[SHY_BEAR]

Just curious as to what the majority thinks is the better or some of the better bullets, and why. Doesnt matter which caliber, or cartridge, or rifle/pistol. Im wondering what is Your favorite bullets are and why, add as much detail as You care too, which velocity you like it at, what ranges its at its best, ect. (Im constantly looking for a better big game bullet, so hope to gain some knowledge)

Thanks much for your time. S_B

 

[BarkBuster20]

My two favorite hunting bullets are the nosler partition, and the remington corelokt.

I like the partition A lot, It would be my bullet of choice for anything bigger than mule deer. I have never recovered a partition from an animal, and i have never had any over expansion, including a stem to stern pass through on a spike elk at 20 yards (225 gr. partition, .338 WM). Using the partition gives extra insurance that your bullet will reach the vitals from any angle, on any game. I am not advising bad shot angles, but sometimes your only FOLLOW UP SHOT may be a very poor angle, this type of situation is what led to the stem to stern shot mentioned above.

I like using corelokts at more moderate velocitys, I use them in my 30-30. IME the round nosed corelokts 150-170 gr. .30 cal bullets open up very well at around 2000 fps on deer. I have only recovered one bullet out of 8 on various bucks, and it penetrated 2 ribs, straight through both lungs, and lodged in the off hide, DRT, was about a 15 yard qaurtering shot, 150 gr corelokt, i didnt measure the recovered bullet but it was about as big around as a qaurter, looking much like the advertised "mushroom" on the box. All of my experience is within 50 yards, excluding a 120 yard spine shot. All of the wound channels have been straight, with no deflections at all, even when bone was hit. Lungs are always jelly, i attribute a lot of this to the corelokt, hard to imagine a more ideal bullet design for the 1800-2400fps velocity range.

 

[Darin115]

Bullet and why

I won't go into much detail but I will tell you what I reload in the rifles that I handload for.

6mm Remington - 100 grain Nosler Partition. Been shooting them for years and get acceptable accuracy and performance. Also shot a truck load of Remington factory loads before I started handloading. For the partition bullets I have never recovered a bullet from a deer. They have all went thru. Good exit holes and good blood trails. The Core Lokts, I have found a few but most of the deer shot was DRT. They do not penetrate like the partitions but the partitions cost twice as much. I shot a doe at 330 yards with the Core locks factory load. She flopped twice and laid down. I started loading partitions and have not looked back but I would not hesitate to go back to core locks. I think I have a coupld of boxes of Remington factory loads left.

25-06 Rem - I hand load Hornady Interlock 100 grain. Factory loads are 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips. Federal Premiums. I have had good experiences with all the Hornady bullets that I have tried. The interock has good penetration and are accurate in my gun. The Ballistic tips in the 25-06 do not always have complete penetration. I have yet to lose a deer to them but I have came close when the blood trail was faint because of only the entrance hole bleeding. I think the ballistic tip was designed for a much longer shot than I use them for. I generally shoot deer 125 yards or less. That is why I switched to the inter lokt and slowed the bullet down some.

270. Win - I handload Hornady SST 130 grains. They shoot great. The gun is new so I have yet to kill anything with it expect paper. Also have some Hornady Interlock 130 grains loaded as well. I had excellent success with the SST bullet in the 308 and they shoot excellent in the 270 so that is what I went with. I loaded the interlocks because I got a free box from Hornady for buying a set of dies and have had great performance in past years.

280 - I handload 140 grain Nosler Ballistic tips and 120 grain Sierra Pro Hunter bullets. Both these bullets are left over from my 7mm Remington mag days. I just finished building the 280 and have not hunted with it. I had success with both bullets in the 7mag and feel sure they will perform well in the 280.

30-06 - I load 125 grain Nosler ballistic tips, 150 grain Hornady Interlock. 150 grain Hornady SST. THe 125 grain ballistic tips performed great on smaller deer. I have recovered several from deer. Most deer shot with these bullets was DRT or a very short track. The interlockt is a new load and I have yet to shoot one with the 30-06 interlock. The SST performed flawlessly and was dedaly accurate. Never recovered a bullet from a deer. Although I am not a huge fan of the 30-06 in recent years. I have killed more deer with a 30-06 with Winchest Power Point factory loads. I failed to mention that bullet. Never recovered one of them either.

308 - 150 grain Hornady SST. Also shot a lot of Federal Classic factory loads. 150 grain sst performed excellent in this caliber for me. I have shot a truck load of deer with this gun and bullet combination. No bullet recovery. I did find that they performed better on larger deer than smaller ones. The smaller deer ran farther than the deer 150 bs +. I figure it had something to do with the shock. THe small deer did not allow the bullet to fully mushroom unless a bone was hit. THe Federal Classic bullets blew apart several times but never lost one to them either. I did recover some but they were in pieces. Deer died but if a bad shot was made it is possible that it could get away.
SST was the favorite bullet in the 308.


Thats all I remember other that small stuff for varmits.

Darin

 

[BarkBuster20]

I won't go into much detail but I will tell you what I reload in the rifles that I handload for.

