Well here I go. I get really worn out when someone post on here they don't want to buy "premium" bullets (whatever that means) because they are too expensive YET they come on here wanting to know what the best bullet is to kill a deer. I MIGHT understand if you were someone who had to shoot a 100 deer a day but give me a break, how many shots are you shooting, if you are shooting 100's of rounds, then buy the cheap blems and blaze away.

During hunting season I would bet most of us might go through 100 rounds, testing loads, practicing, etc. but when hunting how many shots do you take? Enough to matter money wise? Don't we owe it to the animal to kill it with the best there is?

OR you can look at it, the blems killem as dead as the North Forks or even a Ballistice Tip. Then why even ask which bullet to use.

I think most here are like me...I'm an All Day Sucker for the latest greatest stuff there is, hell I almost spent $65 on 50 North Fork bullets at the Safari Club Show but they didn't have my size.

So my point is, if you are worried anout the cost of your bullets, buy the cheapest bullet there is and shoot it... don't ask whaich one to buy.....Rant over, ya'll can pile on now...

308 Win., 150 gr. Interlock or Ballistic Tip, done. Whatever I owed to the deer, those two paid it in full no problem.

For deer, regular bullets will often kill faster than a premium. If you are going after something bigger, that's a different story.

Upon what do you base the idea we humans owe an animal anything? I don't get it.

I have used Barnes for the last several years, but next season I will be using G.S. Customs because they have an American supplier.

This has been my experience. When you get into the zippier cartridges, the premiums going very fast kill quickly, too. The premiums seem to help maintain bullet integrity and do less meat damage compared to Cup-N-Cores at the same speed.

Deer seem to like speed. Makes them lay down real soon.

Hunted out of state. Paid a premium for the tag, a premium for fuel, a premium in time off . Not going to shoot the cheapest ammo I can find. Know a [bleep] that complained about the cost of a box of coreloks. Never spent time sighting in or other range time. That cheap box of ammo would last him 20 years maybe, seen many like him and heard of many more.

How about a quick,humane kill?

Cup and core have alway worked. I'm not one for changing things that aren't broken. But say what are these great premium bullets you're getting for 45 cents?

Not in my experience.

Is all about shot placement. Practice, practice, practice!

Up by me, Barnes bullets in 7mm and .30 Cal are about .80 cents a piece. Hornady GMXs are .68 cents a piece. A dead buck is worth $24.00 and a dead doe or fawn is worth $12.00, good meat on the table is priceless. I can afford to hunt with whatever bullet I chose, I still use .34 cent a piece Hornady Interlocks because they work well and put deer down fast, if I needed more I'd use it. If I were hunting elk or moose, I'd probably use Partitions or monos, I just don't need them for the deer by me, maybe whitetail are tougher in other parts of the USA, I know Wyoming whitetail and mule deer aren't, because I've taken a few out there with the same schitty Hornadys I've been using for 18 yrs now, and they all died fast with very little suffering.

Still I ask, upon what do you base the idea we should try for a quick, humane kill?

I don't like tracking deer in the pucker brush.

cost and "killing power" aside, I find the mono's (read ttsx) are often more accurate in my rifles....

Well here I go. I get really worn out when someone post on here they don't want to buy "premium" bullets (whatever that means) because they are too expensive YET they come on here wanting to know what the best bullet is to kill a deer.

Much like some of us get "worn out" when some come on here & insist money is no object & which expensive $1 a shot bullet will kill a deer the deadest with a 308

As an ealier poster pointed out C&C bullets been killing deer dead for a hundert yrs...if the shot placment is good, is there a deader than dead!

Folks tend to make this harder than it really is. I've been killing whitetail deer for over 40 years, it ain't that hard! Many of those years we were allowed 3-4 tags. Centerfire calibers from .24 to .338. Add in round balls from a muzzle loader. Killed a few with TSXs, Sierras, Speers, Noslers, Hornady Interlock and Interbond, even a 75 gr. 25 caliber cast bullet at 2k fps.
Put a bullet constructed for deer, not varmints, in the right place and get out your knife.

