Best bullet for short range deer hunting?

[Scorch]

Rather than try to get you to buy another rifle, I think a stroll down the ammo aisle at your local sporting goods store is in order. I believe it's Federal that loads the Barnes TTSX bullets in their ammo. Since they are a solid metal bullet, impact velocity doesn't matter, so they work whether they're going 3,000 fps or 1,000 fps.

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by Scorch

Rather than try to get you to buy another rifle, I think a stroll down the ammo aisle at your local sporting goods store is in order. I believe it's Federal that loads the Barnes TTSX bullets in their ammo. Since they are a solid metal bullet, impact velocity doesn't matter, so they work whether they're going 3,000 fps or 1,000 fps.

I am a huge Barnes fan. Having said that, they flat out suck at low velocity. At low velocity, they punch a tiny, clean hole that usually gets skin sealed and does not bleed much. Think FMJ.

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by T. O'Heir

It's not about the distance. It's about velocity. Any 150 grain SP or, preferably, a 165 grain SP out of a .30-06. You do not need a high priced premium bullet like any No$ler.
Any 165 grain hunting bullet out of a .30-06 will kill any game in North America with no fuss. The brand makes no difference. Partial to IMR4064 myself.
There's no game in North America that requires a Magnum of any kind to kill. Including big bear.
The "on top of a really brushy knob" part will matter too. That's about where you aim not the bullet though.

Why you use premium powder like IMR? There is a lot of cheaper stuff out there that will kill any game in North America. Get some cheap powder behind those cheap bullets. There is still a lot of Korean war era pull down stuff available really cheap.

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by ReloadKy

Last deer season I loaded 140 gr SGK for the 7 Mag and 165 Nosler ballistic tips for the 30-06. Unfortunately I never saw anything that I wanted to shoot so I did not get to determine bullet on game performance. Seems to be a pretty fair consensus that my 06 load is fine and that I should bump up the bullet weight in the the 7 mag a bit.

I have had 140 gr Game King failure in my 7 Rem mag. Shot a buck at about 80 yds. Hit shoulder blade. Deer ran off. Killed him 2 weeks later. The largest piece of bullet penetrated less than 2 ". Some of the fragments probably made 3" Blew the bullet to pieces. Deer had gangrene. I kept rack and threw entire deer away. That was 25 years ago and the ladt time I hunted with a Gameking. He got shot the second time with a 148 HotCor.

[reynolds357]

My advice in 06 is a 150 ballistic tip.
7 mag 150 ballistic tip also.(I shoot deer with them out of my RUM and my WSM and they stay together good enough to do massive damage.)

[Longshot4]

A 7 Mag. is what can actually make a lot of mince meat that is unusable meet. Its great for 300yds.> in open country and even then it would be destroying lots of meat. My favorite round in the 100 Yd. brush shots would be my 358 Win. 200 gr. silvertip in my Browning mod. 81 lever action. It hits hard and drops them where they stand. All though only with light brush close to the deer where I might not see it would be acceptable. I always check for twigs out there that can deflect any bullet. The closer the twig is to you. The greater it can be nocked off its course. The closer the bullet is to the target the closer a larger piece of the bullet will hit its mark. Avoid hitting any thing IN front of the target. A crippled deer is not good at all.

[Nathan]

I would find a nice minimum load with a traditional round nose like the Hornady Interlock.

[Pathfinder45]

Another option is to use 30-30 bullets in your 30-'06. They will expand more violently at 30-'06 velocities, so maybe you should throttle them back to perhaps 2600 fps or so. Nosler makes a 170 grain Partition for the 30-30 that should work excellently for this purpose in your 30-'06. "Think about it......."

[reynolds357]

I dont think many of you take modern bullet technoly into account. We now have bullets that perform well at high velocity. We dont have to reduce loads like was necessary back in the day.

[hooligan1]

Longshot4, have you taken deer with a 7 magnum?

[Jakeway]

I hunt similar terrain in Tennessee. My average distance for rifle shots has been 51 yards; only two were shot at 100 yards or longer. I've shot deer with several calibers from 243 to 308, and I've settled on 140 gr .264 bullets at about 2600 fps from my 260 REM. I used to use Ballistic Tips and SSTs, but now use Cup N Core like Hornady Interlock, Sierra Pro Hunter, or Speer Hot Core.

My most recent deer was a dandy 11 pt 4.5 yr old, shot at 30 yards with an 1873 Lever action 45 colt with a 255 gr lead flat nose at 1150 fps. The buck ran about 80 yards with a hole through both lungs and his heart.

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by Jakeway

I hunt similar terrain in Tennessee. My average distance for rifle shots has been 51 yards; only two were shot at 100 yards or longer. I've shot deer with several calibers from 243 to 308, and I've settled on 140 gr .264 bullets at about 2600 fps from my 260 REM. I used to use Ballistic Tips and SSTs, but now use Cup N Core like Hornady Interlock, Sierra Pro Hunter, or Speer Hot Core.

My most recent deer was a dandy 11 pt 4.5 yr old, shot at 30 yards with an 1873 Lever action 45 colt with a 255 gr lead flat nose at 1150 fps. The buck ran about 80 yards with a hole through both lungs and his heart.

