blood trail blood? The autopsy showed some damage to a part of the stomach and a lacerated liver, and my wife discovered a big, gaping hole exiting by the left kidney as we skinned it. My guess is that (1) the round ball somehow split apart in nicking a rib (doubtful, round balls stay together pretty well) or some kind of bone fragment was propelled through the body (also doubtful). It was a devastating hit that took a really weird path. But I've seen round balls do strange things, so nothing surprises me anymore. I just limit myself for a close shot (<50 yards for me), stay alert after the shot, be a good tracker, and expect unexpected things to happen from time to time. Glad you recovered your deer. Round balls are very effective if not confusing at times.

 

[mushka]

Terminal ballistics are a strange thing. Anything can and will take place.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

I'm agreeing with @mushka
I've not had the same situation as the OP with either .50 or .54. I may yet have it. Contact with brush or twigs on the way to the deer, clipping shoulder or ribs can both impact the terminal ballistics.

 

[Flintlock]

Possibly it wasn't as broadside as you thought and the ball entered at a angle.

 

[Dave Marsh]

Possibly it wasn't as broadside as you thought and the ball entered at a angle.

That is what I was thinking. That deer could have jumped at the shot and quartered more than you think. Their position can be deceiving in the "heat of the moment".

 

[Brokennock]

Possibly it wasn't as broadside as you thought and the ball entered at a angle.

This was my thought as well. Could have been just starting to move as the o.p. pulled the trigger. Combine that with a bone deflection and weird wound channel's happen.

 

[pilot]

I agree with the angle theory. It happened to me last week in Wisconsin with an unmentionable style rifle. I thought the doe was broadside, but she was closer to 30° off broadside. It happens.

 

[waarp8nt]

I think Mushka and Flintlock are on the correct path. Seen that very thing happen with unmentionable handguns. Even seen the bullets puncture the hide and follow the meat back for a long ways without entering into the body or muscle. As the skin was pulled off the bullets fell out.

IMO The angle of the dangle isn't always perportional to the terminal velocity of the bullet.

 

[Christophero]

You didn't mention if you hit a rib or not, though ribs are thin and break easily, trust me, I KNOW! Still, a soft ball can do interesting things. About 4 seasons back I hit a doe in the foreleg bone as the wind push the 50 caliber ball further than I expected at 100 yards. The bone was splinters. There was a slice into the body cavity but not a round hole. No real holes were to be seen in the lungs, but it looked line bone shards did the damage to bring her down about 200 yards later. I believe the ball, what was left after hitting bone, flattened out and cut into the cavity, going somewhere that I didn't find. I need to stay away from those leg bones with RB's.

30 or more years ago I shot a squirrel in the head with a .32 RB. It fell straight down. Upon skinning half of the ball was found between the hide and meat over the spine above the hind legs. The top of the skull sheered the ball in two and sent that section off to the right 90 degrees down the back line. Much to learn and see in this game.

 

[hanshi]

Deflection is not restricted to round ball. Even Elmer Keith wrote about shooting a deer with an unmentionable + jacketed bullet and having it do a 180 and come back toward the shooter. I long ago shot a bobcat with a .45 prb and it must have split because there were two exit wounds.

 

[Kappa]

They do flatten out, and travel like a disc I recall a very close 13 yard shot, 54 entry 150 (1.5”) exit from hornady pure lead ball. I now use a ball cast from dental lead I seem to recall most think it is BH 9-10 not as hard as wheel weights balls weigh 225-226 when cast pure lead is 230.

 

[Nuthatch]

Old thread but I’ll echo some of the comments that deflection isn’t unique to roundball. Several years ago, I took a small buck with a modern rifle. Bullet entered exactly where I aimed — near the last couple of ribs on a steep quartering away shot. The crosshairs were aligned with the opposite front leg. Ended up being gut shot. The bullet spun 90 deg. I kept the hide and the holes are there to remind me how unpredictable bullets can be once they hit anything solid. I’ve taken that hide to hunter education classes to talk about being sure of your target, what’s behind it and waiting for good clean shots.

There are some fun airgun channels online using slow motion cameras. Pellets do similar things sometimes.

So, no, roundball isn’t inherently more prone to this. Once a high speed projectile hits something solid, anything can happen.

 

[Hammond79]

I had a similar experience this season. Shot a young doe (~110-120 lb. yearling) with an unmentionable 405 grain jacketed bullet. First off I was aiming right behind the shoulder at a broadside deer but the bullet passed through the neck nicking the underside of the spine. I was hunting from the ground and may have hit some twigs in between the deer and I. Distance was about 50 yards. The Deer fell where she stood. The entry and exit were nice round holes, about the size of a penny going in and a nickel going out. When field dressing I noticed a bit (maybe a pint) of blood and some lung damage in the chest cavity, the heart had two 3/4" slits going through one of the bottom chambers going from front to back. Also when butchering there was a decent amount of congealed blood between the ribs and exit side shoulder.

I expect the secondary wounds were caused by bone fragments. I don't see that large bullet fragmenting when only passing through 6" of flesh with the spine between the bullet and the deer.

Bullets and balls can and do move in crazy ways. If you've ever seen tracers fly after contact with targets or the ground you'll see some gymnastics.

I wouldn't worry about a .54 ball not doing lethal damage with a well aimed shot.