I have never attempted a shot through brush. A minor deflection can have grave results. As seadog pointed out, threading the needle is different.

I have to agree from personal experience and from what I've read from people who know a lot more about guns than I do. A long time ago, I believed the Legend about brush-bucking heavy bullets and tried a few shots in brush. I was successful in the couple of instances when the brush was right in front of the deer, but the closer the brush was to me, to more likely the bullet was to go to parts unknown. It has been many, many years since I even thought about trying a shot with anything in the way. Plus one to WAMH.

Excellent article Sir! Another same test was conducted with many deferent cartridges and the one that surprised everyone the most was the 50 BMG. At close range, it too tumbled when it struck the brush used for test. One of the best references I know is in Hatchers Notebook. A 30-06 was fired twice into wooden boards with a 150 grain FMJ. At close range, the bullet tumbled upon impact and only penetrated just short of a foot. At 200 yards, the bullet despite the loss of velocity and energy penetrated deeply approximately 36 inches traveling a straight line. The reason it penetrated more at 200 yards, the bullet had a chance to stabilize.

I almost wish there was a good brush bucker. There have been some pretty big animals well within range, but with brush between. This seems to happen in archery situations more often than it does with a gun for me. With a rifle, a scope mounted as low as possible will help with "threading the needle". This means you don't need some giant objective. 32mm is plenty.

Have to agree that no caliber is a brush buster. I do agree with the premise of what a brush gun is. Not sure I agree with Hawks that pumps are faster than levers, I think that depends on the user. I was rudely snapped out of the brush buster myth when I saw a .30-'06 deflect off of a broom-weed stem.

Shooting through brush is foolishness. I could write several paragraphs on this subject, actually a book, and my first sentence would still hold

I am far from being a gun or ballistic expert but know enough not to shoot through brush.

It is true that any bullet will deflect in a varying fashion by brush. The bigger and slower the bullet, the less deflection seems to occur. Where I grew up hunting deer, I would have eaten tags if I wasn't able to shoot through a little brush. The little fast bullets up to .30 caliber were a lost cause and I wouldn't waste my time shooting one at a deer in brush. Very few if any could be expected to cut through any brush (shrubs, grass, saplings). Even a slow moving 30-30 was doubtful. I shot a .35 Remington and it definitely made it through brush better than any of those. I once shot a deer between the eyes at 100 yards. I thought I had a clear window through the brush and his head was all I could see. On its way, the bullet lobbed above my line of sight and penetrated a 3" limb about 60 yards out. The 200 grain, round nose, slow moving bullet hit right where I was aiming and killed the deer instantly. It was not important to me whether the bullet was tumbling or not. I trust that these will chop some brush and get through about half the time, if not more. I have also shot a .375 through the brush and I am here to tell you that the bullet may be slightly deflected but it keeps traveling in pretty heavy brush. It will stay close enough to point of aim after penetrating a six inch tree to kill effectively. In brush shooting, I was taught to look for an opening but if I couldn't find one in one second to follow and shoot. The bullet will make it to the target about 1 out of three times and the rest of the time, the bullet will be lodged in a giant tree trunk. I use that technique and have never had to eat a tag. I have also never had to follow a blood trail because if they were hit, the deer were hit good and they dropped on the spot. I have seen a little deflection but rarely more than a couple of inches at 50 yards or so. The big round nosed or flat nosed bullets do the best by far. I would not trust anything moving over 2400 fps and 2000 fps seems to be better.