Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Ammo

What is your favorite over the counter deer hunting ammo? I have been using Hornady American Whitetail.

Simply put, none. I haven't hunted with factory ammo in years.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ +1 ^ ^ ^ ^

but. . . .IF i had to start over again having to buy NEW tooling and with powder
and other components costing what they've been costing, and i just shot what
rounds i now shoot (scope zero and zero check, off season practice, pre-hunt
foul shots, one round per animal, etc. ) i'd likely be finding some factory ammo that
shot well in my particular firearm and buy a large quantity of it. i don't do any
competitive shooting or any other high volume type of shooting so that would
hold me well.

EDIT- i should have also said here ^ ^ that it costs WAY more to start in the
reloading game now than when i started with all my used stuff

That should be doing well for you. Interlocks are great deer bullets, I've used them in a bunch of handloads.

I've put friends onto Federal Fusion ammo for deer and the results have been very good.

I use Winchester Super X 180 grain "power-point" in my 30/06. I use it for everything---deer, elk, moose, black bear, and antelope. Kills everything just fine & my tikka shoots it really well. When there is a rebate on it---I get several hundred rounds. Winchester thinks my sisters & nephews like it as well.

Core-Lockts and Fusions.

Personally I have used Federal Fusions in several calibers with good accuracy and terminal performance. I have heard good things about the Hornady American Whitetail, and if it shot well in my rifles I would have no issues with the Hornady Interlock.

Federal blue box

It just depends on the gun. I've got a 30-06 Mauser that really likes Federal Premium 165 gr. BTSP. I've tried about 30 different factory offerings and this is always the most accurate.

My Savage 99 used to really like the Remington 180 gr. Round Nosed Core-Lokt, but they quit chambering that. I ended up with a good handload courtesy of our own MILES58 that will be very hard to ever top.

My AR really likes some stuff called Perfecta, but I'm still trying various factory offerings for that gun yet.

I've got a recently acquired Model 70 in .270 Winchester. I'll start with the cheap stuff (Federal Blue Box) and work up from there as necessary. I'm looking forward to trying Federal Fusion through it, but if it really likes the Blue Box, I just may go no further than that.

Different guns like different loads.

Mostly Federal, Fiocchi, and Hornady, some Remington and/or Winchester/Olin.

I've been really impressed by all of the Hornady American Whitetail that I've shot, maybe the best, or at least the most consistent, commonly available factory ammo that I'VE ever seen. The best factory ammo that I've used was the original Super Vel.

federal blue box

For the last 6 yrs. or so, I have used my 25/06 exclusively. It shoots 120 gr. Core-Lokts and they have not failed so no need to try any others.

[quote

My Savage 99 used to really like the Remington 180 gr. Round Nosed Core-Lokt, but they quit chambering that. I ended up with a good handload courtesy of our own MILES58 that will be very hard to ever top.

[/quote]
My 99 also liked the 180 Core Lokts. Only other 180gr load available is the Federal Power Shocks. They shoot well out of my Savage. You might want to give them a try.

Kyhilljack-thanks for the reply. I've tried that load, and out of my gun, it was minute of deer accurate, but not as good as some other loads. This handload MILES58 gave me is going to be pretty tough to beat.

I'm going to try Federal 180's in my .300 Savage because the 150's shoot too high and my rear sight is all the way down.

what is over the counter ammo?

Factory loaded. I have a number of guns that have never shot a factory round. Reloading is part of the game.

Same. Kinda like putting 87 octane in a Ferrari

Went with some Federal Fusion loads in my 25-06's for a while. Ran some Winchester Supreme black-box 180s in my 300 when I still had it.
Shot about half a box of some Hornady 200 gr loads in my 358 just to shoot it.
I reload for everything now.

The 45-70 is a classic example of how reloading can help. The old guns can't handle a lot of pressure. Ammo makers have to make ammo that can be shot in all guns of that caliber or they'll end up blowing up some old guns. So, they load it down. Some of the newer guns can handle much higher pressure, well above the ammo that's on the shelves. The only way to make use of the gun's ability is to load your own.

Aren't the factory offernings for the military Mauser rounds the same way?

Nosler Accubond. 165 308, 110 257R.

.308 I use the 165 gr fusion loads
30/30 either 170 gr federal blue box or fusion. Have a mix of both in my ammo pouch, they shoot to same poi (at least close enough with iron sights)
300 savage I've gone to 180 gr federal blue box since remington dropped their 180 gr load. Have both federal and rem 150 gr on hand, but currently sighted in for the 180s
250 savage not a lot of factory choice - 100 gr remington express. I do have a stash of old 87 gr winchester super-x on hand too.

Count me in as another deer hunter that reloads. The last time I lobbed a factory load at a deer was 20 years ago.

If memory serves, the last factory load that I shot at a deer was Musgrave 30-06 180 RN. I still have several boxes of the stuff. Back then, it was a good idea to find a load that shot well in your deer rifle and buy up as much of the same lot as possible. This Musgrave stuff ( South African as I remember) shot as well as anything else I could find for my Remington 742 and it was cheap. I bought a case of it in the mid 80's.

I'd still say it is a good idea. Find something that shoots well-- cheaper the better. And buy as much of it as you can.

Here is the long version:
What's the Best Factory Ammo?

Maybe ammo from the American Big 3. European companies load them up to spec, assuming, I suppose, that shooters should know how to keep their fingers, toes, and eyes where they belong. Some 8mm ammo from U.S. companies is in the .30/30 class.

I'd say the biggest reason to load for 45-70 is there's no good factory DEER ammo....everything is geared towards shooting through some buffalo or grizzly.

For most other stuff, I load, but I've also killed lotsa stuff with 243 fusions, 223 power points, and 356/358 silver tips. The fusions are a good deer bullet.

I have had good luck with the Federal Fusions on deer, also Hornady Interlocks.

Having several different rifles they all seem to have their favorites. The 7mm08 Savage likes the hornady superformance 139 grain. The 35 remington shoots the 200 grain rem coreloct very well and the 45/75 likes the Hornady LE 325grain. But this year I am going to try and kill a deer with my hand cast and powdercoated 250 grain in the Marlin 375. When I still had 30-30 rifles I found each one had a different favorite round and at one time I had oiver 30 different boxes of 30-30 ammo. I say feed them what they like.