Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles DRT Caliber...DRT Bullet... DRT Speed...DRT Distance

We've had 32 straight DRT with the .280 AI and 120 grain Nosler BT at 3325 fps. Ranges from 15 yards to 300 yards.

.308 150 Nosler Partition or Accubond @ 2840fps. High shoulder CNS. Works for me, but that doesn't meet your conditions. High shoulder, because I hunt woods and swamp areas. I want them down, even if they are still kicking.

If I have to pay $1000 for a runner, I should be able to put the bullet in an area of my choosing.

Where you hit them trumps all.

I think this question is dumber than the first one. I shoot a fair number of deer with a bow. It is not legal here to use a >22lr for deer, but if I could, CNS shots with any one of my target rifles could very well produce 50 dead deer out of a box of ammo. Every one of those would also be DRT deer.

The deer is the single most unpredictable part of the question. I have killed deer that were moving fast enough to travel 30-40 (ten yards or more) which disqualifies them from DRT.

Like I said, short of gross overkill there are no guarantees. And, there is no compensation for misplaced shots which can easily come from optical illusion tricking your eyes.

It sounds like I would lose a lot of money on some of you Guys with your DRT kills. We would all love to hear some success stories as well... after all... we are sitting around a Campfire...... aren't WE? LOL.

HillbillyBear... your post made me realize that I can easily get those speeds with a 7 mag and 120's.... and or... 25.06 with 100 grainers.

Smoken Stuff.... Lead on Fire

Either one of these will truly hammer deer.

Nothing is guaranteed, but I have dropped dozens and dozens of deer with lung/shoulder shots using 150 gr SST in a 30-06 running 3100 fps. My assumption on most of them is that shrapnel cracked or broke the spine.

I have 2 cousins that have killed hundreds of deer with 154 SST in a 7mmRM running as fast as you can safely
push them..... and then some.... They get a LOT of DRT kills and have killed more deer than many people have seen.

I'm sure anything similar would yield similar results.

25-06 and 100gr Nosler partition 3100fps. Since you have a 243 I'd go with 95gr Nosler partitions and save my money.

I use 120 grain nosler partition

Back in the day, 7mm STW, first gen 140gr ballistic tips at 3600 fps, zero to 500 yards across a watermelon field, 150 depredation permits in hand, nothing else even comes close to those red tipped demons, DRT extraordinaire.

Hillbillybear said exactly what came to my mind when I read your question. The 120gr NBT is a very tough bullet that performs very well at 2500fps to 3500fps. The 6mm 95gr NBT from a 6mm rem would be another fine choice

Those were "hot" enough in a garden variety 7mm Weatherby.

If it's a question of what you already have that works best, then maybe it would help to tell us what you have?

I do agree with some of the other comments though - your arbitrarily restricted question means there's not much value to the discussion. In the real world, if I need a bang-flop result, I'm going to take a CNS shot like high shoulder, rather than expecting a magic cartridge/bullet combo to do it with a lung shot.

There is a MAGIC BULLET - CALIBER - SPEED COMBO.... maybe NOT a 100% Magic Combo, but one or more that produce more consistent DRT then other combos... we have already heard of many combos that sit on top, or near the top of the Totem Pole, with proven field success...that's why I'd like to hear their stories, because it can make a believer out of us all.

Seeing and hearing can produce believers out of the most skeptical.

The same old shoot'em ... follow the blood trail.. and recovery, is the normal and effective way... but it's boring. There is no challenge in the age old process that we all have followed for centuries... myself included. I don't see anything wrong with trying to make us all think about what might be the best combos out there. This whole thing might just be about the challenge of it all. We all love challenges.

Hydro static Shock is probably the BEST answer for DRT kills.... without that, then we might as well shoot FMJ.

How about give me a 223. If I can drop 10 in a row in there tracks you pay me $1000 if I can't I pay you $1000. Would you take that bet?

257 weatherby. 100 grain ttsx. Anywhere from 0-400 yards.

Sure think Trystan... you got a deal, but make sure you have video of it all for us to watch and to verify that they were not CNS kills... spine, head, neck, shots... but were all shot somewhere in the shoulder/lung area. This is all about DRT kills in that body area. Oh yes... don't forget about showing a normal average shooting distance... 50 - 250 yds... thanks... Get'r Done... LOL.


The 257 weatherby. 100 grain ttsx just HAS to be near the Top of the List.

I mean.... come on now... if we had to pay out big money for a runner... then we would all be rethinking this whole concept about DRT Combos.

Hunting Exotics, and African Plains Game. Exotics = any of the calibers listed but "very accurate/CNS or High Shoulder.

Plains Game = 300 WinMag 180 Barnes (smallest I used. Also used 35 WAI, 338WM, 340W, 375H&H,,, all monos) as close to 3100fps and "also" CNS/high shoulder. If they run off, you pay. Better be sure before you touch one off!

Hogs/pigs, I was raised to 'always" head/neck shoot them. For Texas whitetail, tight behind the shoulder, it was the 30-06 and 150gr ( either Corlokt or Hornady sp) My father was a survivor of the Great Depression and later, a WW2 Pacific Theatre vet. He did not believe in wasting any meat, He would give a stern lecture if you bloodshot any usable meat. He called the 30-30 "the Big Gun" for hunting and said the 30-06 ruined too da-- much meat, fit only for killing Japs. He meant it too, ha.

And I get to bring the air horn. Running shots only.