I totally concur

Dober

What I don't understand is why the term 'premium' is still synonymous with tough, deep-penetrating, high weight retention bullets. Aren't there plenty of expensive, rapid expansion bullets out there today? And aren't there some cheap, tough ones, too? When someone brings up 'premium bullets for deer', do they mean expensive or tough?

So much for missing the point.


IT is NOT the one bullet you shoot the deer with that breaks the bank, it's the test loads you have to run to find the bullet that kills the deer that breaks the bank.
That plus the 3-7 bullets you fire a year to make sure your gun is sighted to kill the deer that doesn't break the bank.


The RIGHT question is - how many bullets do you fire setting up a load, and sighting in each year vs. killing the game with.
More me that's about 30:1

So multiply the 45 cents a couple more times...

For some people it seems that ratio is extreme, hundreds to one.

Depends on what you call "load development". I might only shoot a couple of deer per year, but up to 100 or so pigs plus sundry others like goats and so forth.

While the hog hunting is great sport, to an extent I also consider it load development for the deer hunting which I can travel many hours to partake in.

There is nothing that sez you can't develope a load, sight in the rifle, and practice, practice, practice with the cheap stuff in similar size and then, right before hunting season, break out the high priced spread and make any sight adjustments needed, and go hunting.

There's also nothing that says a standard cup and core won't [bleep] schit up.


Travis

There is a philosophical difference here. Your answer is not addressing the original question.

I have been hunting and killing deer,elk,pronghorn, for over 40 years. I have yet to run many premium bullets thru my guns.I think maybe 35 yrs ago I might have shot a few partitions but that would be about all. I don't shoot the cheapest,but shoot the most acurate C&C bullet that is designed for the hunt I go on.Usually Sierras. I have probably shot more than most on this forum but not as many as some
I have agrand total of two aniamls lost out of probably 100.Both my fault due to poor shot placement.

AS I have said many times.Using the so called premium bullets when not required is like paying a $500 hooker for a $5 oral sex job. You feel the same when done.

Talk to the rancher,farmer or blue collar worker that has maybe 4 boys hunting with him and money comes hard, but him and those boys want to hunt. Ask him if he uses premium bullets.

Damn! NOW ya tell me!

I wasn't answering the original question. I was answering yours regarding a quick clean kill.

This is what I know from experience, the less an animal suffers or runs, the better the meat, meat being the main reason I hunt, therefore I will use whatever kills the animal the fastest. I guess it's not as important when I need a doe, 'cuz I'm gonna brain'em anyway, but of great importance when I'm shooting at a buck. Besides, I'm not into torturing animals.

I should have posted, you didn't answer MY original question.

You proved your point about being an "all day sucker", or just a sucker with no comprehension as to what works...Like mentioned, hornady interlocks, sierra gamekings, winchester powerpoints and remington corelokts kill deer just as dead as the premiums do...By the way, if you can kill a deer with just .45 cents worth of bullet, you are doing good: Obviously you didn't take into consideration the load work-up, practice with that particular bullet and fine tuning, but hey if you can do all that with one shot my hat goes off to you...

Same here brother...Why try to fix something that isn't broken???

I don't worry about the cost of hunting bullets. Then again, I'm not going to waste 100's of Partitions on paper and rocks...

Partitions print very close if not right on top of some Hornadys and Sierras. Easy to practice with "cheap" bullets and fine tune the "premium" one's quickly before season starts.

So am I supposed to be upset because I can afford $500 an hour hookers, I mean bullets?

I'm confused.


LOL

Saddlesore is right more than he knows - premium bullets like Barnes give you a tad bit more flexibility with a high vel. So you can shoot stuff very close without causing too much damage and still pull off the long shots. Does a 500 dollar hooker give you more flexibility, I'll leave that up to the reader.

.

That's $13.50. I spent more than that for the toilet paper, potato chips, and cookies I took to my deer camp last week.

