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Posted by: Jim - 1/2/2002 (12:26 a.m.) - 32.97.110.69
After reading all the comments on the accuracy and terminal performance of devel bullets I had to give them a try. Accuracy was good with groups under 2 inches most of the time but the real test came yesterday the last day of our central NC deer season. I was hunting a winter wheat field with a lot of deer coming in every day just before dark. My first shot was at a large doe at about 200 yards. The deer jumped and took off at a dead run but stopped after running about 90 yards, stood for a few seconds and then ran into a cutover and I could hear her run for what seemed like another 100 yards. A few minutes later I shot another deer which was exactly 204 yards from me (I used a range finder). The deer jumped like a heart or lung shot and ran towards me for about 100 yards then veered off toward the edge of a cutover which was another 70 yards and on into the cutover. I heard the deer crash and was able to walk to it. There was almost no blood trail. Never found the doe and had a friend search this morning but no luck. There was no blood trail, only a few drops where she stopped before going into the cutover.
The second deer was hit low in the lung area with the bullet entering between two ribs on the right side and exiting on the left side. The bullet went through a rib on the left side and left a hole about the size of the bullet and did not break the rib. Exit hole was no bigger than my finger! There was a hole in both lungs about the size of the bullet with very minimal damage.
I know there is nothing scientific about this but these results would prevent me from ever using these bullets for hunting purposes.
In contrast, I shot a 290 pound (actually weighed) Canadian whitetail in Nov. 2001 with a 300 grain Hornady XMT, hit dead center of the lungs and the deer went down on the spot.
Just wanted to share what I had experienced.
Jim
Devel bullets
Posted by: 1SHOT-1KILL - 1/2/2002 (9:06 p.m.) - 63.15.175.245
Jim, congrats on the Canadian buck. Billy M. told me you got a nice one up there. He told me you didn't have much of chance at an elk in CO this fall.
The sceneroi you discribed is why I primarily use the the 250gr and 300gr XTP's for whitetails. They expand devastatingly on deer. I had a couple do they same thing with the devels a couple years ago, but fortunately I was able to find them both. The key with the Devel is with penetration and bone breaking. I took a couple more deer with the Devels, but I switched to center of shoulder shots, which ruin some meat on the shoulders, but the deer dropped in their tracks. On larger boned game like big wild boars and bear, the Devels gave excellent penetration, good hydrostatic shock to tissue and organs, and was able to break major bones. However it is not my first choice for smaller boned deer. It usually is in and out, seemingly before it has a chance to deliver any shock affect.
The Devel is the most accurate bullet I have shot in the 10ML. For a pure hunting bullet on deer size game I do prefer the Hornady 250gr and 300gr XTP's (not the mags) bullets. The reason I like the XTP's is that you get more and instant energy transfer on game. The vast majority of the time the deer will drop in it's track when hit with one of these bullet. With the Devel's 50% of the deer run 25-50yds before piling up, which isn't to bad either. For game larger than deer, I would strictly use the Devel bullet.
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