Bullet deflection?

[ironranger420]

How much does it take for a branch to deflect a bullet? I know that's a vague and somewhat difficult question to answer, but maybe somebody knows. My brother shot at a nice big buck on thursday and thought he downed him. He was shooting with a Browning 300 mag. semi-auto with balistic tips at 165 or 185 grain (not sure which it was). Anyway, there was only 1 small spruce branch in between him and the deer. The deer was 120 yards out and the branch was about 60 yards out. he said that it appeared through his scope that the branch wouldn't come into play, but after further review, we think the branch was in his line. Could a small branch deflect a bullet or would the bullet stay on its path of flight and simply go right through the branch? Especially with a cannon like this, I wouldn't think a small branch would be a factor, but it apparently was. We looked for a couple of hours and found no blood, or hair, or anything. He did say the deer jumped when he shot, which usually means HIT. But maybe the deer just got spooked by the sound, or the bullet wizzing by his face startled him. Anyway, this one will probably bother him all year. He will be wondering did I have a bad shot, did I hit him and he didn't bleed, did the branch deflect my shot? All these things will be going through his head until next year when he has a chance to redeem himself. We've all been there!

[Gissert]

The smallest of branches can upset a bullet. Anything that will change the axis of a spinning bullet will magnify with distance. Brush busting is a misnomer that somehow survives to this day.

If the brush is close to the deer, sometimes you get lucky and get a good hit, even if the bullet deflects a bit. The farther the target is from the point of bullet upset, the greater chance of a poor hit or a plain miss.

If you can, set up a target about 30 yards behind some light brush. Make sure your backstop is good and safe. Shoot a few rounds at the target, and you will be surprised at the amout of deflections, outright misses and keyhole bullet holes.

[BarryG]

A very small branch can and will deflect a bullet. I have seen where a small weed type growth has deflected a bullet. The amount of space the bullet misses by is in relation to how far away from the target the branch is, if the branch is close to the target it will not miss the intended mark by as much as if the branch is 50 yd away.

[mille lacs muskie bum]

I think that all of this info is true but I have heard of bullets going right through trees and still killing the deer.

[bigbucks]

I would believe a bullet would go through a tree & kill a deer, but I also would bet the tree is very close to the deer. Even arrows can deflect off a small branch, but if they are within a foot or two of the deer, usually they'll hit their mark. Anything farther from the deer with gun or bow will likely mean a miss.

Did you check to see if he hit that branch or not? If you know which one it was it shouldn't be hard to tell.

I missed a couple of shots at 90-100 yards with my shotgun a couple of years ago, that I would normally make. I eventually noticed slug scars on branches in the saplings next to my stand on branches no thicker than my pinky finger. My third shot didn't hit the sapling & the deer went down.

[JEV]

In my experiance any little deflection of the bullet, especially if it has to travel any distance after, will severely alter the bullets path. If the deflection is close to the target, the path will naturally be less altered by the time it hits the target. Quite a few years ago, I shot a doe out of the stand that was out about 300 yards. She was partially behind some black willows when I shot. When I found her the entrance wound was enourmous. When I skinned her out I actually found black willows imbedded under the hide and in the chest cavity. The bullet had hit the willows and must of either started to tumble or mushroom, but it made one heck of a hole. Those old 180gr bullets from my '06 sure could do some damage.

[Iceman77]

I deer hunt in a lot of CRP and one year we hunted some particularly thick stuff full of clover. My dad and I both saw a buck get up 60-75 yards away as we were walking through. There was SOME brush in the way but not much. As I made my 4 shots as he stood there perfectly broadside after every single shot I became completely embarrased as all I could here was PPPPFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTT and my dad(also quite possibly the deer) laughing hysterically with each bullet whizzing through the grass. I have never missed a standing deer at less than 150 yards so I thought my rifle was off or the grass affected the flight. The next morning I benched the rifle and shot and found at 100 yards I was 1.5" high, which is what I prefer so I will be dead on at 200 yards. So I tested the grass theory... I placed another backstop and target level with the top of plain ordinary 3' tall grass you would see in any CRP field. I shot just under the tops of the grass and found that I couldn't hit the center for anything. This was done with my 6mm and I have heard that .30-06's were brush busters so I took out my dads M1 Garand and after 10 shots I had exactly the same group size as with my 6mm. I continued to take every rifle off the rack to see if speed and bullet types were factors.... .22-250 same, .308 same, .243-06 same, mini 14 same, and the all fun to shoot .416 Weatherby magnum same. I had some intersting bullet holes through the paper and a sore shoulder, but between all the calibers and speeds all of them reacted the same to the brush. Each deflected about the same amount with the same results. So in summary both light and thick brush will deflect the bullet with greatly varying amounts each time you shoot. Sometimes you will be right where you were aiming and the next time over 12 inches off. Also, the grass patch was about 20 yards long and only 30 yards in front of the target!!! Now I will only shoot clear shots even in grass and not rely on the bullet busting through the brush.

[riverrat56]

When i was sighting in my shotgun for deer hunting at my friend cabin, his dad was shooting a 30/06 at 75 yards and when he shot we saw a white cloud of somethign and then went to check the target, there were 3 holes right in the target, but only 2 cartridges where fired, turns out bullet hit a sapling willow ( about 3 inch around ) went right through it the bullet split and still found its mark. But i have seen even ounce slugs deflected by small twigs before unless the brush and deer are close together.

RR56

[huskminn]

I'm really glad to see you folks giving this topic some air time, as I've heard and read so often about "brush busting" guns. Of course, as most of you know, there is no such thing.

I once missed a nice muley buck at 50 yards because he was laying in tall grass. I had a slightly obscured neck shot and assumed at that range my bullet would plow through the grass. Of course, it didn't. Thankfully, he never got up and I shot him at the base of his skull with my next shot--that was the only clear shot available above the grass.

Back when Remington made the Accelorator round for 30-06, I used them for coyotes. I was checking my zero one day and shot once at a target on a cardboard box about 200 yards away. I drove to the target and found no hole. I was dumbfounded, as I shouldn't have missed completely. Upon closer inspection, I found many tiny, oddly shaped holes in the target. A couple of blades of old dead prairie grass in front of the target were the culprits. That factory round traveled at over 4,000 fps and simply disintegrated when it hit a 1/32" piece of grass.

The only "brush buster" around is the big old buck busting through the brush after your shot deflects and misses completely.

Good discussion.