The cost of premium bullets are miniscule compared to what I spend on deer hunting every year, so to me it's a no brainer to use the premiums. I just don't shoot my big game rifles enough for an extra $50 a year to matter. If I had 4 boys hunting and was on a very limited income then I might feel differently. For me I've got a limited amount of time to hunt and want to make the most of it. I have had some not so desirable results out of standard factory bullets. Years ago I bought a new 7mm rem mag and wasn't set up to handload it, so I bought a couple of boxes of winchester 150 gr. power points, sighted it in and went hunting. The first three deer I shot with it all ran into the most ungodly thick cutovers you could imagine. I specifically remember being on my hands and knees in the rain and mud, pulling briars off of me, with a flashlight in my mouth blood trailing a deer through this cutover. That was not pleasant. Those 150 gr. power points were way too tough for out little southern whitetails and wouldn't expand, winchester must have figured that they were going to be shot at elk and built them pretty stout. After the first three ran several hundred yards each I threw the remaining factory ammo in the cupboard and bought some reloading dies. My trailing adventures ceased when I started shooting some decent bullets at them.

Almost forty years ago I used some Hordnady 175 spitzers. I hit a deer in the shoulder about ten yards away fired from my 7mm-.300 Weatherby. None of the bullet entered the chest cavity. It turned so I shot it at the base of the tail dropping it. I then put one in the back of the neck.

From then on I used Nosler 175 and 160 Partitions until the Barnes X came out. I used them up to last year. Next season I will be using G.S.Customs for everything. Specifically I will use 85 grainers in my .257SLR. I am hopping for 3,800 feet per second. My most accurate groups and lowest SD's in my .375 and 7STW came while using them.

TFF. The muzzle blast alone at that distance should have killed him. Musta been an armor plated Ninja deer.

No, it was a cheap bullet, at high velocity, at very close range.

This is a great recipe for what he described.

If you've been shooting a load with a Sierra of the same weight(even a BT or something similar),practicing to distance with that,and know the rifle,you should be done with load development with a Partition in about 10 shots(if that).

That leaves 40 bullets to load for your hunt.

If it takes more than that to get a Partition load,there's something wromg with your rifle. Get it fixed or trip it.

No, what I am saying is you dont need a 7 or 300 super whizzum shooting an 80 cent bullet to do a 20 cent job. In fact I have never taken a deer with a rifle closer than 125 yrds, and when I did it wasnt shooting a 80 cent bullet.

Buck taken at 65 yrds 3 years ago. Thought he was a 140, but busted tine.



Look at the size of his neck, and the busted tine. Dressed out at 175 lbs.



Shot him once with this, 41 mag 210 XTP going 1500 fps, which is fast. Purchased in 73



Total cost of the Round 22 cents. Bullet cost me 17 cents. I practice with a hard cast at the same speed that costs me 6 cents. Been doing this for 30 years, but I guess I need to buy a super whizzum rifle and premium bullets so I can come on here and complain about cheap bullet performance.

there ya go again...

there is always some guy who comes in and talks common sense, based on experience....

and messes up the discussion on what recently introduced spendy trendy bullet is 'best' for this season, and will be old news come next season...

myself, I follow the wisdom and experiences of Wyohunter99 here...

of course guys like me spend my time, instead of arguing the merits of which trendy bullet is best, complaining about manufacturers ending production on all of those Round Nose and SMP bullets I have loved all of these past years...

Quote" No, what I am saying is you don't need a 7 or 300 super whizzum shooting an 80 cent bullet to do a 20 cent job."

Said nicer than what I did, but all these guys touting that you just have to use premium bullets reminds me of the guys who drive a new $50K diesel pickup, w/brush guard, winch, headache bar, Goodyear Duratrack tires,fancy chrome rims, light bars across the top. and and topper on it without so much as a trailer hitch and the pickup never goes off the pavement. However,they just have to have it or they can't get to work.

I was talking to a neighbor the other day about the complex, expensive software being used in the acconting of our treasury.She changed it all over to a simple Excel spread sheet.Her final comment hit the nail on the head.We were using a 10 passenger,super charge van to get up the hill when all we needed was a tricycle. Same goes for the pick of what bullet we need to use.

If I used a rifle with magnum type velocities or required deep penetration,I'd use the bullet that did thejob for that task. However,I have yet to run into a deer that required the magnum chamberins.For that matter,I'd say the same about elk.Use what you want though,but don't be skeptical of all the hunters out there who use what they have found to work.

