Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Trophy hunting deer rifles and loads

These were taken In South West Texas last year on our yearly family trip. My 2 sons and my brother all killed same morning. My 2 sons shoot Rem 700 .308's and my brother shoots a 25-06. Both of my boys use Remingtion core lokt 150's from wal mart. #1 because they are readily available and #2 they shoot damn good in both their rifles. No need for high dollar ammo. My youngest shot (the 2nd pic) his at about 250 yards with the core lokts and it never took a step. Dropped in his tracks. My oldest (3rd pic) shot his about 150 yards, same result. Not one step. If you don't handload, you aught to try these or even the Federal Power Shok 150's. They do very well also and are about 1/2 the price of the other stuff. But it all comes down to what shoots best in "YOUR" rifle.

Everybody knows .308 Core-Lokts only work when you wear red pants with your camo.....

Good pics, and it looks like a great trip.

There was a time when I went all the way up to a .300 WM because I could borrow a better rifle than I could afford as a kid. My .300 WM deer didn't go over any faster or even as well as my first one with a .30-30. Those big cartridge bullets are designed for bigger game than deer and all I was doing is blowing bigger holes in the woods behind the deer. Then I went to a 7mm RM as a one size fits all and it did for a while, but when the scope hit me in the forehead shooting a deer from an awkward position, I realized that was even too much gun. A .308 and more recently a 7mm-08 and .300 Savage seem to be working better than most that I've used. Enough without being too much.

I just killed a buck this past Saturday with a 150 gr. Fusion from my .30-06. Was a 70 yard shot through both shoulders. Recovered bullet from under hide of off shoulder expanded clear back to the base. I can't count the number of core-lokts, Silvertips, power points and interlocks I've put through both shoulders with exit over the years. The Fusions appear to be a pretty soft bullet and I wouldn't recommend them to someone looking for deep penetration and exits. .

yes

Sample of 1?

A bud of mine has a 140 grain X bullet in his pile of bullets he has recovered over the years.

Vertebrae from a large buck slowed it down enough that the bullet stopped the neck. This was from a 7mm STW at under 100 yards.

Bullets do weird things sometimes.

When it comes to bucks I hold out for mature bigger bodied deer, whether they have 160" worth of antler is another story.

I just load and shoot what I want as long as the rifle will shoot the bullet.

Most of my deer have been killed with Sierras whether it be Varminters, Gamekings or Prohunters.

I did kill quite a few with the 60 grain Partition from my 22-250 as well as my largest bodied buck that was shot through both scapulas. From what I can tell that combo works about as well as anything I have used up to 30-06. Most deer were DRT or if they ran it was a very short distance laying blood down although it wasn't needed.

My 2 best bucks have fallen to Partitions, a 60 grain from a 22-250 & a 95 grain from my 6mm.

I didnt load those just for trophy deer I loaded them just because I wanted to try them and it just so happened i shot these deer when i had the Partition in the chamber.

I have hunted with Core-Lokt, Power Point and Interlock bullets. Never would have hesitated one bit on a trophy when using these bullets.

I will say I have recovered Sierras and Core-Lokt, mainly because I have shot these far more than the others I mentioned.

The only Core-Lokt bullet I recovered was sheared off at the cannelure. It had passed through the on side shoulder of a mature buck and was against the hide on opposite side.

I have only shot 3 animals with an Interlock bullet, a 100 grain BTSP from my first 243. Worked like a charm and would try them again if my rifle didnt shoot Sierras and Partitions so well.

For the time being I am going to stick with Prohunters and Partitions in my 243 and 6mm.

Getting ready to load some 140 grain Partitions for a 7mm WSM. May try some 120 TTSX and 120 Ballistic Tips as well.

Neck vertabrae are a fuuck of alot harder to penetrate than shoulder blades, particularly on a big buck. Given the degree of expansion {clear back to the base with virtually no shank left } and the fact that this wasn't a huge buck, yes, I'd say the 150 gr. .30 cal. Fusion is a pretty soft bullet. It isn't like it hit the spine or leg bone, just the thin part of the shoulder blade on both sides.

