Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Which bullets will you never use again - and why?

I guess I've been lucky all my life.

I've never had a verifiable "bullet failure" in my life. I've had failures of aim and failures of judgement - but I've never had a bullet let me down.

Perhaps it's because, even as a kid, I usually was using reloaded cartridges of my own making. I'm a compulsive reader/researcher and from my youngest years I figured that the cheapest cost in any hunt was the bullet you choose to use.

Believing this, I've rarely ever shot game with a bullet that would be considered less than "premium" in nature. As such, I've almost never been disappointed with bullet performance. I may have needlessly wasted a few pennies on each head of game I've taken through the years - but perhaps my personal lack of horror stories made it all worthwhile.

Only rarely have I shot any thing with factory loads - and the closest thing I had to a "failure" happened while using those one time. I was in a rush and rather than re-load a batch prior to a last minute deer hunt, I once bought a box of factory cartridges for my 25-06. They were 115 (or 117 grain or 120's - sorry it was a long time ago) Federal's and it was about 20 years ago.

A Mule deer buck made it's appearance on the other side of a clear-cut log block. It came out of the far timber and was quartering towards me. I waited until he was about a hundred yards away and fired. He showed no reaction to the shot other than starting to sprint, running broadside. Thinking that I must have missed I fired again. Still no reaction. He kept sprinting broadside. I fired again - still no reaction. As I was chambering shot number four - he crumbled up in a heap.

I walked up to him muttering to myself that I must have banged up my scope to have missed in the manner I thought I had. Then, to my suprise I took a good look at him. My thoughts about my poor shooting, were quickly replaced by pride at my ability to hit running game. All three shots were in the low center of the chest - and all three shots could be covered with two hands placed on the deer's side.

My pride in my own shooting was replaced by my feelings of total disgust with the performace of those factory bullets. All three had gone straight through - looking like very little expansion had happened along the way. The exit holes looked almost the same as the enty holes. The lack of "reaction" to such good shot placement - by a mere deer appalled me.

I never used those bullets again - except to punch holes in paper. Was it fair to write off a bullet's performance based on one deer? Probably not. But, my faith in that particular bullet was shaken - and to my way of thinking - if you don't trust your bullet to do what you ask of it - what's the use in using it?

That's the nearest thing to a "bullet failure" I've ever had. Since then, probably 95% of what I've shot has fallen to my own reloads, using my own "premium" bullets. Do I needlessly waste a few pennies a year shooting everything with premium bullets? Perhaps. But, It makes me glad to always know that the weak link in my own hunts will always be my own shooting ability - not the failure of a 20 cent bullet.

I'd like to hear about everyone else's " I won't use THAT bullet again!" stories. I think that would make for some enjoyable reading.

I know some people love them but for me it's ballistic tips. Why? Two examples.

1.) I set my buddy up in one of our shooting houses overlooking a green patch. A 7 point comes in about 30 minutes before dark and is broadside at 50 yards in front of him. He shoots him and the buck drops like a sack of potatoes. Well he gathers up his stuff; closes up all the windows and climbs out the back door of the shooting house. When he walks around into the patch......NO DEER! He had got back up and ran. No blood trail either. We never found that buck despite a lot of searching that night and the next day. You may be temped to think he just hit him poorly. I can hear the old stand by of "well if you didn't recover the deer how do you know what happened" warming up. I have known and hunted with this guy my whole life. We shoot rifles together often. He's and excellent shot. At 50 yards broadside from a rested positon on a standing deer the odds he didn't drill him behind the shoulder were he states he aimed is virtually nil. Bullet was 140 grain Nosler Ballistic tip out of a 7mm-08.

2.) Met up with a guy I know at the local deer processor while dropping off a deer one evening. He had shot a buck quartering towards him with a 300 WSM and a 150 gr ballistic tip. In this case his buck was quite dead and he was there dropping it off as well. I stayed to watch it being skinned. DEAR GOD! Bullet had entered a little high on the right shoulder and angled back towards the left ham. There is no doubt in my mind that way over 50 percent of the edible meat on that deer was destroyed. It was so boogered up it looked it had been hit by a car. I love big horns as much as the next guy but I like to eat the deer I kill as well.

