Sometime choosing a bullet for deer is way overthought.

[jaysouth]

Premium bullets?

I cast a 165 gr Ranch Dog bullet of wheel weights, lead and a little bit of tin.

At 1,900 fps out of a 30-30 or 308, they will kill anything that bleeds at 100 yards. Actually, I have only used them on white tail deer and feral pigs, but the performance on either is a one shot kill. A flat meplat imparts most of the energy and the penetration is the length of two deer of width of two 300 lb pigs.

If the musk oxen or mastidons start trampling my roses or eating my garden, I might go to a 200 gr. with wide meplat at 2,000 fps.

 

[jaysouth]

Premium bullets?

I cast a 165 gr Ranch Dog bullet of wheel weights, lead and a little bit of tin.

At 1,900 fps out of a 30-30 or 308, they will kill anything that bleeds at 100 yards. Actually, I have only used them on white tail deer and feral pigs, but the performance on either is a one shot kill. A flat meplat imparts most of the energy and the penetration is the length of two deer of width of two 300 lb pigs.

If the musk oxen or mastidons start trampling my roses or eating my garden, I might go to a 200 gr. with wide meplat at 2,000 fps.

 

[DanTSX]

Pretty much everything in firearms is overthought.

Watch what hunters spend on gear to go shoot bambi so they have meat in the freezer this winter. It's hilarious. You haven't lived until you watch grown men argue for pages on the internet about their favorite cammo pattern so they can dress like a tree.

The only thing not overthought is skills. They just get forgotten about completely.

 

[upstate81]

15 or 16 bucks a box! Huh?! Must be nice, averages 20 to 22 dollars box around here. 3030 might be 15 but thats it. I like the hornady american whitetail ammo using the interlock bullet works great for off the shelf ammo. Runs 21 a box for my 7mm08 at bass pro.

 

[Mobuck]

I can't say I'm happy with Winchester Power Point performance. My experience is limited to 243 (100 grain)and 30/06(150 grain). The 243 proved to be problematic due to inconsistent expansion and barely adequate accuracy. The 30/06 also showed inconsistent expansion but the big downside is the trajectory. If you check the published trajectory and energy retention of the 30/06 150PP, you'll find it is only slightly better than a round nose bullet at longer ranges. In my testing, the 150PP had 10-12" more drop @ 300 yards vs Remington 150 CoreLokt/Hornady 150 Interlock with similar 100 yard zero.
This is an absolute deal breaker for my use. If your shots are close(under 200 yards) and you use an "over power" cartridge such as 308/30-06 for deer, the Win PP may be suitable. I'll leave them on the shelf and use another brand/type of ammo.

 

[pete2]

Any hunting bullet will kill a deer. The logical thing to do with a new rifle is to start with Win. Power Points or Rem Cor-Loks. If accurate your good to go, if not try something else. A deer don't know if you shot him with a .50 bullet or a 5.00 one. You do have to put the bullet where it counts.

 

[AllenJ]

Yes we can overthink bullet selection, but how many people have seen those that under think it? I remember in my youth being told all you need to do is file the tips off military ball ammo for my 30-06 and it would make the best hunting ammo. I've also have a friend who decided to use Sierra Match bullets while hunting one year. His lesson came in the fashion of one very long and rugged drag up out of a deep brushy canyon.

 

[Gunplummer]

I would like to know who started all the "Penetration" nonsense when it comes to whitetails. I suspect it was bullet manufacturers pushing a new line of bullets. A couple weeks ago I ran into a guy in the local sports shop picking up some .22 Hornet ammo he ordered. That is all he and his brother have used for deer since I know them, and they don't head shoot them either. I am really leery of "Deep penetrating" bullets because a lot of them don't expand well at closer range shots.

 

[Doyle]

Gunplummer, I'm going to disagree with you about penetration. I think it is very important. No matter how much a bullet expands, there are going to still be deer that don't drop immediately. For those that run, I want a good blood trail. The best way to insure a good blood trail is an exit hole.

 

[samsmix]

...and yet look at all the Silver/Bronze/Ballistic tip bullets that kill deer every year. Give me a proper deer rifle, and I'll take a healthy dose of energy dumping expansion. Start using the adequate but not ideal gopher guns on deer and then yeah, penetration becomes an issue.

 

[jmr40]

I am really leery of "Deep penetrating" bullets because a lot of them don't expand well at closer range shots.

You've got it backwards, all of the premiums that penetrate deep expand very well at close range. It is at longer ranges where expansion becomes an issue.

Basically you have very soft bullets that expand well at slower speeds, but over expand if pushed too fast at closer range. On the other extreme you have hard bullets that penetrate very well and expand up close, but are poor choices for longer ranges where speed has slowed. And many others that are somewhere in between.

