Just wanted to hear what everyone’s had good luck with for deer hunting ammunition. I have used Winchester Deer season xp for the last several years and have had decent results. I shoot a 30-06 semi auto with 150 grain bullets. All deer I’ve poop haven’t gone far with good hits of course. What is everyone elses go to?
I use Winchester Ballistic Silvertip in 140 grain for my 7mm-08. They cost a little more but the range is superior without losing trajectory. I hunt some broken country where the timber line meets the ag and I have some very long shots.
My only gripe would be that 7mm-08 ammo is not as easy to find as something like 30-06 or .270 ammo is.
I’ve shot dozens of deer with Remington Core Loks. .243, 30-06, and .32 special. Never had a problem.
Barnes LRX – Very minimal meat loss since the mono bullet stays together even at close range, where those cup and core bullets can grenade
I shoot Remington Core Locks. 270 win with 150 grain. Have no reason to change. Been happy with this hunting in WI. I never have to shoot out past 200 yds either.
I’ve used several different types of ammo over the years and every shot I’ve taken has killed the deer no problem. Hard to say what works and what doesn’t. Who’s to say a shot missed was because of the ammo versus buck fever?
x3 on Remington Core Lok, 30.06 for me.
I’ve been using Federal Power Shock 180 grain bullets in my .30-06 for a long time. More accurate than most bullets for me, always pass through.
Sierra Gameking 117gr SPT in my .26-06 have been very effective. Once those are gone, which will likely be a while, I’ll probably switch to a non-lead option like Barnes.
x3 on Remington Core Lok, 30.06 for me.
same here except in the 220 grain flavor!!!! there tough to find though.
I’ve used 350 Legend Winchester Deer Season XP 150gr out of a 10.5″ AR pistol for the last 3 years. 16 deer (all under 75 yards), none of which went more than 20 yards or so. Definitely need good shot placement or it can wreck a more meat than I like, but it’s usually less damage than a 12 gauge slug.
We are shotgun zone but my son hunts at his girlfriends in rifle zone and uses hornady sst 120g in 7mm-08. He has shot 2 deer with them and neither went far but very little blood. This years deer he took out the top of the heart and still little blood. I have a lot of that ammo so it will be awhile before running out but when I do I will probably switch.
Barnes LRX – Very minimal meat loss since the mono bullet stays together even at close range, where those cup and core bullets can grenade
I use Barnes XPB bullets or Xpanders in my guns that shoot Bh209 and performance is stellar on deer. I get my best groups with the .45 cal smokeless muzzy using 200 grain, .40 cal, Fury bonded bullets and thus far they’ve been holding up really well in spite of being pushed to near 2900 fps.
I think any rifle bullet being used on deer should be either a monolithic or bonded bullet.
Here’s the 200 grain Fury bullet taken from a big doe. It lost about 1/4 of its original mass, all ahead of the bonding ring in the copper jacket.
IMG_1851-scaled.jpeg
Nosler Ballistic Tips (hand-loaded) is now my go-to for both .243 and 6.5 rifles. Absolutely lights out performance on every deer shot and the overall accuracy is very close to match-grade bullets.
A word of caution. With the sudden popularity of long-range match shooting, I’m also seeing increasing reports of hunters not understanding that match ammunition is NOT for hunting. There is a LOT of ammo on the shelves now for common chamberings like the 6.5s and the .308 that is for target use only. This did not used to be the case, so I suspect some out there don’t realize that not all ammo is hunting ammo and that there is a critical difference between target ammo and hunting ammo.
Make sure those you are hunting with–especially anyone getting a new rifle–understands the difference.
Reminton Core-lok in 150 grain 270, 130 gr 30-30 and i forget the grain of the 243 (96??). Have liked how Hornady lever revolution have performed in the 30-30. but have not hunted with them yet.
My buddy hand loads and lucky enough he has the dies for 300wsm, which is hard enough ammo to find. He loaded me 180gr accubonds and couldn’t be happier so far. Accurate and lethal, two deer this year went a total of about a yard. A lot cheaper too. When I could get ammo regularly, I did like the fusions, same gun shot those well.
I’m going to be trying the Remington core lokt soon, sounds like quite a few people have liked them for years.
I hand load for everything and used Barnes TSX almost exclusively,but now load more jacketed bullets like Hornady ELDX and Bergers,with most my shots under 300,I want a bullet that dumps all its energy on impact rather than still having alot of energy left on the pass thru.
Not knocking barnes at all,Great bullets,but went from 300 WBY mag to 6.5cm,reason for bullet swap.Also used to load a 70grn Nosler ballistic tip for .243 and that always hammered deer for a varmit bullet.
I’ve shot dozens of deer with Remington Core Loks. .243, 30-06, and .32 special. Never had a problem.
Cort loks for me to in all my hunting rifles. I try not to over think what works. I found those work great so I stick to them. Luckily I haven’t needed to rifle hunt in a long time. The bow has done the trick
I hand load for everything and used Barnes TSX almost exclusively,but now load more jacketed bullets like Hornady ELDX and Bergers,with most my shots under 300,I want a bullet that dumps all its energy on impact rather than still having alot of energy left on the pass thru.
Not knocking barnes at all,Great bullets,but went from 300 WBY mag to 6.5cm,reason for bullet swap.Also used to load a 70grn Nosler ballistic tip for .243 and that always hammered deer for a varmit bullet.
