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Semi OT. What's your favorite white tail deer bullet?

5 axis Fidia guy

Stainless
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Location
Wisconsin
Ok so as a lifelong hunter and hand loader I have always shot premium controlled expansion bullets. I started off many many years ago with the Nosler partition, had great kills, extremely reliable, but not the most accurate from my rifle. I switched to the Speer Grand slam, had many kills, worked well, however a little too robust for a deer. Now I switched to the new copper solid Barnes triple shock, they shoot extremely accurate, got several deer with them, however they don't seem like they don't drop the animal as quickly as the partitions. They just don't seem to have a "shock" effect to the animal, although the videos look great in the gelatin. Now I am thinking of the Hornady SST. My gun is a .270 and my shots are from 10 feet to 400 yards. What do you guys shoot, any luck with the SST?
 
I used to shoot the grand slams exclusively because they did such a great job, although you are correct, they put big holes in my steaks! I tried the different bullets with the ballistic tips and while they put them down, they explode and ruin a lot of meat or do not punch through bone(shoulders) very well. I went back to the good ol Sierra Game King for most calibers. Like you, my longest shot is maybe 400yds. Most are under 100. I even switched to a customized Freedom Arms 44 mag my Dad built, for most hunting out of a stand. Good on anything inside of 200 yards. imagejpeg_3.jpg
 
I have use the swift sciroccos in my .300 WSM for 5+ years and I love them. They have dropped multiple deer and elk in 1 shot. Best combo of accuracy and effectiveness I found in my rifle. Shots range from 20 to 350 yards. My dad had the same experience you did with the Nosler partitions in his gun. If he hit the animal, it was done for.
 
Ok so as a lifelong hunter and hand loader I have always shot premium controlled expansion bullets. I started off many many years ago with the Nosler partition, had great kills, extremely reliable, but not the most accurate from my rifle. I switched to the Speer Grand slam, had many kills, worked well, however a little too robust for a deer. Now I switched to the new copper solid Barnes triple shock, they shoot extremely accurate, got several deer with them, however they don't seem like they don't drop the animal as quickly as the partitions. They just don't seem to have a "shock" effect to the animal, although the videos look great in the gelatin. Now I am thinking of the Hornady SST. My gun is a .270 and my shots are from 10 feet to 400 yards. What do you guys shoot, any luck with the SST?
400 yard shots in Wisconsin? Wow!
Our deer are not very big here. Supposed to be the same genetics as the northern white tails. but the summer heat here must suppress their growth and appetite. My dad finally got gown to 30 caliber 100 grain plinkers with 20 grains of unique (in 30.06) for clean kills on local deer. Did not want to spoil anymore meat than necessary. I have used 150 grain hollow point boat tails( lightly constructed target bullets) in 30.06 for years. Puts them right down with neck shots and can be used on pigs as well. Only had one pig that it did not go all the way through and he was a 500 to 600 pound bruiser.

My dad told about using 120 grain hollow points with the same 20 grains of Unique. He shot a doe and it just wagged its tail and ran. Saw it come out from behind some brush and shot it again, disappeared then came out from behind some more bushes and he shot it again when it came out. Turned out he killed 3 deer. The land owner's son was in the next blind and said he could see what was happening but did not know how to stop my dad. Anyway the 120 grain hollow points did not expand because of the low velocity, just made pencil size through holes.

Even if you whitetails are heavier than ours, they are still lightly constructed and too premium a bullet might not expand enough.
 
For handloads, nosler partition, never had a problem getting them to be accurate, they are not as good as keeping their velocity as things like accubonds and ballistic tips though. Drop deer like a hammer and don't destroy meat like a ballistic tip either.

Factory ammo, Remington Core Lock aka the cheap green box. Again, they drop deer, don't destroy meat. Also suffer from velocity loss at distance.

For my 45-70., 38-55, 44 mag, 357, big fat cast keith style bullets, cast with 20-1 alloy. They penetrate very well, always leave a blood trail, don't destroy meat, and are accurate. Downside is you have to spend a lot of time to properly cast accurate bullets.

Ive been playing around with accubonds a bit too. A co worker uses them exclusively for the last few years and he really likes them. They shoot well, I just need to connect with a hog or deer to see.

Now ask me about what bullets I hate for deer.
Ballistic tips and hollow point gamekings in calibers going over 2500 fps. They blow up, destroy the whole front of the deer, yet they always still managed to run off for a 100yds or so. To be fair I have shot a doe with a 7mmtcu with a ballistic tip which did fine with its low velocity.
 
Barnes TTS. I mostly still hunt or drive deer. Perfect shots don't come my way very often. Most years I don't even get a shot at a buck. When I do get a shot that I know I can hit, I take it, because I know I have a bullet that goes deep. Only ever got one back. I shot a Mulie from behind and found the bullet under the hide at the front shoulder. 7 Mag, 150 Gr.

Usually carry T/C Contender carbines for PA deer season. 30-30 AI and 35 Rem are my favorites. Again with the Barnes TTS.
If I had one of those spots where a buck walked up and volunteered a perfect angle every year, I'd probably switch to the Nosler BT.
 
Henry 45-70. I live in TN. There are very few unobstructed shots past 150 yards. And a branch in the way isn't going to deflect that slug very much. Nothing in TN can survive that round.

I have a .300 Winmag I used to take out west for Elk when papaw was still alive to go with me. Those were usually long shots, and the .300 shoots mighty flat.
 
