After years of hunting, it seems to me that some hunting bullets reliably do their job a little better than other bullets in the same calibers. For me, a couple would be the 115/257 Partition 270/150 Partition and the 30/180 Hornady Interlock. These bullets just seem to work 100% every time, all the time on game up to Elk under almost every conceivable condition.

A long winded way of asking, What are your workhorse bullets?

I’m curious because I’d like to hear about some of the newer options that I might not have worked with that maybe I should consider.

Happy 4th!

You can’t go wrong with any bullet on light game if it hits the vitals. If I had to get down to one bullet, I would be a Nosler Partition.

In 8mm and .308 dia I was always fond of plain ol' Remington Core Lokts. Never a benchrest bullet, but always reliable.

130 TTSX; .308 & .277.

.224 55 grain Sierra Gameking although the 60 grain Partition was a real killer out of a 22-250 on a schittload of deer for about 5 years.

.243 100 grain Sierra PH or GK. Have been using a 95 grain Partition for a few years and they work about the same as the Sierras on deer.

.257 117 grain Sierra PH or GK

.277 130 Sierra GK or WW PP

.284 140 grain Sierra GK or Nosler Partition. Getting ready to try some 120 Hornady HP.

.308 150 grain Hornady Interlock SP. Loading 180 grain Sierra RN for an '06 this year.

If I were narrowing it down to 1 bullet it would be hard to beat a Partition, haven't messed w any Accubonds but from my understanding they are basically a higher B.C. Partition in that they retain weight in about the same manner.

There have been plenty of others but I know the above work great on Midwest whitetails.

NBT, Accubond, Partition

6 mm gets Ballistic tips, 25 caliber I use Ballistic tips/ Sierra/ Barnes depending on velocity, 27 Ballistic tips, 7 mm Ballistic tips or Accubonds, 30 Ballistic tips or Scenar.
GreggH

.30-06 - 180 gr. Partition

.375 H&H - 270 gr. A-Frame

Partition, interlock, grand slam,

Prior to the introduction of the Barnes mono bullets.....it was the Nosler Partition. Presently I may give the nod to Hammer Bullets.

There are a couple of reasons that I’ve not gone to them “yet”! I already have loads developed and lots of Barnes bullets in stock and the Barnes TTSX and LRX have somewhat better BCs than do the Hammer bullets! memtb

At sub-mag velocities, the Sierra GameKings just seem to work… and they are typically very accurate to boot.

Partitions and Accubonds probably belong in this category as well.

Lots of good bullets out there, today it seems to be more of what bullet can you find.

Had good success with the 30 caliber 165 grain Partition when I lived in the lower 48. Used it in a 308, a couple 30-06s and a lot in the 300 H&H. Using the 220 Partition in the 300 now.

The 120 grain Speer Hot Core did well for me in the 257 Roberts. I pick them up when I find them since they’ve been discontinued.

I’m a one bullet guy in the 35 Whelen. No need to look further than the 250 grain Partition.

Hornady 220 RN in the 30-40.

The old Speer 52 grain HP always worked well in my Swift for a fur bullet on coyotes.

"The 120 grain Speer Hot Core did well for me in the 257 Roberts. I pick them up when I find them since they’ve been discontinued."

I've been trying to get that one to shoot in my M70 FWT in .257 Robt. So far not much luck. I didn't know they'd been discontinued. Bummer as they do shoot well in my 25-06 Ruger #1.

"I’m a one bullet guy in the 35 Whelen. No need to look further than the 250 grain Partition."

Yeah me too, only I'm running the 225 gr. TSX in mine. It's worked quite well on elk from 75 tards to 350 yards. Also, it's very accurate in my rifle.

Paul B.

.277/150 gr. SPEER Grand Slam (current production)

Just respect its envelope and stay w/in it.

Outstanding $0.22/pop bullet.




