Sometime choosing a bullet for deer is way overthought.

[pete2]

Any hunting bullet will kill a deer. The logical thing to do with a new rifle is to start with Win. Power Points or Rem Cor-Loks. If accurate your good to go, if not try something else. A deer don't know if you shot him with a .50 bullet or a 5.00 one. You do have to put the bullet where it counts.

[AllenJ]

Yes we can overthink bullet selection, but how many people have seen those that under think it? I remember in my youth being told all you need to do is file the tips off military ball ammo for my 30-06 and it would make the best hunting ammo. I've also have a friend who decided to use Sierra Match bullets while hunting one year. His lesson came in the fashion of one very long and rugged drag up out of a deep brushy canyon.

[Gunplummer]

I would like to know who started all the "Penetration" nonsense when it comes to whitetails. I suspect it was bullet manufacturers pushing a new line of bullets. A couple weeks ago I ran into a guy in the local sports shop picking up some .22 Hornet ammo he ordered. That is all he and his brother have used for deer since I know them, and they don't head shoot them either. I am really leery of "Deep penetrating" bullets because a lot of them don't expand well at closer range shots.

[Doyle]

Gunplummer, I'm going to disagree with you about penetration. I think it is very important. No matter how much a bullet expands, there are going to still be deer that don't drop immediately. For those that run, I want a good blood trail. The best way to insure a good blood trail is an exit hole.

[samsmix]

...and yet look at all the Silver/Bronze/Ballistic tip bullets that kill deer every year. Give me a proper deer rifle, and I'll take a healthy dose of energy dumping expansion. Start using the adequate but not ideal gopher guns on deer and then yeah, penetration becomes an issue.

[jmr40]

I am really leery of "Deep penetrating" bullets because a lot of them don't expand well at closer range shots.

You've got it backwards, all of the premiums that penetrate deep expand very well at close range. It is at longer ranges where expansion becomes an issue.

Basically you have very soft bullets that expand well at slower speeds, but over expand if pushed too fast at closer range. On the other extreme you have hard bullets that penetrate very well and expand up close, but are poor choices for longer ranges where speed has slowed. And many others that are somewhere in between.

There isn't really a wrong choice. It is up to the shooter to know and understand how the particular bullet he is using works and not ask it to do something it wasn't designed to do.

The cheaper bullets such as core-lokts from Remington are all the bullet most people will ever need. At reasonable ranges on typical game they work just fine. But pushed too fast and shot at close range and they will not hold together. They don't have proper aerodynamics for longer shots either. Just as the OP stated, from a 308 and at no more than 300 yards they are just fine.

Even though I know they'll work just fine I cannot afford to shoot as much as I'd like purchasing factory 308 loads. Hornady interlocks are my most used bullet and they are comparable to Core-lokts. But I still like the premium bullets for some uses. They are too expensive to plink with at the range, but for hunting an extra 30 cents to kill a deer is nothing compared to all the other costs associated with hunting. The cost savings of 200 Nosler Accubonds vs 200 Hornady Interlocks won't pay for a tank of gas in truck. 200 of either bullet will last me many years of hunting. A tank of gas is about 350 miles of driving.

[Gunplummer]

I don't have anything backwards. Some bullets will not expand until the velocity drops to within a certain range. I personally have had issues with .257 117 grain Hornadys under 100 yards. I have talked to two other people that had the same problem, although one was using a .243 bullet. Hit a deer in the lungs and it just pokes a hole through. I was lucky and got a second shot to the shoulder. Bullets are funny things. I used to test fire guns through a heavy cardboard tube (Deaden the noise) into tightly packed and tied newspapers about 2 feet from the muzzle. You would be surprised how many soft point bullets would go 10"-12" deep and barely blunt the end. I suspect a lot of the newer, hotter rounds would have poor expansion at a close range. The bullets are put together so they don't fly apart before they get to the target.
As always, it pretty much comes back to the type of hunting you do.

