Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting your deer bullets?

Captdavid: The last three Deer I have taken here in Montana were all big Buck Whitetails, and all were killed with one shot apiece using the wonderful Nosler 130 grain Ballistic Tips from my Remington 700 Sendero in caliber 270 Winchester.
These 130 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips are not only wonderfully accurate they are especially lethal on Deer/Antelope sized game.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Last fall, 2 deer w/ the Berger 105, from a 243AI. Used to use Nosler 95's. Never failed w/ them, but just wanted to try something a bit different.
I think i am done buying the 95 Nosler/

My absolute favorite:

.257 Roberts, 117 Sierra Pro Hunter, 2,850 fps.

But I do admit to using a 300gr. Partition from my .375 H&H.

Thats the POS hand grenade bullet and cartridge that made me swear to never use a BT ever again. Shot a doe in teh head, nothing left at all, save an inch wide strip of hide and tiny bit of ear base.

I'd be scared to see the damage done if hitting edible meat...

Some people refuse to acknowledge that the ballistic tip has changed drastically over the last twenty years!

It's funny the different experiences we have all had. I've used 130 gr ballistic tips in my 270 since 1986 and never had one not exit and leave the insides like soup. For the hell of it I worked up a load last year with the 140 Hornady spbt which is supposed to be a harder bullet. Shot a buck at about 20 yards in the chest and it did not exit, which surprised me. I killed a nice 10 last week in AL with a 7-08 and 162 amax going 2650fps in a 20" barrel. Hit the deer right behind the left shoulder at about 40 yards. Exit was right side liver. Bullet hole sized entrance and exit. Not alot of internal damage and zero blood trail. Deer went about 100 yards, but was by the grace of God we found him. I've read hundreds of accounts of that bullet being great and/or explosive, but it sucked in my one experience with it.

I use Federal 180gr nosler partition in my .30-06. It's a bit overkill for deer, but I carry a heavier bullet since I hunt deer in black bear country. I have hunted with 165gr before too, but I prefer a 180gr. It seems to be the perfect all around cartridge for the environment I live in.

139 grain Hornady SST on top of 56.5 grains of H4831SC outta my 280 Remington. I like the results.
Rich

25-06 115 Nosler Partition
6.5X54 Mann 160 gr Hornady RN
6.8SPC 100 gr Remington
270 Winchester 150 and 160 gr Nosler Partitions
7X57 160 gr Nosler partition
30-30 170 grain Speer FP
308 150 gr WW Power Point
30-06 150 gr WW power point or 150 gr Rem C.L.
7.63X39 123 gr Hornady SP
7.62X54R 180 grain Remington
8X57 170 gr Hornady SST
338-06 210 Gr Nosler Partition
9.3X74R 286 Gr Nosler Partition
375H&H 270 gr WW Power Point and 300 gr Nosler partition
50 cal flintlock Hand cast .490" ball, made from Wheel Weight, air cooled

62 cal flintlock Hand cast .605" ball, made from Wheel Weight, air cooled

357 Magnum. LBT 1787 Gr cast WFN GC
44 magnum LBT 320 gr WFN GC
454 Casull LBT 370 gr WFN GC

There are what I currently own. I have killed deer with probably 15 others too, but I sold or traded them off. This is the current list.

The bullets listed above are what my guns are zeroed for, so if I hunt deer I use what they are zeroed for and see no reason to change. Some are elk, moose, buffalo and bear guns, but I don't carry a different gun if I am hunting elk, moose, bear or buffalo, so I just kill deer with what gun is zeroed with. Most times I am hunting larger game, deer is also open, so I use what I have with me.

The 6.8SPC, the 6.5X54 and the 25-06 7.62X39, 30-30 and 357 mag handguns are only used for deer and antelope and nothing larger, so I would say those bullets are just for deer/antelope, but all the rest can be used for larger game too.

It's been several years since I've killed killed a deer with anything other than a Sierra or Interlock. Guess they're my favorites, but after thinking about it I've killed many more with Sierras than anything else.

For deer it's Sierra Game Kings or Nosler Ballistic Tips.

Just bought some 130gr .270 and 150 gr .30 cal Silvertips.. Old, but they worked 50 years ago..

My go to deer bullets are Nosler Ballistic Tips in all my rifles.

I like Nosler ballistic tip, because of the different color tips. I use some Barnes and sierras

How so? Was there a design change?

In a number of types the jackets were considerably thickened, and I believe core hardness may have been adjusted too.

Yes they have. But while they were working on their mistakes, I found Barnes. No need to ever go back and try them again for BTs....

FWIW the BT we shot out of the 270 was much more like 30 years ago by my memory. Circa 85ish as I recall.

I'm simple, Hornady Interlock and Nosler Ballistic Tips are my go to bullets.

Whatever shoots well in my rifles. That's usually TTSX's, Ballistic Tips and Partitions.

I use accubonds in my 270 and 300 win (140 and 200 grain, respectively).
My favorite deer bullet is the out of production 165 grain Nosler solid base in my 30-06 at 2900 fps. I have a fairly large stockpile of these but use them sparingly.