What rifle caliber, bullet for the least meat loss & damage

[wildchild2010]

What is your combo you are using for hunting bear, deer, moose, elk to keep the meat damage to a minimum. Some guys use one caliber and others use a few.

0-100 yards
0-200 yards
200+ yards

 

[CoRoMo]

One caliber here; .270 Winchester.

Oh.. don't shoot them in a piece that you intend to eat, and this won't be a problem.

 

[jrdolall]

If you hit an animal in a muscle you will get massive damage with nearly any big game round. I hit a running deer in the ham with a .243 a few years ago when the first shot didn't knock her down and destroyed both rear quarters
30-06 is my go to round but I hae never hunted moose.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Controlled expansion bullets tend to damage less meat. Most meat damage is caused by fast moving, fast expanding type bullets.

 

[jmr40]

don't shoot them in a piece that you intend to eat, and this won't be a problem.

Do this and use the bullet that puts them down the fastest so you have less chance of losing all of the meat with an animal you don't recover.

 

[Kachok]

45-70 heavy hardcast, no expansion but it still puts them down. Slower bullets almost always destroy less meat then faster ones. That said even a nasty bullet right behind the shoulder won't destroy much if any, unless you eat deer ribs like me even a slow bullet hitting the shoulder bone can destry alot of meat, had a 140gr 6.5mm hit the shoulder socket at only about 2400fps but the bone acted like a fragmentation gernade and nearly destroyed both shoulders!

 

[LoonWulf]

Kachok called it, big, heavy, HARD, slow(ish) bullet would be your best bet. Personally I try to keep my shots behind the shoulder, even bullets that blow up dont usually damage too much of what im going to eat.

 

[Kachok]

Below 1900fps and no expansion you can eat right up to the hole. larger calibers can be hard on the shoulder though. When I can keep the entry and exit behind the shoulder I only loose a couple ounces of rib meat, even with nasty fast expanding ballistic tips. Halfway up the torso right behind the shoulder will destroy the lungs and not harm any prime meat, or you can just neck shoot them, but I recommend only using very fast expanding bullets for neck shots, despite common belif a harder bullet can pass through the neck without causing quick kills.

 

[TwoEyedJack]

I use to shoot deer in the shoulder with a .270 using a max loaded 130 gr. ballistic tip. Lots of damage and DRT. Now I shoot behind the shoulder in the ribs with a 130 gr. core lokt. Much less damage and the deer only goes a little farther. If I have time to really set up the shot, I like a high rib shot that takes out the bottom of the back bone without messing up the backstraps. Those are DRT and don't mess up much meat.

 

[critter]

LISTEN to the guys touting the old 45-70!

 

[Lloyd Smale]

22lr

 

[eastbank]

7mm08 with a 154 round nose at 2500fps if shot at 200yds or less works well.eastbank.

 

[Art Eatman]

I'll do the +1 thing with CoRoMo: Don't shoot into the eating part. Me, I've never had much interest in neck meat or the heart/lungs...

 

[MCgunner]

I've been really impressed with my .308 and Nosler 150 BTs. Not much meat loss and very deadly. Of course, my .257 Roberts with 100 grain Game King wasn't broke. Stay away from the 150 7mm game king in 7 mag, though, at least at short range. That one tears 'em up.

I don't have a .45-70, but finally got one this season with a .50 caliber 385 grain minie ball at about 1400 fps. Slow and pre-expanded seems to work for out to 100 yards.

 

[GuysModel94]

Stay away from the magnums, unless your feeding your ego!! My father always cautioned about over calipering.

 

[interlock]

i shoot 7mm08 with a quite "hard" hornady 139 gr interlock at about 2800 fps. when delivered in the neck (i don't eat much of that) it causes next to no damage or a broadside in the pocket kills very well with minimal damage... the faster the bullet... the more damage (rough rule of thumb).

in 30-06 i shoot 165gr soft points (also interlocks) for longer shots so it is a bit quicker at the muzzle. i also put that in the pocket or the neck. The broadside shot goes through the ribs and out of the ribs. very little damage.

i think the most damaging combination i have used is a .243 with 80 gr bullets on deer.

 

[MCgunner]

Stay away from the magnums, unless your feeding your ego!! My father always cautioned about over calipering.

One uses a bigger, controlled expansion bullet with the magnums for bigger game like Elk. I consider the 7mm and 300 mags pretty ideal for bigger game like that, but a bit much on mulies. BUT, I was glad I had my 7 shooting 370 yards across a New Mexico canyon at a mulie buck. The big magnums ain't just about ego. They put down good energy way out there and shoot flat. On bigger game, the controlled expansion bullets assure penetration with your expansion. If you're using one for heavy brush whitetail hunting, go to a big bullet to minimize expansion OR, as I figured when I picked the 7 mag over .280 or 7-08 (I like 7mm bullets), I can load my magnum down to mimic your 7-08 or even less, but you ain't gonna push a 150 grain bullet any 3200 fps. RL22 is a great powder for full power loads, but I really haven't messed with squib loads in the gun and since getting my .308, I haven't really used it much.

 

[Skyshot]

I like the 160 gr. Nosler Accubond in a 7mm RM, pushing around 2900 fps at the muzzel. We've used it on bear,moose,caribou and whitetails. The bullet stays together pretty well. The bullet can get a little more violent when pushed above 3000 fps. when shooting inside 100 yards. I've got about 55 or so whitetail kills with it and they've all had a nice nickel to quarter size exit hole. Same with most of the bigger critters inside of 300 yards.

 

[TGReaper]

It has been my experience that the smaller fast cartridges are inclined to do a great deal of damage if the shot is a bit off.( I know this never happens to us great shots)
The .270 to 30-06 group are bad in this case but the toy mags .264, 7mm and .300s are real messy if things don't go exactly right.
I believe that most of the people that shoot them will agree with me when I suggest that the .375 H&H is about as good as it gets when it comes to killing with a minimum of eating meat distruction.
TGR

 

[Derry 1946]

32-20.

 

[wildchild2010]

45-70 heavy hardcast, no expansion but it still puts them down. Slower bullets almost always destroy less meat then faster ones. That said even a nasty bullet right behind the shoulder won't destroy much if any, unless you eat deer ribs like me even a slow bullet hitting the shoulder bone can destry alot of meat, had a 140gr 6.5mm hit the shoulder socket at only about 2400fps but the bone acted like a fragmentation gernade and nearly destroyed both shoulders!

I hear the good ole' 45-70 and the 444 Marlin with cast work pretty good. Does it make a mess of the meat if you hit bone or is it thru and thru hole.

 

[wildchild2010]

22lr

Lloyd, hey now you be nice.

 

[wildchild2010]

For the 200+ yards shots what are you using ing the 7mm Rem Mag, 300 Win Mag, 30-06.
Or just do neck head shots.

 

[Hawghunter68]

270win. shooting 130 grain nosler partitions,prefer to shoot the shoulders if I can.In my part of NC this is all I need for deer,bear and hogs with minimum loss of meat.

 

[T Bran]

300 WIN MAG
You can load it down to 30/30 velocities or up to full power depending on what you are shooting at. If you reload check out H4895 for reduced loadings. A really fast bullet will destroy more meat regardless of caliber.
+ another one for not shooting the parts you plan on eating.