Swifty, it looks like you have a nice, private hunting preserve.

Please understand, that some of us have to hunt on public land. We can't just walk outback the chickencoop with a pistol and shoot such a dandy deer.

I definately agree with you Seafire.

We can't just walk outback the chickencoop with a pistol and shoot such a dandy deer.

I didnt. This is TFF. Dont own the ground, and it sure as hell wasnt private.

You might want to think about selling a few rifles and putting that car out of its misery too....

My best bullet.
cost 5 cents

On the more serious side, almost ever " cup and core" bullet failed me situation, you will find bad shot placement.

Of course, that isn't what the guy meant to do, but if had been a Barnes x or other high dollar bullet the same result would very likely have occurred.

Yep that old car belonged to the guy who lived there. Right after I got the critter skinned, we pulled the motor and tranny that were sold to another farmer down there. It then got loaded on my car trailer and off to the auto graveyard it went.
As far as the rifles, I had thought about that, but I just couldnt bring myself to sell a half inch hunting rifle on the cheap side. That Blackhawk goes with me on every hunt, and gets shot about 500 rounds a year. Used to shoot IHMSA with it. Knocks down the 300 yard steel real well, but my eyes aint that good anymore.

I stepped up with more expensive bullets this year. For a bear hunt with my 15 yr old son I decided to step up and not worry about the cost. In 1985?? I bought 1000 Rem. 130 gr core-locs for 7.3 cents each. Worked for everything I shot at. But 130 might be kinda light for a big "ol" bear so I went to Cabelas and splurged on Hornandy 150 gr interlcock at 23 cents each. Now, that extra 15.7 cents may or may not have mattered but I am sure the 7.3 cent bullet would have worked on a 206 lb blackie. I'm still not sure I made the right financial decision but what the heck I still have 99 left for a life time of bear hunting. Now for deer, I'll just stick to the 7 cent bullets till they're gone. I have about 500 left.

Standard c-c bullets work fine if I place them well.
If I drive them fast it can be hard on the meat so I back them down a bit and shoot ribs or shoot premiums and shoot bambi in the front half.
Deer usually don't require premiums though.
If it's a deer/elk combo hunt, sure a better bullet is loaded unless I'm out with a frontloader.

Everyone is different and has different opinions. Yours is as good and might be better than mine, I'm just in love with mine.

I like to shoot the bullets that are the most accurate and perform the best at the distances I am most likely to encounter for the particular game I will be hunting.

If I'm hunting antelope at long ranges in open country it would be one type of bullet vs. hunting big bull elk in deep dense timber where distances might be under 50 yards and then one hop and they are gone. That also would involved different type rifles and different calibers.

From my experience over the years I have bought and used a lot of top dollar bullets but have gravitated back to what I find to be the most accurate for the application which has settled on Nosler Ballistic Tips for the jacketed bullets and Lazer cast 405g for the heavy cover with the 45/70.

I switched back to a more "regular" priced bullet, not for the price, but for the performance. Our family has come to depend on the NBT's for varmints, deer, antelope and elk and have been pleased with the accuracy and the in the field performance. Simple.

redhill makes an excellent point. Most folks don't shoot regular bullets for the price, they shoot them 'cause they get the job done. Other than braggin' rights, what difference does it make if you drive a VW or a Porsche to work as long as you get there on time.
I've been up the money scale and back down again with my bullet selection. Other the years, I don't think I've shot a single head of game that wouldn't be as dead, as quickly if I'd been using a "regular" bullet.

I agree with you about Redhill making an excellent point. I just love his posts.

My travels through the "premium" bullet world did not end up with better results just disappointment in the performance. Perhaps I was not matching the right bullet construction with the proper caliber for a particular species. I agree with the "premium is the only way to go" crowd in that in many circumstances it allows for upgraded performance in calibers that are deemed too small by the magnum crowd.

My experience with Partitions and Barnes X types was complete penetration and penciling through of the game animal resulting in more shots needed and the fear of losing the game. Perhaps production methods have changed since I last tried them out but at this point I am leery about moving away from something that has proven itself over and over again by myself and my hunting styles and our sons in theirs.

Newer isn't better......better is better. Simple.

Yep