Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Anyone hunt with non-premium bullets?

I'm probably asking for it with this post, but here goes- first of all, I shoot both 'premium' and non-premium bullets at big game. When I started hunting deer, some 44 years ago, you simply bought a box of Winchester, or Remington, or whatever, and went hunting. The first 4 or 5 deer I killed were, I believe, with Winchester softpoints and Silvertips, 150 gr., out of my open-sighted .30-06. I remember those deer going down hard, and staying down. I came to believe that was the normal result of a good hit on deer.

As I got older, the rifles became bigger, and I bought a 7mm Rem. Mag. for elk hunting. Federal factory ammo shot the best in this rifle, and I used it to take 7 or 8 elk in the Teton Wilderness area of Wyoming, over a 10-year period. Ranges were from 50 yards to over 400, with the same result- quick kills. I never really worried about exit wounds, etc. because all I really cared about was elk on the ground. I had not yet really gotten into handloading for centerfire rifles.

Once I started handloading, the bullets of choice were 160 gr. Sierra and Speer Mag-Tips in 7mm Rem., and 117 gr. Sierra boattails in .25-06 and .257 Wby. Mag. Again, non-premium bullets by today's standards, but lots of spectacular, one-shot kills.
A trip to Alaska with a .375 H&H Mag. and 270 gr. Winchester softpoints collected the largest brown bear I'll ever hunt, or probably see again.

Enter the premium bullets: I bought a .300 Wby. Mag., mostly for Africa. I took it elk hunting the fall before the trip, to get used to hunting with it. I carried 180 gr. factory ammo, with Nosler Partitions. I had a cow tag, and after a couple of days of hunting, a shot presented itself. A standing cow, at 150 yards, and me with a good rest. At the shot, the cow simply stood there! After several minutes, I walked up to her and finished her off with a neck shot. My first shot had taken ther through the lungs, with a pencil hole in, pencil hole out. Hmmm-

After the Africa trip, I again hunted elk with the .300, this time with 200 gr. A-Frames, which had worked so well in Africa. Again with a cow tag in Wyoming, I had a 200 yard, standing broadside shot. At the shot, the cow simply stood there. I shot again, and she began walking off, taking 20 steps or so before falling down. Both shots were perfectly placed, both whistled through with minimal damage.

This fall, a 50-yard shot at a whitetail buck presented itself. I was armed with my .257 Wby., with 120 gr. Nosler Partitions. I already knew the outcome. The deer died 50 yards away, in heavy milo cover, not the easiest stuff to find a deer in at dark.

I can afford to buy and use any bullet I want, and I handload Nosler Partitions, Accubonds, TSXes, Sciroccos, etc. etc. I know they do what is intended- they kill game. Are they better than the bullets offered by the major ammo manufacturers, in non-premium variety? Maybe yes, maybe no.

So- are the so-called premium bullets really progress, or just another gimmick to sell bullets and drive folks like us on the Campfire crazy?

I will say this, that on my next deer hunt, regardless of caliber I choose to hunt with, the bullet will likely be a Nosler Ballistic tip or maybe a good, old-fashioned Power Point, in Winchester Super-X from WalMart!

My 'big' gun is a 30-06. It goes down 308, 7x57, 7-08 and 6.5x55 from there. I hunt wild pigs and deer. I use 165s in the 30-06, but think that it is more than I need and haven't used it lately, 170s (30-30) and 150 PP in the 308, 140-145 and 150s 1n the 7mms and and 129s in the 6.5. All of these are around 2700-2900 fps. I don't use premium bullets. Only premium i'd use would be the 200gn Part if I needed it on something big. capt david

Bighorn,
Great post! I've wondered the same thing.
My experiance with 120grSpeer Hot-Cor's are exactly the same preformance as 140gr Partitions,on Texas whitetails.
I've killed 10 or 12 deer with the Partition,and 4 with the Speers. All shots were shoulder or lung shots. Never recoverd a bullet and all had quarter sized exit holes.
Pretty much the same with my 7X57Ackley with behind the shoulder/lung shots.Ever though the Hornady 154SST's really whop's the pi$$ outa hogs. 139gr inter-locks seem to preform like 140gr TSX's ifin you dont hit bone.
I probably wouldn't shoot the TSX's if they didn' shoot so well.
I also think it's more "where you put the bullet" than what bullet you use,whithin reason.
Good topic,thanks .
Bart

I have used a few Nosler partitions in a 7 mag, but everything else has always been Sierra Game Kings or Round Nose.

The only cartridge I use premium bullets in is the 405, and the only reason I took to using the Northforks was because the Hornady's didn't seem to be holding together as well as I thought the should in the dirt behind my target stand. After I got a load with those Northforks I'm sure glad I tried them.
I'm really of the mind that for most of the regular cartridges including the bulk of the belted magnums premiums are somewhat overhyped , and not necessary.