I've killed deer with everything from a .17 Rem to a 7 Rem Mag. When hunting new country and I absolutely want to kill a deer I will carry the .270 Win with 130 grain Ballistic Tips.

these days with my age and not needing meat much i hunt only for one larger buck a year or if i go out west one more,i use custom Ruger #1`s in a 257 Weatherby Mag. with my handloads, i use 100 grain bullet in either Nosler Partitions or Swift A-Frame the velocity is right around 3800 fps and these big whitetail bucks my son and myself shoot don`t go very far most of the time down and distance out to 400 - 600 yards is still an option with a bi-pod with these rifles.

That is really close to what I used for blacktails in the Oregon coast range "jungle" for a few years. My scope was different, Leupold 1.5-5X .. but it was usually set around 2.5 to 3 X. And I used RL19 rather than 4350 ... a pain in the ass to get enough in the case even with a drop tube but in my gun the accuracy was better. In my first Seven in 7mm-08, some years earlier, I used IMR 4350 and 140 grain Nos solid bases. .. so we're gettin' a whole lot of overlap between what you're doing and what I did.

I torched the throat on that rifle plinking / practicing offhand shooting else I'd probably still be killing stuff with it. My rifle for that niche today is a Kimber Mountain Ascent in .308.

I do prefer using premium bullets for hunting. I don't get to shoot enough critters in a year for cost difference to matter. I want what I have confidence in. Losing sight of a shot critter in the thick [bleep] I hunt in is a good way to lose the critter. Blood doesn't last long in heavy rain. Almost didnt' find my last buck because of that. I very much prefer putting them feet-in-the-air right where they stood, not a 200 yard run, or a 50 yard run, or even 2-3 steps, but truly feet in the air where they stood.

Tom

I said same thing. His answer was "were in a box, papa can't even see me much less the deer" lol. What ever it takes, just fill the freezer.

I've never used anything but c n c's and have never had trouble killing deer. They're still just deer right? Like they were in Grandpa's day?

300 Weatherby 180 Grand Slam bullet. Never had one take a step yet.

I've hunted Blacktail and bear in California and whitetail and bear in Pa. I have two go to rifles, a Remington 700 chambered in 280 Rem wearing a 4x12 VX II Leupold firing a 140 gr SGK over Varget and a Savage 99f chambered in 308 win wearing a 2x7 VX II Leupold with 168 gr SGK over Varget.

My shots have been from 25 feet to 300 yards and I've never recovered a bullet, complete pass through heart/double lung, some quartering shots. Most have an entry the size of a quarter and exit bigger than my fist. Most are DRT and the longest travel after shot has been 25 yards.

Why SGKs? They're cheap, they're accurate and they work.

Why Varget? It produces good velocity with negligible velocity variance, has consistent sub MOA accuracy in my rifles and it's temperature stable, that's important for me. In the Cascades I could be hunting in 100 degrees one week and 30s the next. Pa doesn't have the same temperature swings but I will be reloading in a nice warm house and could be hunting in 70 to 0 degree temps. You never know. Varget removes that variable.

Ya figure we just want to scare the little ones? Killing is the same, no matter what headgear they have.

Like many of my buddies I hunt with a variety of rifles for specific game animals. For deer in the forests and foothills, I prefer my Glenfield 30-30 loaded with 170 grain Power Points. Always great performance from this ammo! But for long distance shots at antelope, I favor my Remington .243 loaded with Nosler Ballistic Tips for both accuracy and rapid expansion. Hunting elk, moose, and black bears I always reach for my Savage .308 and shoot 180 grain Core-lokt ammo.

In my opinion, most cartridges perform quite well with standard bullets. But the .243 is stepped a notch by shooting Premium bullets such as Nosler and others. It seems like slower bullets always give greater penetration than the fast ones.

Sherwood

I always take my go to Ruger m77 RS in .270 win.
Loaded with a Remington 130gr. Core lokt over 60gr.of h4831sc.
The cup and cores still put meat in the freezer.

It is pretty tough to beat the Barnes TTSX if you want to put two holes in a critter at those ranges. Run them light and fast... 120gr in the 7-08 and 130gr or 150gr in the .308. Guaranteed complete penetration through deer at almost any angle out to 300 yards and even through bull elk at most angles.

Me personally, I like Nosler Ballistic Tips for deer and Barnes TTSX or LRX for elk.

And, to be quite honest, the factory Winchester Deer Season XP flat-base bullets are outstanding in deer to 300 yards. Spectacular DRTs!

I don’t think it much matters on deer . 150 grain bullet in any caiber will kill without any problem on deer.
Where premium bullets shine is on lite weight small diameter calibers. Hasbeen