Years ago, when Nosler Ballistic Tips were new on the market, I enjoyed considerable success using 120 7mm BTs in a Contender chambered in 7-30 Waters. I then decided to use the same load on a Wyoming Antelope hunt having already used several other bullets in the Contender to take Antelope. To make a long rather sorry story mercifully short the results were terrible. I hit a buck at about 175 yards and he showed no reaction at all. I thought I missed so reloaded and, as he was still there let fly again. This time he stumbled and calmly began walking away! I next hit him in the butt and now he tried to run but was not going fast so I hit him again from the rear. Next he stopped, turned, and went down slowly. By this time I was just wanting to get the whole sorry debacle over with. When I got to the animal he still needed a finisher. If you're counting that is five shots and all were hits!
The first two were on the shoulder rather than behind it and within three inches of one another. The two butt shots had ruined both hams but did not penetrate. The last one was in the head. It is the worst job of killing an animal I have ever done and I never used the bullet again and rarely used the Contender. This is one of the reasons I am so concerned with penetration. I want to shoot through the animal with two holes to let blood out and air in. Anyway, my fault or the bullet I never used that bullet again.

165 grain Sierra BTSP's. I couldn't get Hornady's so I bought the green box. I shot a calf moose at 140 yards with the a65 grainer @ 2890 fps out of my '06/ Moose dropped, because it was shot in the backbone. I never recovered a lot of that bullet, and none of the lead. Small pieces of shrapnel. Sure the moose died, but I was not happy to find only a few grains of copper jacket in the chest cavity. The calf moose was about the size of a mature buck - 300-350 pounds live weight.

In the 'o6 I loved the Hornady BTSP both in 165 and 180 gr. When I upped the ante to 300 WinMag, the Hornady's started coming apart to quickly -- 180's @ 3140 fps. Switched to Partitions and TSX's, and I am never looking back.

Just Like BCBrian, I have it figured that the bullet is the cheapest part of the hunt, and has the biggest effect on the outcome. And you need penetration to kill an adult moose.

I won't say never, but it would take much convincing to make me change my mind. That bullet would be the .257 cal 100 gr Barnes TSX. I shot three deer in 3 days with this bullet last year from my .257 WSM. The first was quartering to me at 165 yds. The bullet went in tight behind the front shoulder and evited behind the last rib on the off side. Both holes were bullet diameter and no blood was shed at all. The deer ran into a nearby thicket and layed down. I walked up on him and finished him from behind. The second was 255 yds broadside. Same story on entry and exit. The deer ran approxiamately 30-40 yds and fell. No blood trail, but luckily this one did not get into thick cover. The third was approx. 125 yds broadside and on the shot, he jumped straight up, kicked both back legs out and fell directly on his nose. He then got up and ran away into a Kudzu patch and has not been seen since. No blood, no hair, no deer. I looked for him for two days and never found any sign to trail him with. I decided to try the 110 Accubonds after these problems, but haven't had the opportunuty to kill another deer with them yet.

the bullets I will never use again are the ones I just shot, only good for one use. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I agree with JBD & Todd. .25cal ballistic tips don't work as advertised. Close @ .25/06 yelocities, but not from a .250 Sav or a Bob. Switched to Hornady's. Much more impressive and consistent results.

.30 ballistic tips, specifically the 150 and 165. I have had them turn into pancakes at .308 speeds when used on pigs. I have seen them penetrate as little as 2-3 inches in heavy muscle and get stopped cold on bone. Same shot placement at the same speeds using Hornady or Speer ends up with bacon on the ground. I have seen a couple of bang flops on lung shots but I would rather have a bullet that can handle shots without compromise.

It might be unfair to base the experience on four pigs but after that I didnt feel like trailing them into the brush anymore.

For now my favorites are the 165 deepshok at about 2800fps (got the last 500 from Midway) and the 150TSX a little over 2900fps. The loss of the deepshok was horrible, soft enough to expand nicely on deer yet tough enough to punch through pigs and leave exit holes.

