Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles The bullets I've used to shoot big game

The current running thread "The Speer, Hot core bullet" and JB's posts about the various hunting bullets he's used, got me thinking about the bullets I've used to take big game, both here in NA, and across the pond. So, from my fading memory and hunting logs (both paper and electronic), I rustled up a rough chronological list from my beginnings on the ranch to last season.

Now, like most here on the 'fire, I've loaded and shot lots of bullet types and brands, but the following is my (short) list of bullets I've used to shoot big game. Big game live weight ranges from Pronghorn to Cape Buffalo.

- Winchester Silvertip
- Remington Core-Lokt
- Speer SP BT
- Speer Hot-Cor
- Nosler Partition
- Hornady Interbond
- Nosler AccuBond
- Norma Oryx
- Swift A-Frame
- Woodleigh Weldcore
- Hornady ELD-X
- Norma BondStrike

Far and away the bullet I've used the most is the Partition. Quede up for this years test media season is the Speer Impact bullet.

Partition
Ballistic tip
TTSX
GameKings

Speer Grand Slam in the clear amber box and new style in the black box
Speer Hot-Cor
Partition
Ballistic tip Red and green box
Ballistic tip black box
Barnes "X"
Remington Core-lokt
Remington Extended range bt
Hornady Interlock
Accubond
Hornady Flex-tip
Remington 405gr flat tip ( in a 458 win mag)
That's all I can think of.
Almost forgot! Winchester Failsafes

NP, Barnes TSX, TTSX, Hornady Interlocks, Rem Cor-lokt, Win pp

Sierra,
Speer,
Barnes X, X coated, TSX, TTSX, LRX
, Woodleigh PP and solids.

partition
ttsx
ballistic tip
accubond

Speer HC and BT
Sierra
Hornady SP
Winchester PP and Silvertip
Remington Core-Lokt
Nosler Part. and BT

- BULLET TYPES .243 .25-35 .30-30 .300S .308W '06 .338 WIN
- WIN SILVERTIP, X X
- WIN POWERPOINT X X X X X X
- REM CORE-LOKT-PSP X X X X
- REM CORE-LOKT-RN X
- SPEER SP BT, HOT-COR X X
- NOSLER PARTITION X X X X
- HORNADY INTERLOCK X X X X X
- TROPHY BONDED, X X X
- SIERRA BT SP, X
- HERTERS SP, X

My preferred loads usually have Hornady or Noslers now.
The WW Power Point is also a fine bullet but hard for me to get as a component.
The 165 grain Sierra BT was my favorite el bullet out of my lever .308 for about seven years too. Go figure.
Core-Lokts seem to have changed about 15 years ago. I had a couple of bad experiences on mule deer and decided to avoid them.
I still use Speer and Sierra but mostly on varmints or in niche calibers (I use 87 gr Hot Cores in my .250S and 60 gr sierras in a .243)
i have used other cartridges but only on a few animals. A majorty of animals have been taken with the.308 and .30-06
These days, Hornady Interlocks and Nosler Partitions get the most use.
I still have some old Trophy Bonded High Energy loads in .30-06 and .338 Win Mag that I prefer for elk when I get a tag for a branch bull..

Hotcor
Corlok
Gameking
Interlock
Solid base nosler
Ballistic tip nosler
SST
Pro hunter
Power points
Accubonds

Wow! I will probly miss a few but the bullets i can remember:
Remington Core-lokt
Winchester power point
Winchester silvertip
Hornady SST
Hornady Interlock
Hornady Interbond
Speer Grand Slam
Speer Hot core
Sierra Pro hunter
Sierra Gameking
Barnes TSX
Barnes TTSX
Nosler Accubond
Nosler ballistic tip
Hornady FTX ......These are off the top of my head, im sure I left out several more......Hb

I’m not even going to try to name them all. The one I’ve used most is Remington Core Lokt. Then partitions and Interlocks, other Noslers, lead round balls and maxi-balls, SPEER hot cores, Sierra Game King, mag-tips, TTSX, TSX, &other monos.

The Sierra’s were hands down the lousiest bullet I’ve used. Hornady SST were really bad bullets the first year they came out.The SPEER grand slam were closely tied for worst. All of those were first year products and I’ve heard they are good now. The SPEER 105 grain 6mm bullets never expanded.

All my big game has been taken using a pretty small list of cartridges:

- .257 Roberts
- 6.5 Swede
- 6.5 CM
- 6.5 PRC (borrowed)
- .30-30
- .30-06
- 9.3x62mm
- .375 H&H
- .450/400 NE 3"

Nosler partition
Nosler accubond
Nosler ballistic tip
Sierra game king
Sierra Pro hunter
Sierra match king
Remington corelokt
Hornady interlock
Hornady xtp

Probably missed some. They all worked well!

Rem CoreLokt
Hornady Interlok
Hornady SST
Hornady xtp
Sierra Gameking
Sierra Prohunter
Sierra Gamechanger
Barnes ttsx
Barnes original
Nosler Ballistic Tip
Nosler Partition
Nosler Accubond
Nosler ablr
Berger vld hunting
Swift scirocco
Win power point
Win silver tip
Win ballistic silvertip
Speer hotcore
Matrix vld
Federal hishok
Federal fusion
Hammer hunter

Off the top of my head:

Game Kings
Grand Slams
Power Points
Cor-Lokts
Hot-Cors
Berger VLD
Berger Classic
Failsafe
Silvertip
TSX
Partition
Accubond
FTX
Sierra SMP
Hornady BTSP
AMAX
Spire Point
Sierra HPBT
Frontier Spartan
Pure lead cast
Sisk. Not sure of the model but they were .228". Maybe their spire point?

Several brands of unknown inexpensive factory ammo

That I can recall of top of my head.

Winchester PP
Hornady XTP
Rem CoreLokt
Hornady FTX
Remington lead slug (HV 20ga Sluggers)
Barnes TTSX
Barnes TAC-TX
Speer HC
Hornady FP handgun bullets
Cast lead in 45-50cal

Sierra Varminters
Speer Varmint and BTSP
Hornady Interlock and FP
Nosler Partition
Winchester Silvertip (old)
Remington PSPCL

Remington Corelokt and Bronze Point
Rem/UMC Hollowpoint
Winchester Silvertip and Powerpoint
Federal Vital Shok SP
Sierra Prohunter and Gameking
Hornady Interlock, ELDX and JHP/JSP
Nosler Ballistic Tip, Partition and Accubond
Barnes X bullets
Berger VLD Hunting BTHP
Speer Hot Core, BTSP and Grandslam
Cast lead bullets

I too have used a relatively small pool of cartridges to take all of my big game with:

.22-250 Remington
.243 Winchester
.25-06 Remington
.270 Winchester
7mm Remington Magnum
.300 Savage
.308 Winchester
.30-06 Springfield
.300 Winchester Magnum
8mm Remington Magnum
.338 Lapua Magnum

Sierra a few from the ‘60’s into the ‘8O’s
Speer a few from the ‘60’s into the late ‘70’s
Hornady from .223’s through.375 from the early ‘70’s to early ‘90’s
Nosler a few, mostly Partitions from the late ‘80’s into the mid ‘90’s

Winchester factory loads - 1960’s
Remington factory loads - 1960’s
Browning factory loads - 1960’s

I still have a lot of cup and core for the .223, and a bunch of cup and core for my .375’s, and a bunch of partial boxes of cup and cores and some Barnes monos in many calibers.

Though for hunting……nothing smaller than .277”

For hunting …….only Barnes monos since the early ‘90’s. .277’s, .308’s, .338’s, and .375’s. memtb