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450 Bushmaster Hornady Black. I've heard people complain about it not making a big enough blood trail, but that hasn't really been experience. Shoot the deer where you're supposed to, and you're fine.
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Quoted: I run a 243 - my gun is 13 for 13 and that includes three new hunters killing their first deer with it!!! I love the Hornady Interlock bullet... Just yesterday I shot a sweet buck at maybe 15 yards - classic broad side shot with a their 243 American Whitetail - got a exit....and he did not go 30 yards... What is yours? Red View Quote As others have stated, it's hard to make a mistake on bullets these days, assuming the caliber is appropriate. for sake of discussion... I've killed the following animals w/ the following calibers: deer; 6.5x55, .264 win mag, 7.62x39, .300 Savage, .308 Win, .30'06, .348 Win, .45-70, 9.3x57, 7x57, 9.3x62, .375 H&H Magnum. black bear; .348 Win Mag, .45-70, .303 Brit, 7.62x54R, 9.3x57, 9.3x62, .30-30, .44 magnum. elk; 6.5x55, .264 Win Mag, .30'06, 7x57, 9.3x57, 9.3x62, .375 H&H Mag impala, zebra, blue wildebeest; .375 H&H Mag range cattle; .45-70, .375 H&H Mag horse; .30-30 domestic sheep, goats; .22LR, .41 Mag, .38-200, .45 ACP, 9x19, 7.62x25, .30-30, .44 Mag, 9.3x57 & I think some others. A lot of those animals in that list run about the size of a whitetail deer. Lots of different bullets. For deer I like a good weight for caliber, lead-core bullet and over the years (just talking to my son about this yesterday over his buck) round nose where the range allows it (which in fact probably 95% of deer shooting, it does.) It's hard to pick a bad bullet for deer these days even for the tyro who knows almost nothing about how bullets actually perform. Read the box of ammo and you are pretty safe. Now, as for shooting skill............... There's a topic for another day. |
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Probably overkill but I really like federal trophy bonded tip in 180 grain out of my 300 WM
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100g sierra soft poing in 6.8 spc. They mushroom beautifully drive ln at that speed
Other than that 330g lead cast in 45 colt. |
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Core Lokt in .270, 130 grain. It’s nothing fancy but has never let me down in four plus decades of hunting.
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I've killed a pile of deer with TTSX bullets in several calibers.
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Been using 150gr Hornady Interlocks in the 308 for the past 10 years. Almost always a bang flop. Loading 120 NBTs in the new 7mm-08 this year. So far it's 2 for 2.
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Whatever hunting round I pick up close to the beginning of the season. As long as it's accurate out to 150 I'm good. I'll put 40 rounds through my rifle to verify and roll on from there.
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.270 of course and always.
We hunt some pretty big mulies in the ND Badlands. All but one of our party has stopped using the 0.223 round. This year I watched a doe get knocked to the ground by an AR-15, get back up and run away. The buck I nailed with a .270 at the same time was DRT. |
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I've shot deer with many different bullets. Honestly I can't say that I have a preference as with a proper centerfire hunting caliber, any decent hunting bullet seems to knock the hell out of them.
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For whitetail here, I like 158gr soft-point in 357Mag. Works great out of my Henry lever gun on both deer and pigs.
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.300WM 165gr Hornady SST
.35Rem 200gr FTX .475 Linebaugh 410gr FN |
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Hornady Interlock in .25 Bob & .30-30
SSTs in .260 Rem Partitions in .223 And I used a 168gr Sierra Match King in .308 with complete satisfaction once. |
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So far I’ve done the most with a 45 pistol and 230gr HST +P.
Pinky entrance, thumb exit. Put it where it counts and they won’t be going far. |
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I used to really like federal fusion for deer in 223...then I got a surprise shot at about 10 yards as I was walking out of the woods for the day. Destroyed way to much good meat.
Now I just use traditional construction SPs in 223 as Ling as they are heavier than 60 gn. The Winchester Deer Season works well and doesn't explode at close range shots. Both my 30-06 are zeroed with 150 gn and 165 gn core lokts. Muzzle loader is 50 cal and I use Hornady great plains and pyrodex. I really don't think you can go wrong with any modern designed hunting bullet, just go with whatever flavor you prefer. We are far ahead of the days when hunting ammo was essentially a modified fmj or something. |
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Hornady black 250gr in .450 bushmaster is my current load.
I think any .450 bushmaster would do fine though. |
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Sierra Match King in every caliber I shoot.
300 Win Mag 308 270 6.5 Grendel It is an absolute deer killer, and every other animal I have used it on. I do like the Berger VLD Hunting bullet in 30 caliber. |
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There are a few I use but I don’t personally own anything in 6mm/.243.
Cup and core like Interlock and Core Lokt have always worked fantastically for me, never ever an issue. I love the 120 Nosler Ball. tip in 7mm and I love Speer Gold Dots of every flavor, to include Fusion. That 120 is an oddity of being really well constructed despite being light for caliber. GD and Fusion are tough and flat out work. Lots of good choices but don’t rule out cheap bullets. I say all that with no experience using all copper rounds. They’re so expensive and our whitetail here are small and not tough. Shots are close. No need for monolithic or even bonded bullets, really. |
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.270 gets hand loaded Federal Fusions
5.56 gets hand loaded 62gr Federal Fusions 6.5G gwt handloaded 120gr TTSX .444 get hand loaded 27pgr Speer Deep Curls Should cover everything in N.America |
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Quoted: Quoted: Whatever hunting round I pick up close to the beginning of the season. As long as it's accurate out to 150 I'm good. I'll put 40 rounds through my rifle to verify and roll on from there. 40 rounds?? What are you verifying? @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. |
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Winchester Power Point 130 Gr .270 hasn't let me down, whitetail or hogs.
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Hornady SST
accurate, cheap enough to shoot for practice, and works well on whitetail and pronghorn. |
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125g Nosler Ballistic Tips out of my Super 14" 30-30 Contender. Or 165g Nosler Ballistic Tips out of my Rem Model 7 in .308
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This morning I used a 55 grain .223 Sp in my favorite $400 rattle can poverty pony with a Trs-25. Brought the 4 pointer down. No need for anything exotic, magnum or otherwise.
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