Most devestating bullet you've used on deer

I'll be hunting a rather small area this year and the feeder is set up about 50 yards from the property line. Unfortunately I don't have permission to track on that other property so I need a bullet that will drop a deer where it stands. I know it has as much to do with me and my shot placement as anything but I want to know what bullet had the most devestating effect on a deer that you have used. Right now, i've heard that nosler's are pretty bad a$$. So i'm looking for any other suggestions or confirmations about the noslers.

S&B 180gr SP in 7.62x54r. Neither of the ones I shot took another step. Of course I've only shot two Deer in my life but those suckers just dropped.

Plain ol' Remington Cor-Lokt 150gr in 30.06.
Of course the 30-30 variety makes a larger entry wound with the flat nose...

With the .06, about 1 in 5 deer make it past 20 yards, most are DRT with a heart/lung shot.

One thing I've noticed, inside 20 yard, sometimes the Cor-Lokt will separate and fragment, usually leaving the jacket under the skin on the back side, but beyond that it's a perfect mushroom through and through. I've recovered a couple good expanded bullets from a couple deer at ~300yd, but most rounds exit.

This is including my own and my dad's experience with the round, as it's usually all we use. It has dropped literally hundreds of deer.

Check out the Barnes bullets, I've had sone great results.

.50 beowolf, i think that would get the job done.

12 ga. slug.

+1

.44 mag 230 gr soft point. DRT. Never seen a liquified heart before ....

Thus far the remington accutip 12 gauge. That thing really does some damage.

Oh, well I've done that too, but It's pretty rare that I deer hunt with a shotgun

I once shot a deer at 7ft in the head/neck with 3" 15pellet 00B...

Nice 7pt, came tearing out of the woods and bounding past our goose blind, I had time to load one buck shell and BOOM. He nosedived, flipped and landed in the water in the decoys...

105 gr .243 or 110gr prohunters in 6.8 has dropped everything in its tracks for me

.50 AE 325gr. Speer Gold Dot. Have taken several, always quick and easy kills. No pics, but looks similar to the one above from the Beowulf.

While I have made many "dead in their tracks" shots... I have learned one thing over some 35+ years of shooting deer... they do crazy shit when shot. With that said, the Nosler BT has served me well over the years.

That .50 beowolf exit hole is pretty dang impressive. Well my rifle is a .308 so the other calibers are kinda out of the question

45-70

243-308 Winchester Ballistic SilverTips
(I have not personally used the Federal Fusions, but have seen the results, Mush best describes the insides)

20 or 12 gauge 1 oz. Slug

For your .308 get a box of Remington Cor-Loks or Federal Fusions in the 150gr range. One or the other is available pretty much anywhere that sells ammo...

Lightfield Hybred Expander 2-3/4" 1.25oz slug. If only hunting 50yards.....

I have used this slug for many many years and every deer I have taken with this round is DRT....

Great slug

I"ve killed them with 12 different cartridges ranging from .22LR to .45/70, but the absolutely most god-awful devastating wound came from a 30/06 using plain-jane 180 grain core-lokts. Facing shot into the brisket, just absolutely devastated the thoracic cavity and blew a hole the size of a basketball out of its belly. It was puke-inducing.

Core loc or barnes x bullet. Out of a 30-06 it seems to work fairly well . Best way to keep them from running is a head shot .

the Winchester ballistic silvertips have always caused major damage. used those for years.
I'm currently hunting mainly with 140gr Berger VLD's out of a .260rem. I hunt mostly long range, but had a shot at a close one last season.
a nice 6 point came running out into the field about 75yards from the stand. hit him just behind the vitals quartering toward me at full sprint.
he flew head over hooves and was DRT.

exit wound

I did leave that part out of my post.
But, if shot placement is in the vitals, or front shoulder bone/joint, it really is not a issue.
It may destroy the front shoulder roast, but I don't use the roast anyway. I have the roast ground into burger or make stew chunks.

The major problem I see with the Ballistic SilverTips is .................................. the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ per box.

Someone earlier mentioned the Rem. Core-Lokts. That is all my hunting partner uses, and they work great also.

As also mentioned, deer do some strange things when zapped.
I don't think there is such a thing as DRT-100% of the time, except maybe a 155mm How. round.

Nosler 140gr partition in 7mm mag. I've dropped them from 20 to 250 yards with this load.

Silver Bear 203 grain SP out of a Mosin Nagant 91/30 at 60 yards. The exit wound was probably about 2", serious bullet fragmentation...

Shot placement is more important than bullet selection. Neck shot deer don't run. In a 308 a 175gr Sierra Match King will make a mess of a deer.

+1

Neck shots drop them in their tracks every time.

Fully agree with the neck shot. That is where I will be shooting, i'm going for a doe for meat. I just want to stack the deck in my favor

12ga Brennekee slug.


...but sometimes,...no matter how hard you hit them, they can run.

150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips in 30-06 drops'em in their tracks.

Nosler combined technologies 168 grain never had one move after the shot all drt.

no, they dont.
unless you hit the spine or the brain, they can and do run.
I had a BIG buck several years back, long story short, a 180gr Winchester Ballistic Silvertip from a 300WSM at 75yards entered just over the vitals and came to rest in its throat.
bullet tore up about 12 inches of muscle, windpipe and jugular in the neck( not including the damage to the chest cavity). it didn't bleed a drop of blood on the ground, had to track it by broken sticks and disturbed leaves 100yards or
so through brush so thick you couldn't stand up in it. it was in heavy rut, HUGE neck on it. I'm thinking that the testosterone and adrenalin are the only reason it made it so far.

but anyway. if you take out the windpipe and jugular, that's no different then getting a solid vital shot in the heart and lungs. the spine is just as big in the neck as it is in the body.

