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Deer I use a 140gr Berger in a 6.5×285 . Elk is a 168 Berger in a 7mm .
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All-time favorite is probably Federal Fusion, I tend to get an audible WHOP from it when it hits the deer which I attribute to the round transferring so much energy to its target. MANY deer have dropped right where they were standing with this round.
Past couple years I've been using Federal Premium Trophy Copper. Less damage to the meat, but most of the deer run a bit. |
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Sst is hard to beat in any caliber. But in 308 150 sp, federal, winchester or Hornady have all worked great.
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I’ve used:
223 Win 64 gr power point 25-06 Hornady 110 Eldx 6.5x55 PPU 139 gr soft point 30-06 Win 180 gr Ballistic Tips Been happy with all of them and they have all been 1 shot kills except for the PPU 6.5x55. I don’t blame the bullet or round though on that one, my shot placement wasn’t great. 180gr 30-06 dropped them in their tracks. |
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Quoted: @Rickesis. Verifying zero and practice. Should have added the practice part. I shoot a Savage 350 legend and don't really shoot it much outside of deer season. Maybe about 100 rounds total per year. View Quote @mcnizzle How do you like that Savage? I checked out an Axis XP in 350 Leg with a Weaver 3x9x40 at Academy the other day. Was only $379, should have bought it. |
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30-06...150gr Core-Lokt
444 Marlin...270gr Gold Dot 30-30...170gr Core-Lokt 12ga. w/Xtra Full Buckicker Choke... 3 in. 15 pellet 00 buck |
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Since I was a kid and got my hunting license in the 70s-
In the woods with sights 30-30 170gr Core-Lokt. Watching over fields with a scope- 180gr 30-06 Core-Lokt. I’m likely to get mocked for using such outdated calibers and bullet design. I really liked .270 Winchester better on paper and at the range. But with 150gr Core-Lokt less DRT. |
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() 78 yard double lung. 6.5 Creed 129gr Hornady American White Tail. First time using it. Where he was shot was lung and blood spread back from the exit wound 10 yards. Not much blood shock around exit or entrance for that matter. We passed a deer hit by a semi yesterday on the way to public land and said “Someone was using Hornady ammo!” He almost spit coffee out of his nose. Pretty impressive so far and seems to be about 1 MOA out of the Tikka. Also first time I harvested with the suppressor as well. Want to see how the ELD-X shoot. |
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I like 110 gr Nosler Accubond in 6.8 SPC I also use the 150 gr Accubond in.308. For 300 RUM I use 178 Absolute Hammer bullets
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More .243 shooters here than I expected.
My reason is that I inherited a crap ton of projos,powder, and primers for it. Also, my hunting buddies all use the same caliber. ![]() This is a portion, along with approximately 400 rounds of factory bought at $6-7/ 20 during the Wal-Mart purge. |
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140 grain Nosler Accubond over 45.0 grains of H4350 in my Tikka T3 6.5x55.
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Most used bullets currently are Hornady Interlocks in .270 and .300 Savage mainly because I stocked up on them during a sale.
Over the last 30 years or so though I've killed more deer with Remington Core-Lokt's, Speer Hot-Cor's and Winchester power points than anything else. Deer aren't that hard to kill and any decent cup and core bullet works. |
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The consensus with which I concur here is that you will have to apply yourself and put much effort into obtaining a bad deer bullet from products currently available.
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Had much success with plain old Rem Core Lokts all the years I hunted.
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Having shot my first deer with a 140gr eldm 6.5cm, I'd have to say I wasn't impressed with its performance. Might as well have been shooting fmj.
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.308 Federal Fusion 150 grain.
.30-30 Winchester Power max 150 grain. |
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I've found the 245000000 grain Ford F800 to be very effective. Taken more deer with that than anything.
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Quoted: @mcnizzle How do you like that Savage? I checked out an Axis XP in 350 Leg with a Weaver 3x9x40 at Academy the other day. Was only $379, should have bought it. View Quote @1911-Neil It's a great gun. That's the model I have. I switched the scope to a Vortex 4x12 that I had on another rifle. Another guy that hunts the same property as me is a very accomplished long range shooter and he also bought the same gun. |
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Hornady 12 ga sabot .50 poly tip. So basically a pump muzzle loader with a rifled barrel lol. Works on white tail, probably would work on just about anything I feel the need to hunt.
