Had the opportunity a few months ago to shoot my first deer with the 450bm round. I do reload for it. However the factory Hornady ammo is so incredibly accurate in my 450bm, I choose to hunt with factory ammo.
Shot a nice big 9 point right through the shoulder at about 30 yards. Bullets passed through and left a huge blood trail to follow (or maybe it just looked huge because we had fresh white snow). Bullet went through the vitals. Since the deer ran off the private land I was hunting I didn't take the time to inspect if I actually hit the heart. However the blood trail was a legit 4ft wide sprayed all over. Unfortunately the deer ran for estimated 400-500 yards before it died. I was very surprised it ran this far. Since 1) It had no front shoulder left 2) It was a good hit 3) I was only 30 yards away so it delivered a lot of energy still 4) I hit shoulder bone so I assumed the bullet expanded as it was supposed to.
I was talking with a guy yesterday and he mentioned the Hornady 250gr bullets have a habit of not expanding and just having pass throughs instead. Well we all know, guys say a lot of stuff when chatting about guns and hunting stories. So I took what he said with a grain of salt. However, it did get me thinking about my own experience a little bit more.
When I look up reviews for the 250gr Hornady bullets, it's essentially perfect 5 stars.
Historically hunting with 12 gauge slugs, I've never had a deer run over 20-30 yards. And most don't run at all, they just die.
What's you guys' opinions on the 250gr Hornady bullets performance on game? Is my story a fluke? Thanks I appreciate any feedback!