Aim high shoulder. It drops deer right in their tracks and there is no chance of them running away like there is with a neck shot.

cant believe noone has said 50bmg yet








that said, 12g slugs work really well

Actually now that you mention windpipe and jugular,


I did have one big buck I shot over 25 years ago, caught him low in the throat and took out his windpipe and jugular. He did drop in his tracks, but then as I was reloading my TC Contender he jumped up and ran off. There was about an inch of snow on the ground and it was the easiest tracking I have ever done. 3 foot wide red spray in the snow. He ran about 100 yards.

.308? You want Remington Core-lokt, my friend. 150 grainers. If you can't drop 'em with that, it ain't the bullet's fault.

I have used 150 grain core Lokt from Remington out of my 270. Hits like a freight train.

As others have said, shot placement is key. I shot a forkhorn buck who was facing me at 30 yards with a .300 Win Mag handloaded to 30-06 velocities with Nosler 165 gr. Ballistic Tip bullets. I was in a tree stand shooting down and took out his heart and shredded his lungs. He was dead on his feet but still ran 50 yards before piling into a tree and falling over dead. When I dressed him out there was no heart to be found just pieces. It just proves you can never be sure what a deer will do when shot.

When I hunted State land here in NY you had to anchor the deer right there or run the risk of some City hunter putting a round in the deer and claiming the killing shot. We always shot them through the front shoulders to drop them on the spot. You do lose some meat but you at least get the deer. Most ofter I used Remington 180 grain Corelokt bullets in 30-06.

hmm... Core-lokt's huh. They are about the cheapest hunting bullet your gonna find. Lol! thanks for all the help guys, i'm getting lots of good ideas.

Isn't that convenient
You don't need to pay $2 a round to put down a whitetail.

Now sometimes I'll get some extra deformed lead on the tip of the round, and I usually just spin the nose in a block of wood to get the excess off and round the tip.
Shooting from a bench, it DOES make a bit of difference so I just round off all of them.

I've had good luck with .458 SOCOM

Kilt many deer over the years with a 12ga. Meaty, WI corn fed deer.. At times, I was convinced the beast was dead before it hit the ground.

A freaking buckhammer is over an ounce and is full bore size, the wad is attached to the rear of the slug for flight stability. It's about as big of a projectile you can shoot outside of very serious rifles.

You really have to qualify "devastating".
As stated 12 Ga. slugs at 35 feet post hole deer. (ie they buckle DRT as if you sawed their legs off).

In rifle country I used 150 or 168 Nosler Ballistic Tips (Winchester Supremes (aka warewolf killers)) or handloaded.

They usually end my hunt right where the deer stands. One word of caution though. Years ago I took
a quartering "to me" shot with a 150 Nos. BT at 40 yards with a 30-06. It hit the front shoulder angling
back towards the off hind quarter. It never exited. Dropped the deer DRT. It was the nastiest "gut job"
I've ever had to do. It literally "mushified" all of the internal organs. It basically liquified the lungs.
Unfortunately, It had TOO much energy and blew the stomach and digestive track into bits. As we all
know that stuff smells NASTY. I hate when I get stomach contents/urine on the inside of the cavity. I did
both because the bullet blew EVERYTHING up. While it was a very quick and humane kill I wont take
anymore shots that have even a chance of blowing the guts up again. I hate wasting meat/resources...

7mm Mag 154 gr Hornady Super proformance sst. The deer fall over like a cartoon. Heart/lung shot, just fall over dead. No jump, no step, nothing.

My youngest got his first deer this past season. He shot a doe at about 30 yards with a .40 carbine. He shot it right between the eyes. the deer never moved, just fell down.

in .308dia

nosler balistic tips, I've shot deer with the 150gr and 165gr in 308win and the 180gr in 300winmag.

they appear to open fairly quickly, entrance holes are normally about nickle sized and exit holes approx 11/2" unless you hit bone, then there's a bit more blowout.

didn't care too much for the 150gr, it drops them drt, but it causes a lot of bloodshot even when bone isn't hit too bad, the 165gr and 180s don't seem to cause as much.

I've used the hornaday 150gr and 165gr sst, they seem to open a bit slower than the noslers but they too leave big exit holes.

Yep, a bit odd, there's a lot of people paid good money to convince folks that they need the latest and greatest or they won't get that trophy buck. Something about a fool and his money...

22 years deer hunting, 16 dead bucks. i used rem core loct rn 180 gr for most of them. i switched to the premium line a few yrs ago using the swift sirocco. thr rn worked great but the sirocco def does more damage at both close and long range. im no expert but i shoot a .308 and u cant go wrong with either.

12ga Barnes Expander Slug, Game Set Match.

I have never seen anything tear apart a deer so bad. I actually quit shooting them because of the damage!

Winchester Ballistic Silvertips. I've never had a deer not drop in it's tracks with them.

For Slugs - Winchester Partitian Gold

Ghillie suit, pocket full of sugar cubes and a 5 pound sledge hammer.

Sneak up to the deer, feed it the sugar... smack it with the hammer in the head when it's not looking.

My dad once almost jumped on a completely healthy 200lb 8pt with a 2.5" pocket knife after he shot what he remembered to be a smaller deer with his bow. It was raining and he was trailing blood. Big deer saunters up real slow, head down, didn't see my dad behind a tree, walked up RIGHT NEXT TO HIM. Knife went "CLICK" when it locked open, deer turned inside out and ran, my dad took two more steps and saw his deer, a big 6pt laying dead behind a fallen tree 10 yards away...

110 grain Sierra Pro Hunter out of a 6.8 SPC. It's like an off switch.

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