6mm Remington - 100 grain Nosler Partition. Been shooting them for years and get acceptable accuracy and performance. Also shot a truck load of Remington factory loads before I started handloading.

25-06 Rem - I hand load Hornady Interlock 100 grain. Factory loads are 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips. Federal Premiums.

270. Win - I handload Hornady SST 130 grains. They shoot great. The gun is new so I have yet to kill anything with it expect paper. Also have some Hornady Interlock 130 grains loaded as well.

280 - I handload 140 grain Nosler Ballistic tips and 120 grain Sierra Pro Hunter bullets.

30-06 - I load 125 grain Nosler ballistic tips, 150 grain Hornady Interlock. 150 grain Hornady SST.

308 - 150 grain Hornady SST. Also shot a lot of Federal Classic factory loads.
SST was the favorite.

Thats all I remember other that small stuff for varmits.

Darin

How come you use those bullets? You only answered half the question .

 

[Darin115]

Should be a little more detail now in my first post. I am at work so had to make a quick post during break.
Read it again. Sorry for any typos. Had to do it quick.

Darin

 

[Jakeway]

I haven't tried a lot of different bullets, because I have very good results with the first few I tried.

I loved the Nosler Ballistic tips (130 in my 270 and 150 in my son's 308). Best accuracy of any I've tried in my gun, high BC. Devastating effect on deer. The "meat loss" doesn't bother me, because I almost always hit them in the ribs. But as stated earlier, I had about three instances where the bullet didn't exit, due to high velocity, extremely close range shots. (One was a 3.5 yr old whitetail only 5 steps from the base of the tree my son was in.) A deer with an exploded heart can still run a considerable distance, and inthe thick brush Ihunt you want a good blood trail.

I switched to 140 gr Hornady interlocks in my 260 REM, and it's clobbered half a dozen deer and most were DRT. All had exits. Good accuracy. I'm slowly changing over to SSTs, though, in all my deer rifles, because I don't like how the exposed-lead tip on the Interlocks will get slightly deformed from handling and getting flattened on the top of the box. I'm sure it has no noticeable effect on flight, but the Monk in me is considerable. I also prefer the boattail design.

 

[Wazz13]

The pills I have used the most for hunting has been the Nosler Partition. Why? That is about the only bullet my dad would buy. He said it had always worked for him on animals, as long as he did his part, why go looking for something different. Now that my father has passed, I guess I still like using the re-load recipes that he came up with. Over the last 2 years I have experemented with the Nosler Accu-Bond in my TC Pro Hunters. My dad liked his Rem 700, and always busted my horns about my TC. I have had good results, and good accuracy, with the loads I have developed. 165gr for my 30-06, 180 & 200 for my 300 Win Mag, and just started using 250 for the 338 Win Mag.

 

[Tom W.]

GameKings and Combined technology Ballistic Silvertips.
I shoot Single shot rifles and seldom have to go twenty feet to find my deer.
99% of the time it's DRT.

 

[Bird Dog II]

I have used Noslers and Hornady the most, some Rem Core-locts, and a few Speers and Sierra. All have killed well I guess since I've not lost an animal shot by a rifle. My guns almost always prefer Noslers over Hornady accuracy wise though. I think Trophy Bonded Bear Claws are the best for magnums, but they are pricey.

 

[SHY_BEAR]

These are all great replies friends, thanks so much. Im seeing, and its no surprise, that Hornady has many fans. I found a bullet for my 91/30 Mosin Nagant PU sniper rifle that it absolutely LOVED. The .312 (originally for the 303 Brit) 150 Grain Hornady Spire Point, shoots 1.25 MOA as long as I can keep the low powered scope on target all day long. The Mosin shoots so well, but Ive not been able to take any game with it yet. I picked up some of the same Hornadys in 308 cal, also in 150 gr Spire points to try in my 06' chambered rifles, but havent gotten around to them yet, as I have a Sierra Pro-Hunter 150 gr bullet load that works very well (if it aint broke dont fix it) but I will try the Hornadys some day. I also picked up some Hornady "A Max" 178 gr bullets to work up a heavy load for in my 06' to see what it may do, since Hornadys seem to be so accurate in everything else Ive seen/heard/read. Im not at all familiar with the A max, I need to read up on it. I know the SST is a bonded core bullet, not sure bout the A max. The Partitions and Core Lokts are older designs, and I have had excellent results with the good old Core Lokt myself with deer. Do You guys think the newer bonded core bullets perform better than the standard core & jacket designs of pills like Partition and Core Lokt? By perform better, I mean penetration and expansion characteristics more so than accuracy. I havent had any personal experience with a bonded core bullet on game as of yet, though they will have to do great things to work any better than the Pro Hunters and Core Lokts have thus far.

Keep on writing Yall, this is all great stuff You are sharing!

