Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Over bulleting your deer rifle???

So I've hunted with cup and core bullets for my whole life, looking to switch over to copper solids, but as I look at them in .308 and .338 I see alot fo folks are using them on Elk, Moose and other substantially larger game, and the bulllet/ammo manefacturers are advertising them for heavier critters. True I do occasionally see a heavy hog (got 4 last year over 200) but they are more of an opportunity that I take when it presents itself opposed to what I am chasing during deer season.

By moving from traditional old tech bulllets to copper solids in these versatile middle calibers to I risk punching clear through smaller deer becaue the Bullets are too tough? I kinda like my "1-bullet-killl-anything" process that I have now, but if I could eek out a little more accuracy and put a little less lead in the environment I would prefer to do so...

My personal feeling is that there is very little to be gained by moving away from cup and core bullets. Deer are just not that hard to kill.

Our camp has shot all our deer in the past 16 years with standard Hornady Interlock and Rem CoreLokts. The bullets do their part if we do ours. A .308 165 grain Hornady SP IL will flatten any whitetail or hog in the CONUS at reasonable ranges if the hunter does his part. Forget moose and elk unless you are going hunting for moose and elk.

As to the environmental aspects at lobbing lead, my personal feeling is you are taking a leak in the ocean on that one. A chunk of lead is pretty well sequestered once it buries itself in the ground.

As to accuracy: if you are having accuracy issues in regards to whitetail hunting, then I would look at everything else before I focused on bullet design.

My overall suggestion to you is that you have been reading too many magazines. As a fellow who has been dispensing advice to deer hunters for a long time, I can tell you that this is a common problem and easily fixed.

1) Remove all reading material related to deer hunting from your current domicile. Refrain from purchasing additional material for at least a year.
2) Go find the cheapest deer ammo that will safely operate in your rifle. Remington Corelokts from Wally World are fine.
3) Practice shooting until you can hit a pie-plate offhand at 50 yards and 100 yards from an improvised rest.
4) Go hunt.

Wash, rinse, repeat.
Report back with pictures.

Believe me, I wish someone had told me all this in 1982. It would have saved me a decade or so of trouble.

I'd sling 130gr Barnes TTSX in the 308 for deer, no heavier than 150.

They'll expand but they LIKE speed, you can't push them too fast Oh, and f&ck worrying about the 'putting lead into the environment', lead ain't man made..

I agree with Steelhead here. The Barnes 130 gr. TTSX is an excellent bullet. That's what I'm shooting through my 300 Savage courtesy of some handloading expertise from MILES58.

Any piticular reason you need to move away from your current set up? If you have been having success with what you have ?????

I've been killing most of my deer with cast bullets in .30 rifles and/or soft lead balls out of muzzle loaders. Old technology works today as it has for over half a millennia. It's a deer, not a truck. There are many more things in life to worry about than deer bullet efficiency- putting the bullet where it counts being chief among them.

I got some 130 TSX's with a mind to try them in a .300 Savage. Been two years now, maybe some day.

If it "ain't" broke, don't fix it is an old adage that get's a lot of play, but it really applies here. You do not need "copper solids" as you say, to kill a deer. Your .308 stoked with 165 gr Nosler BT, Rem. Core-Lok, etc will handle, with authority ANY "tick toter" that this continent has to offer..

I am in possession of nearly as many Accubonds as Nosler. Still yet, I am a BIG fan of the CoreLokt & InterLock. Love killing Whitetails & Axis with 150 CoreLokt's.

Don't we risk punching clear through smaller deer with any bullet? Why is that a problem?

Fun question.

Too answer some of the questions, I've had good luck in the past with Winchester silver tips in .270 and .243 those guns are gone now. I came across a lot of federal fusion rounds in 165 .308 and had mixed results with them last year... 3 deer and 5 hogs in a few hunting trips but I had real inconsistent results as far as expansion and penetration. Nothing 150 works well in that rifle, 165-168 grain stuff shoots lights out.

In .338 federal I also used 200 gr federal fusions they kill good on neck shots, but don't penetrate the bigger pigs from odd angles, I got 3 in 20 minutes in one sitting a few months back the one quartering away took a second round to go down.

Last week picked up 5 boxes at a steal of the 338 federal 200 gr. Trophy copper solids at a gander mountain that was going under locally. As I started researching I had some questions and asked the experts here. I'm gonna give them a shot. Luckily hogs are plentiful I'll have several chances to drop a few of those before deer season so I know what they will do on game before I start throwing them at deer. That gun shoots 1" groups and I leave it at 1.5" high at 100 and its 2" low at 200. Great brush country rifle!

I prefer 2 holes for blood exiting, but I'd also like the bullet to expand and deposit some energy in the animal, cause some additional tissue damage and put it down more efficiently.

Agreed.

I got some lead slivers in my last batch of venison burgers... I feed my kids this stuff. I'm more concerned about putting lead in their bodies. A bullet that retains 99% of its weight appeals to me... if only so that there is less chance of my family eating it.

Thank you for the speed comment, with my chopped 17" Kimber Montana and mid-heavy for weight bullets I might be better off hand loading lighter stuff in the 338 federal. Wish I could find the 160 gr. ttsx bullets somewhere

Then listen to steelhead's advice and go lighter/faster. You'll get both pass-throughs and better expansion.

Exactly what I was thinking.
Your 338Fed is calling for 160gr Barnes, I can hear it from my place.

This.

I've killed a bunch of deer with Barnes 130 grainers in 30 cal rifles. They work way better than 180 cup and cores and I push them as fast as is reasonable. Load them up to 3150 FPS out of the 308 and be happy. I have never recovered one, and have only seen one recovered out of 60-70 deer killed with them and loaded by me. All perfect performance.. IMO if you don't have to shoot 350+ yards, there is no better deer bullet for 30 cal rifles.

I have hunted whitetails since the early 60's and have been a handloader since the early 70's. I have successfully harvested deer with bullets from Hornady, Sierra, Speer and Nosler and have not felt the need for premium bullets. For elk the long discontinued Speer 275gr. RN was the ideal bullet for me, MOA accuracy and never had to shoot an elk more than once.

Jeff O calls that "way overpenetrating".