I guess accuracy is dependent on how and where you hunt. I overlook allot of flowages and old logged out areas, this I why I can really reach out for a long shot. I have a great shooting area and with a nice solid rest, at 200 yards my partitions will group about 2.5", not too bad for a white tail, however the Barnes solid copper design will group and honest 1" at 200 yards from my Remington 700. As a side note, The Nosler Ballistic tip is more of a varmit round than a deer round. I shot one buck broadside at about 110" yards and hit him in the lungs, dropped like a rock, the bullet did not even exit. While gutting him I found fragment everywhere, if the deer was at and angle or I hit the shoulder, it would have been horrible. The ballistic tips are now still sitting on the shelf, never again.
 
The best bullet is the one aimed correctly. The past few years, I have been using 405 grain hard cast lead from a 45-70. No expansion necessary.
 
7.62x39. In the south so we got smaller deer. Hell even good soft points are cheap. I got a ruger 77 in 7.62x39 and a good silencer.
 
I have used the Barnes solid copper "X" bullet since they came out with it. I have used the .30cal 180gr in a 30-06 on everything from little steenbuk up to Kudu. With plenty of deer and elk in between. Everything has been one shot kills with minimal meat damage and full penetration, so no bullet recovery. The furthest anything has gone was about a 50yd stagger. The bullet allows for the ability to take just about any angle shot that is presented. I have been very happy with it. Remember the bullet itself is the cheapest, yet most important part of your hunt, so a few cents more per shot for a better bullet is the right thing to do.
 
I hunt at the most ridiculous deer factory of hunting land you could imagine. Common that I will see multiple large 10pt bucks in opening weekend. With all the guys that hunt there, we have seen best results with heavy soft point bullets (brand doesn't matter), I shoot an 8mm mauser 200gr. Typical shot for us is under 100yds and always shoot upper neck, no screwing around with a gut shot, they either die immediately or you missed.
 
I loaded the Hornady 140g SST for my .270 Win for a lot of years. I also used Nosler Ballistic Tip, same weight, for a short while. Hornady bullets come in a box of 100, Nosler a box of 50 for the same price. I could interchange the two bullets with very little effect on point of impact and field performance was virtually the same. Exit holes I could put my fist in, wound channel is usually 4”-6”, and anything between entry and exit is annihilated. I have tried SST in the Superformance line also. I found those to be extremely accurate in my rifle, but expensive. I almost always neck shoot anything under 100yds and if SST hits the spine whitetails are darn near decapitated.

In the last five years or so I moved away from SST and gone back to the Hornady 140 grain Interlock spire points that i used 20 years ago. They are not as cool looking but where I hunt most of my shots are 200yds or less so I do not think I benefit from the aerodynamic tips much. SST and Nosler BT both do a lot of damage. With the Interlock the deer are just as dead and a lot less ruined meat. I picked 140g because its a boat tail and I can use the same bullet on small central and west Texas whitetails, or mule deer. If I was only hunting Texas sized whitetails I would load 130g for the flatter ballistics.

I have experimented with a number of bullets through the years. With the exception of the new lead-free bullets i have tried just about everything. For the price Hornady is hard to beat. If shock is what your after SST has it. They are not hollow-point varmint bullet explosive, but they will punch an amazing hole. I never had one stay inside an animal.

Forgive me if this has read like a Hornady commercial.
 
For myself, A slow bullet is best for white tail.

But I live in the woods, and have always hunted in the woods. a 150 yard shot is a long one.

anything over 150 grains and less than 2200 fps

It's those fast rounds that get fussy.

7.62X39 and 154gr., 30-30 and 165-175 gr. light load .308 150-185 gr.
12 ga, 200gr. , BP- around 200 gr. you get the picture.
There is a pattern. ;-)
 
400 yards in deer hunting seems a long ways out and only shoot this if you know your grouping.
For me most deer shooting is standing or sitting with no rest so this range would be luck kill and very high percentage of a bad or would shot.
Last thing I want to do is blow the leg off a deer and off it goes.
Some at our deer camp have elephant guns. Never saw much sense in that as the point is take home food, not just kill Bambi's dad.
For this point Honda, Chevy, Ford also bad. Just ruins the meat and all one can do is make sausage. Not to mention the fun of gutting as the insides........well poopy.

Perhaps one is kill deer for food and the other kill deer for sport. Then there is the in-between but then worse that want a big trophy rack to hang on the wall.
All kinds of deer hunters, different gun or load choices make sense for their goals.
Bob
 
I hunt deer now with an 06 98 Mauser and a Winchester 243, when we have tracking snow..
New gun in Michigan is the 450 bushmaster. A hand-gun load in a rifle that is near flat and killing to 200 yards with almost no kick. I took a nice 11 pt that was over 200 lbs. with one this year.
I hunted near Lansing Mi this year.. Kelly road camp had little deer sign, and some critter got in my hunting hut and made a mess of it so I came down to mid state for a corn fed buck.
Best gun ever a 300 Weatherby in a Remington action, custom gun that was smooth as silk, little kick and near dead on, not mine. We took that gun out to Santa Rosa island in 2004 and shot two elk and a mule deer all with that same gun. My son in law owns it now.. My elk scored 320 gold award.

Mid state corn fed deer are much better tasting than up north cedar tree eating deer. About the only good thing about up north deer is chatting with the Indian girls at the bar.
 








 
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