Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Your deer bullet preference?

I probably should have mentioned that, though I use the Nosler BT's, I do avoid certain shots. I try to put the bullet right behind the shoulder and wreck the lungs. That never fails if I do my job on placement, and we don't cook deer ribs anyway. If I was going to shoot them through bones intentionally, I'd probably switch to the Accubond or the Partition. And, I try to avoid angled shots with the Ballistic Tip. The bullet tends to fragment, and angled shots may not give an exit wound and therefore not a blood trail.

Seems like I always got an exit wound when using the 270 and the 130 gr BT's, and the same with the 120 gr BT's in the 260. With the smaller bullet, the 100 gr, at a higher velocity, I don't always get an exit wound. I shot a 250 pound hog a year or two ago and hit him right behind the shoulder. No exit wound, though he didn't go very far at all. And I hit a very nice full grown 10 point buck right behind the shoulder last season and got no exit wound with the 100 gr BT I used. The deer didn't go very far, but there was no blood trail that I could find. I think I'm talking myself into going back to the 120 gr BT. Always good to have a blood trail.

I quit shooting hogs behind the shoulder. To many ran off to die in the woods. They're hard to find, don't generally leave a blood trail like a WT. I shoot hogs mid shoulder forward, which seems to nail them.

My buds and I like to chest shoot WT's to save meat. They don't go that far, shot with the right bullet. Partitions are a favorite at the camp. Any good C&C will do better with chest shots than most premium bullets, although the NPT can be pretty expansive. I'm not sure if we should classify the Partition as premium or not. Here is a study substantiating soft C&C bullets out performing hard, premium bullets on WT's. Check it out.

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/deer/articlegad.html

DF

In the SC study, pay attention to bullet weights. In the C&C group with best kill stats, it discusses appropriate weight for caliber. In the Premium stats, (they do list the Partition as "premium"), they mention heavy for caliber bullets in a less than positive way.

So, another variable is bullet weight, which equates to velocity.

Bottom line, slower, heavier, harder premium bullets don't kill Southern WT's as fast as lighter, faster, softer C&C bullets.

DF

Same thing for Western Mule deer.

That's why you want to keep your velocity up.

I guess if you're shoulder punching them, harder bullets like the Barnes may be the ticket.

Chest shooting seems to present a different set of variables.

The Partition will do both. It's about as expansive as some C&C's and punches like a hard, premium bullet, which the SC wildlife people consider it to be.

And, when you're caught with a difficult angle or a tough shot, the NPT will do it's stuff.

I know all that, but as a Loony, I'm always testing and experimenting with other options. Just can't help myself...

DF

Nosler partition......kicking ass for over 65 years.....the standard by which all others are judged.

Love those accubonds too though.

Yeah, those NAB's performed well for you in Africa. Of course, they didn't find those critters all by themselves...

It seems the choice between NAB's and NPT's depends on what the gun likes. My .240 loves 100 gr. NPT's over MRP, best load it's ever shot. So, that's an easy one to figure.

Other guns don't like them as well.

I'm wondering what the 135 Raptor will do in my .308. They shoot very good groups, fragment and the core blows on through. That may work chest shooting WT's. I intend to find out. Here's a link to that thread.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/10332136/Re:_.308_Copper_Raptor_135_gr.#Post10332136

DF

Um, don't assume I don't have a clue.. bowhunting for years, and well aquainted with S Texas. DOesn't bother me in the least. YMMV.

I have never on purpose shoulder punched anything wiht a barnes. I've shot quite a bit of them slower than what folks suggest, well under 3000 fps MV.

I"ve never had an issue finding a deer.

Partitions in 300 mag did not perform the way I wished so I moved to Barnes. JB says I should have run 200 partitions in the 300 rather than 180s... but when you can shoot em with a bullet that really doesn't loose any weight, opens, and rarely are you dealing with frags in the meat and you can eat to the hole, it was something I never could do with cup and core, I was sold and thats that.

These numbers mean something to me.
Bullets penetrate a constant depth over a range of velocities by opening up more with higher velocity.

This penetration regulation:
20" partition bullets
14" deer bullets

The information we have about terminal ballistics is usually anecdotal. The above info I gave is data more carefully sampled.

But it is not going to change anyone's mind.
The guys I hunt with, one drives a chevy, one drives a ford.
They shoot partitions at deer shoulders and necks and I shoot Nos Bal Tips at the lungs.
Nothing I say about bullets has any effect on them.
Nothing they say about bullets has any effect on me.

Chainsaw- i would use ballistic silver tips in nickel brass for each of those you mentioned. 150 for the 30-30 and 308,and 150 or 168 for the 30-06. they are very attractive . of course you are doing fine with what you have so why fix it? out here our shots are usually further and the whitetails are dinks 65-75 dressed.

clarkm, those tests are always interesting to me as well. I've also been very lucky to have tested bullets in real life on over 200 head of big game, probably a tad over 100 have been culling aoudad. I know what I like and why, and I love high shoulder shots.

JGRaider,
I have only shot 19 big game animals.
But I have shot thousands of rodents.
I can tell if I had only shot 19 rodents, I would not know anything about shooting rodents.

If I take my 308 this year it will be using the 150gr lapua megas. I got a whole Finland theme going on with lapua brass and bullets. Vihtavuori powder and a hand made puukko from northern Finland. If the area where I would use that set up doesn't work out, it will be Barnes at warp speed from one of my other rifles.

Them sheeps is a tough target for sure! Says a lot about bullet performance to work fine on them. IMHO.

Can't agree at all with you on high shoulders on edible game, but to each their own.

Partitions are never a bad second choice.

You're killin' me rost.......

Works every time I have tried them.

I have never seen the same level of consistent performance from any C&C bullet that a Partition provides. That's on deer big and small, East and West and up in Alberta almost to the NWT.

I have never hunted the deer of the south;nor Coues bucks,which would make me switch bullets. But they are a specialized little dwarf critter requiring a special touch of finesse. For that I'd call GregW and seek advice.

OK, happy crawling. I don't like thorns in my knees and hands. But as you say... YMMV

+1. Mirrors my experience.

I think it depends on what you shoot them behind the shoulder with. When I use the 270 and the 260 (with 120 gr bullets), and shoot them behind the shoulder, they rarely run out of their shadow. I suspect a direct connection between the size of the 'hammer' and how far the pig gets before expiring. My cousin says he shot a medium sized pig with his 50 cal bolt gun. He said that parts of the pig went quite a ways, but most of the big pieces stayed right there.