Sometime choosing a bullet for deer is way overthought.

[Mystro]

After years of being a bit OCD with my bullet choice for all my rifles for deer/black bear, I think I have come full circle in a moment of clarity. I have killed sooo many deer with the good old Winchester Power Point in my 308/06/270/300 win, etc. but love to tinker with ammo.
Yesterday I took my flyweight 308 rifle to do some shooting for the joy of it. I took all my high end ammo as well as a few dusty boxes of 150 grain Power Points just to get rid of them. I found myself shooting the "cheap" PP ammo first as not to waist my expensive stuff. After 10 rounds of hitting a 12" steel plate at 300 yards, I was wondering why I dont actually use this stuff when hunting???? Sure, it doesnt have a polymer tip or even boattail for that matter but this cheap ammo is hitting its mark well beyond my normal hunting range for deer and black bear. Sure enough it was printing 1" groups at 100 yards all day long. So now I am looking at my high end ammo that shoots great as well but with a $30+ price tag and the humble Winchester 150 grain Power Point that has a Walmart price of $15.00.
I understand some rifles need aristocratic ammo for them to perform their best but perhaps starting with the time proven cheaper ammo first and see what it does with it might be a great place to start (and maybe end).

 

[Doyle]

Yep, that's the reason I'm not going to try and reload for 30-06. I love the blue-box Federal - that's my go-to cheap stuff. Shoots great and is right around $16 at Wallyworld. If they made blue-box Federals that cheap for .35 Whelen and .260, then I wouldn't need to try reloading for those either.

 

[T. O'Heir]

Lot of stuff is over thought.
"...not going to try and reload for 30-06..." It's about using the best possible ammo for whatever you do. Otherwise, you need to try a box of as many brands and bullet weights as you can to fin the ammo your rifle shoots best. Might well be the $16 Federal. The price of the ammo means nothing.

 

[Doyle]

When the Fed blue-box shoots just over 1MOA from a pump Remington 760, I call that plenty good. No need to look further.

 

[precision_shooter]

I don't load any of my hunting ammo. My .308 tikka loves the factory 150gr Hornady SST ammo so well, that's what I stick with for deer, and hogs if they happen to show up.

Same bullet but the 123gr in my 7.62x39 CZ...

Only rifle ammo I load are precision rounds for my .308 target rifle and will soon be loading some 6.5 Creedmoor now that I have some empty brass...

I also load target rounds for .38spl and .357mag, and soon to add 9mm and 10mm to that list...

 

[Paul B.]

Well I don't hunt deer anymore and only one elk hunt a year gives enough meat for the wife and I.
When I hunted deer which included some very big Nevada Mule deer I just loaded up some 150 gr. Sierras and went hunting. Did the same when I went to the .308. Decided the 150s damaged too much eating meat (Important when you have four kids to feed.) so went to 165 gr. Speer Hot Cores for the .308 and Sierra 180 gr. Pro-Hunters for deer. It was still cheaper for me to hand load my ammo than get store bought.
Now with all that said, the only factory ammo I've shot in the last 20 some odd years was a couple of boxes of 150 gr. Winchester Power Points for a .270 I picked up at a gun show to test fire the firearm. Actually, I only shot one box and groups ran from .50" to .80", that larger group fired while the barrel was still quite hot. Got the gun for cheap and hoped for a quick but profitable turn around at the next gun show. I still have it.
With all that said, just use the regular cup and core bullets for deer. Save the good stuff for the big stuff.
Paul B.

 

[samsmix]

I've killed 160 of both types, and probably 75-80% were with old school cup and core bullets. There were some Partitions that were meant for elk, and 20 or so with buckshot, a couple of round valls , and a handful of pistol bullets, but mostly cup and core .30-06 150s & 180s, and .257 Roberts 100s, 117s, and 120s.

 

[michaelcj]

Wonder how many head of game [besides mine] have been taken cleanly with the old Remington Core-Loc ???

 

[Art Eatman]

My opinion about bullets is that there is no such thing as "best". With a small amount of thought in selection, it seems obvious to me that any of the major brands of bullets meant to be used for hunting will most likely work just fine.

What's important is getting your particular rifle all married up with the most accurate cartridge. For multitudes of unknown reasons, it's common that one particular brand and weight will be the optimum solution for your rifle. But it might not be worth a hoot for your best friends identical rifle.

