Hunting bullets what did you use

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stillquietvoice

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As the title implies I'm interested in what people shot game with this season and how they performed. I'm looking for the good, the bad and the ugly.

So far this season I've shot 2 deer with 2 different rifles and calibers. The first was my rem 700 in 7mm08. My load was 140 nosler partition over 46.5 gr imr 4350. The shot was a double lung hit with an 1.5" exit wound that broke ribs on the way in and out. There was a massive amount of blood. He went quite a ways, an easy track job though.

The Second a small doe shot with my m11 savage in 223 rem. I had bought a box of federal premium 60 gr nosler partitions. I took a forward quartering shot through the left shoulder and exited the right side ribcage. There was massive internal damage the heart was in several pieces, lungs detached from trachea, the shoulder joint was broken so the front leg was unusable. I was surprised that the doe went anywhere.

I was quite impressed with the bullet performance. My only real issue was a lack of a blood trail, tracking was difficult, but found her 25 yds from point of the shot.
 
I try for the shoulder even tho it damages more meat, but that's not always possible. I've used the Sierra pro hunters in my 7mms for 4 years, they are very consistent, normal hole in and 1.5-2 inch hole out. They do blood shot some. My 7x57 load was 50gr imr4350 but lowered it to around 46.5 should be about 2650 ish from my ruger still some blood shot.

Tho these work I am probably going back to speer hot cors. There about the same and the speer is more the $10 less per 100. I prefer a bullet to stay together like the partition, the speer and Sierra do come apart some at close range, but still exit. At last 100 they work even better.

I would like a bullet I could use in all my 7mms. If I have the money I'd like to try the accubonds or get partitions. I will load up them 175s you gave me, I think sps has them cheaper if the shoot good.
 
Shot a doe with a muzzleloader.
295 grain Powerbelt and 80 grains of loose Pyrodex
Hit her a little low, but Stevie Wonder could have followed the short 30 yard blood trail.

Shot a 10 pt. with a .30-06 loaded with a 165 grain Sierra Gameking BTHP and a middle of the road charge of IMR4350.
Bullet performed great. I made a marginal shot and it still anchored him enough that I could go up to him and put him down.
Been shooting this bullet for several seasons now and it has never let me down.
 
I'm looking for the good, the bad and the ugly.
You asked for it, lol.
20191125_091307.jpg

12 ga 2¾, 1oz Winchester sabot
40yds
A sharp quartering to shot on a trotting deer.
At the shot the buck, charged ahead wildly swinging his off side leg. I feared I had shot too low and only broke his leg. In a few minutes I looked for blood and found good sign. The buck lay dead within 50 yds.
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My two sons both took bucks the same weekend using their Savage 220 20ga bolt action slug guns. Both boys had short tracking jobs to find their bucks. Both used Remington accutip slugs.
IMG_3195.jpg 20191124_090136.jpg
 
You asked for it, lol.
View attachment 875706

12 ga 2¾, 1oz Winchester sabot
40yds
A sharp quartering to shot on a trotting deer.
At the shot the buck, charged ahead wildly swinging his off side leg. I feared I had shot too low and only broke his leg. In a few minutes I looked for blood and found good sign. The buck lay dead within 50 yds.
View attachment 875709 View attachment 875710
My two sons both took bucks the same weekend using their Savage 220 20ga bolt action slug guns. Both boys had short tracking jobs to find their bucks. Both used Remington accutip slugs.
View attachment 875713 View attachment 875714

Nice deer congrats to you and your sons
 
Shot a doe with a muzzleloader.
295 grain Powerbelt and 80 grains of loose Pyrodex
Hit her a little low, but Stevie Wonder could have followed the short 30 yard blood trail.

Shot a 10 pt. with a .30-06 loaded with a 165 grain Sierra Gameking BTHP and a middle of the road charge of IMR4350.
Bullet performed great. I made a marginal shot and it still anchored him enough that I could go up to him and put him down.
Been shooting this bullet for several seasons now and it has never let me down.

I always liked that bullet weight in 06. Shot a lot of corelockts in mine.

I have some 160 gamekings loaded for my 7mm08.
 
Behind the shoulder hits on two different deer both at about 20 yds. 300 gr Hornady XTP factory ammo out of 44 magnum 20” barrel Marlin 1894.

No bullet recovered on either. Through and through both lungs. Heart was not hit. (On purpose because I like it) Entry would on both was about a 3/4” hole with a 1 1/2” exit hole. This implies expansion on the relatively slow moving bullet which was a hollow point. Maybe 1500 FPS.

