Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Im a little confused. Why different bullets?

I have been reading over and over how people take a rifle, lets say for example a 30-06, then they will load up 180gr bullets for elk and 150gr bullets for deer. Im curriouse of why some people choose to do that. I live hear in Idaho, I hunt elk and deer every year, and i use the same bullet for everything and it works great. So my question is Why do some people choose to have a load for deer and a load for elk?

Because the guys on this forum tend to be a little more "involved" than your average hunter.

And I will even say this.... I bet that a lot who profess to do this in writing don't actually do it real-world, but like to be part of the "informed" crowd.

Myself, I tend to find one good load, with an adequate bullet, and roll with it.

If I find that I need another 10 or 20 or 30 grains of weight, or my hunting is that varied that something like that would matter, I will most likely be grabbing a different rifle.

ColdBore may be cynical, and he may be right on. I hand load, but not for fun as some profess. I hand load for difficult to find or over priced cartridges, such as .218 Bee, .219 Zipper, and .40-65, and a few common offerings for better performance.

My pet .308 shoots the cheap federals so tight, there is no reason to load. My pet .30-06 shoots the souped up Hornady 180 well enough for hunting loads, so I buy them. I only use a box or so per year on that one. Another '06 needs a special diet to work really good, so it gets loaded for.

I suppose that I am just a quasi- loonie. Real rifle nuts seem to want to load for everything and load differently for different game and or targets and distance. Jack

As a guy that's played with and hunted with lots of different bullets over the years, I'll try to answer your question.
First of all, I like to experiment and see how these different things shoot and work on game. That's probably the biggest reason.
When I started hunting big game, back in 1956, if you used an '06, you were advised to use 150 gr. bullets for deer and like sized game and 180 gr. bullets for larger stuff. That's because the 180 gr. bullets of that time were designed to hold together, and penetrate. They didn't expand rapidly which helps when tring to kill deer. So one was advised to use the 150 gr. loads which did. If you needed something to hold together and penetrate heavy muscle and bone, you were advised to use 180 gr. or even 220 gr. bullets. that's because the 150 gr. bullets of the day didn't hold together well.
Today we have alot more and much better choices. The 180 gr. Nosler Partiton, for instance, open quite rapidly. The Berger Bullets, I'm told, are even more explosive. If you insist on 150 gr. bullets, then one can choose either the Barnes TSX if you need alot of penetration.
The other factor can be cost. Lots of us, including me, like the cheaper cup and core bullets for practice and the more expensive premium bullets for hunting.
There are those who insist that one basic bullet will do just fine and it need not be a premium. Not my experience. Often yes, they can. But not on marginal hits. Since I spend alot of money to go hunting, I find even bullets that cost a dollar a piece to not be a significant cost. E

So which is it?

I didn't make myself clear ? I shoot both. Usually I hunt with premiums. E

I hunted with one load and one bullet for about twenty years, a 165-grain Nosler Partition in a .30-06. I reloaded all of my ammo and shot one bull elk, a lot of whitetails and pronghorns, a few mule deer and the occasional feral hog. When my daughters wanted to start hunting, I bought a .243 and then a couple of 7mm-08s, a .270 for myself (followed eventually by four more) and a few other rifles.

For the kids' and grand kids' rifles, I work up one load that will work well in their individual rifles for anything that they will have a chance to hunt and we stick with it. However, I like to experiment with different cartridges and different rifles and different bullets and different powders. It's what I do instead of woodworking, playing golf, gardening and any number of other past-time pursuits that engage other people. I recognize that I am an indifferent amateur gunsmith, but I like to fool around with all of this in the evening while my wife watches NCIS and plays spider solitaire on her laptop computer.

I like to see how different bullets work. Here in KY my "big game" consists of whitetails. The past 3 years I've used 3 different bullets in my 30-06. All in the 165g range. The hornady 165g sst, the Sierra 165g HPBT, and this deer season that just passed I used the 165g Nosler BT. Who knows what I'll use next year, maybe try an accubond.

