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

Its been several years now, but when I called Nosler about this, they claimed the 125 was a varmint bullet. The reason I called was because I'd seen a number of deer crippled from guys running these at 3400 fps or so in .300 Wby. It was a combination of poor shooting and zero penetration. I don't hunt with these fellows anymore. Nosler may have beefed these up a bit since they claim they're OK for deer now.

I would agree that if you load them to 2500 fps or so, they would probably be OK for deer and should penetrate (44gr of either 4064 or 414 should get you in the ballpark). More importantly, the recoil should not be too much for a recoil sensitive person.

Something to consider. My daughter shoots 4759 reduced loads in her .308 in practice (110 gr Speer and 21gr SR4759--runs about 2000fps). When the time comes to go hunting, she switches to full-power loads with 150gr. Sierra's. She will tell you that she's never felt recoil when shooting game.

They made the jacket a lot heavier on the 125gr Ballistic Tip, if you go on there site it's under the ballistic tip hunting bullet category as well, it is not designed to be driven over 3100fps, which I believe has a lot to do with these bullets exploding and not penetrating, you push anything harder than it was designed to handle, it's not going to work how it was supposed to. I believe driving it over it's peak velocity turns it back into a varmint bullet again.

I wouldn't doubt that they did make it heavier. However, given some of the pictures in this thread, I still wouldn't want to drive it anywhere close to 3000 fps. JMO

OK, but remember the intent of the OP was to work out a reduced load for a 308.

Jimmy, the 125g Sierra is a deer bullet.

Second, a youngster at 12 should not be exposed to a hard kicking gun. A 125 in the 2200 fps is what you would be hoping for.

With my 12year old nephew, we tried down loading Model 7 Remingtons in 308 and a 7/08, he could not handle the rifle or the recoil. The rifle was just too big for the 12 year old; 12 year olds do vary in size, stature, and ability to handle finding an object in a rifle.

We got my nephew a Thompson contender with a 20" barrel in 30/30. We cut the barrel to minimum legal rifle length. He handled the recoil just fine. The Thompson Contender has no weight in the front and was/is very easy for him to handle it. We shot Wal Mart Rem 150g Core Loct in the TC. 3x9 Scope was perfect for him. We took him to the range practicing with a bolt action 22 Mag (Marlin 25) which got him accustomed to the noise and finding objects in a scope.

We next got him a 7/30 Waters barrel for The tc which was flatter shooting than the 30/30.

Nephew has killed 12 Deer with the TC, two bobcats, and numerous wild dogs, and several hogs.

Good luck with your 12 year old! Lots of fun and memories to be made that will last him a life time.

Did you bother to read my recommendations for a reduced load or other alternatives to reduced load .308's? I actually provided data and experience in rifles vs. your discussion around short barreled Contender's. I don't think I complained to you about that. Furthermore, the OP mentioned 3100 fps. in his reply to me. Given how this thread was running with the variety of pics, I provided an opinion. Hardly a novel concept in the world of a discussion board.

Jimmy Joe,
My wife uses the Sierra 125 gr spitzer in her .308 at 2900 fps.
She has taken several large bodied 8 pts with no problem.

My sons both started out with 30-06 rifles one used a 125 Nosler Ballistic Tip at 2900 fps and the other one used the Sierra 125 gr spitzer @ 2900 fps. Both kids got their deer with one shot.
We are sold on them for an accurate hard hitting deer load with little recoil.
whelennut

Thank you.

I've shot an awful lot of feral pigs with both the 130gr Speer and the 125gr Sierra in a 308. I found both to be very good and I wouldn't hesitate to use either on deer.

Okay, listen fellas, let me get everything straightened out here, I'm an experienced reloader, I've been doing it 17yrs already, this is just my first time using light bullets for deer, my nephew is huge for his age, he's probably 5'3" so his dad's short action Ruger isn't too unwieldly for him. My point with the 125gr Ballistic Tip and 3100fps was just a broad statement about not exceeding that velocity for best performance with that bullet per Nosler's recommendation, of course I'm not shooting for anywhere near that, all I really wanted to know was how the three different bullets I asked about performed for reduced load deer hunting, but thank you for all the input, pictures, advice, and help. I appreciate it. I'm going to try all of them out just because I like the R&D part of it, and coming up with new loads. I was just curious which bullets would work well and it looks like all 3 will so thank you.

Easy there, I didn't mean to rile you. I admit I was distracted when I typed that.




My discussion was a bit more to the point than you're giving me credit for. Based on experience and chrono data collected by me, my late father and my current friends at the range I find the velocities produced by typical reduced 308 loads for deer hunting with the bullets in question are nicely bracketed above and below by the Contender/Encore cases I mentioned. Furthermore the bullets performed nicely on deer when launched in the velocity range bounded above and below by the cases mentioned.

So now that we've dressed each other down a bit, how about an internet handshake?

I wouldn't rule out the 110gr ttsx either. While I have zero experience shooting anything but paper with this bulllet in a new Ruger 7.62x39 it is quite accurate out of my gun with anything I have thrown at it. Would have to imagine a copper solid coming out of a 308 would do quite well. Have some culling to do and will report back..

Put 'er there!

+1 I think this is in essence the discussion around any bullet. I've yet to see a non-varmint cup and core disintegrate if kept to reasonable impact velocities. My personal limit is under 2700 fps. and this is based on bullets recovered from game and my bullet box. YMMV.

I use a 125 Sierra in a Stevens 325B 30-30. Loaded to 2400fps it is a very good caribou bullet to 200 yards.

Loaded much faster it would be a good varmint bullet.

In a 308 I stick to 150's and up or If I had to use a light weight would go with a Barnes TSX.

Jimmyjoe,
Another thing you could try is to shoot the 150 gr RN 30-30 type bullets at 2400 fps out of the .308.
You could cut the velocity of the 125 spitzers to 2700 fps for a little less recoil to.

Here is my wife and an 8 pt buck she killed with the 125 gr. flat base spitzer Sierra #2120 in her .308 Winchester.
We have used IMR 4895, Win 748, IMR 4064, and I will try Varget next time. She won't let me change the bullet but she doesn't notice when I change the powder.
We like 2900 fps!
whelennut

You mean it doesn't take a 300 mag with a Barnes to kill a buck?

Not in the swamps of Northern Minnesota it doesn't!
whelennut

A 308 works great in pine timber leases in NW Louisiana too. Of course my friend and I have been using a bigger hammer of a bullet, the mighty 150 grain Interlock.