What bullet to reload for whitetail?

[crimsoncomet]

Hey guys. I want to start working on my handloads for whitetail hunting this year. I will be hunting large bodied whitetails. I will be using a Remington 700 LTR in 308. It has a 1in12 twist 20" barrel. I was thinking that staying in the 150g weight range would probably be a good idea with the short barrel. These are large whitetail, so I want a decent bullet that will penatrate. I have looked at the Branes TTSX, the Swift Scirocco , and the Nosler Partition. The Barnes bullet and the Swift bullet beat the Partition on B.C., but the partition is a tested and very reliable bullet. The powder will be a toss up between Varget and IMR8208. Of course accuracy will be the true deciding factor. Any thoughts?

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Any quality 150 grainer should do the job on whitetail. I've used 150 grain Nosler Ballistic tips in a .30-06 for nearly 20 years....I'd guess you will have good luck with Varget. I use it in a .22-250 with impressive results.

 

[Grumulkin]

Any 150 gr. .308 caliber bullet made of lead and/or copper should be sufficient to take any size whitetail you should come across; it doesn't have to be a so called premium bullet.

I think Ohio whitetails are just as big as those in Virginia. Though I'm not against high priced bullets if they shoot very well, 3 of my 6 deer in 2010 were taken with 130 gr. Remington Core-Lokts; you can't get much more economical than that. I've also taken them with bullets in the 45 to 70 grain weight range at ranges up to 360 yards.

As for powder, I would try IMR 8208 XBR first. My second choice would be Varget or IMR 4064.

 

[crimsoncomet]

Thanks guys. I should have mentioned that they will be large Canadian whitetails I will be hunting. I want to start working up loads while it is still somewhat cold.

 

[Redneck with a 40]

150 grain core-lokt

 

[redbullitt]

Bergers are very nice for deer, speer 165 pointed Soft point has done well too

 

[jcvibby]

I voted for the partition but would actually go for the accubond if possible.

 

[dzelenka]

If you are spending big money on a trip, the partition is cheap insurance. They always expand and they always penetrate. You may have to take a shot from a less than ideal angle. Like I said, cheap insurance.

You may consider the 165 gr instead of a 150 gr. They hold in the wind a bit better.

The suggestion of the accubond may be a good one; however, I have not used any. I plan on it though. :^)

Dan

 

[unwise11]

Hornady 165 grain BTSP interlock..

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Of the 3 you listed I would load the Nosler but in 165gr over 150gr.

 

[GooseGestapo]

My younger brother is something of a "minimalist".

He's got an older Winchester M70 Featherweight in .308 (pre-64).

He uses one bullet for all of his big-game hunting. It's the Nosler 150gr partiton over a max load of H4895.

Between me and my older brother, we've tried to get him to try other things because we think his "higher than currently published" max load is going to eventually do bad things to his collecter grade rifle. However, he gets easy extraction and at or near MOA accruacy, so who's to critisize him. He's getting 2,900+fps and bang-flops even on elk. He's also taken a nice Pronghorn buck with his loads.

I did give him some discontinued "Partiton Gold" 150's several years ago. He loaded them up in some Winchester Nickle cases so he can keep them seperate from the regular Partitions. He uses them exclusively on elk. The "Gold" bullet had a longer base section and shorter nose compartment so they would retain greater mass and have a smaller expanded frontal area for deeper penetration.

However, for your purpose of "deer" hunting, even the inexpensive Privi-Partisan bullets as sold by Graf's would do well. My Savage M110LH in .30/06 actually favors this bullet for accuracy. These are about 1/4 the cost of either the Barnes or Swift bullets and are decently accurate. They are most similar to the Winchester Power-Point bullets. For top accuracy and all-around deer hunting performance you can't improve on the Sierra ProHunter and GameKing bullets. These used to be somewhat more expensive than the excellent Remington CorLokts, but lately the Sierra's can even be LESS expensive than the Remington's.

Of the three bullets you listed, however, I definitely would go with the Nosler Partition as these will take the least "tweeking" of the loads to shoot well. Both the Scirocco and TSX or TTSX have reputations for being "particular" about seating depth for good accuracy. Remember, you're getting 50 of these bullets for a higher price than Hornady or Sierra's at 100 to a box.