Anymore I just use the Hornaday Interlocks for anything I need a tag to hunt. .243, .270, /06, .338 and even my.358 when it goes after deer. When after elk the .358 will have 225 Noslers in it only because Hornaday doesn't make a 225gr interlock for it "yet" ... Are you listening Steve? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> BT53

Use them all the time. I like Speer boattails for deer, and my wife has used them in her 7x57 for game up to caribou-size with complete success. Of course, she doesn't shoot past 150 yards or so, and I load them to about 2700 fps -- so they work just fine.

I've used Hornady's, Speers and other non-premium bullets over the years with great success. I think premiums shine in calibers that are on the edge of being light for the game being hunted. Given that I mostly use cartridges in the .35 Whelen; 9.3x57; .444 Marlin category -- bullet construction becomes a little less critical when you're tossing more than half an ounce of lead and copper <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />.

If Nosler Ballistic Tips are not considered to be premium bullets then no, I don't use premium bullets.


BCR

Bighorn

Again, this year in Africa (plains game hunt), my kid & I will use Hornady Interlocks in 30 & 338 cal. Haven't had a dead animal complain yet. Haven't lost any wounded animals to the plain Jane vanilla bullets either. Yes, the "premium" ones for dangerous game.

Hornady, Sierra, and Winchester are my main bullets.

Core-Lokts and Hornady Interlock SPs here.

In my old 270 I use 150 gr. speer hot-cors. I'm thinking of using 160 gr. accubonds in my 7mm saum. As far as deer are concerned the speers leave nothing to be desired.

I'm surprised that so far no one has ignored your experience with "premium" bullets not fully expanding and drug out the old cliche "bullets are the cheapest part of a hunting trip".

I wish I could find a bullet to shoot as well from my guns as Sierra Gamekings, but I'm still looking.

I have a bullet recovered from a bull Oryx. He was shot right behind the shoulder and the bullet was recovered from the on-side lung. The wound was completely healed and the animal appeared to be in excellent shape. More specifically, the jacket was recovered with S&B marked at the base of the .312 diameter. One observed failure is sufficent to justify premium bullets, although I tend to agree they don't drop game as quickly. I have never seen a "pencil" hole through any of the animals I've shot. The Barnes Xs and Partitions are leaving a 1/1/2 - 3 inch hole with 6 & 7 mm and .375.

I've shot most of my deer with Remington Core-Lokts in 243 (100gr.) and 30-06 (165gr.). Did shoot one deer with a borrowed 6MM Remington shooting factory ammo with.....Remington Core-Lokts.

The only premium bullet I have used for hunting has been the 150 gr. nosler partition in 7mm rem mag. Otherwise Remington corelocts have always done a great job on mulies and pacific blacktails in several different calibers.

I use Nosler Ballistic Tips and Hornady Interlockeds almost exclusively. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And it ain't broke.

I tend to use a bit lighter bullet than most folks, mostly because my experience has been that I get better kills with them.

And, yes, I've used Hornadys in Africa, killing critters up to a 1069 Kg eland, with complete satisfaction. If it weren't for one warthog that required two shots and a waterbuck, I'd have killed my fifty-some African plains game animals on a one-for-one basis.

Having said that, I DID kill two Rowland Ward Impala with one shot. I neck-shot a 25�-inch Southern impala, killing him instantly. As we were loading the critter into the Toyota, one of the blacks heard an animal flopping. Believe it or not, I'd spined (way back) a 25�-inch ram about fifty yards from the original scene. The second impala ram was in the shadows and I never saw it when I shot the first.

That shot was with a pain old Hornady .308" - 180-grain Spire Point Boat Tail. And it kind of made me wonder how many 2-1s are made in the field without realizing, or making the recovery, of the second. The so-called remium bullets would no doubt make the accidental kills higher.

Naw, just give me Ballistics or Interlockeds and I'm a happy guy.

Steve

I just use standard soft lead tipped bullets. Remington Core-lokts, Hornady Spire Points or Winchester Power Points. Whatever a particular rifle shoots best. Alabama whitetails rarely get bigger than 200 lbs and to me premium bullets aren't really needed for my purposes. You wouldn't know it though to look at all the magnum/premium bullet combos people are using here however.

I find that ballistic tips can over expand and fragment badly at close range and some of the more toughly constructed premium bullets may not expand that great at longer ranges. Standard lead tipped bullets like the ones I mentioned seem to work best overall from 0 to 300 yards on whitetails out of my 30-06, 7mm-08, 25-06 and 243 calibered rifles.

Despite using these standard bullets for the last 10 years I've had exactly one bullet fail to exit a deer. A 140 gr Winchester PP out of my 7mm-08. A hard quartering away shot that penetrated diagonally through the buck and smacked his offside shoulder bone. He went all of 10 yards.

I use the standard winchester power point in my .308. I buy them from midway several hundred at a time and load them over IMR-4895. You do not need a premium bullet for deer out of a '06 or .308.

I use Hornady's 90% of the time,Speer,Serria,Nosler BT's the rest of the time. The only premium bullet I've used so far is the Speer GS in 6mm.