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Federal Terminal Ascent in 308. Super accurate and I haven’t had a deer run more than 35 yards
They’re actually made to 1) be accurate and 2) perform like the old Black Talons from the 90s (like an A frame bullet) |
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Quoted: That is a match bullet. Try the ELD-x suppose to be very similar ballistics View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Having shot my first deer with a 140gr eldm 6.5cm, I'd have to say I wasn't impressed with its performance. Might as well have been shooting fmj. That is a match bullet. Try the ELD-x suppose to be very similar ballistics That is strange you didn't have good performance with that bullet. Heavy for caliber ELD-M bullets perform extremely well if driven in the right velocity range. The 208 gr. ELD-M in a 30 caliber cartridge that can put your impact velocity at 2100-2700 fps is the best killing bullet I have found. It expands quickly for light game and has enough sectional density to penetrate through even the largest hogs shot straight through the shoulder. I haven't shot any with the 140 gr., but the 147gr has killed a good number of deer and hogs for me. |
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Quoted: Whitetail? Anything from 223 on up. I always chuckle at whitetail hunters talking about magnum cartridges and getting super specific on loads. They’re 150 pound critters. Not hard to bring down. View Quote Lol, this. I've killed deer with super premium arrows with expensive broad heads. And I have personally seen deer killed with an arrow found in the woods with 2 broadhead blades superglued to the wrong head fired from a 30 year old bow with no sights. I know of Indians who shoot them with 22s and 17 rimfires. I saw a 9 year old boy kill a buck with a 300bo using match bullets that almost disintegrated upon entry. I know people who only shoot deer with 338 cal and up, using all copper bullets. You can kill deer with a mean thought or an unkind word. That being said, something in the 100-125gr range that is bias towards hunting. I currently like the 110 tac-tx in my 300BO. |
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I haven't shot a deer in a long time 40 years. #4 buck for white tail deer during the day. 22 lr at night in the cemetery with a spotlight.
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Quoted: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/199367/02F53CFB-D9C7-4563-88F9-E8F8ACAC01C0_png-2609080.JPGhttps://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/199367/5E7181F7-915A-40DB-9AE6-C10B2E49D26B_png-2609081.JPGhttps://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/199367/03FD6BBA-E9C8-4AD9-AE43-EA2CED03E14A_png-2609083.JPGhttps://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/199367/35971FEA-E3A7-4713-8A8E-BCD99D8E6BC4_png-2609084.JPG 78 yard double lung. 6.5 Creed 129gr Hornady American White Tail. First time using it. Where he was shot was lung and blood spread back from the exit wound 10 yards. Not much blood shock around exit or entrance for that matter. We passed a deer hit by a semi yesterday on the way to public land and said “Someone was using Hornady ammo!” He almost spit coffee out of his nose. Pretty impressive so far and seems to be about 1 MOA out of the Tikka. Also first time I harvested with the suppressor as well. Want to see how the ELD-X shoot. View Quote I’ve had really good luck with ELD-X. Granted deer aren’t exactly tough, but I’ve been impressed with both the accuracy and knock downs. |
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Sierra Game King is my hands-down favorite in 308, 270, 7-08, 300 WM, whatever. Flies true, hits HARD.
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Hand loaded hornDy gmx 150 grain in nosler brass. 44 grains or 4064. It’s been a tack driver
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Quoted: Whitetail? Anything from 223 on up. I always chuckle at whitetail hunters talking about magnum cartridges and getting super specific on loads. They’re 150 pound critters. Not hard to bring down. View Quote I agree but my first whitetail was a 180lbs doe. This year was a 150lbs spike/forkhorn. I've shot 220lbs bucks. That being said ... Any non magnum round I'll take a corelokt or interlock. I'd trust cup and core bullets for elk moose and bear as long as it was a non magnum round. If it was a magnum than my minimum would be a nosler partition. I've got a couple thousand 175gr 7mm Hornady interlock at 2500fps that I'd shoot anything in America with with my 7x57 Ruger mk2 with. |
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I haven't really had one until the last couple years. I've swapped rifles just about every year, sometimes more than once per season.
I decided to try and make myself stick with 1 rifle for deer. Last year I got a Henry X-Model in .30-30. It's damn quiet suppressed, and I've killed 2 deer with it and Win Super-X 170 gr. Both have dropped in their tracks. |
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Quoted: Maybe where you hunt. In the area I hunt, the bucks run very big. Here's a whopper from Oct 22, 2022 opening day in GA. Weighs 242 after being field-dressed - yes that's a scale at top of frame. https://i.imgur.com/JyDEsbY.jpg PS neck shot from a 308 AR. View Quote Yeah 556 is ok for small deer while shooting from a stand. It's not great for sub optimal shots on big deer. |
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Quoted: Yeah 556 is ok for small deer while shooting from a stand. It's not great for sub optimal shots on big deer. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Maybe where you hunt. In the area I hunt, the bucks run very big. Here's a whopper from Oct 22, 2022 opening day in GA. Weighs 242 after being field-dressed - yes that's a scale at top of frame. https://i.imgur.com/JyDEsbY.jpg PS neck shot from a 308 AR. Yeah 556 is ok for small deer while shooting from a stand. It's not great for sub optimal shots on big deer. I agree 100%. |
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