For accuracy you won't be able to beat H4895, IMR4064 or Reloader15. A Tikka M995 I tinkered with several years ago prefered the Nosler 150gr BallisticTip over IMR3031. It "hated" Varget. Go figure!

 

[crimsoncomet]

Thanks guys. I am going to try to pick up some partitions this week. I almost ordered the sciroccos. The thing that interested me in them was the B.C. I know the partition is proven though. I have some 150 TTSX's that I picked up for $19. I might try as well. I have a feeling it will come down to the accuracy of those two bullets. BTW, the guy I will be hunting with said that the shots made would most likely be from 40 yards to 100 yards.

 

[tdot527]

you should check into the hornady sst

 

[cheygriz]

None of the above!

A whitetail isn't a Cape Buffalo!

Plain old Speer, Sierra,Hornady, Remington, or Winchester soft points.

1/3 the cost, and on deer at least, every bit as effective.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

^ What he said.
As for the powder choice, I like Varget for 150 grain bullets and IMR4350 for the heavier bullets. There are plenty of powder choices that are sufficient though.

 

[Walkalong]

Remington Core-Lokt or Nosler Partition. The other two are way too fancy for deer.

 

[kimbernut]

Overkill

I too am of the opinion the above bullets are overkill and way overpriced. Maybe not so much the partitions but Nosler Ballistic Tips, Remington CoreLokts, and Speer or Sierra SPBTs are plenty in 150 gr. and don't overlook IMR4064 powder- it's given me the most consistancy.

 

[DanTheFarmer]

Warning! Thread HiJack here. Feel free to move or delete if needed.

Cheygriz,

In your signature box you have a quote from General McArthur. You list his title as General of the Armies. In WWII 5 star generals (Ike, McArthur, Marshal, etc.) had the title General of the Army (Nimitz, King, Halsey, etc were Fleet Admirals).

General Pershing was the only General to ever hold the title General of the Armies while living. General George Washington had his title as Commanding General of the United States Army clarified in 1976 as part of the bi-centential celebration as also being General of the Armies.

It's the military, anything worth doing is worth over-doing, and writing regulations about.

Anyway, back to bullet selection for whitetail deer. I'm loading Hornady Interlocks and Sierra Pro-Hunters or Gamekings and think I'll be o.k..

Good Luck to all.

Dan

 

[FROGO207]

I personally prefer the tried and true Core-Lokt and I prefer to use 180 grain when it will work with the twist rate. This is in the 300 Savage, and bolt 308 I own. Always a bang-flop and good accuracy at reasonable ranges. These bullets have preformed for longer than a lot of us have been alive and are still able to compete with the new wonder bullets. No brainer for me, cheap and reliable are good qualities to have.

 

[DM~]

Personally, i'd be happy with any 165 cup/core bullet, but the 150NP would be even better, and give more penetration on rakeing shots.

Swifts are too tough for lightly constructed game, and i'm NOT a big fan of the Barnes for the same reason. The NP's easily have them beat for an "all around" bullet!

DM

 

[788Ham]

Give the Hornady 150 grain Spire Point a go, we've used them in Colorado for 40 some years now, never had a big Mulie complain any!

 

[68wj]

I'm just going to say it 'cause nobody else has. TTSX. Yeah, they are more than you need for whitetail, but why not load a little overkill? They expand reliably and stay together. As long as they are accurate in your rifle, and you're thinking about them, I say go for it.

 

[Funshooter45]

I mostly shoot Hornady 150 gr in my .308. Either the Interlock SST or the spire point, whatever I happen to see on sale. And I recently got a couple boxes of Sierra 150 spitzers because they were on a great sale. They all seem to shoot very accurately and I would believe they would be fine for deer too. I just never seem to be packing the .308 with me though when I decide to actually shoot a deer. But based on how all my other cartridges and bullets handle our mule deer, I don't think it's very critical as to what bullet hits them. Any bullet works if you hit them in a good spot.

 

[howlnmad]

40 to 100 yards? Save your money and go with the core-lokt from Remmington. They'll do more than what you're going for. Just my .02 worth.

 

[cheygriz]

Dan the Farmer, Thank you! I stand corrected!