[stubbicatt]

I agree!~

Choose a soft lead cast bullet in 45-70, a case full of black, an inexpensive wad, and you're off to the rodeo!

(Nevermind all this newfangled jacketed bullet/smokeless powder/bolt actioned rifle craze... it will pass!)

[dahermit]

If the musk oxen or mastidons start trampling my roses or eating my garden, I might go to a 200 gr. with wide meplat at 2,000 fps.

The name Musk Oxen, erroneously leads people to think that hey are a large animal, bigger an Elk or Moose. Not so. I have seen them on National Geographic relative to the size of a man, and they are but the size of domestic sheep. I was really surprised. So if follows then, that they would not require a hugely powerful cartridge.

[tdoyka]

jaysouth Premium bullets?

I cast a 165 gr Ranch Dog bullet of wheel weights, lead and a little bit of tin.

At 1,900 fps out of a 30-30 or 308, they will kill anything that bleeds at 100 yards. Actually, I have only used them on white tail deer and feral pigs, but the performance on either is a one shot kill. A flat meplat imparts most of the energy and the penetration is the length of two deer of width of two 300 lb pigs.

If the musk oxen or mastidons start trampling my roses or eating my garden, I might go to a 200 gr. with wide meplat at 2,000 fps.

oh crap!!! no wonder deer are escaping!!!(right into my grill)

i use 165gr ranch dog out of my 30-40 krag going about 1800fps. then theres my 444 marlin with its 275gr ranch dogs, and my 45-70 with 350gr ranch dog.

[rickyrick]

If ammo came in a white box and plainly said "soft point"
Would it sell more or less than the same ammo packed in a flashy box with a glossy black box and metallic colored raised lettering?

How about a cool cross-section graphic of the bullet itself?

Or what about a description about the special molecular construction and the jacket is bonded with a distinct fussion of science and art in Rockwell's Retro encabulator.
If you don't know what a retro encabulator is... Look it up

I've had some good luck with plain ole grand pop's hunting ammo.

[Pathfinder45]

The best factory ammo came in yellow boxes with red and blue lettering.

[Erno86]

I like to use premium bullets for all of my big game hunting --- when it comes to bone crushing performance and complete pass-thru's for a better blood trail --- though I have to be aware of what's beyond the target animal.

My current bullet preference is the Barnes TSX.

[tahoe2]

In my very limited experience plain ole Remington Core-Lokt bullets have dumped every deer I've shot with 1 shot.

[TimSr]

I'm mostly a pistol hunter, so bullet selection is a lot more critical, but even when I do use a rifle I always use a premium bullet. I'm partial to Nosler Partitions or Speer Grand Slams because I know they will work. In most hits, it may make no difference at all. In some it might. I hate the "just as dead" cliche because WHERE it dies is important to me. Nothing is guarenteed but I want the very best odds in my favor. When you consider all the expense of a big game hunt, and then you look the difference in the cost of ammo, and translate it into cost per round, and how many years it will last you, a $2 or $3 annual savings on the couple rounds you fired to take your game is inconsequential.

[Paul B.]

For many more years than I care to count, I used the plain old cup and core Sierra 150 gr. Pro-hunters in my 30-06. I can remember when they were not even called that. I shot and deer died. Used then in the .308 for a while as I was not hunting in very high mountains and as I was a heavy smoker at the time, that almost 10 pound 1903 Springfield shorter was a tad too heavy.
I just did not like the way the 150 gr. PH mangled up good eating meat on less than perfect shots so went to the 165 gr. Speer Hot-Core for the .308 and 180 gr. Sierra Pro-hunter for the 30-06. In 1978, while still living in Nevada, I shot the biggest and heaviest bodied Mule Deer I have ever seen. I hit it twice using my 06 and the 180 gr. Nobler Partition. Shots were at roughly 30 to 45 feet. Deer was apparently unfazed so shot #3 was used to break it's neck. Upon opening up the deer, the shot I believe was first had cut a groove in the top of the heart without opening the organ. Shot #2 punched through both lungs in a pencil sized hole. No sign of any expansion. I stayed away from premium bullets after that and only went to a 225 gr. Barnes TSX for hunting elk with my .35 Whelen. Took my elk this year with a 30-06 and 165 gr. Nosler Accubond.
Paul B.