GR

260 120gr Ballistic Tip
300 Savage & 308 165 NP
300 Mag 200gr NP
35 Gibbs & Norma Mag 280 Swift A Frame
411 KDF 400 Woodleigh
458 WM 500gr Hornady RN

Some that are kind of my go-to bullets: .224 60 grain Sierra HP Varminter; .244 65 grain Sierra SGK; 6.5 mm 130 grain NAB in 6.5 X 55; .308 150 and 165 grain NBT and SGK in .308 Win; in .41 magnum 210 grain and .44 magnum 240 grain Hornady XTP.

I think I have a couple boxes of the 120 hot cors in the loading room, let me know if you need them.

The 6.5 140 accubond has always impressed me as a reliable killer, seen lots of mule deer and elk fall to that bullet.

7mm08- 140 AB, Partition, 120 BT
7Mag- 14, 160 AB and Partition
6.5 CM- 139 Scenar, 130AB, 147ELDM

Speer 120gr Hot-Cor - 25.06 ( No longer made but i have enough stock to last my lifetime, excellent on game performance)
Speer 120gr Hot-Cor - 260Rem ( No longer made but were very good performers on game)
Sierra 120gr Pro Hunter - 260 Rem ( Switched to these when the Speer ran out and they are very good deer killers no doubt)

I've had great success with a 165 or 168 grain bullet in .308 caliber (30-06).

100 gr .243 SP Hornady ,100 gr Corelokt .243, 95 gr NPT & 95 nbt 243
100gr .257 SP Horn & 115 gr npt .257
129 gr SP Horn 6.5
139 gr SP Horn & 140 gr NPT .284
130 gr Corelokt &130 gr SP Horn .277
150gr SP Horn & 165 gr SP Horn, 180 gr NPT .308
210 gr NPT .338
225 gr NPT .358
235 gr Speer .375
40 tgbs .392"
45 tgbs .440" & .442" for 45 sharps
500500 Rapine for 50-140 sharps
Mb

For varmints Rem 50 and 55 gr PLHPs. Equaled Sierra 52s and 53s in accuracy. More explosive terminal effect, about like a Blitzking. But can be driven well over 4k. Discontinued, except for my ammo cans.

For .308" - the 180 gr Rem PSPCL. Except on bone up close. A safe bet for accuracy in any .300 WBY.

Good old ones like Corelokt, etc. work fine on most things you will ever hunt. Nosler Partitions are excellent though. New whiz Bang super duper marketing ploys dont often fool me. Stick with tried and true stuff

I have used the following bullets on big game:

Barnes—
Tipped Triple Shock
Triple Shock
Long-Range X (LRX)
X-Bullet
XLC

Berger Hunting VLD

Fail Safe—
Both Winchester & Combined Technology

Federal—
Blue Box
Deep Shok
Red Box
Trophy Bonded Tip

Hornady—
ELD-X
GMX
InterBond
Spire Point, both Interlock & pre-Interlock
SST

Norma Oryx

North Fork Soft Point

Nosler—
AccuBond
AccuBond Long Range
Ballistic Tip
E-Tip
Partition (both lathe-turned and extruded)
Partition Gold
Solid Base

Remington—
Core-Lokt (original and post-1990)
Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded

Sierra—
GameKing

Speer—
Hot-Cor
Grand Slam (original and improved)

Swift—
A-Frame
Scirocco
Scirocco II

Trophy Bonded Bear Claw—both the original and Federal versions

Winchester—
Power Point
Silvertip
XP3

They have all worked fine, as long as the bullets were used within their design parameters.

been around and worked at wild game processing shops you learn plenty about bullets that have taken wild game, also while hunting too. Nosler Partitions or Swift A-Frames both excellent bullets. Hornady and Speer and others work fine too. now what i am going to reply about this bullet some are going to be upset ,i am sorry if it upsets you but this is what i seen on wild game shot with this bullet, the bullets jacket comes off the lead many times, some guys had to shoot animal again because bullet did no penetrate well. i also caped plenty elk ,deer and antelope so some bullets made a mess on the opposite side too. now with respect i will tell you the bullet and as i said sorry but there is no way i will ever again load or buy this bullet again to hunt big game. > Remington Core-Lokt .