 

[richard scott]

270 W. 150 gr. Grand slam.
338 WM. 250 gr. Grand Slam.
9.3X64 286 gr. Hornady Interlock, Partition or Woodleigh solid.
416 RM. 400 gr. Speer AGS, both soft and Tungsten solid.
i like the Grand Slam for the protected point, terminal performance, accuracy and the price.
like the Hornady's because i've all ways experienced good accuracy with them and the price.
like the AGS because they perform perfectly, every time.
like the Partition because of terminal performance, don't like the long, exposed lead tip.
in factory ammo, i just use the Rem. express with the CL. simply, they do what they're intended to do.
tried Barnes X, effective terminal performance but i don't bother with them anymore for a couple reasons.
like Sierra's for the accuracy.
trophy bonded solids are crap compared to the AGS tungsten.

 

[Davers]

.22 Hornet....... I like either Hornady or Sierra 40-45 grain SPT. bullets

.25-20......I mostly use Speer 75 grain Flat nose or 86 grain Remington SP bullets.

.270.........I use Sierra 130 grain spitzer boattail bullets in my reloads or 130 gr. Silvertip Factory Ammo.

.308.........I like Hornady's 150 grain Spire points or Winchester's 150 grain Power Point (Factory Ammo)

.44 Magnum......I use Hornady's 240 grain XTP in my Ruger Model 77/44.

.44/40 WCF......I have great results using Hornady's 200 grain XTP or Winchester 200 SPFN bullets.

.458 X 2" AMERICAN.....300 grain Remington or Hornady Hollow Point Also 400 gr. Speer SPFN.

All of the above bullet weights & types are good for large game excluding the .22 Hornet or .25-20 WCF.

 

[broom_jm]

It's been a long time since a truly "bad" bullet was made. Since the introduction of the Remington Core-lokt and then the Nosler Partition, all the others have been playing catch-up. The Sierra bullets have always been very accurate but their performance on game, while good, is simply not in the same league with those first two bullets, or quite a few more that have been introduced recently. Some of my favorites:

243Win - 100gr Hornady BTSP

6.5JDJ - 120gr Nosler solid base and BT

270Win - 140gr Accubond

7RM - 160gr Grand Slam (elk)

30-'06 - 165gr Partition and 125gr BT (youth load)

44RM - Just like Davers, but in a T/C

44/40 - Just like Davers, but in a '92 (planning to try Sierra 210gr for both 44RM and 44/40)

 

[MothJR]

My big game hunting experience is limited compared to most but consists of 2 Elk hunts and about 20 WI deer. (I do not reload yet, but will begin to do so this winter)

For deer I used to choose Remington corelokts based on their low cost and flawless performance. Recently, I have switched to the basic Federal blue box because they group better in my gun and are as economical as the Remingtons. I haven't shot anything with the Federals so I can't speak to their effectiveness. (I use 150 gr bullets)

For Elk I chose to use Federal Premiums loaded with Barnes TSX in 180 gr. (I used a .300 win mag in a T/C Encore for both Elk hunts.) Hunt #1: I took a downslope 250 yd shot at a running Elk on the last day of the season. It was a less than ideal offhand shot that hit the Elk in the hind quarter. Luckily, the Elk u-turned and provided me with another opportunity. I hit him a second time at about 200 yards and dropped him on the spot - although there was some visible movement. A third shot at 200 yards ended all movement. Upon inspection I noticed that all 3 shots were complete pass throughs with wound channels that were about the size of a quarter. Blood loss was massive. Hunt #2: Never got close enough.
I will stick with Barnes TSX for Elk due to the excellent terminal performance and consistent grouping from my Encore.

 

[Big Z]

I'd use about anything on deer, but have some X's waiting for elk as elk are a little tougher than deer.

 

[Water-Man]

On deer I like Rem. Core-Lokt. On thicker skinned game the Nosler Partition. The reason for both...dependability.

 

[shane256]

My hunting family uses primarily Core-Lokts for whitetails (usually just buy factory ammo). Among the five of us, Core-Lokts have worked just fine on several hundred whitetails. We've used others (Partitions, for example) and they've worked, too, but for just effectiveness on whitetails and hogs, and then figuring in the cost effectiveness, Core-Lokt are hard to beat in any caliber.

 

[unclepaddy]

I will chime in on the Core-Lokt idea. I like to use them under 2800-3000 fps or so. Over that I use a partition. The nosler 180 grain partition is, in my opinion, the ideal .308 caliber bullet for use with magnum velocity on elk. The Swift A-Frame is good too, but too solidly constructed for elk, compared to the Nosler Partition. I have shot a bunch of elk over the last 25 years and I've only recovered one of those partitions. They do an excellent job and they are accurate. I also like the 85 grain nosler in my .243 for deer. I would like to mention that I am no fan of Hornady products for any of several reasons that relate to my dismal personal experiences with them.

 

[shotgunsmith]

I have only ever used Nosler partitions because I have never gotten one back. Just to shake things up I am trying some Woodliegh Weldcore buffets this year. Elk season open Sat.

 

[unclepaddy]

I have only ever used Nosler partitions because I have never gotten one back. Just to shake things up I am trying some Woodliegh Weldcore buffets this year. Elk season open Sat.

I've been curious about several different bullets by Woodleigh. Post results here if you score with them.