I've been hunting whitetail with my M77 in .280. It does the job, but a little to well. I started out with a 162gr bullet, it destroyed the inside of the deer. I shot a deer this year with a 140gr bullet. same results. Both loads were in the bottom half of the load. Is this just to much rifle for whitetails? If anyone is aware of an effective bullet powder combo for this rifle let me know. It shoots great and I hate to give up on it.
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.280 for whitetails
- Thread starter TheWalls
- Start date
A friend of mine swears by his .280 (7mm Express) for deer. He uses a Rem. 165 gr. soft point corelokt bullet (not a pointed soft point). This is a blunter bullet but holds together well and doesn't do alot of damage. At the woods ranges he hunts, the blunt shape doesn't make much difference ballistically. If a rifle was allowed where I hunt, this caliber would be one of my choices among many. The CoreLokt bullets in any caliber are really good game bullets in my experience. They have been around a long time. I'd be glad to take it off your hands if you still don't want it. heh,heh
Take Care
Take Care
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
Good evenin', TheWalls:
Anytime a bullet appears to "blow up" on an animal, there's a chance the bullet's jacket is too thin. It has nothing to do with the shape of the tip--well, little to do with it.
Gazillions of options; do a bunch of asking around, and try a few options such as Speer instead of Hornady (or vice versa). Try Nosler, maybe...
In general, I'd say the 140-grain would be my personal choice for whitetail under 150-lb field-dressed weight. Dunno about the bigger northern deer...162? Sounds fine to me.
I've used 85-gr BTHP Sierras in my .243 on 20 or so deer. Mostly under 125-lb, field-dressed. 150-gr. in my '06. 130-gr in .270. They all worked. About half were neck shots; most of the rest were low and forward in the chest. Never had what I'd call unusual blowups...Hell, ALL of them messed up about a double-handful of animal...
Good hunting!
Anytime a bullet appears to "blow up" on an animal, there's a chance the bullet's jacket is too thin. It has nothing to do with the shape of the tip--well, little to do with it.
Gazillions of options; do a bunch of asking around, and try a few options such as Speer instead of Hornady (or vice versa). Try Nosler, maybe...
In general, I'd say the 140-grain would be my personal choice for whitetail under 150-lb field-dressed weight. Dunno about the bigger northern deer...162? Sounds fine to me.
I've used 85-gr BTHP Sierras in my .243 on 20 or so deer. Mostly under 125-lb, field-dressed. 150-gr. in my '06. 130-gr in .270. They all worked. About half were neck shots; most of the rest were low and forward in the chest. Never had what I'd call unusual blowups...Hell, ALL of them messed up about a double-handful of animal...
Good hunting!
Art, Your quite right about bullet shape having little to do with actual game performance in this instance. I was merely describing the bullet my friend uses. The CorLokts tend to be a more heavily constructed bullet which is probably what's needed here as you say. Hit a bone just right however, and this can foil the best intentions of a speeding bullet at times.
Take care
Take care