P53 - I’m not upset, or surprised but I have several questions for your consideration :
The impact velocities seem to be above the performance window of the CoreLokt

Were these factory Remington Express loads ?
Were they Over Powered ? Short Range Impacts ?

I have never seen an A-Frame, TBBC, or Northfok of at least .300 sectional density fail to expand, and only a handful fail to exit in the largest of game. Those would be my absolute top choice. I've seen similar performance with Weldcores, but you do have to respect their max velocity or they shed too much weight whereas you can drive the other three essentially as fast as you want.

Partitions and accubonds are in a middle tier - they shed too much weight but are otherwise OK. Swift Scirocco's don't shed excessive weight but are only available in lower SDs than I would like.

The very worst I have seen are Bergers (which are frangible target bullets despite being sold for hunting) and Barnes mono-metal which frequently fail to open and produce very inadequate wounds when they do.

Pete, You're not even slightly upsetting me. We just have a different opinion, possibly due to variables in play. One reason to participate in forums is to seek differing opinions, they should never surprise or insult.

I didn't mention this, but the worst failures (pancaking on a rib, deer and moose, three different examples) I've ever seen in .308" involved the 180 gr Hornady Spire Point that PintsofCraft (thread starter) considers an excellent bullet. Awhile back we had a similar thread and "good bullet" was the consensus on that Hornady. Just not my experience is all. Maybe a bad batch of bullets - maybe just bad luck.

I generally use federal premium factory loads with 180gr partitions out of either a 30-06 or 308win for elk.
For deer and hogs i used either corelokts, power points, or fed blue box. They all work fine for me.

My definition of a "workhorse" bullet is one that performs above it's pay grade. The original Remington Corelocked certainly did this, I am mixed on the currently produced CL as I have had one negative experience.

The Hornaday Interlock has been good in every caliber I have tried them in, about 8 so far. The Speer Hot Core is under rated and a good performer, The Fusion, Gold Dot, Federal Deep Curl, and other versions of the electro-plated bullets are very good being a low cost bonded bullet.

No flies on the Nosler Partition or the Barnes X and other mono bullets but I consider these premium bullets even if they are also work horses.

The Nosler BT is another good one and they shoot in just about every rifle I have tried them in.

I have had mixed results from Sierra's but some of this is from using target bullets on game or just the wrong bullet for the cartridge I was using (IE the 30 180 in a magnum case).

From Merrium-Webster: "something that is markedly useful, durable, or dependable" So this doesn't imply inexpensive, so virtually all of the premium bullets would apply.

For me, 95gr Nosler Partition out of a .243 Win. Bullets recovered, zero. KY WT lost after being hit with one, zero.

Pretty much every rifle I hunt with is loaded with NABs anymore except one.

My 280 Remington likes 139 Hornady BTSPs
The only bullet I have ever recovered on a whitetail was a 139 Hornady.
It mushroomed perfectly and recovered weight was 92 grains.

120 grain Hornady Interlock H.P.s (discontinued) in my 25-06; 150 grain Partitions in .270 Win; 160 grain Partitions in 7X57 and 250 grain Speer Hot Cors in 35 Whelen. Those combinations have always worked for me. I'm a "one load in each rifle" kinda guy and when I've found something that works, I've stuck with it. There may be other good choices in each of my rifles, but I haven't felt the need to experiment further.

150 grain .308 Game Kings in '06 for pronghorn and deer.

180 grain .308 Partitions in .300 magnums for almost all the big game I've shot.

300 grain .375 North Forks for big African stuff.

450 grain .458 North Fork solids and 450 grain Barnes TSX for elephants, though really, I've concluded that .375s work just as well.

All of these work. I see no need to try anything else.

Barnes TTSX or LRX in .257, 7mm, and .30 calibers just plain work and are accurate enough.

225 gr Trophy Bonded Bear Claw and Partition in .35 Whelen.

