.257 bullet choice

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crazysccrmd

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I'm having a hard time deciding what I want to load for my primary hunting round this season. I will be zeroing at 200yds which is probably the farthest I will be able to shoot in the woods around here. I have all the bullets except the 80TTSX on hand, they all shoot accurately and they all are proven to work on deer and hogs. The Speer 87gr are probably the cheapest choice (about $21/100) and the TTSX are the most expensive to load. Any input?

80TTSX, 3100fps/1707ME, at 200yds 2493fps/1103ft/lbs
87gr Speer, 3100fps/1856ME, at 200yds 2462fps/1171ft/lbs
90gr GK, 3000fps/1798ME, at 200yds 2280fps/1039ft/lbs
100gr Speer, 2850fps/1803ME, at 200yds 2352fps/1228ft/lbs
100gr Hornady, 2900fps/1867ME, at 200yds 2382fps/1258ft/lbs
100gr BT, 2800fps/1741ME, at 200yds 2336fps/1212ft/lbs
110gr AB, 2650fps/1715ME, at 200yds 2227fps/1211ft/lbs
 
110gr Accubond would be my choice. All I see is that they seem to be the "cats meow" in a .25-06. I recently acquired a .25-06 and the 110gr accubond is what I plan on loading for mine if only I could find some. I've been shooting cheap PPU ammo to acquire brass.
 
I would avoid anything with a plastic tip or "ballistic" properties. If you are limited in range to 200 yards, anything classic will work great. Lead tip with flat base or boat tail doesn't matter. My gut would be >100 grain , as in 117 grain or 120 grain, Sierra Pro-Hunter or Speer Hot-Cor, really doesn't matter. Good luck.
 
The 110gr is about the heaviest I can realistically go with this cartridge. Anything heavier than that starts cutting into powder capacity and drops velocity pretty quickly. I'm certain that anyone of these loads will get the job done on deer and hogs but can't decide for myself what to go with.
 
I looked a little closer at the #'s you have posted and if you look at the MV of the 110gr Accubond it is the slowest by 150fps and more but carries the 4th highest ft/lbs of energy of all that you listed.

However I see that you only have 2650 listed as MV for the 110gr bullet thats awfully slow...I'm guessing a 22" barrel and is that the velocity where accuracy was best? You should be able to get ~2900fps fairly easily with the 110gr Accubond.

Hodgdon lists a 117gr bullet with 4 different powders H4350,IMR4350,H4831,IMR4831 ALL of them have starting charges over 2750fps and the max loads are over 2900. Two of them are over 3100 that is with a 24" barrel though but its a heavier bullet so we will call it "even"

BTW what powder are you using IMR 4831, RL19, IMR4350 are velocity and accuracy kings for the .25-06
 
Sorry guys, just realized the post doesn't say what I am shooting. I copied it from another forum and thread I have over there without double checking for that. The numbers are for a 25x6.8SPC which is a 6.8 case necked down to 25 caliber. The barrel is an 18", rounds are limited to an OAL of 2.3" for an AR15, powders for those listed vary from AA2200, H4895, and 8208XBR.
 
I've shot deer, always shoulder shots, with the 117 grain Sierra spitzer years ago, with the 117 grain Hornady Interlock, factory loads of the Winchester 100 grain silvertip, and ...my favorite... the Sierra 100 grain Game King. They all worked. I had a failure to expand on the Interlock when the quartering frontal shot missed the shoulder bone, went between on side ribs and off side last rib. I had to track that one and there weren't much blood. The others were mostly anchored in place, some dead before they hit the ground. The 100 grain Game King has plenty of penetration for shoulder shots. Shot one at 150 yards with it into the on side shoulder, deflected up into a vertebrae (heard a loud CRACK when it hit that vertebrae), deflected down and stopped under the skin as a flattened chunk of lead and jacket after breaking the off side rib. That's the only one that didn't exit with that bullet.

The Interlock penetrates WELL, too well for the smallish whitetail I hunt, really, but it shoots 1 MOA in my gun driving it 3050 fps. The 100 grain Game King shoots 1/2 MOA at 3150 fps MV. My gun is an old Remington M722 short action in 257 Roberts.
 
OP that changes all of my suggestions...If all were equally accurate I'd go with the 100gr Hornady as it has a very good reputation for penetration and terminal performance. It also has the highest lb/ft of energy at 200 yards.
 