Non-TSX X-bullets. They never have shot worth a crap in any of my guns. If I want an X, it'll be the TSX. BTW, I've had excellent luck with the 168 gr TSX out of my .308 win.

30 Cal 200 Barnes X (before they had the coatings and the grooves and things of this nature...). Horribly, horribly high friction, not very accurate, unreliable expansion and a BC not even in the same zipcode as advertised by Barnes.

Everyone has their own experiences. In my years of use, there have been questionable results with almost every bullet made. Even with Partitions.

Yet (and I don't have hundreds of kills with them) the one bullet I've never seen 'fail' is the Barnes line of bullets. They are not always accurate in all my guns. But the ones I've used have been 1-1.5 moa or less or I won't use them. And everyone has opened up to apparent almost double in size yet I've only had one recovered in game, the rest penetrate all the way which is what I prefer.

Others mileage may vary. Though with some of the newest stories the Triple X is more accurate -- yet may not always work-- I'm a bit scared now but not convinced that I have to go to the Accubond type bullets-- they just don't hold the retained weight I prefer.

Noting JonA's quote on BC-- As you know BC is so dang variable that its not even funny. Yet on Barnes bullets they've been close enough once calculated out that I have found they are no more than 50 points off usually. Thats not much in my books. And they aren't the only bullets off either. Some go both ways.

Jeff

BT's!

Ballistic Tips on anything other than paper, I'll throw the Sierras into the same dumpster. (except of course their varmint bullets)

Tony

Chris,
Was he running on his tip-toes? That sounds like the classic "Donkey Kick" resulting from a shot in the guts <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Seriously, it's funny you mention that bullet. I've had exactly the opposite luck with it. I have found it to be a hammer.

On the other side, I won't use Ballistic Tips for big game any more. I have never seen so little penetration and so much bloodshot meat as I have with Ballistic Tips.

I also despise 270 130gr Game Kings, but my buddy uses them exclusively with good luck. Go figure.

Used the hornady 117 gr sst in my 25-06 last season, and will not use it again. shot a nice buck at about 100 yards, just slightly quartering away, they deer ran towards me and layed down about 50 yards in front of me. I thought about shooting it again but did not want to waste the meat. suddenly it got up again and started walking away. I did shoot is again, this time quartering away on the opposite side. the deer ran about 50 yards and was done. if that deer had not run towards me and let me shoot it again, it would have been lost. no blood or sign of a hit and the first shot. I load hornady bullets almost exclusively and like them very much but will not use that one again. I want a hole at each end with lots of blood. it is simply too thick where I hunt to track without blood.

270 Rem 130 grain bronze points in my wife's elk rifle. Reason- they don't seem to be available anymore. 1Minute

Well only two come to mind, First, as many have mentioned are the Ballistic tips / Ballistic Silvertip. Second this mainly applies to Elk hunting, never ever will I use a Hornady 162gr Spirepoint boat tail (7mm Rem Mag) again for anything other than Antelope/Sm Deer. The Hornady was a sledgehammer on Antelope but fell to peices on an Elk. I shot that poor cow 4 times in the chest and she was still moving uphill, my hunting buddy handed me his .300WBY to finally put her down. Of 4 Hornadys I found one piece that looked like a .22lr slug.

I can't imagine a worse bullet than the 130 Bronze Point. I was waiting to scroll to the bottom to put my two cents worth in- I have seen some spectacular blow-ups with the 130 Bronze point. The turn inside out and don't penetrate worth a hoot. The probably work great- just like BT's when you get a classic broadside lung shot. Other than that- they are too frangible.

I won't hunt big game with BT's any more period. They tear up way too much meat. There are far better hunting bullets out there. MD says the big caliber ones are good- 338 and up, but as of yet, I haven't got a 180 or 200 to shoot worth a lick in my 340.

BCBrian,
YES - SIERRA!!! -memtb

I hear ya!!
I'll never use Sierras again either!!!!!!!!!!