I like low priced bullets that work and for big game in 30 caliber Speer Hot Cor bullets in 130, 150, 170, 180 gr are perfect.
For Target, varmint & general use in 30 cal. the Speer 130gr HP, it shoots great and it's super cheap.
In 22cal. I like 65 gr Sierra GK for hunting along with Hornady's 75gr BTHP. I use Hornady 55-60 gr v-max, 55 hp,52gr hp match, 55 FMJ
and their 62 gr BTSP's , for keeping the rifles stuffed.

Having run a ton of bullets over a Juenke comparator and then watched the results at the range there are a number of bullets I will not use. Core-Lokt are the worst, by far. On paper they show it, too. Sierra PH is a very good bullet. Cannot run monometals on the Juenke, but they shoot with the best.

For standard bullets.. Hornady interlock

This is also what I've found--though have had some batches of Hot-Cors that were almost as bad as Core-Lokts on the Juenke, and acted very similarly at the range.

Have used several brands of monometals, and so far all have shot extremely well with the right load combination. (Well, except for some early Barnes X-Bullets, but that was before Randy solved the copper-supply problem.)

For basic cup-an-core have had excellent results with Hornady Interlocks. (Actually, I had great results with Spire Points before they became Interlocks, probably because they had a harder core alloy than some other cup-and-cores.)

Nosler Ballistic Tips tend to provide the same sort of performance as Interlocks in the same weight/caliber, partly due to the heavier jacket. But have also gotten similar performance with recent Hornady SSTs, also with excellent accuracy.

Did you ever run a Barnes X over the Juenke?

Old school here I guess, & definitely not the experience of MD/John. The guy that showed me the performance of Partitions 43 years ago now likes Barnes. But he still has a fondness for the Noslers. I do to.

My first year in the Rockies I saw Mulies taken with; 243, 270, 7mag, 308, 30-06, & 300 mag. Classic wounds, caliber in, quarter to 50 cent diameter exits. Many likewise examples since.

Maybe boomer bullets that don't travel to a thousand the best. But they shine otherwise.

10at6,

As Sitka stated earlier, running monolthics over a Juenke machine does not work.

What the machine measures is, essentially, uniform (or not) jacket thickness. It uses ultrasound to determine how well the bullet is balanced, and since monolithics don't have cores, there's nothing to react to the ultrasound.

For 7mm, the 120gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, the 139gr and 154gr Hornady Interlock and the 120gr/140gr Barnes TTSX.

For the 30-06, the 165gr Hornady Interlock or the 165/168gr TTSX.

For the .243, the 95gr Nosler Ballistic Tip.

And as always, any Partition or Accubond.

Grew up shooting nothing but Hornady Interlock, in several different calibers. I still shoot a lot of interlocks, but shoot Nosler products in my magnum rifles.

Outstanding responses fellas!

Of the 49 animals killed in the last 12 years:

140 gr Nos Bal Tip for 7mmRM
120 gr Nos Bal Tip for 6.5-06
115 gr Nos Bal Tip for 25-06
95 gr Nos Bal Tip for 6mmBR

Have only killed a few animals with them, but no complaints:
162 gr Horn SST for 7mmRM
140 gr Nos Accubond for 280AI

Whatever is on the shelf will take whatever I hunt for that particular caliber.

Mine is one that you can shoot a coupla boxed of every time you are out at the range... and then use the exact same load over 90% of the time to anchor game out in the field.

The $0.22/pop Speer Grand Slams do that for me, at least in .264/140 gr. and .277/150 gr., as long as you keep'em in their performance envelope.




GR

154 gr Hornady Interlock in a 7x57mm.

In .30-06 Sierra Game King 165gr. and in .35 Whelen Hornady Inter-lok 200gr. RN have given outstanding performance on whitetails.

.308 caliber ( for my 30-30, 308 Win, and 30-06 rifles)

Winchester Power Points: 180 grain
Speer flatbase Hot-Cor: 165, 180, 200 grain spitzers, 170 grain flatnose
Remington round nose Core-Lokts: 170, 180 grain (true Core-lokts, no longer made)


for woodchucks and my 222 Rem and 22-250: Sierra .224". 50 grain BlitzKings



I am sure there are others, but don't have results to offer.

