Mine is an M77MkII. It shoots Sierra 140s into less than an inch. I killed 4 does with it last week on crop damage permits - all strictly legal (the meat is being used, and if we didn't have too many deer in the area, I wouldn't shoot them). All four were shot in the front shoulder in attempts to gain the coveted bang-flop performance so I didn't have to track them into the bug-infested swamps. Only one of them went anywhere but straight down, and that one only went about 50 yards. It was shot in the front in the base of the neck with the bullet exiting the left shoulder. The other three were broadside and the bullet punched through both shoulders and exited. All exit holes were about 1 inch in diameter or better. I consider this perfect performance. I like exit holes. The load was 47 grains of 4831, from Speer 13.
I'm sorry, but with performance like that, I just don't care to use lighter bullets, or those costing a dollar apiece. Those 140 grainers at 2600 fps fly plenty flat with a 200 yard zero, and still have plenty of authority at 300 yards. I used the 140 grain Speer Hot-Cors last fall and got similar performance, though the holes in the deer were not quite as large.
On second thought, I'm not sorry!
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