Best .308 and .270 Bullet for Close Range on Deer?

Well, now's your chance.:)

You can learn everything you need to know right here on TFL, in the reloading forum. Check the sticky threads, buy yourself a manual (Lyman 49th is good), read it and then ask your questions.

Commercial ammo loaded with the Barnes bullets is very, very expensive. You'll be lucky to get 3 boxes for under $100, I've seen some calibers as high as $47/box of 20.

The bullets themselves run about $35 for 50, you can load your ammo for about 85 cents each, or $17/20. If you shoot 50 rounds a year, that saves you $85 a year or so.

Plus, you'll find what you learn in the pursuit of reloading to be worth the cost of admission just on it's own. Many folks also get as much enjoyment from reloading as they do from shooting.

Me, I'm not a reload for the fun of it guy but the amount that I get to shoot for the same money as commercial ammo is astounding. You ultimately won't save any money, if you don't end up spending more, but the knowledge you gain and the additional shooting you get to do is priceless.:)

You can get set up to load for those two calibers for $300 or so and up from there, depending on what you decide for optional equipment.
 
I tend to use heavy for caliber bullets or tough constructed bullets as long as they group tight, people say that I am wasting half my bullets energy out the far side, good thing I got four times as much as I need :D As an added bonus high penetration bullets can be used at off angles without compromising ethical kills, and normally they tear up less meat, though a heavy bone hit can be messy with any bullet. I like exit wounds, if I don't get through and through I try another bullet. There are some fast expanders I use but I only take clean double lung or neck shots with them.
 
With a 270 or 308 any hunting bullet will do on deer. I've used 130 silver tips, 130 ballistic tips in the 270 and they are rather explosive at close range but really drop a buck. I've also used Hornady 130 with really good results. I kinda go by what"s most accurate in case a long range shot has to be taken. 20 to 100 yds, the plain old core lockt or power point will do just fine.
 
Commercial ammo loaded with the Barnes bullets is very, very expensive. You'll be lucky to get 3 boxes for under $100, I've seen some calibers as high as $47/box of 20.
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At $47/20, you could almost buy an entry level rifle with a 100 rounds for practice .....

The bullets themselves run about $35 for 50, you can load your ammo for about 85 cents each, or $17/20. If you shoot 50 rounds a year, that saves you $85 a year or so.
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Standard cup and core bullets like the Sierra Gamking, Hornady Interlock and Winchester softpoints will run about $30/100 .... the bonded and solid bullets cost twice as much or more, yet don't kill twice as dead .......
 
I agree with the other poster that at distances under 100yds, your biggest consideration should be meat destruction. Any bullet will easily dispatch a deer, and be accurrate enough to hit him in the eye at that range witha stright line trajectory.

The lighter and faster the bullet, the more likely it will fragment, overexpand, and destroy meat.

You want a bullet that will stay together well, with limited expansion which can be a challenge for any bullet at close range. I'd use a round nose bullet in the heaviest weight available that can pass through your deer without "blowing it up".
 
Standard cup and core bullets like the Sierra Gamking, Hornady Interlock and Winchester softpoints will run about $30/100 .... the bonded and solid bullets cost twice as much or more, yet don't kill twice as dead .......
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Yes, but they do perform markedly better under some circumstances and "twice as much" isn't really relevant when that cost amounts to $8-$10 a year. Most of us spend that much in gas just getting to and from our hunting area... once.
 
I agree with the other poster that at distances under 100yds, your biggest consideration should be meat destruction. Any bullet will easily dispatch a deer, and be accurrate enough to hit him in the eye at that range witha stright line trajectory.

The lighter and faster the bullet, the more likely it will fragment, overexpand, and destroy meat.
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The solution to not damaging the meat is really not so much a hardware problem as a software problem........ If you want to avoid damage to meat, it is really this simple:

Don't shoot them in the meat.

A high velocity expanding bullet through the lungs will be invariably fatal, and will not damage much more "meat" than the intercostal muscles (that'd be the meat between the individual ribs) where the bullet hits ..... if you can place a bullet well enough to " to hit him in the eye at that range" then putting one into the lower rib cage without hitting the near leg should be a chip shot.

Granted, if you feel you must use a hyper velocity bullet (3100+f/sec) there is going to be some explosive damage from bullet fragments and hydrostatic shock..... the guys that use 100-110 gr bullets in .270 WIN loaded to "Ludicrous Speed" ...... <shakes head>
 
Have to agree with that... I don't understand how this or that cartridge supposedly destroys more or less meat. Who shoots their animals in meaty places and why? Stop doing that. You'll stop destroying meat.
 
Yes, but they do perform markedly better under some circumstances and "twice as much" isn't really relevant when that cost amounts to $8-$10 a year. Most of us spend that much in gas just getting to and from our hunting area... once.
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Ah ..... $8-$10 you say? Every little bit counts ......

You are not familiar with the same economics that I am- I have 3 kiddoes and one more new hunter (Eldest's boyfriend) .....and I want them all to shoot at least 100 rounds of their hunting ammo for practice .......
 
I see no reason to shoot hunting ammo for practice. There's no difference between shooting the cheapest, accurate bullet you can get and the most expensive premium bullet in practice.

I usually sight my guns in and practice with Nosler or Hornady "cheap" bullets. They're both accurate and cheap. The gun behaves the same. No need to shoot 75 cent bullets when 25 cent bullets do the same thing in practice.

Last session before hunting season, 10 or 12 shots with the Barnes and I'm good. Those 10 or 12 bullets plus whatever I shoot at animals during the season, 5 or 6 rounds if I'm lucky, is the only additional cost.

Besides, if "every little bit counts", 95 out of 100 hunters would be better off selling all their hunting rifles and all of their gear, not buying a license and buying all their meat at a store. For 95 out of 100 of us, that would be far cheaper.
 
I personally like Nosler Partition bullets, I use them in 270, 30 cal, 338 cal. I have, shot several animals at 100 yards or less, I have never seen the Partition fragment badly even when I know it hit a rib bone.

I have also retrieved a few from harvested animals, every one of them weighed more than 85% of it's original weight.
 
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