Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 30 Cal 125-130gr Bullets For Deer Hunting

Haven't used the 125 gr BT but I have killed around a dozen deer plus 4 antelope with the 150 gr BT. Certainly no problems with lack of expansion.

In a 308 with light loads I would think the 125 gr BT would be a much better choice than the TTSX to ensure adequate expansion at those moderate velocity levels.

The best load i have used in the 308 with the lighter bullets was the Speer 130 gr with IMR 4064 . This load was used for varmint hunting and i never used it on Big Game.

Have you considered the 130 gr Interlock SP at all?

I don't believe the 130 grain Hornady is an Interlock.

Interestingly Hornady's website shows a 110 grain Interlock.

I loaded some fairly hot 125 grain Ballistic Tips for use in a .30-06. The guys I loaded them for felt it was too much expansion with muzzle velocities in the 3250 fps range. Only two kills, one an antelope doe around 250 yards, quartering towards, the guy just barely winged her a little high, resulting in an instant drop and this wound:

The rumen wanted to come out of that wound. I'm of the belief that he was lucky to be shooting such an explosive bullet, or this could have been a long follow up.

Ol deadeye was at it again (I've seen him shoot to 300 yards and he does fine at the range) with a doe deer around 100 yards if I remember correctly. Once again, a high gut shot, she ran maybe 40 yards, and this is the result:

With entry wound here, no exit wound unless you count the gut blow out (he said it was a slight uphill shot):

Once again, I think the bullet made up for his poor shooting. A tougher bullet might have made for a longer track job, but we'll never know.
Personally, I'd still use them as an antelope and deer load, depending on the terrain, but he and the other guy those were loaded for have switched to 130 TTSXs but haven't killed with those.

So in a sample of two, we have soft tissue only hits, no major bones, but really quick deaths with poor hits at high velocity. I'd like to think that a good shot through the lungs would do good work. I also believe you could bust through one shoulder, but you would not have an exit doing so.

On the same train of thought, I have used 100 grain Ballistic Tips in the .264 and loaded 100 grain Hornady Spire Points in a .270 (not my gun, but was present for both antelope that load took), both at max velocity and had good results on light big game. The 100 grain .270 (at 3330) exited both antelope, the 100 grain .264 (at 3700) were both odd shots (neck and high shoulder), but certainly showed plenty of penetration, although that bullet has a slightly higher SD than a 125 .30 cal, it's closer to a 120 grain 7mm in Sectional Density. However, that 100 grain .270 has an almost identical SD to a 125 grain .30 cal and is probably a more direct comparison.

Was that the 130gr Hot-Cor Flat Point or something else?