There isn't really a wrong choice. It is up to the shooter to know and understand how the particular bullet he is using works and not ask it to do something it wasn't designed to do.

The cheaper bullets such as core-lokts from Remington are all the bullet most people will ever need. At reasonable ranges on typical game they work just fine. But pushed too fast and shot at close range and they will not hold together. They don't have proper aerodynamics for longer shots either. Just as the OP stated, from a 308 and at no more than 300 yards they are just fine.

Even though I know they'll work just fine I cannot afford to shoot as much as I'd like purchasing factory 308 loads. Hornady interlocks are my most used bullet and they are comparable to Core-lokts. But I still like the premium bullets for some uses. They are too expensive to plink with at the range, but for hunting an extra 30 cents to kill a deer is nothing compared to all the other costs associated with hunting. The cost savings of 200 Nosler Accubonds vs 200 Hornady Interlocks won't pay for a tank of gas in truck. 200 of either bullet will last me many years of hunting. A tank of gas is about 350 miles of driving.

 

[Gunplummer]

I don't have anything backwards. Some bullets will not expand until the velocity drops to within a certain range. I personally have had issues with .257 117 grain Hornadys under 100 yards. I have talked to two other people that had the same problem, although one was using a .243 bullet. Hit a deer in the lungs and it just pokes a hole through. I was lucky and got a second shot to the shoulder. Bullets are funny things. I used to test fire guns through a heavy cardboard tube (Deaden the noise) into tightly packed and tied newspapers about 2 feet from the muzzle. You would be surprised how many soft point bullets would go 10"-12" deep and barely blunt the end. I suspect a lot of the newer, hotter rounds would have poor expansion at a close range. The bullets are put together so they don't fly apart before they get to the target.
As always, it pretty much comes back to the type of hunting you do.

 

[stubbicatt]

I agree!~

Choose a soft lead cast bullet in 45-70, a case full of black, an inexpensive wad, and you're off to the rodeo!

(Nevermind all this newfangled jacketed bullet/smokeless powder/bolt actioned rifle craze... it will pass!)

 

[dahermit]

If the musk oxen or mastidons start trampling my roses or eating my garden, I might go to a 200 gr. with wide meplat at 2,000 fps.

The name Musk Oxen, erroneously leads people to think that hey are a large animal, bigger an Elk or Moose. Not so. I have seen them on National Geographic relative to the size of a man, and they are but the size of domestic sheep. I was really surprised. So if follows then, that they would not require a hugely powerful cartridge.

 

[tdoyka]

jaysouth Premium bullets?

I cast a 165 gr Ranch Dog bullet of wheel weights, lead and a little bit of tin.

At 1,900 fps out of a 30-30 or 308, they will kill anything that bleeds at 100 yards. Actually, I have only used them on white tail deer and feral pigs, but the performance on either is a one shot kill. A flat meplat imparts most of the energy and the penetration is the length of two deer of width of two 300 lb pigs.

If the musk oxen or mastidons start trampling my roses or eating my garden, I might go to a 200 gr. with wide meplat at 2,000 fps.

oh crap!!! no wonder deer are escaping!!!(right into my grill)

i use 165gr ranch dog out of my 30-40 krag going about 1800fps. then theres my 444 marlin with its 275gr ranch dogs, and my 45-70 with 350gr ranch dog.

 

[rickyrick]

If ammo came in a white box and plainly said "soft point"
Would it sell more or less than the same ammo packed in a flashy box with a glossy black box and metallic colored raised lettering?

How about a cool cross-section graphic of the bullet itself?

Or what about a description about the special molecular construction and the jacket is bonded with a distinct fussion of science and art in Rockwell's Retro encabulator.
If you don't know what a retro encabulator is... Look it up

I've had some good luck with plain ole grand pop's hunting ammo.

 

[Pathfinder45]

The best factory ammo came in yellow boxes with red and blue lettering.

 

[Erno86]

I like to use premium bullets for all of my big game hunting --- when it comes to bone crushing performance and complete pass-thru's for a better blood trail --- though I have to be aware of what's beyond the target animal.

My current bullet preference is the Barnes TSX.

 

[tahoe2]

Core-Lokts

In my very limited experience plain ole Remington Core-Lokt bullets have dumped every deer I've shot with 1 shot.

 

[TimSr]

I'm mostly a pistol hunter, so bullet selection is a lot more critical, but even when I do use a rifle I always use a premium bullet. I'm partial to Nosler Partitions or Speer Grand Slams because I know they will work. In most hits, it may make no difference at all. In some it might. I hate the "just as dead" cliche because WHERE it dies is important to me. Nothing is guarenteed but I want the very best odds in my favor. When you consider all the expense of a big game hunt, and then you look the difference in the cost of ammo, and translate it into cost per round, and how many years it will last you, a $2 or $3 annual savings on the couple rounds you fired to take your game is inconsequential.