AussieGunWriter sums up my experience as well….whatever is on the shelf.

I appreciate what you did there - nice draft horse collars to go with that nice old Ruger 7x57.

Have found the Nosler Accubond just as effective in my hunting loads as the NP but considerably more accurate.

I reload over 65 cartridges. I own a lot of bullets. I have boiled it down to:

Nosler ballistic tip for big game

Hornady Vmax for small game.

Speer Gold Dot for self defense.

When I used to hunt with my 7x57, it used the 154 Interlock.
25-06: 120gr Hornady HP
270 Win: 150gr Hornady Interlock [once with a 160gr NP on elk. Worked!]
30-06: 180gr Hornady Interlock, in any 30-06 I owned.

[quote=Mule Deer]I have used the following bullets on big game:

Barnes—
Tipped Triple Shock
Triple Shock
Long-Range X (LRX)
X-Bullet
XLC

Berger Hunting VLD

Fail Safe—
Both Winchester & Combined Technology

Federal—
Blue Box
Deep Shok
Red Box
Trophy Bonded Tip

Hornady—
ELD-X
GMX
InterBond
Spire Point, both Interlock & pre-Interlock
SST

Norma Oryx

North Fork Soft Point

Nosler—
AccuBond
AccuBond Long Range
Ballistic Tip
E-Tip
Partition (both lathe-turned and extruded)
Partition Gold
Solid Base

Remington—
Core-Lokt (original and post-1990)
Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded

Sierra—
GameKing

Speer—
Hot-Cor
Grand Slam (original and improved)

Swift—
A-Frame
Scirocco
Scirocco II

Trophy Bonded Bear Claw—both the original and Federal versions

Winchester—
Power Point
Silvertip
XP3

They have all worked fine, as long as the bullets were used within their design parameters.


I'm so jealous right now I'm trembling! lol Life is good aint it?

Model 70 Featherweight 7X57 gets 160 grain Partitions; Interarms Mark X 270 Win gets 130 grain Partitions; Rem. 700 CDL 35 Whelen gets 250 grain Partitions. Gee, I guess I like Partitions.

I have only hunted Alaska for big game, so big bears are almost always a possibility. For me it was Nosler Partitions until the late 80's when I switched to the Barnes X bullet line. As long as I am hunting Alaska I will be using the Barnes TTSX and LRX bullets in a .338 Winny, 30-06 and 6.5 Creedmoor in my magazine fed bolt guns. My lever guns use the bonded Kodiak bullet from the former Alaska Bullet Works and I am turning a bunch of 225 grain .358 Partitions into a flat nosed bullet for my Mod. 94 Big Bore in .356 Win. that my wife will be carrying for moose and berry picking.

Prior to the Covid and libtard Biden crap I laid in a supply of components and I doubt I will need to buy another hunting bullet, primer or piece of brass. But, the 5.56 AR, 9mm Banshee and several 9mm, 357, .38, .45 ACP and .44mag. handguns require more ammo to stay proficient with for me. So I usually buy what's on sale for the range.

#1 = Partitions in every game caliber 6mm on up - though in larger than 338 caliber with the cartridges I shoot Hornady Interlock which works every time too

#2 = Interlocks especially heavy for the caliber - 7mm on up

For varmints - there's many

If I lived in the republic of Kalifornia I'd go with TTSX and TSX over other mono bullets

Hornady interlock in every cal I use.
257 RN kills out of the roberts like a much bigger gun
Still using 180 cor loc in 30-06 old production I hear the new ones are not so
Good but these old ones 1980s probbly have never failed me
Win psp 55 in 223 and 22-250 are deadly on coyotes

That narrows it down!

Hornady 50 V-max or 55gn SP for 223's and 1:14 twist 22-250's.
Hornady 75gn A-max for 1:8 twist 223AI and 22-250's.

243 and up over the last 15 years has been almost exclusively Barnes TSX with the exception of a Kimber MT in 270Win I had rebarreled w/1:8 Lilija which I have used the 150gn ABLR exclusively.

