Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Good cheaper bullet for deer

What's everyone think, who makes the best cheaper cup and core deer bullet (smaller 130-150# deer). Will be shot out of a .308 Winchester, prefer 150gr bullets unless there is a reason to shoot something else.

Always liked the Core-lock, but don't think they sell them as components anymore. Ive had good results with Nosler Ballistic tips, but their not cheap anymore. Thinking Seirra Gameking, Speer hot core, or ?. If they don't fall right there, I want a blood trail a blind man can follow.

I want to be able to afford to shoot a bunch with the same load I'm going to hunt with.

Heck, nearly any of them should be great on deer that size from a 308Win at reasonable ranges. Find one that your rifle and budget like.

I tend to like the Interlock, the Gameking (SPBT or HPBT), the Speer BT, and the Fusion component bullets if rolling my own in a .284 to .308cal rifle with modest case capacity. The SST wouldn't be too bad of a pick there either, as they aren't supposed to be the bombs they once were. Those are all typically pretty cheap in 100ct boxes when you can find them.

In factory ammo, I like the Interlock, Fed Powershok (Blue Box), the W-W Whitetail XP, and the Federal Fusion. All are reasonably priced and death on deer-sized stuff.

Midsouth Shooters Supply has 100ct boxes of 150 Interlocks for $29.99 and 150 Speer Boattails for $26.49. Pretty cheap these days.

Last I looked, the Sierras quit being "cheap" as well.

If you're after lowest price, probably Hornady interlocks. I prefer Speer hot cores myself. Truth is, though, I haven't shot anything but premium bullets (partitions, accubonds, etc) for deer, other than in lever actions, in over 20 years. Deer hunting is a thing to be savored. I get to do it once a year. It's not a place to save money. That's like having your only beer of the year be a light beer when your heart wants a stout.

Tom

Hornady interlock- dam near as good a Partition. In years of working a gun counter, can never remember hearing a compliant about them for deer or elk, and they were our most popular bullet.

I have had mixed results with the Sierra GK. Only at distance over 200 yards out of my .270 have they worked well. That was the 130g. I have used the 165 Speer Hotcore from a 30-06 on 1 elk at 281 yards. In and out both shoulders. I did use the Speer BT a few times and thought it softer than the GK. Those were out of a .257 Roberts.

I have yet to have a complaint about the Hornady Interlock. I've used several on deer and antelope in .264 WM -300 H&H. I rarely use 150s anymore in 30 caliber but used to use them a lot and didn't find one brand that wouldn't work on deer.

Have used a ton of the Privi bullets that Graf sells . They work great for thin skinned game like deer. Been several years since I bought any but they were about half of what Speer and Sierra cost . I have them in 7mm , 6.5 mm and .243 and .223, I bought 10,000 of each the last time and best I remember they ran from about $8 per 100 for the .223 55gr and maybe $14 for the 7mm 140 gr and 6.5 139 gr with the .243 100 gr at $11 per 100 .

Just looked and they still carry them at a higher price and some by the 50 rather than 100 . The .308 is a 165 gr . At current price they might not be any better a deal than Speer or Sierra .

https://www.grafs.com/catalog/product/productId/12612

I can complain about them. We had mixed results back in the 70s/80s with 180s from two '06s. A small percentage performed correctly, the rest either disintegrated or penciled through. We switched to head shots to reduce the amount of tracking needed. Others' experiences vary I'm sure, but that's how it worked **for us**. Sierras were no better but they seemed to be more accurate. I switched to Speer Hot Cores and my problems ended, my father stuck with Hornady and Sierra and his persisted.

Tom

Yep, used to get them pretty cheap but now....used a lot of the Pro Hunters, great deer bullet but the Interlock and BT's have worked great for me too. For the 270, hard to beat the 130 BT on SPS, I think there's some on there now for around $14 or so per 50,

Hornadys weren't Interlocks back then.

The 2 Sierra Game Kings I have recovered travelled from front to back through deer performed very well.. Looked like a core lokt commercial. The 180 grain 30 caliber. fired out of a 300 Weatherby. The core fell out when I skinned the deer but the cup and core were still together it was just loose. I load speer boat tails for my son's 30-06 and the deer he shoots usually drop dead and the bullet always exits.Never caught one yet.They are cheap and shoot dime sized groups out of his rifle.

never had a problem with remy core loct's

Speer Hot-Cor are hard to beat in the value dept.

Inexpensive, accurate, and effective.

Went up a notch to their Grand Slam offering for both the .270 Win/150 gr. and 6.5x55/140 gr., and am very happy w/ them as well.

Paid ~ $0.22/pop, w/ rebate, a while back.




GR

Like most here so far, I’d vote for the Hornady Interlock. Hornady wouldn’t load them in their “Whitetail” white box commercial loads if they weren’t outstanding in that role. I would move up to a 165 grain Interlock instead of a 150 though. I started a thread once asking what bullets people recovered in deer and the 150’s were often mentioned. Lane Simpson wrote a VERY comprehensive article for one of the gun magazines that I have going over the best powders and bullet weight for the .308 and he named the 165 as the ideal, most balanced bullet weight for that cartridge.
I killed my best buck ever (210# dressed) with a 165 grain Interlock from a .308 and I had good blood starting within feet of where he stood and that didn’t happen with some other more premium offerings. Doa within 50 yards. Nose battering in the magazine was the only reason that I switched to a plastic tipped bullet.

I use 150 GameKings in my 308’s. My boy and I have shot a dozen deer and untold pigs with them. I’d use them or a ballistic tip. A partition is a good choice if you aren’t shooting a lot, but they ain’t cheap.

I've shot a lot of deer and elk both with Speer Hotcores with excellent luck. 150's in a 308 will handle deer nicely. Those Gamekings would be very good, too. For deer, whatever shoots well in your rifle is the best way to go. Any of them will kill readily if you can hit them.

Hornady 150 interlocks, number 3031. No need to look any farther.

federal terminal accent nothing else needed

Shot many hogs, Blacktail & Elk for the past 30 years with some version of the Hornady Interlock - in various cartridges but mostly .30 & .270 variations.

We all started with the HotCor early on because they were super cheap (late 70’s) but moved (for no reason really) to the Interlock then Partition because they were deemed superior…the animals never did give me their opinion. I was a youngster in the group so I didn’t push my thoughts too far back then. Partitions are marginally better than Interlocks which seem slightly, marginally better than HotCor but my sample size isn’t enough to even draw these conclusions. I’m an interlock man.

C&C work great at impact velocity ~2900fps unless you have laws or preferences otherwise.

Speer hot cores would probably be the cheapest and as good as anything for deer.