Does anyone actually prefer round nose bullets?

[Dogger]

I know that the modern spitzer has many advantages... but do any of you actually prefer hunting with round nose bullets? Does anyone load up their 6.5, 7mm, or .308 with round nose bullets for hunting? Hornady offers a round nose interlock in a wide variety of calibers. What are your pet loads and for what game? Thanks.

[opusxx]

remington 180 gr corelockt and 165 gr spire point.
i know that the ballistic tip is all the rave now but i have seen to many people shoot close in game w/ them and lose the game. i think they are best used out of 100 yards.
then what do you do when one walks up at 25 yards.
i like the consistancy of the coelockt's. i have been using them in my 308 BLR for 13 years w/ optimum results.

[Al Thompson]

You don't really get the advantages of spitzers until you go past 200 yards. The nice thing about roundnose bullets is that you have a bit more room to adjust the bullet seating depth if you reload. My experiance indicates that they shoot much better than folks realize.

My favorite whitetail load for close hunting was the .30 caliber 170 grain Nosler Partition flatpoint. I used it in an '06 with great results. I'll probably resurrect something similar for my .308 Scout.

Giz

[Poodleshooter]

My 30/30's tubular magazine does Seriously though, most folks are kidding themselves loading up for Eastern whitetails with the most expensive spitzer boattails. A flat base spitzer is all you need, and under 150 yds, there's no practical difference for the round nose either. I have some 180gr core-lokt roundnoses loaded up as my .308 black bear load.

[BadMedicine]

Unless I wanna pay over $2. a pop, that's all that available for my .375 H&H. My bullets are already between $1.25-$1.50 each. Guess that just what you have to deal with for a descent coyote load All I've bought for my .30-06 have been round nose too. The bullets I bought were 180gr. Cuz I was going to use it for moose, before I got my bigger gun. I think I'm going to get into reloading soon. My shooting is getting more expensive all the time.

[Al Thompson]

Bad - you won't spend less money, but you will shoot more! :-)

Giz

[Dave McC]

Back around 84,I got a wild hair and worked up a "brush" load for the '06. Starting with the 170 gr Nosler Ballistic tip flatnose used in the 30-30, it used a starting load of IMR 4350 to give maybeso 2600 FPS MV. 100 yard groups were cloverleafs if I did my part. The only deer I got with that load was a cripple I finished off for someone,but it had a lot of potential. Shortly thereafter WE got another baby in, so I sold that 06 and most of the other fun stuff.

[Nevada Fitch]

Well,everybody has different experiences,I have shot deer with all kinds of calibers and bullets except the more expensive high dollar bullets.And MY favorite round for deer is a 200grain Sierra round nose loaded behind 58grains of H4895 in my 350 Remington Mag.with a 22inch barrel.That big round nose slaps deer hard.I have had more one shot drop them in their tracks kills with that load than any thing else I have used.One bullet that I personaly think is too heavy for deer is the 180 grain corelock spitzer in 308.I have seen several failures to expand with that factory round on deer by me and others.another round that has worked fine for me is a Speer 180grain Flat-SP loaded behind 59grains of H4895 in my 350.What is really nice is both loads the Sierra and the Speer hit at exactly the same point of impact at 200 yds for me.I can use them both interchangeably.

[Tony Rumore]

As a kid, I shot a lot of deer and hogs with a Ruger #1A, .243 using Hornady 100gr round nose bullets. They always worked fine for me.

[beertrucker]

Nevada, glad to hear your post. I know you shouldn't do buisness with family, but I did. My wifes nephew had to have my Interarms MK-X in 350 RemMag. The next year I was just as amazed as him when the ammo was discontinued. I loaned him a gun last year and told him to get some dies and I'd work up a load for it. Two nights ago he showed up witha box of those 200 gr round noses and a rusty set of 35Rem dies.Duh. Of course Wis deer season starts a weeek from sat and there are no dies available at any local shops. He's getting real pissy about the whole thing even when I sold him the gun that with the price of ammo it would be best to load for it. I really like th rifle and will be buying it back as soon as I can get the checkbook in order. Ya got any other pet loads? What do ya think the trajectory is with that 200 gr load? This is a custom assembled rifle with a nice stiff barrel and synthetic stock. beertrucker-x

[Nevada Fitch]

Beertrucker,that 200grain load drops about 10 inches at 300yds with a 200yd zero give or take a little.Those loads have worked so good for me on deer that I haven't tried much else in it.I may work up a good 250grain load some day when I get time.Ken Waters shows some loads all the way up to a 300Barnes at 2250fps.He also shows several loads for 250grain bullets up to almost 2500fps in his book on pet loads.That book is well worth the money for handloaders.

