Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Flimsiest .30-30 bullet?

As the 170 gr bullets carry the most energy to the target, I would like to load the one that imparts the most of that energy to the target. Which has the most violent expansion and lowest retained weight?

Thanks.

You don't say what you are shooting but Sierra makes an 85g .308 bullet for handguns (I.E. Thompson Contender/Encore). It is there catalog number 8005 Sports Master. This reply is just based on the limited information your question contains. THIS MAY NOT BE THE BULLET YOU REALLY NEED.

55-gr .223 polymer tip in a sabot load.

I'm not sure of the source of confusion, but here goes...

In your experience, which 0.308 caliber 170 gr bullet, designed for .30-30 Win rifles, exhibits the most violent expansion and lowest retained weight when shot into a big game animal?

My guess would be any of the standard commerical shells, such Remingtion, Winchester and Federals. However, you will need to stay away from the preimum bullets that are used like the Barnes X, Grand Slam, Bonded bullet, etc.

Sierra.

Whoops, wrong info, sorry.

Sounds like the old "transfer all the energy in the animal by the bullet coming apart theory". You might try the 125 hp. Way to many variables to predict 100% transfer of energy in the animal including, what part of the animal is hit, range, velocity at that range, angle of entrance, etc. Personally I like 2 holes in the animal. I like them to bleed good in case they stumble around a few yards.

I am not sure you are looking for the right thing. Bullets that shed weight are not more efficient than those that hold together. A bullet that disintigrated would probably penetrate less as well.
I keep getting very good one shot stops with my handload of 170 grain Speer FP, and 35 grains of 4320. The expansion is moderate, but the bullet almost always stays in the animal, and they drop dead just like clockwork. Who could ask for anything more?

[Quote] by Cariboujack
Sounds like the old "transfer all the energy in the animal by the bullet coming apart theory". {Quote]

Yea, ask AllenDay how well that worked when the 225 grain Accubonds he was useing in 'Africa came apart and didn't penetrate well............ It Didn't............ <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Well I shoot the 170 sierra as they have a little better BC than most others other than speer and are not as "hard" as the speer in my experience

you could always load a spire point bullet for the first shot but dont put it in the magazine!

I'm not confused about this at all, none of them and all of them. With few exceptions I've always preferred the boileroom shot and have yet to recover a bullet. Without exception the innards are pureed goo...heart, lungs....ticks that get in the way. Core-lokts, Hornady 170 grain flat points, whatever...they aren't not kind to flesh, and one can't make critters any deader than dead. Bullets intended for .30-30 velocities are designed to expand at those velocities, case closed.

Try any of the factory loaded HPs. My uncles and I, and several of the fellas we hunt with, ONLY use the HPs in our .30-30s. We won't use the 125s anymore, as they don't penetrate enough with regularity, but the 150s and 170s are simply superb. We regularly recover expanded HPs from those rounds, and I'll try to remember to save a few this fall.

ditto what's been said above... I'm not sure why you would specifically go looking for the flimsiest bullet, or one that sheds the most weight for use on a big game animal. From your first post I thought you were looking for an explosive bullet for varmint busting. (which wouldn't be a good choice for big game) From the responses, I think that's what others were confused about too.

I shot a good sized doe with a 170 gr .30-30 winchester silvertip at about 60 yards last year. Broadside, double lunger... exit hole was ~ 1". I considered that excellent performance. I chose silvertips because my uncle has used them in his .30-30 for years. I was very impressed at their perfomance, even on quartering on shots on good sized bucks. (where a flimsy bullet would be bad) On his buck 2 years ago his shot went through the front shoulder, though the vitals, and stuck under the hide in front of the offside hind leg. I liked that it didn't completely demolish the front shoulder it went through. (not a lot wasted)

I suspect hollow points might make more bloodshot meat, but not kill any deader. (?) But admittedly, I haven't tried 'em on a critter.

Brent;

We switched to HPs because the ST and PowerPoints were punching right through, esp. on the small deer, or on longer range broadside shots.

On full-bodied mature deer, and close range shots, the non-HPs worked fine, but it was the low weight, low velocity extremes that were creating problems.

The HPs just work, and we really haven't noticed much more bloodshot meat.

VAnimrod--

Where are you getting your stock of .30-30 hollowpoints? I seem to remember that Winchester used to make a 150 gr., and I thought that Remington made a 170 gr. But I haven't seen these in years. (Also I might be misremembering.) Did you stock up or are these still being sold out where you live?

Both Winchester and Remington still make their respective HPs.

They just aren't as common as the CLs and PP.

What's the target? Deer? Bear? Ground hog? Moose? The answer will vary according to what you're shooting it at.

Dick