# effect of a S&W .40 on deer



## RipperIII (Dec 16, 2012)

Wounded my first deer last night.
My .270 blew his front leg in two just above the elbow(100 yd off hand shoulder shot gone a bit awry)the round deflected  to the right and creased his breast plate instead of going through the shoulder, about 2" low and 1" or so forward.
Bad shot on my part.
Located the deer after an hour and a half of tracking with no blood or sign.

Took my .40 which I load with alternate rounds of hollow point and solid rounds, lined up at about 6ft and shot him between the eyes.

The round deflected off of his skull(young spike) and he jumped up and ran.
I put 3 rounds into him broadside at about 6' as he circled me and ran off into the darkness.
Found him 30yds down the creek bank still alive barely and dispatched him with a round to the base of his skull from a few inches.    
At the processor, we determined that the 3 rounds put into his broadside hit in a 3" circle in the shoulder and rib area,...clean pass-throughs...all fatal.
Heart and lungs destroyed.
We did not recover a round.
The fur was creased in the front of his skull, but no penetration...that was a hollow point.

We got all but one shoulder of meat to process, no other organ was hit,...well the liver was creased.

I am used to the high powered rounds dropping the deer in their tracks,...as I pumped .40 rounds into this deer he ran as if I had missed him completely.

Still amazed that the point blank shot to the front of his skull did not penetrate.


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## bluemarlin (Dec 16, 2012)

That's interesting.. I'm surprised that caliber hollow point deflected too.  I wonder if that exact same shot with a solid round would have?

Thanks for sharing... Nice job and enjoy that venison!


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## RipperIII (Dec 16, 2012)

I can only suppose that the front of a deer's skull is extra thick and I know that it slopes at an angle that may have caused  the round to deflect, but still...??


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## tgc (Dec 16, 2012)

I've been messing around with reloading the .40. You can load very good effective rounds in the 155 grain. Check out hodgdon longshot powder, (around 1285 fps for longshot), in .40 s&w on their load data on their web site. I have not used that, I use blue dot. What I've found out is the 180 is too heavy for the .40 s&w case size and you can't get much out of it. It builds too much pressure before you can get any good velocity, but the 155 (1221 fps for blue dot) is awsome. 
 The store bought .40 S&W bullets are lawyer loads  and not very good. I'm much happier with the reloads.

 I have three .40 guns and don't use these in the Glock.


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## rosewood (Dec 16, 2012)

RipperIII said:


> I am used to the high powered rounds dropping the deer in their tracks,...as I pumped .40 rounds into this deer he ran as if I had missed him completely.



I think at that distance and already injured, that deer is hopped up on adrenaline.  Much like a junkie being shot.


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## tgc (Dec 16, 2012)

I should'a told you, as a comparison,

I'm getting 1221 fps in 155 grain .40 S&W. I use XTP bullets.

Thats comparable to what I get from my 158 grain .357 magnums.

There is a story as to why I started playing with this round but it's kind of long so I'll leave it out for now.


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## bucktail (Dec 16, 2012)

Last year I had to put a spine shot 8 pt down with my .40 using tap ammo. Three rounds to the heart he was dead in 10 seconds. All rounds recovered just under the opposite side hide. Got a pic of them if you want me to post them. I was surprised they didn't completely pass through being shot from a few feet.


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## ejs1980 (Dec 16, 2012)

I would attribute the running off to adrenaline. As far as the deflection off of the front of the skull I think there were some funny angles going on. There's not a spot on a deers head that a 22mag will not penetrate. Could it have maybe hit the top of the nose and kind of rode on top ot it until it got to the forehead and deflected. Not sure what you mean by crease but the hair should have been gone.


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## RipperIII (Dec 16, 2012)

ejs1980 said:


> I would attribute the running off to adrenaline. As far as the deflection off of the front of the skull I think there were some funny angles going on. There's not a spot on a deers head that a 22mag will not penetrate. Could it have maybe hit the top of the nose and kind of rode on top ot it until it got to the forehead and deflected. Not sure what you mean by crease but the hair should have been gone.



looked like the bullet hit just off center between the eyes and 1/4" above the mid point of the left eye.