If I were to get lucky enough to draw an elk tag, I would probably load up a 180g partition or maybe stick with a 165 and load a TTSX....who knows...

Maybe I'll put two rifles together one day. A 25-06 for the deer and a 30-06 for everything else I don't hunt...

To be honest, I dont think it makes a big difference. You can tweak your gun and ammo to make it sub MOA. Some people will shoot 200gr .338 for Caribou and .250gr .338 for Moose. They will experiment with with partitions, accubonds, ect. Where I live its not that critical. If I can hit an 8 inch target at 250y 4 out of 5 shots I am good to go because almost all my shots are under 200y.

By a couple boxes of different ammo. Take it to the range and see what performes the best then go with it. I know that if I hit a mmose with a 150+gr round in the heart/lung area he wont be taking to many steps, especially if he didnt see me firts.

Of course there may be some long range antelope hunters that may have a valid argument for me.

I use two loads in my 22-250. 75gr. A-maxes for vermin. 55gr. TTSX for deer. Both hit to the same POI to the 3 so it is a painless proposition.


Travis

I dunno... Johnny B said it best when he wrote that humans are wired to find better tools.

No doubt some bullets are better at some things than others. Personally I like to shoot different bullets,but for hunting I take a generalists approach and mostly just shoot animals with Partitions, which are very boring bullets,and generally one weight per rifle.

I practice with other cheaper stuff.

With all the new and improved bullets around, I can't believe Partitions still kill stuff.

Because a bullet that is suitable for elk may be too tough for deer. It just depends on the bullet.

Amazing.....

Especially considering they've been around more than 3 months ....

I like experimenting with different bullets/powders etc. I enjoy discovering what each rifle does and doesn't like. I'll change bullets every year also just to do something different. Although, I do have a few rifles that have only one load. Now, for example, I'm shooting 150gr RN Sierra's in my 270 win vs the usual 130 gr Sierra BTSP's. They group an inch apart so a small adjustment on the top turret gets me on target with either. From gas lines to bottoms I'm covered. Necessary... No. Fun for me...yes.

I used to have a load for deer, and then a load for elk and bear when I lived in MT. Since then I have gone to one load period, regardless of animal. I tend to use one rifle for a particular animal and another rifle for another type of animal. I don't relaod at the time, and ammo is not as cheap as it used to be. Maybe when I have more time and money, I'll go back to shooting different loads in the same rifle for different animals.

Because they can......

I used to do all that. Now I go to a relatively heavy for caliber bullet and find an accurate load. I shoot everything with it, and they all die. I do a lot of long range varmint shooting with my big game rifles, so accuracy is paramount. I can always find a suitable bullet that will also give good accuracy.

How is a load you use for elk, or even bigger game "too tough" for deer? To me that doesnt make any sense. If you were take a bullet that is considerd a tougher bullet like the 180 grain or even a 200 grain TTSX, Partition, or swift A-Frame that you would use for elk and moose, and you shoot a deer with it, its still going to do what its suppose to do and knock the deer on its ass. Im not trying to be a smart ass or rude, maybe i dont fully understand what you mean by saying that a bullet would be "to tough" for deer. I tend to try and be more of the simple minded person and not get too caught up in "the new fads" or whatever else. When im loading for my rifles, I load for elk, because i know that if it will perform well on elk, it will perform on everything elk i hunt and then i dont have to worry while out deer hunting and i happen to come across a herd of elk and the season is open and I wont have to worry if my "deer load" is going to perform well on the heavy, dense bone of an elk. Sometimes I also forget that not everyone has the opportunity to hunt elk every year like i do and they simple dont have to worry about that.
My favorite quote that I like to think about and live by (Im deffinatly not perfect at it) is "simplicity is the ultimate suffistication". Its a very simple quote, yet its something you can think/ponder on and you can get pretty deep with it.

All you need is a 30-06, a .223, and a nice .22LR.