Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Which Bullet????

I agree with this. Various 165's and even 180's in .308win cup/cores have shown me good results for that kind of hunting.

I shoulder shoot mine, dead right there!!!

Most of mine have been shot in the neck.... they don't take steps, they drop....

Yep! I think I broke something important...

160 Partition gets my vote.



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In thick woods I personally would want the 7X57 with a 154 gr Hornady RN interlock if you can find them. Then a 150 or 160 partition. You want an exit hole so go heavy for caliber. The 7x57 won’t over stress a cup and core bullet so no need for a mono metal. 25-06 I’d go as heavy as I could 117-120 and maybe back off the gas so you don’t have it blow to hell if you get a close one. I had good luck with 117 Hornady RN interlocks and backed them down to 2800 ish when I had a 25-06. I ran 100 gr Sierra BTSP for a bit but at 3300 I got a lot of blood shot meat and very few exits.

No question. For these ranges and those calibers any Nosler Partition will provide the most devistating wound channel with an almost guaranteed exit wound.

Cross

Good grief, how did that deer make it as far as he did?

As for the original question, I’d load the 160 grain bullet of your choice in the 7x57

Here's how he looked when I walked up on him. He had one helluva constitution....

You can see the source of the leak just behind his left foreleg.

The 110 accubomb is my choice for the 1/4bore. If I didn’t shoot it it would be a 110 nbt. Both have worked great but I’m partial to the accubombs.

Blood can happen or not happen with any bullet. If you are worried about it that much, go with a tipped, frangible bullet. Amax, SST, Nosler Ballistic Tip, etc. Blow a big hole in the front shoulder and they won't go far. Not fun to butcher though.

what is a 110 nbt?

I have a handful of recovered 110gr .257 NAB's I shot over the course of a season or two. They killed well enough, but exits were not the norm at 25-06 speeds. A .284-.308 heavy softpoint at 2,600-2,700fps is a potent deer-wrecker in my experience and has never let me down at short to medium range. Leakage is generally copious.

110 grain nosler ballistic tip

My pick would be the 140gr Nosler Partition in the 7X57 and in the 25.06 it would be 115-120gr Nosler Partition. I'd push them hard even though you mentioned thick cover and short range shots because NP's generally are more accurate when pushed hard. So, try not to shoot the good eating parts. BTW, you will not be able to blame the bullet choice if something goes wrong.

super T, I think you have may answer! I am going to give both options a try. We have 3 more tags and plenty of time to try both options. Thanks Daniel

I use both cartridges.
In the 7x57, try the 140gn Barnes TSX at around 2900fps and in the .25/06, the 100gn Barnes TTSX is the stand out bullet in that caliber. It will usually load somewhere in the 3350-2450fps if the barrel is as long as it should be.

Bergers or Scenars are very frangible, Hornaday SST's are too. Me, I am using Nosler LRAB for just this purpose. They have worked well so far with three deer to their credit. It is hard to beat the Ballistic tips for this purpose too. Either of the Noslers will keep at least 40% intact for better penetration. In the 25-06 I am going with the 115 Nosler BT and it has done well. I don't have a 7x57 currently but in other 7mms the various 120 bullets have done very well. I would give the nod to the 10 grain TTSX for the by 57. But even softer bullets might do better.

Agreed. I would also add Interlocks to that pick.

This season, I switched from H SST to Barnes TTSX 150 grain in my 30.06 and 308 both running about 2,900 FPS and have been very pleased with them. Shot 4 bucks so far this season and the furthest one went was 30 yards.
Deer 1 150 yd broadside just behind shoulder went in a 20 yard circle stood and fell over. Innerds were soup no meat damage. 30.06 Win 70 SG
Deer 2 40 yard running (hobbling) wounded deer that I had to help buddy track and put down. 40 yards quartering away shot behind shoulder exited far shoulder and dropped. 30.06 Win 70 SG
Deer 3 monster (SC monster) 130 yards straight on in chest breaking one shoulder flopping 30 yards and down, innerds were soup no meat damage. Watched him from the climber run and fall. 308 Ruger 77 RSI.
Deer 4 (this am) 100 yds broadside high shoulder just a bit behind, and he dropped on the spot, innerds soup and good red blood right where he fell. Ruger 308 77 RSI.

Really like the 150s in the TTSX, seams I had to track more with the SSTs but they gave good exits and blood. Also shooting high from a climber sometimes they don’t leave a blood trail while their chest fills with blood and then they cough.

Using 150 TTSX with Varget in the Win, and VV N540 in the short barrel RSI, both running a bit over 2,900 with good accuracy. Keeps it simple and holdovers are the same. Climb with the Ruger and stand hunt/cutover hunt with the Win.