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## rosewood (Dec 17, 2012)

ejs1980 said:


> I would attribute the running off to adrenaline. As far as the deflection off of the front of the skull I think there were some funny angles going on. There's not a spot on a deers head that a 22mag will not penetrate. Could it have maybe hit the top of the nose and kind of rode on top ot it until it got to the forehead and deflected. Not sure what you mean by crease but the hair should have been gone.



The angle could definitely be it.  I was target shooting with .40 FMJs 1 day using a one of those corrugated signs (not cardboard, but plastic type material) that was used for advertising at a fast food restaurant.  It was kind up hill from me and it fell over, I fired another round at the target laying on the ground and heard the bullet ricochet and hit some woods behind the target.  That bullet ricocheted off of a piece of corrugated plastic.  It hit the angle just right to do that.


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## guesswho (Dec 18, 2012)

Had a 180 Federal HiShock ricochet off a deer's head that was hit by a car.  So it isn't all that uncommon as far as I'm concerned.


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## tbrown913 (Dec 19, 2012)

as far as the frontal head shot goes, my dad had his 300 win mag deflect on a spike about ten years ago.  he was sitting on the ground, and the first shot clipped a limb and took out the two front legs of the deer.  his second shot was to the head, same spot, just above center line of the eyes.  bullet deflected up, and out the top of the skin between the antlers.  

thanks for the info on the .40 against the deer.  Im thinking about using my .45 in the morning.  got a bow stand they cross at 5 yards.


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## tullisfireball (Dec 19, 2012)

I had my .40 glance off of a deer's head last year. I shot him and dropped him in the hayfield next to the house, but he was still alive when I got to him and all I had with me was my Glock. I shot him right between the antlers and the bullet put a perfect hole in his ear. I think the top of the skull is thicker then the side of the head.


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## Glock20SF (Sep 15, 2014)

Moose don't drop to JHP to skull either.  Friend shot aggressive moose cow in skull with .45 ACP Speer 200 grain JHP Lawman load back in the day.  Finished the moose with multiple neck shots using 230 grain jacketed round nose.


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## Dub (Sep 15, 2014)

RipperIII said:


> Wounded my first deer last night.
> My .270 blew his front leg in two just above the elbow(100 yd off hand shoulder shot gone a bit awry)the round deflected  to the right and creased his breast plate instead of going through the shoulder, about 2" low and 1" or so forward.
> Bad shot on my part.
> Located the deer after an hour and a half of tracking with no blood or sign.
> ...





I'm glad you were able to kill and recover your young spike with 5 shots (all hits). 


We've all had bad outcomes on a hunt or two.






ARGGHHHHHHH.......just saw I'm replying to an old thread resurrected by G20SF, who, must be bored today as he's revving several old threads.


Oh well....here's to having a rainy Monday off work.


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## Glock20SF (Sep 22, 2014)

Sorry to be un-politic and digging through the dead threads!


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## thc_clubPres (Sep 22, 2014)

good resurrection.  I dispatched a 10pt last yr with single 9mm HP shot to below shoulder.  didn't take long.

it was follow up to a single 44mag rifle shot to the lower front shoulder region as he came directly at me.

I don't "put 'em down" with any shot to head or skull anymore.  did that to a doe years ago and it seemed to go in agony and took multiple shots.


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## KentuckyHeadhunter (Sep 24, 2014)

Interesting resurrection....


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## PappyHoel (Oct 10, 2014)

No wonder!  I had an incident with what I call "devil doe" and it was unreal.


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## rharp (Oct 10, 2014)

I shot a car hit spike in the side of his head with a 40  180 gr hollowpoint and it did not come out the other side from about 6ft.  It should have came out as there was less than 3-4 inches to penetrate. It apparently did not come close as there was no bulging. I have since shot another with a 9 mm hollowpoint and it went through the head.


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