I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum of this. I hand load everything and hunt with almost all Barnes TSX/TTSX. Its a personal choice, and I strongly prefer to have no fragmented lead in my meat. I also like the damage done to the organs Vs the damage done by fragmenting bullets. Perfectly placed shots kill regardless of each kind of bullet. The monolithic bullets give me less meat damage and the organs always look like they were beaten with a baseball bat. My opinion is the carried energy on the exit almost always guarantees an exit wound and better damage t the vitals on marginal shots.
I am far from an ammo expert and most of my shots are very short range (like less than 75 yards). I have a 7mm Mag and I shoot the Federal Accutip (forget what grain) and I fully expected this massive hole on the opposite side of the deer when I would shoot them, but its never happened. Heck, sometimes its actually hard to even find the entrance hole. IDK if its a bad bullet choice, like I said, I dont shoot a lot. I have also shot them with some variation of a Winchester ammo and that seemed about the same. These were not a polymer tipped bullet either.
I am far from an ammo expert and most of my shots are very short range (like less than 75 yards). I have a 7mm Mag and I shoot the Federal Accutip (forget what grain) and I fully expected this massive hole on the opposite side of the deer when I would shoot them, but its never happened. Heck, sometimes its actually hard to even find the entrance hole. IDK if its a bad bullet choice, like I said, I dont shoot a lot. I have also shot them with some variation of a Winchester ammo and that seemed about the same. These were not a polymer tipped bullet either.
Lots of the fancy tipped or super bonded bullets are way to hard for a deer. They never have a chance to open up. More of a problem with the faster shooting calibers.
Shot my buck this year with a 130 TMK (tipped match king) handload out of the 6.5 creed and it absolutely hammered him. Top of heart gone, lungs shredded, and a nice 50 cent sized exit. Perfect performance.
There is a 65 or so page thread on the Rokslide forum of guys tipping game over at ranges longer than pretty much all of us shoot (elk and the like up to and including 600+ yards) with match bullets out of 6.5s, 6s, and even hotrod 22 cartridges like the 22 creedmoor.
The primary thing to consider with match bullets is that YMMV heavily depending on the specific projectile. There are tons of success stories with projectiles like the 130 TMK, 130/140/147 eldm, or most of the Berger offerings. HOWEVER, I would absolutely NOT shoot game with something like a 142 SMK.
End of the day, do your research and put it in the boiler room. We’re blessed to be living in an age with tons of great bullets for pretty much all of the popular cartridges.
20241109_093200-scaled.jpg
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
I am far from an ammo expert and most of my shots are very short range (like less than 75 yards). I have a 7mm Mag and I shoot the Federal Accutip (forget what grain) and I fully expected this massive hole on the opposite side of the deer when I would shoot them, but its never happened. Heck, sometimes its actually hard to even find the entrance hole. IDK if its a bad bullet choice, like I said, I dont shoot a lot. I have also shot them with some variation of a Winchester ammo and that seemed about the same. These were not a polymer tipped bullet either.Lots of the fancy tipped or super bonded bullets are way to hard for a deer. They never have a chance to open up. More of a problem with the faster shooting calibers.
That must be the problem but my buddy has same caliber and it believe they are hand loaded and they are devastating except the one buck he dropped in its tracks I’m convinced had a heart attack because we couldn’t find a bullet hole.
I have an old Remington model 700 in 7mm magnum and that gun absolutely loves 154 grain Hornady Interlocks. It shoots them crazy good and the performance on deer is perfect. Does enough damage to make it deadly but not so much to scramble everything in front of the diaphragm. It’s old and ugly but my go to gun/load.
Might have to check those out. I don’t want to blow things all apart and I haven’t lost one I’ve shot I’ve just been surprised I expected it to be something out of a Charles Bronson movie and it’s not.
Might have to check those out. I don’t want to blow things all apart and I haven’t lost one I’ve shot I’ve just been surprised I expected it to be something out of a Charles Bronson movie and it’s not.
You’d love how the interlocks perform, they are just right. I was handed down the gun from my dad when he gave up hunting and he bought it when he was somewhat young. He reloaded enough ammo for it for it to last me forever and my kid too and probably beyond that. It’s to nice in the shack to run outside now but I know I have a box of those reloads with the recipe written on the box in my truck. I’ll get a picture of it tomorrow.
Wow regardless of how well it shoots that’s just a cool story all around!
My buddy hand loads and lucky enough he has the dies for 300wsm, which is hard enough ammo to find. He loaded me 180gr accubonds and couldn’t be happier so far. Accurate and lethal, two deer this year went a total of about a yard. A lot cheaper too. When I could get ammo regularly, I did like the fusions, same gun shot those well.
I have a Ruger in 300 WSM and have only shot one deer with it and that was with core lokts and the performance of those was absolutely terrible. It got the job done but left a hole the size of a basketball in it. After talking to some friends that have guns in that caliber they said those bullets just aren’t built for that kind of power. Just an FYI for anyone else out there that’s looking at different options.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
Might have to check those out. I don’t want to blow things all apart and I haven’t lost one I’ve shot I’ve just been surprised I expected it to be something out of a Charles Bronson movie and it’s not.You’d love how the interlocks perform, they are just right. I was handed down the gun from my dad when he gave up hunting and he bought it when he was somewhat young. He reloaded enough ammo for it for it to last me forever and my kid too and probably beyond that. It’s to nice in the shack to run outside now but I know I have a box of those reloads with the recipe written on the box in my truck. I’ll get a picture of it tomorrow.
31887051-3DF6-4AFF-832B-94D3B548D0ED-scaled.jpeg
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
