Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why Do You All Make Bullet Performance So CONFUSING? LOL!

So if I read this right, you are looking for a bullet that ALWAYS gives DRT's with soft tissue hits(ribs /lungs?),no bones, on deer,at any reasonable distance. If they run 25-30 yards that's unacceptable,right?

I doubt you are going to find it....people spend too much time looking for "perfect deer bullets". Waste of time IMHO. Like searching for the Lost Ark, or jousting with windmills.

But I suppose we have to do something in the of season, right?

The only way to reach your goal is to take head/spine shots only

Any bullet will work IF your placement is perfect

I know the rest of my post "disappeared" but a buddy and I HAVE had these results 14 consecutive times in 3 years, 2 of which were heavy bone (1 shoulder 1 spine) hits. The other 12 dropped or went less than 10-12 yards. Some no bones directly hit, some a rib or two. No blood trails needed.

I seriously am leaning towards it's not JUST the bullet TYPE but bore (and weight which goes hand in hand) along with the bullet function. Maybe the bore size is more important than "most" think.

It seems this is not "standard" results.

Thanks to all. 5 years from now I'll give an update LOL
If I cannot get similar results with the .264 and .284 bore rifles in the works.........

I'll go back to 35 caliber.

God Bless

I had a similar string,about a dozen..on deer...with 7mm mag and 270 with 130 and 140 Bitterroots back in the 90's...all were "DRT". Mix of lung and shoulder shots.

One 300# black bear collapsed to a 280-140 BBC through the lungs and never moved.

Until one mule deer at 300 yards, hit with a 140-7mm,pushed off with hind legs,both shoulders smashed,and tumbled 50 yards down the mountain.Dead on arrival but that broke the "string" of DRT's.

Last 4 bucks I have fired 6 shots;each was "dead" first shot,but 2 did not know it. The other two collapsed. All 270-130 Partitions.

Along your line of thought, the BBC's in 270/7mm typically expand to app. .65 caliber,sometimes more. It ain't always what you start with for frontal area, but what you get after expansion.

But this is no guarantee you will get DRT's every time. One of the sloppiest deer kills I ever saw was with the magic 350 Rem Mag;the bad assed perfect brush rifle, in Saskatchewan....the buck was swiss cheesed from those magic brush bullets. He was not even very big LOL!

There is no "magic" deer bullet. Many work well if you place them well.

Yep! JUST for the record, in the past 43 *FORTY THREE* deer seasons, I have *never* used ANY premium bullet on WT deer.

That's NOT to indicate nor even intimate all my shot placements have been 'perfect'. Far from it.

I post this just to clarify that I don't propose 'premium' bullets are needed FOR WT deer.

I'm not opposed nor do I argue w/anyone about using NPTs, Barnes, etc. on WT. I also think that most will agree that 'premium' bullets SHINE on larger big game.

I've had my very best performance with 1 shot DRT's with about the most anti-24hrcampfire combination possible:

Factory 30-06 Hornady SST 150's shot out of my 20" Benelli autoloader at 300 savage like velocities (about 2650 fps). I lost track of the total number of hogs, well over 200 and a dozen or so deer taken with that combination. I don't remember a single animal making it more than about 35yards, vast majority dropped dead at the shot.

I never took a shot over 200 yards with that set-up, most under 100. Damage was extensive, but I usually got pass through's, even when punching big hogs in the shoulders. Recoil was quite mild and it became common to get doubles and triples on hogs.



David

I guess the only thing that surprises me about that is the SST.

Obviously it works for you w/in your parameters.

If it works, DON'T FIX IT !!

Congratulations

I think the velocity is the key. I've shot other SST's in other rifles at signicantly higher velocities and had less favorable results.

David

+1

I've not it personally but have seen high vel SST's used several times and results were ugly.

IME, most bullet "failures" were caused by the shooter, not the bullet.

Steve, this thread is deserving of the laughing smiley!

In spite of all the 'latest & greatest'....these will whack anything that walks:

http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/components/rifle-bullets/core-lokt-bullets.aspx

I've also seen my share of SST disasters........higher velocities didn't help any.

The SST might be the worst bullet ever invented. I have experience w/them in .257 and .284. Both times they left gaping surface wounds w/no penetration and in one case the animal was still alive and suffering upon reaching him. One time each for each caliber...never again. Guys were not talking high velocity here as the two cartridges were the 257 Roberts and 7x57. powdr

I quit using SST's several years back. I found them to be inconsistent, although they were very accurate.

DF

Interesting. Using them in a buddies dads 270, and starting to see some similar results.

Luckily I"d already ordered 95 ttsx to replace them with before I read this....

Core-lokt's are good, just not "cool"...

DF

I killed a lot with corelokts.

When I moved into taxidermy I realized how many jacket core seperations there were..... yeah, thats a bit risky to me.

This year we had same happen at the lease... the buck eventually bled out, but not before a LONG trailing job, and all that got him were minor frags that got into the ribcage, rest of the 150 grain 06 bullet was blown apart on the front leg bone.

So while they generally work I tend to go for broke... a bullet that will work in any situation that arises that i personally feel the need or desire to fire in.

Cast?

In Mississippi our primative weapons season allows the use of 45-70's and here recently 35 Whelens so I've shot quite a few with those rounds. I've also shot a fair number of deer with a .375 H&H just because I have it and wanted to do it. I haven't found that any of these rounds put deer down any quicker than more common smaller bores. In fact I've found the opposite, the smaller bores usually result in quicker kills and less distance traveled. I attribute this to the higher velocity of the smaller bores. I've found that high velocity coupled with a fast expanding bullet gives the most DRT kills, but with that comes a lot of bloodshot meat and erratic bullet performance. Deer are easy to kill, it's just getting them to drop in their tracks that's the hard part.