I have some Sierra 160 gr TMK bullets loaded up in my 7mm WSM that I use for shooting steel. Will they work for Nevada Mule deer ?
They'll work great. Expect rapid, expansion and fragmentation, with most exiting on a broadside shots.
Mule Deer at 303 yards with a 77gr TMK from a 223. Slightly quartering to, bullet traveled from just behind the left leg to behind the opposite last rib.
Just over 100 yards. 77gr TMK from a 223. Destroyed onside leg, and again traveled to the opposite last rib.
Both bucks slid on their faces downhill about ten feet.
I will never understand the infatuation with bullets like this for big game hunting. I'm not going to sit here and say they won't work, as many have proven that they will. My pea brain says as long as we have proven, reliable hunting bullets like partitions, AB's, BT's, Interlokts, game kings, etc, why bother with these exploding type bullets? Most mule deer are killed under 250 yds anyway I'd bet.
It's not an infatuation. I greatly prefer the wound channels caused by bullet such as TMK, A-Max, ELD-M, Berger, etc. to those you mention. There is no magic with bullets. If Nosler came out tomorrow and stated that the Accubond was now a match bullet and they don't recommend them for hunting, would you stop using them?
I shot 23,000 match bullets last year out of 5.56/223's, a tick over 9,000 out of 308's, a couple thousand 300WM and 338's, etc. They have reduced wind drift even at shorter ranges, and retain more impact velocity compared to "hunting" bullets. I know what they do to living things, they work, so the real question is- why wouldn't I use them?