I do not recommend XTPs to anyone and only used them because they were the only factory load I could get less than 5” groups with a 100 yds. Probably need to use .432 lead. However I knew they would kill deer about 100 yds after I shot them as this was my muzzleloader performance with 240 gr 44 bullets from a sabot. They don’t die fast enough for me. I hope to cast some 300 gr soft lead hollow points for next year and see how those do.
 
Took a nice 4 pointer and two button bucks last week with 150 gr Hornady Interlocks over a load of IMR3031 through my No4Mk1 303 British. The 4 pointer was double lunged and went 30 yards, full pass through, one button buck was a high double lung that clipped the spine, full pass through DRT, 3rd button buck was quartering away took out a lung and half the heart, and exited the chest, went 10 yards. This has been my go to load for the last 3 seasons.

Be well all
 
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My oldest girl's shot was an odd one this year (prohunter left the barrel at 2920ish, impacted at 140 yds) 95% frontal, entered low in the throat slightly right, into the chest, ripped up a handful of ribs, ricocheted across the high part of 2 lungs (holes 1" low of top) and exited above the gut, behind the rib, below the spine square between hip and rib on the right side. No tracking required as she only went 15 yds (ish). Damage indicated quite a bit of energy dumped between windpipe and ribs but full exit as expected from the wife's 15 yd shot a few years ago. I'm personally trying tgks this year, another friend ssts, but prohunter bullets will always be on hand cuz they just work.
 
My hunts this year contained nothing spectacular. I used the same rifle I have for the last several years even though I have a ton of new rifles I could have taken. A 1960’s 1894 in 44Mag. Loads were the same they always are. 240gr Sierra JCH over 22.5gr of H-110. Shots were 15-40 yards and the bullets did what they always do. They went where I aimed, and made two good sized holes. No deer ran farther than 40 yards. The coyote dropped.

It may be boring to some. But there is an element in having COMPLETE faith in one’s equipment. And hunting with a trusted friend. It’s hard to leave that friend in the safe when they have always been faithful. Maybe next year I’ll try something different. I’ve got a year to work up loads for my new rifles.
 
Last time I DIDN'T shoot a deer through the heart it was in the eye and right through the brains. All the "tracking" amounts to climbing down from the tree.

9/10 are shot with my NEF in 44 mag with wheel weights cast in to bullets, 240 grain.

The last one not with that gun was with a 75 year old Garand and the factory iron sights, using 150 graint lead soft points.
 
My oldest girl's shot was an odd one this year (prohunter left the barrel at 2920ish, impacted at 140 yds) 95% frontal, entered low in the throat slightly right, into the chest, ripped up a handful of ribs, ricocheted across the high part of 2 lungs (holes 1" low of top) and exited above the gut, behind the rib, below the spine square between hip and rib on the right side. No tracking required as she only went 15 yds (ish). Damage indicated quite a bit of energy dumped between windpipe and ribs but full exit as expected from the wife's 15 yd shot a few years ago. I'm personally trying tgks this year, another friend ssts, but prohunter bullets will always be on hand cuz they just work.

That's an impressive amount of damage. What calibre did she use?

Congratulations to you and your daughter.

When I was getting ready to go out on Sunday I pulled out my AR. My wife looks at the rifle then at me and that thing looks like a toy.
 
I shot two deer with my Ruger Hawkeye .300WM, both using 180 gr Federal PowerShok ammo. As best I can tell, that ammo uses the Speer HotCor bullet. Both were shot between 50-70 yards. The doe was slightly quartering toward me. My first shot broke the front leg and went into the vitals. It tried to run but was kind of plowing forward. I shot it a second time, probably unnecessarily, after it plowed forward about 10 yards. At least one of the shots destroyed the heart. Second deer was a spike buck, broadside. Shot was straight through the vitals. It did me the favor of running down hill and collapsed under my treestand.
 
That's an impressive amount of damage. What calibre did she use?

Congratulations to you and your daughter.

When I was getting ready to go out on Sunday I pulled out my AR. My wife looks at the rifle then at me and that thing looks like a toy.
She and her mother have both been using .243s. Every time I bring up an ar, I'm told that they're ugly and look like stupid video game guns lol! In .223, I have a 12 twist compact that I've been running ttsxs in, damage on 2 rabbits so far has been impressive, will work well for Bambi too.
 
7mm-08_b.jpg
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The first was my rem 700 in 7mm08. My load was 140 nosler partition over 46.5 gr imr 4350.

Sounds like a good load.

For Deer...I've pretty much settled on the Combined Technology 140 gr. bullet for my 7mm-08. I've used it for the last dozen years or so..and have been quite pleased with the performance.

I load to 2.78" overall.
Federal Primer.
Nosler/Combined Technology Ballistic Silvertip Bullet 140 gr.
42.5 grains of Alliant Reloder 15 powder.
Light crimp.
2800 fps muzzle velocity from my 22" barrel.


