Practice hunting bullets

[Pardini Fan]

I reload mainly 308 and 300 Win Mag.

Is there a decent bullet that doesn't cost an arm and a leg that that is good for practice and hunting?

I have been using Hornady 165 grain SST and Interlock.

I have been reloading these for 308 with 42.3 grain N140 and OAL 2.75 inches.

I haven't had a chance to chronograph these but my guns sure like the load.

Lester

 

[carnaby]

I've been using the Sierra Game King. Heard good things about it for both hunting and range time. At the range it is performing very well, we'll see how it does hunting this fall.

 

[fineredmist]

Just a thought, why risk failure on an expensive hunting trip by practicing with ammo other than what you will use? If you are ging to use a certain load then you practice with it until you master it, doing practice sessions with "cheaper" bullets is definitely unproductive and a waste of time and money.

 

[R.W.Dale]

Just a thought, why risk failure on an expensive hunting trip by practicing with ammo other than what you will use?

It may be diffrent for you but when I shoot my 300wby off handed for practice I honestly cannot tell the diffrence between 150grn winchester power points or 150grn nosler partition golds and neither can the target.

You just want to make certian that your last couple of trips to the range before season starts that you zero your rifle in with the hunting load only

 

[Grumulkin]

You didn't mention what you would be hunting.

I think a bit too much is made of "premium" bullets. In fact, in a recent article Craig Boddington made the point that for some types of hunting a less than premium bullet would work the best (namely light skinned game). If a bullet fragments on hitting the chest sending shards of shrapnel thoroughout the chest cavity, the kill will be rapid. Of course, when going for a big, heavy and/or dangerous animal, by all means shoot and practice with a premium bullet (a deer is not big, heavy or dangerous).

As far as cheap hunting bullets are concerned, the Remington Core-Lokt comes to mind. If it shoots well in your gun, you can get 1,000 of them for a little over $100 from Midway.

 

[rbernie]

In 308, I practice with Remington 165 CoreLokt PSPs ($11/100) and hunt with Hornady 165BTs ($20/100). Resetting POI between the loads is trivial, but (since I shoot better than 200 rounds of 308 per month) the economic savings is not.

 

[snuffy]

I see both of the last two posters already said this, but here's a link to midway's site for the remington 165 core-loct bullets. For whitetails or any other thin skinned game, it's a great bullet. But for practice, it's even better as far as price goes.
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=550440

Fineredmist, I fail to see your logic. Trigger time is the point, along with all the rest of what shooting practice brings with it. Familiarity with the rifle is tops on the list of things to do to get ready for the hunt.

Case in point; My son was 12 when he first went deer hunting with me. The only rifle I had that for him was a mini-30 Ruger. Loaded with 125 grain BT's it worked just fine to kill a small nubin buck. But the fact that he had fired that rifle several hundred times before the season with cheaper Hornady 130 grain bullets, made it second nature to hit his deer.

Again 2 years later, after his 14th birthday netted him a present of a Browning A-bolt in 7-08, he took FRED a nice 9 point whitetail. Again a long summer of practice with either 100, or 120 grain Hornady hollow points, then switching to 139 BT's for the hunt. The shot wasn't that far, but the rifle HAD to feel like an extension of his arms to make a moving shot as the deer was on an excape trail from a public hunting grounds.

 

[1911 guy]

I use 150gr bullets.

But to answer your question I've had good luck with both Hornandy and Speer JSP's. Last deer I shot reared up like a horse at the shot and fell backward. DRT. Can't complain too much.

 

[Pardini Fan]

Practice Practice Practice

I have a scout rifle made by Ted Yost and Lew Bonitz. It is an absolutely incredible rifle. I did not appreciate the Scout Rifle Concept until I started practicing with it. I am getting better with it. I have been practicing actively with it for the last 3 months and had Ruger 10/22 mounted with a scout scope to practice at an indoor range.

I started using Black Hills Match 308 with 165 grain Nosler BT with my scout rifle. My rifle really likes these bullets. I have been able to work up a load very similar to Black Hills Match with N140 and 165 grain Hornady SST. After 2 1/2 lbs of N140, I am starting to hit the 8 inch target consistently at 100 yards.

If I can't hit the target/kill zone, I'll never get my deer. If I hit the target/kill zone and the bullet doesn't expand and penetrate, I have missed my deer and caused an animal to suffer.

 

[Ol` Joe]

A lot of deer over the years have dropped to Hornady inter-locts. Weatherby used them in their factory stuff before the premiums became popular and I believe still do in some ammo.
I have no experiance with the SST on game nor used them in mag cartridges, but I have shot over a dozen whitetail and two caribou with 3 more `boo shot with the same load by hunting partners with the inter loct at ranges from 10 ft to ~ 175 yds in 308 Win, 7-08 Rem, 6.5x55, 260 Rem, 270 Win, and 30-06 cartridges and never had one go more then a few yds after being hit. For deer I would simply stay with what you are shooting......