[samsmix]

I submit to the group that any deer CORRECTLY shot with a cup and core bullet from a GENUINE deer rifle (.25 caliber to .35 caliber, starting velocity of at least 2000 fps, bullet weight of at least 100gr), within the cartridges effective range, will be DRT or very nearly so

[lefteye]

For roughly 40 years I have enjoyed developing the best loads for hunting with my .223, .243, .270 and .300 Win Mag using a variety of bullets, cases, primers, and powders and my RCBS reloading equipment. Of course I can't guarantee all of my hunting loads were superior to factory ammo, but I know they were very accurate and successful in rifles much less costly than the OP's beautiful Kimber (I'd have a Kimber or two if I was much younger.)

[Pathfinder45]

I have never used corelokt on deer. But I can tell you that using using Speer 130 grain spitzers in a 270 Winchester seems to be an utter death-ray on deer.

[WV_gunner]

I usually use Winchester Super X or blue box Federals. For .45 Colt and .45-70 I do use LeveRevolution but that's because they are cheaper. With Super X in a .243 it'll go through light brush and still fragment in a deer at 300 yards. Usually the heart and lungs look like they went through a blender. It's not uncommon to find an exit wound from a piece of the bullet. With .30-30 and .30-06 you can shoot through small trees (can't always see everything in brush), shoot the deer, and still have an exit wound. I actually have a .44 mag rated spinning 3/8ths thick target that was shot with 150 grain Super X .30-30. Not only did it spin, it put a .30 caliber hole in it, and that's at 75 yards. (Against manufactures recommendations) I've shot this same target with FMJ 9mm and 9x18 out of several guns, it's had a few hundred FMJ hits at less than 25 yards without a problem. It's been shot with everything including hunting .44 mag loads, I had no idea a .30-30 at that distance would hurt it. If I wasn't a firm believer in regular bullets in a .30-30, I would've been after that. Penetration is not a question.

[Boogershooter]

I don't think it is too over thought because at deer camp bullet selection is the second biggest argument. Caliber selection is #1. Remington vs winchester is third lol. Some people don't like to track deer and some don't mind. IMHO softer rapid expansion bullets provide more DRT shots on deer than harder bullets. Especially in larger calibers. I tried nosler partitions in all of my .30 cals from 308 to 300 weatherby and they were all pass thru's and only 1 DRT. The 25-06 partition expands very well. Winchester ballistic tips provide DRT shots almost everytime, but only pass thru about 50% of the time. Some people just like what they like and most people that blame the bullets are just making excuses for a bad shot.

[WV_gunner]

I think out in the real world most people that hunt don't give much thought into what they are shooting bullet wise. Most just go with Winchester or Remington and call it good enough. The biggest question is what caliber you're shooting. Then it's the action. Third is probably wood or synthetic stock. Most people seem to wait for a couple days before season starts to buy ammo and get a box of whatever is left.

[Pathfinder45]

Got Silvertips?

[Pathfinder45]

If you simply must hunt with factory ammo, look for this: http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=503363583

[dgludwig]

QUOTE: In my testing, the 150PP had 10-12" more drop @ 300 yards vs Remington 150 CoreLokt/Hornady 150 Interlock with similar 100 yard zero.

Ballistically, this doesn't make any sense to me. A foot of extra drop using equivalent bullets in terms of weight and similar velocity, irregardless of the bullet's profile, seems a bit much to me. I've bench tested many rifles using these same bullets and have never seen this much disparity in terms of drop between the two, everything else being for the most part equal.

In terms of "killing power", I do prefer the "Core-Lokt" bullet but I wouldn't feel at much of a disadvantage using a "Power Point" bullet, at least for deer hunting. As the op implied, "...choosing a bullet for deer is way overthought".