[BadMedicine]

This is a chart from an article in the "November 2000 North american hunter" magazine that I got in the mail today.
The article is called " "What's the point" and is on page 86.



The chart show's how a .30-06 springfield, 180 gr. bullet reacts. The The red line is the round nose, the blue is ballistic (pointed) tip. (I included that, cuz I didn't know how the pic would show. )

You don't really get the advantages of spitzers until you go past 200 yards.

Boy did Giz. hit that nail on the head!! They're dead on at 200, but the ballistic only drops 5" at 300, where the round nose goes 10'.

[This message has been edited by BadMedicine (edited November 09, 2000).]

[L0gJammer]

I prefer round nosed bullets, you bet! I've killed Elk (Wapiti) up to 400yds away. They are the hammer of Thor as far as I'm concerned. The impact kinetic energy knocks bulls off their feet. The rounds maintain full weight as the mushroom and it's a rare occasion the those bulls get back up. I've taken many bulls since I stated hunting in 1963. I won't use anything else. I just wish I could find a store that carries them.

[jimbob86]

Talk about a Zombie Thread, back the dead.... Post #12 was from the last year of the Clinton Administration! .... anyhoo .... I load round nose 170 gr bullets for my Bubbafied 1888 Commission Rifle... they are soft enough to open at the low impact velocities produced by the gun....

[VoodooMountain]

There are kids driving that weren't even conceived when this thread started....

[jimbob86]

This thread started 7 years before I joined this forum!

[Wyosmith]

I do in some rifles.
I am very fond of the results I have gotten with 30 cal 220 grains in both 30-06 and 300 H&H, 300 grain 375H&H, and 400 grain bullets in my 404 and 416. I also use them exclusively in my 6.5X54 Mann/Scho. 160 grain.

In the 30 cals, 220s have been about the deadliest 30 cal bullets I have ever shot.

I have used them in the past in a 308 Winchester, 180 gr, and had nothing bad to say about them, but in the 308 I can't say they were any different in their effects than my 180 grain Spitzers. I killed some deer with them at about 275 yards with a Smith Enterprises M14 and they worked just as well as anything else I have ever used.

Another one that was quite good was the 117 grain RN from a 25-06 but again I can't say it was any different then the 117 and 120 grain spritzers I have used from the same rifle on the same kind of game. Good, but no better than the good spritzers.

One that was outstanding was the old Remington 150 gr RN in 270. But sadly they don't make them the same today. I bought several thousand of them back in the early 70s and I have used them for hunting for over 4 decades and I have never kept one in any game animal I have ever shot up to big elk, and I also killed farm animals with them. Horses and cattle. They exit and give a wonderful wound. They are one of the best bullets I ever used. But the jackets are not as thick today I am told. I have exactly 113 of them left, and I think when they are gone it's not likely I'll ever get more. But now that I am in my 60s it's also unlikely I'll kill 113 more game animals with my 270s either, so I should not gripe.
Here is a picture of one of then cut lengthwise. it's the one on top, next to a 200 grain 8MM.


In the very near future I am going to try the 286 grain PPU 9.3MM round nose bullets on game. I think I'll like them because of the reports I see, but so far i have not shot anything with one.

[Mobuck]

When my deer rifle was an open sight Remington 760 in 30/06 and my expectation of shot range was under 200 yards, 180 RN CoreLokt was my choice of bullet. I haven't used a RN bullet since 1972.

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

Bumping around thru the woods with my favorite firearm. There is only one grain weigh jacketed Rd nose bullet available for my rifle. Because of that non-selection "I feel rather slighted!! Because I can't keep 5 different grain weights on hand like everyone one else may for a single cartridge."

Just a auspicious 170 grain SP bullet seated in a cartridge that does what its suppose to do at applicable ranges since 1901 >32 Special.

[FrankenMauser]

Wow. A thread so old that Tony Rumore (owner of Tromix) was still posting here.


I load RNs for 7.62x54R, .30-30, .307 Win, 7x57mm, and .30-06. And I used to load them for a few other things.
Round nose expansion is more consistent and predictable in game.

But, otherwise... it's mostly for filling the throat of a chamber, or keeping tubular magazines from chain-firing.

Round nose bullets are not obsolete. They're just not the latest fad.