Ballistic tip and SST are not cup and Core? What are they?

[Unclenick]

A cup-and-core bullet just means the jacket was formed from a gilding metal cup and the core was a separate material, usually a lead alloy added by swaging it into the cup at some stage of the jacket forming. So, yes, the Ballistic Tip and SST are cup-and-core bullets, too.

Examples of bullets that are not cup-and-core would be: Any of the Barnes or Hornady or other solids. The Speer Gold Dot rifle bullets (they have plated jackets). Cast bullets or turned brass or bronze bullets.

[black mamba]

Nick, the Partitions would not be cup and core, would they?

[Scorch]

Partitions are cup and core, they just have 2 cups and 2 cores. If the front core separates from the jacket on impact, the remaining core retains about half the bullet weight and will carry the bullet through whatever you're shooting. I used Partitions for a number of years, and my only gripe was the cost of the bullets, about twice what others cost. Never had a problem with the bullets themselves.

[hooligan1]

Agree with Scorch, great bullets but pricey.

[HiBC]

One deer story does not mean much. I don't deer hunt a lot.Last mule deer buch I shot was at about two hundred yards with my 30-338 .

It was elk season. Took a deer break.Thats why the big gun. I was shooting 200 gr Accubonds at 2900 fps.

Placement was a high double kung shot. Ribs,lungs,ribs. The buck dropped like a stone in his tracks,body upright,legs folded under body.

Exit hole about 2 in dia,but no big bomb crater inside. I think my 257 would mess up more meat.. That heavy Accubond kept integrity enough to not blow up a lot of meat.

In my opinion, 30-06 with a 180 gr Accubond or Ballistic Tip will penetrate through and do the job.

I think you'll get a little less meat damage with the Accubond,which pays the extra cost. As Wyosmith says,its the bullet hole that kills.On a deer,I'd expect a little larger hole from the Ballistic tip .Maybe the bigger hole will kill him deader.

I'd expect ,generally,more destruction from a higher velocity 150 gr bullet.

I'd expect the 7mm Mag to mess up more meat. I'd use the 30-06 with a 180

Accubond .

Less destructive on a deer but everything you need for elk.

[reynolds357]

I like the partition. Great performance on game. I wish they would offer a higher b.c. version of the bullet.
My favorite bullet was the Failsafe until it disappeared. It was kind of a hybrid between the partition and the Barnes X.

[HiBC]

A Partition would certainly work.

In this case,my suggestion to use n Accubond ,or a Partition,or any other premium bullet was not because its neededto hold up to a deer at 30-06 velocity.Same with the 180 gr bullet.

The cheapest 150 gr load you can find on the shelf is more than adequate to take deer at 100 yds with a 30=06.

Its harder to predict exactly what a bullet will do on game than which way a chicken will run.

But generally a tougher,heavier bullet from a 30-06 will make a good kill on a deer without leaving a watermelon size crater of mushed and shredded bloodshot meat.

[7.62 man]

Yes I have tried the Barnes & I have found them to open a lot better than others but I get a flyer 1 out of 5 rounds out of my gun.
I have even tried reloading my own hunting rounds with a 150gr that opened up better than the Barnes but after 50yds it was done, dropped like a rock after that.
Hornady 110gr v-max holds a hardball sized group at 100yds.
As long as get a kill every time I pull the trigger I'll shoot anything. The Hornady does that for me.

[RaySendero]

HiBC wrote:
A Partition would certainly work.

.....

The cheapest 150 gr load you can find on the shelf is more than adequate to take deer at 100 yds with a 30-06.
.

Yes, Even the cheapest factory ammo for either the 7RM or 30-06 is more than adequate to take deer at 100 yards.

I reload the 150 NPT for my wife's 30-06 at a reduced velocity just 100 fps faster than a 30-30. It will take deer to 150 yards (maybe more) expand, make 2 holes and doesn't do meat damage.

[Jakeway]

Originally Posted by reynolds357

Ballistic tip and SST are not cup and Core? What are they?

My bad; should have been more specific. I meant cup and core bullets (like Interlock, Pro Hunter, or Hot Cor) with exposed lead, rather than polymer tips.

Deer are easy to kill, unless you hit them in a bad place.

[pete2]

Shoot them behind the shoulder, all you mess up is ribs on the off side. At close range(100 yards of less) you should be able to pick your shot. Don't shoot them in the meat.

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by pete2

Shoot them behind the shoulder, all you mess up is ribs on the off side. At close range(100 yards of less) you should be able to pick your shot. Don't shoot them in the meat.

Shoot them like my cousin shot his last deer. Shot in the rear end, then the front foot, then knocked hair off the top of back, but missed spine, and finally a shot in the neck finished him off. He is a fine marksman. He shot an antler off of a nice buck a few years back. His land borders mine so I hear the battle begin whenever he decides to shoot a deer.

[Blindstitch]

I recovered a deer from the property where I hunt (someone was trespassing) that was shot in the front hoof/ankle and nose. No meat lost on that one. I'm actually surprised the deer died. I found blood at 3pm dropping off stuff to my blind before the next day hunt. Mentioned seeing blood and my dad came back with me at 8pm. We jumped the deer 3 times but came back around midnight and it was dead.