7mm-08_e.jpg
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7mm-08_c.jpg
 
So far, I took a blacktail buck with Cali-approved copper 300 Win mag- can't remember the brand/specs as it was a borrowed rifle and ammo. Took a Fl doe with a 250 grain 50 caliber Hornady sabot from my traditions in-line. NW Fl general gun season doesn't start for almost 2 more weeks- then it will be 100 grain Win power points (243) and Hornady 190 grain sub-x (300 BLK).
 
I've pretty much settled on the Combined Technology 140 gr. bullet for my 7mm-08. I've used it for the last dozen years or so..and have been quite pleased with the performance.

Years ago, I shot these in a NEF Handi Rifle in .280 Rem (They were all that darn rifle liked).
All I ever killed was does, but most were DRT.
I used the factory loaded Winchester Supreme.
 
Shot a 4 point buck at about 75 yards with a .243. Bullet was a Sierra Pro-Hunter 100gr. Deer was downhill and I was off the ground 10 feet on top of the hill. Bullet entered a little high in back of the left shoulder. Dislocated/broke that shoulder, disconnected the lungs from the trachea/heart and exited other side in the "armpit" area of the right side. Deer did not drop, but didn't go very far either. He ran maybe 30-40 yards with ample blood trail. This was my first deer with a .243. I've used a 30-06 for 25 years. That deer didn't know the difference.

I use Sierra Pro-Hunters in 3 different calibers. If I hunted bigger game than deer I might go to a bonded or heavier bullet, but for deer the Sierra's work fine.

-Jeff
 
200 gr 40 Cal sst at 2430 fps. Bang flop. High shoulder with pass through
150 NBT at 3340 fps.
Bang flip. Behind shoulder with pass through.
100 AMAX at 3150.
Bang flop. Neck shot. Stopped after penetrating 9" of vertebrae.
The 300 wm literally flips deer if they are broadside.
 
The first deer of this calendar year was taken with a Hornady, swaged, all lead, .530, patched round ball. Shoulder shot using 70 grains of 3Fg black powder. 11 yards away. Dropped the deer literally in her tracks. The second deer was with a Speer, swaged, all lead, .530 patched round ball. Same powder load. 62 yards away. Smashed through a rib, went through both lungs, and out the other side after passing through another rib. She went 40 yards.
The farthest I've ever had to track was a through and through lung hit on a buck that had fled from an adjacent farm, running from some foxhounds, and had just stopped to breathe and look back over his shoulder when I shot him. He went 100 yards without blood.
There is something about the patched round ball that hammers deer at 100 yards or less....

Patched Round Ball.jpg

LD
 
Shot a 4 point buck at about 75 yards with a .243. Bullet was a Sierra Pro-Hunter 100gr. Deer was downhill and I was off the ground 10 feet on top of the hill. Bullet entered a little high in back of the left shoulder. Dislocated/broke that shoulder, disconnected the lungs from the trachea/heart and exited other side in the "armpit" area of the right side. Deer did not drop, but didn't go very far either. He ran maybe 30-40 yards with ample blood trail. This was my first deer with a .243. I've used a 30-06 for 25 years. That deer didn't know the difference.

I use Sierra Pro-Hunters in 3 different calibers. If I hunted bigger game than deer I might go to a bonded or heavier bullet, but for deer the Sierra's work fine.

-Jeff

I shot 3006 for about 20 years as well was my favorite cartridge. Can't do the recoil anymore due to injury. I thought I wouldn't be able to shoot and hunt anymore. The 243 changed that. I killed 3 deer with it all drt. I decided to try 7mm08 for a bit low get range. It took 2 years before I could shoot 60 rounds from it in an afternoon.
 
.308 Win 150gr Interlock, traveling about 2,730fps, smashed the shoulder turned the lungs to goo and through ribs with a 2-1/2" exit wound. Deer jumped a 4' embankment fell against a downed log and then traveled about 7 yards before expiring.
 
I loaded up my 243 with 87 grain Hornady FBSP over 42.8 grains of 4831. Shot five deer this year, i got two of them an hour & a half ago. All pass through shots except one. About half of the bullet was inside the hide on the other side of the deer. The rest passed through. What stayed in the hide weighed 41.5 grains.
Four of the deer dropped where they were standing. One ran maybe twenty feet and went right down for the count.

That H&R Handi-Rifle did it's job very well. I put a 3x9 Leupold scope on it. I could of shot a dozen deer this year if we needed that many. Every one in my family is set up with meat. Plus I will be taking fifty pounds back with me and I made a bunch of jerky that I will be mailing back
Wish I had more time to spend back here inNew York, these three weeks went by really fast.

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