From reading beaucoup posts over a sixteen year period of moderating, it seems to me that lots of folks go to picking fly poop out of pepper in worrying about which ammo to use.

 

[Mystro]

I took a big doe with my 223 Coyote rig with Barns TSX 55 grain broadside for the heck of it a few years back and man did it do the trick. I normally take a head shot on doe but wanted to see if the TSX in 223 was a genuine deer bullet. 120 yard shot and she only went 50 yards on a dead run and piled up. A complete pass through with good expansion and no important meat damage. With a little gun the good ammo matters but the larger deer calibers seem to bang/flop them with the PP and Corlok. I was so impressed with that 223 that it probably will be my sons first deer rifle when he is of age. Shot placement is what he will learn.

 

[Brotherbadger]

Sure, it doesnt have a polymer tip or even boattail for that matter but this cheap ammo is hitting its mark well beyond my normal hunting range for deer and black bear.

Yup, as long as it's accurate it will do the job. I find myself over thinking ammo sometimes too.

 

[tlm225]

I've killed many deer with the plain Remington Core-Lokt bullet in 30-30, .308, .30-06 over the years. When I finally started reloading for my rifle calibers what did I use? Core-Lokt's (when I can find them). If it works, don't screw with it. I may change to the Sierra Pro-Hunter only because it's often difficult to find the Remington.

 

[math teacher]

You are not overthinking when you use premium bullets on game larger than deer where additional penetration is required while still giving adequate expansion. As stated earlier, cup and core bullets work fine on deer when driven at 308 velocity. However cup and core often come apart inside 200 yards when driven at magnum velocities. On the big stuff like elk and moose it doesn't pay to try to save a few cents per bullet. The same applies to using magnums on deer.

 

[hartcreek]

Unlike Doyle that is exactly why I reload the same 160 grain bullet for 7.62x39, 7.62x54R, .308 and 30-06. I size it accordingly since I also cast it and have not bought bullets in that size range for many years.

 

[Drm50]

I have killed countless deer with Win Power points & Rem Core-locs. The only
trouble I've had with bullets was a one time deal. Was going to WVa on spur of
moment deal. Rem 742c was my main WVA deer gun. Always shot Win PP 150s.
Stopped a a shopping center to grab a couple boxes on the way. Had to take
Win Silver tips 150s. Close enough for type of ranges we shoot. Emptied gun
on 6pt running through scrub. All hits 4 would have been I shot killers with
Power Point. Those 06 silver tips were going through deer like armor piercing
militaries. Lucky snow was on had to track down a finish off. Never used STs
on deer again.

 

[Jack O'Conner]

The only rifle I own that gets Premium ammo is my .243 because it performs better than with Power Points. It shoots amazing long distance groups with 95 grain SST bullets by Hornady.

Jack

 

[Panfisher]

I probably over think my reloads, simply because I like messing with them. I am always changing bullets and loads. However I also always have a box of loads that while not "cool" are known to be accurate and have worked in the past. Now my .223 AR and Handi rifle get premium bullets to deer hunt with either TSX or Partitions.

 

[samsmix]

"120 yard shot and she only went 50 yards on a dead run and piled up. A complete pass through with good expansion and no important meat damage. With a little gun the good ammo matters but the larger deer calibers seem to bang/flop them"

This kind of performance on a doe would seem to indicate to me that you are not packing an appropriate rifle for the the game at hand. You state that you were impressed, then tell us that a real deer rifle does it better without resorting to trick bullets.

My results with the .223 mirrored yours, so I quit using it.

 

[Panfisher]

That is the same results I generally get with a lung heart shot that doesnt hit bone. With .223, .243, 7-08, .280, ..50 ML.

 

[tlm225]

This kind of performance on a doe would seem to indicate to me that you are not packing an appropriate rifle for the the game at hand. You state that you were impressed, then tell us that a real deer rifle does it better without resorting to trick bullets.

That's not that unusual for lung shots. I've had it happen with .30-06 hits where the lungs were destroyed. I tend to call it "running dead" as they often stop when they run headlong into a tree. I've never met anyone who felt the .30-06 was "inadequate" for white tail.