Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 80 grain TTSX or 100 grain TTSX Deer bullet 257 Roberts AI?

What's your preference for Eastern whitetail?

Why?

For 257 Roberts AI

Shots 150 yards or less.

Jim

I'd take the 80. Speed impresses deer, though 100 will certainly work.

I tried the 80s a couple of years ago in a regular 257 just to see what the hype was all about. Velocity was about 3400 and accuracy was good. Took four or five deer at less than 200 yards and they worked very well, But really no better than my standard 120s at 2800 for 2900. although the recoil felt about like a 22�250.

One buck was at a longer range. He was quartering away at 300. The bullet lodged in the off shoulder. He turned and ran into the brush. I was fortunate to find him a couple hours later. The bullet had not exited. And there was no blood trail. He had run about 150 yards and made a 90� turn. Just a sample of one, And strange things can happen. But I think I would have more confidence in my regular 120 grain bullets at that range.

And I agree with steely, I'd take the extra velocity of the 80 over the extra weight of the 100

I would vote for the 100-grain, though not super-firmly.

I like speed with monolithic bullets, but New York deer (and New York is apparently where the OP will be hunting) are considerably larger than most southern whitetails. My wife and I have taken quite a few big game animals from pronghorn to elk with both the .257 Roberts and .257 AI, using 100-grain X-Bullets, starting about 15 years ago with the old blue-coated XLC. Some of the animals were sizeable bucks, and while penetration was always sufficient, it wasn't excessive. In fact we've recovered more than one of the bullets on more-or-less broadside shots, which I've never seen happen on doe deer or pronghorns.

New York is, indeed, where the OP will be hunting. And, yes, our Adirondack bucks can be large but I have never shot a monster buck. The largest weighed 231 on the feed mill scales after field dressing and then hanging for a week in cool/cold weather.

Still have the .22 Mossberg that took my first deer over 62 years ago so I'm confident that both the 80 and 100 will kill them but I'm looking for the optimum. A hoped for exit hole to make the tracking easier would be a plus.

Thoughts, opinions, comments and even facts are appreciated.

Thanks
Jim

Jim,

That's still a pretty big buck! I've only killed four mule deer as large or larger, and doubt if we've killed any Montana whitetails that large. I would definitely vote for the 100-grain.

Another good big-deer bullets in the .257 AI (or indeed any .25 caliber cartridge except 1-14 twist .250 Savages) is the 115 Nosler Partition. Have only recovered one, and it was from my biggest whitetail. He was 88 paces away, quartering toward me, and I put the bullet high on his shoulder, because his lower body was hidden by a deadfall. It took out his shoulder and spine do I didn't need a blood trail. Found the bullet under the hide at the rear of the ribcage on the opposite side. The cartridge was the .257 AI.

After watching Riley over the past 14 months shoot a smallish brown bear, hugish bull moose, averagish caribou bull, and a mountain goat with 80gr TTSX from the 25-06 I would lean heavily toward the 80s. We recovered exactly one bullet that went through a humerus, the brisket, and into the largest possible joint on the moose.

All the rest were pass-throughs.

Every bit as important to me is the way they kill effectively without the huge meat loss of the standard and bonded C&C bullets. The difference is huge IMO&E.

Yea, but I'd bet his moose or brown bear weren't bigger than a Yankee deer............

I decided to look at my hunting notes, and turns out my memory wasn't as good as it could have been. Between us, Eileen and I have killed 16 big game animals with 100-grain .25-caliber X-Bullets. The cartridges weren't just the .257 Roberts and AI, but the .25-06 and .257 Weatherby. Three did not exit, one a TSX from a .257 Roberts that took a big whitetail buck through the joints of both shoulders, one a TTSX from a .25-06 that hit a facing pronghorn doe at the base of the neck and went into the spine lengthwise, and one from the cow elk Eileen got about a month ago. That was a quartering-away shot, and the bullet went through the top of both lungs and clipped the spine between the shoulders. We found the bullet under the hide in front of the opposite shoulder.

80 TTSX for me....but you can kill our west Texas Whitetail with a flyswatter.

100's if they are union deer that voted for Obama.

The older 90gr X in 257 caliber is a devastating bullet in my 250Ackley and 257Ackley. One shot DRT kills on numerous bucks. 3250 or more make it a laser. powdr

I'd go with the 100 grain bullets. Why ? Because I have three boxes here on the shelf. Best reason I could come up with.
Charlie

Well, you have a point, the moose was right there in front of me and I had to reduce it to smaller pieces while the deer are on the innanet...

The same thing for me.
Whatever style bullet you choose i would make it 100 grain.