Deer ammo

S

Smith and Wesson

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Do you have any experience with Hornady SST, Hornady Interlock BTSP, Federal Fusion BTSP, Nosler Ballistic Tip, Nosler Partition, Barnes TTSX, or Sierra GameKing BTSP on deer? If you have had experience with more then one of these which one did you prefer.
 
The Fusion is about the best for the money. Great performance and seem to be extremely accurate in most guns. I am also a Hornady SST fan for certain calibers. Between those two, I didn't need to look any further.
Whitetail are easy to kill so you don't need super tough expensive bullets with your popular deer calibers. Any average soft point will do so find the most accurate.
 
You did not mention what cartridge you were going to shoot. In the right gun all these bullets will kill deer. What is the best choice depends on such factors as bullet weight, diameter and velocity.
 
Hornady 120 grain SST in 6.8 SPC: My 17 yo shot 3 deer with it. All resulted in dead deer and no tracking. However, they were all hit where it counts.

Hornady BTSP 150 grain in 308: 4 shots, 4 dead deer, no tracking, all hit where it counts.

Ballistic tip 100 grain .243: 2 shots, 1 dead deer and 1 dead 250 lb hog, no tracking, hit where it counts.

Bottom line: for what you've included, the bullet doesn't matter as much as what you and your gun will shoot accurately. The best boutique bullet is worthless if you cannot put it where it needs to be with enough energy to do what it needs to do.

I'd rather see you shoot Remington Core Lokts, Winchester Power Points, or Federal's baseline load if those shoot well in your rifle.
 
All I ever use is Sierra's Gamekings for hunting deer. I've kill several deer over the years and have taken shots ranging 10 yards out to about 275 yards and from different angles. The bullet has always performed for me. Mostly out of a 30-06. I have used them in a 25-06, 270, 7mm-08, 30-30 and a 308.I would use them in my 45-70 but Sierra doesn't make them in the weight that I like to use. In my experience they seem to be the most accurate out of my rifles.
 
Ive taken quite a few deer with Ballistic Tips from Nosler as well as t
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he Accubond bullet from Nosler, also took a medium sized doe with a 140 grain Partition frim a .270 Sendaro I used to own...The B Tips were both .270 and 3006 loads. They worked flawlessly when I made good shots.....Only recently with the scarcity of Nosler products have I started testing Sierra bullets....havent shot any animals with those dudes yet..
 
I've had mostly one-shot kills with Sierra bullets. Some coup de grace second shots on occasion, but never needed to do any tracking.

In 30-caliber, you can push the 150-grain Sierra SPBT too fast (3,100) for up-close hits, but the flat-base bullet is tougher. The 165-grain HPBT seems to be a bit of a blow-up bullet when the shot is at close range. However, the 180-grain SPBT seems pretty tough; I'd choose it for elk.

In 6mm, the 85-grain HPBT blows up nicely on coyotes and in Bambi's neck. I wouldn't take an angling body shot with it.
 
I'm sure I'd be quite happy with anything from Sierra, but way back in time I used Nosler's Solid Base Boattails in my 270. I really liked them, but transitioned to the Ballistic Tip bullets when they replaced the SBBT's. I've shot somewhere between 200 and 300 deer with Ballistic Tips over the years and they work just fine. You might hear some folks talk about how their Ballistic Tips blew up or fragmented or failed in some other way. I have not seen that as an issue except when shooting big pigs with little BT's in my 220 Swift.

I really think that most any of the manufacturer's bullet offerings will do just fine on deer, as long as you don't try to use a varmint bullet for deer hunting.
 
I use Nosler ballistic tips in my 30-06. At close range they will shed the jacket and the entrance hole is bigger than the exit hole but I've only had one that wasn't DRT and she only went about 25 yards with a double lung shot.
 
I have a problem in seeing any need for "super bullets" on deer. From 1945 on into the mid-1970s, all my father ever used in his Springfield sporter was the old Hornady pre-ogive 150-grain Spire Point. He was regularly invited to contractors' leases, to kill deer for the whiskey drinking poker players. His high year, including a rich man's hunt down on Matagorda Island, was 32 tagged bucks.
 