243Win 85gn TSX
25-06 and 257Wby 100 TSX
270Win 140 TSX (this would be my workhorse of workhorses)
7-08 120TSX, 280Rem and 7 WSM 120 TTSX
308 155gn Scenar
300Win 200gn TSX (workhorse #2 for stuff bigger than deer)

I'm waiting on a nice cool/calm morning/day to confirm loads for my 257Wby and 1:8 Kimber 270Wn utilizing Badlands Bulldozer II .257 95's and .277 140's. I plan to have one of them in-hand during our deer season this fall.

I’ve had good luck with handloaded Sierra GameKings, Hornady Interlocks, Nosler Ballistic Tips, Nosler Accubonds, Nosler Partitions, Swift A-Frame, and Barnes TTSX. In factory loaded ammo, I’ve had good luck with Federal Blue Box and Fusion. Fusion has shot well enough in several of my guns that I don’t bother handloading if there is some available.

I’ve never used any other bullets or loads on game. My hunting rarely results in really short shots or really long shots. So, between 100 and 400 yards with elk being the biggest game I’ve taken, I’m not really sure I’ve ever really put a bullet to the test. So, my sample size may be more of a statement on how easy deer are to kill vs how well the bullets performed.

I have had excellent luck with the Hornady spbt.
117 gr in 25-06
162 gr in 7mm STW
190 gr in 30-06

Some are discontinued.

.35 Whelen 250gr Hornady, extremely consistent performance.

Swift A Frames followed by Nosler Partitions and Hornady Interlocks.

The original Winchester Silvertips also always worked for me.

I'm shooting the 250 Interlock thus year and I'm interested in hearing your results on game both large and small.

As a do it all, cheap, accurate bullet for hunting medium game at sensible ranges (which accounts for 99.999% of my hunting) the Hornady Interlock Flat base would get my pick. I have found them very accurate in a range of calibres and rifles over 25 years.

.25 100gn
.26 129gn
.28 139gn
.30 150/165gn
.31 174gn RN

Since I only hunt in Alaska with a 30-06 or .338 Winny any Barnes TTSX or LRX bullet or Nosler Partition will work. They work so well I really have no need to look further. I am also venturing into the peep sighted lever action guns, so have laid in a a good supply of Kodiak Super Bonded bullets in .348 and 45-70 caliber. The .356 Win. is a work in progress as I am trying to come up with my version of the perfect .356 Win. load for Alaska. I am modifying 225 grain Partitions and Woodleigh bullets and have a bunch of 220 grain FN Speers and 200 grain Shock Hammer bullets.

My wife who is a small 72 year old lady will be toting the Big Bore .356 Win. so the 200 grain Shock Hammer will be more recoil friendly for her, if there is such a thing. Eventually I will try some of each in some water jugs and magazines and see what looks best for moose and big bears up close if needed.

I’m looking forward to seeing your tests 1AK. That’s a solid set up of rifles you’ve got.

When my wife started hunting big game, i bought her a New England Arms single shot in 243 Win. The second day of moose season, she dropped a nice cow with one shot at 30 yards with a 90 grain XFB. Busted a 4" chunk of rib back through the lungs. Dead Moose. She stole my Tikka 30-06 for the next season, and dropped a nice buck at 200 yards with a 150 grain Partition. It went 15 yards before it folded up. A couple years later she dumped a nice bull moose with the ole 06 at 60 yards using a 150 grain TSX, and the bull dropped where it stood.

I have used 165 and 180 Hornady Interloks in both my 3006 and my 300WM. All one shot kills on moose, deer and bear. I have switched to Barnes 168 TSX for both my 06 and 300 Win. They are accurate at the ranges I hunt -- 50 to 250 yards.

My belief is that if you put a bullet of appropriate construction into the vitals, there is no magic. It is just smart shooting. I don't take low percentage shots. And I HATE chasing wounded game.

A 243 is not a moose rifle, but it works good if done right. You don't need a 300 Mag for even the largest deer, but they work fine. My 6.5 SWEDE kills way bigger than the numbers it generates.

Enjoy our sport, and tweak the shooter as much as the hunter.