[riverratt]

My preferred whitetail load for years was a 180gr sierra pro-hunter RN bullet loaded at around 2700 fps out of my 30-06. I could keep a 1 1/2" 5 shot group at 100 yards and a 3" group at 200 yards. It's an extremely effective woods load and fully capable of doing the job out past 300 yards. During the shortage I switched over to a sierra 165 gr HPBT gameking due to supply. Once my supply of gamekings runs out I'll likely go back to the pro-hunter but dang that gameking is accurate and effective, just not as effective as that pro-hunter inside of 50 yards. I just don't like a bullet that comes apart on game.

[jmr40]

I know this is an OLD thread and this quote was from 7 years ago, but it is dead wrong.

You don't really get the advantages of spitzers until you go past 200 yards.

Fire some 180 gr RN bullets out of a 300 WM at around 3000 fps and some modern 180 gr spitzers out of a 30-06 at 2800 fps. At the muzzle the 300 WM is faster with more energy. But at only 100 yards the 30-06 load is now faster with more energy. At 300 yards the 30-06 will be 300 fps faster even though it started 200 fps slower and have an additional 600 ft lbs of energy. In fact my 308 loaded with spitzers matches a 300WM loaded with RN bullets in speed and energy at only 150 yards. Trajectory however just isn't all that much different at least out to 300 yards.

When most guys consider a bullets BC they only look at trajectory. The old school method was to fire poor BC bullets as fast as possible. But by choosing modern bullets with good BC's I'm now able to carry a much lighter more compact 308 rifle and beat old school 300 WM performance. And do it with 1/2 the recoil.

Sixty or seventy years ago when bullet technology was still in it's infancy spitzers could not always be counted on expand reliably and still give good penetration. RN bullets could and it was worth giving up aerodynamics. RN bullets tended to expand more reliably at slower impact speeds so they were less of a disadvantage at longer ranges where speed was down.

But this isn't the 1940's or 50's. Bullets have improved dramatically and there is no practical reason to use RN bullets other than in tube magazines where pointed bullets might cause problems.

[jimbob86]

Fire some 180 gr RN bullets out of a 300 WM at around 3000 fps and some modern 180 gr spitzers out of a 30-06 at 2800 fps. At the muzzle the 300 WM is faster with more energy. But at only 100 yards the 30-06 load is now faster with more energy. At 300 yards the 30-06 will be 300 fps faster even though it started 200 fps slower and have an additional 600 ft lbs of energy. In fact my 308 loaded with spitzers matches a 300WM loaded with RN bullets in speed and energy at only 150 yards. Trajectory however just isn't all that much different at least out to 300 yards.

I think any deer sized game would be really unimpressed with the difference in energy- any hit in the vitals and they are dead before they know what hit them. So there "really" would not be any difference under 200, as Mr. Thompson stated back when I had but 3 children.... and they were just learning to ride tricycles .... now the oldest training to fly fighter jets.....

I note that Wyosmith says that Remington doesn't make his bullet the same way anymore ..... the market found better answers to the problem, apparently. I know my Grandfather used 150gr .270WIN for his elk way back when..... probably Remingtons.

[bamaranger]

I have a soft spot for Mannlicher stocked rifles and got a deal on a Mark X in '06 because the stock had been radically shortened by the previous owner. A pal runs a stockfitting business, and a thick pad and spacer, professionally installed, solved the problem and gave a custom fit. In keeping with the Euro look, the rifle got a fixed 6x Leupold in vertically split mounts, and I elected to shoot heavy roundnose slugs, ala the Mannlicher 6.5 tradition.

Right choice, for a wrong reason, but you can't argue with the results. My first batch of slugs were Nosler 200 gr Partitions. I don't need a 200 gr controlled expansion slug on a 150 lb whitetail, but man, did they group. They also kicked like snot when running just 2400 fps from the stubby 20" barreled carbine. My next batch utilized 180 gr Sierra's, velocity running 2475+, and recoil noticably reduced, accuracy was still outstanding.

The deer I've killed with the combo have all been under 100 yds, one dropped at the shot, the other ran about 30 yds. Given the splendid accuraacy, and the ease of shooting, I'll stay with that load. The rifle is a looker too, if I'm not seeing deer, I admire the Mannlicher Mark X.

[thallub]

When i want to make myself feel good i pick up some carefully prepared .308 reloads with 150 grain round nose Hornady bullets and a very accurate Remington 700 rifle. Then i go and shoot one half inch five shot groups at 100 yards.