I use Barnes TTSX because I love the way the perform. Perfect expansion, unbelievable penetration. I go with light and fast. 110gr in 7mm, 85gr in .243/6mm.
 
The best of the ones you mentioned are the Partitions and Barnes but neither is necessary for deer.

One you didn't mention and the one I like the best is Remington Core-Lokts.
 
If you have had experience with more then one of these which one did you prefer.

Have at one time or another used Hornady Interlock BTSP,Nosler Ballistic Tip, Sierra GameKings BTSP, Nosler Partitions. Which one/s have I prefered> None!!

Reason: Their all excellent bullets. Honestly I don't believe there is a bad bullet made these days. Just poor selection-ing by their users is the most common problem.
 
Except for the Nosler Partition and Barnes TTSX, the bullets you listed were basically designed for use on "medium game"(deer sized). The Partition is overkill expense wise although it does well on deer. I don't have any experience with the Barnes but can't shake the "birthing woes" of the design.
I shot deer last year with Hornady interlock, Speer BTSP, Nosler Accu-bond(another slightly outside design useage-but it shoots so well in my 257 Wby), and Nosler Ballistic Tip. All killed deer within the capability of the cartridge pushing the bullets-most with a single shot.
 
took mt last deer with a sierra pro hunter 120gr 6.5
very very accurate bullets and terminal performance was good.

any of the bullets you mentioned can work for deer so i would be most concerned with finding an accurate load.
try different bullets untill you find the most accurate load.different guns will shoot different bullets better so its hard to give advice on brand alone.

try the nosler bullistic tips or hornady sst's first because they will give you the best bullistic performance.so if there accurate enough use them.if there not accurate enough for what you need the sierra's usually shoot well in any gun
 
I've used nearly all of those bullets in various calibers except the fusions. All have worked quite well even back in the days when I loaded 140 Nosler ballistic tips in my 7MM Mag and pushed them as fast as I could. Never lost a deer to bullet failure, mine yes but not the bullet. I tend to like the tougher bullets even the Core-lokts, and Hornady Interloks, fantastic bullets for the price assuming they shoot well in your rifle. Go to bullet in my wifes .243 is the 100 grain Hornady Interlokt, go to bullet in my 7-08 is a 120 grain Barnes XBT (old ones), currently playing with the Barnes TSX in my .223 R-15 waiting for a chance to put it to something with meat i.e. hog or deer, my .280 gets a diet of Rem Cor-lokt 140 grainers. I am not brand loyal apparently. :D
 
I like corelokts and fusions. High shoulder shot anchors them to the ground EVERYTIME. It might waste a little meat but I'm no fan of tracking. Almost always get pass throughs even busting through both shoulders and I shoot carbine length .308 and .270.
 
none of the above. I usually just buy a box of federal powershoks and call it good. deer really do not require the uberpremo bullet choices.
 
I have used the Sierra GK's and the Nosler ballistic tip on deer in the .270 win. I have only used the 130's in the GK and both the 150's and the 130's in the ballistic tips. .

I like the GK's better. The ballistic tips seemed to make a lot of red goo and blood shot meat. The GK's have great penetration and you can eat closer to the hole. I shot a small button this year in the brisket at less than 25 yards and the bullet exited at least 18 inches of deer exiting right after the last rib. The ballistic tips have always killed them DRT for me but talk about the bullet "blowing up", that's what they do.
 
Noslers

I shoot Partitions and Ballistic Tips, at deer, but cannot make a valid comparison as they are delivered by different calibers. I shoot 100 gr Nosler Partitions in .243. I've shot .270/130 B-tips, and recently some early .30/180 b-tips, at deer as well. All resulted in dead deer.

Can tell you we've not recovered a .243/100 partition from any whitetail, all pass throughs, and two of those were pretty long shots, 260 and 175 yds. We have recovered expanded B-tips in both .270 and the early .30's. Usually the jacket and chunks of core. The b-tips left a bigger wound channel, but they were from bigger bores too.

In my limited experience with these 3 rifles, the b-tips were 1-moa shooters, the Partions a tad over moa (2 rifles) but that is a small sample pool.

Any of em will do in a whitetail when applied correctly.
 
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