They all shoot sub-MOA easily, so it's just a matter of deciding what to load for most uses.
 
I have been using 100 gr Ballistic Tips in a 16.25" 250 Savage for years. My son has killed 3 deer with that round.

I don't own a chrony so can't give you velocities. But, I have been impressed with the results. I would expect velocities would be similar. I feel the ballistic tips are a good choice if starting around 25-2600 fps. Faster and they grenade.
 
ive shot deer with all three of the 100s you listed. Ive used them in 250 savages, 257 roberts, 2506 and 257wbys and never lost a deer hit by one. Id pick the one out of those that shot the best in your gun and go hunting.
 
I use a 25-06 and have narrowed it down to two projectiles. 115 gr partitions for deer and 85 gr CT silvertips for coyote. Its all I've needed for quite a while. 117 Sierra Gamekings work well also on deer if you want to go a little cheaper.
 
I've used all of those except the 80gr Barnes.

All will work well. I've not acutally shot game with the 110gr AB but I'm sure on deer it'll work just fine. (mine are acutally Hornady "Interbond" but otherwise look and shoot nearly the same. (Noslers are a bit more accurate from my guns..)

I've used the 100gr Hornady's from my .257wby at 3,600fps m/v and they actually penetrate less than from the .257Bob at the speeds you list.

I've got a "soft spot" for the 100gr Hornadys. I'm looking as I type this at the largest antlered whitetail I've ever killed. Also, used this bullet for the largest bodied deer I ever killed (smaller rack though... weighed over 200lbs field dressed. Maxxed out a 200lb scale.). Only one I've ever recovered was from 110lb doe with .257Wby with aforementioned load (max RL25 chrono'd at 3,650fps). 90yd shot, recovered bullet weighs 67.5gr. Nearly a round ball... I've shot over 50 deer with this bullet. Not just two or three. One evening I took 11 deer with 11 shots..... depredation hunt on a local airport... 45.0gr of IMR4350, seated to 2.975" or showing the cannulure and a tad more bullet. (I have a so-called 3" chamber).

The 90gr GameKing also, I've never recovered. I'd use the 120gr GK on elk if it was all I had...
 
I ended up loading the 100gr Hornady Interlock. I lightened the load by .5gr since my notes said 30.5gr 8208 was fairly hot at 2955fps. I shot that batch at 85°+, and the 30gr load this past weekend was shot at 45° and only clocked 2785fps. I'll still be using them and they zeroed fine at 200yds, but a little extra speed would've been nice. The load still carries almost 1000 ft/lbs at 300yds so effectiveness shouldn't suffer.
 
You still haven't said what you're shooting them in.
Other than a .250Savage, IMR8208 is way on the fast side for any of the other .25's.
I suspected from your listings that you were just throwing out reloading data velocities or catalog quotes rather than actual chrono'd readings.

A .250Savage is best with H4895, the .257Roberts with H414 or IMR4350 (or similar), and the .25/06 with something in the 4831 range, and .257wby with something in RL25 or 7828 range.

Foot/lbs is nearly meaningless as a measure of effectiveness of a bullet. However, at the speed you give, at 300yds the problem is going to be that the bullet isn't going to give much expansion.
Shot placement is the critical element and that places the emphasis on accuracy.
I'd suggest you consult additonal data and find a more suitable powder. That bullet performs much better if pushed to 3,000+fps m/v.
At the level you are loading to, the Speer and Sierra bullets will perform better. The Nosler B.T. will actually be the better choice with the powder/velocity you are using.
 
Yeah, I missed it. post #6.
With a 18" bbl, those figures mesh.
He might be better off with the Nosler B.T. or the 87gr Speer/Sierra's.
 
It's all chrono'd data from a 25x6.8, basically the equivalent of factory or light hand loaded 250 Savage. My 250 Savage (M77) load is 35.5gr H4895 and a 100gr BT for 3000fps out of a 22" barrel. I can switch over to any of the other bullets if I need to with very minimal change in point of impact, this barrel is very consistent. I was thinking the tougher Hornady might be a better choice since I have a lot of hogs in the area.
 
I've had great results with 100 grain bullets out of a .243.More than 40 deer with Remington Cor-lokts and Sierra spitzers from 20 to 270 yards.
 
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