deer bullets, whats your experiance with....?

R

riverratt

New member
I am looking for real world preformance on whitetail with the 4 bullets listed below:

120gr TTSX

140gr nosler BT

140gr nosler AB

139gr interlock sbt

All bullets are being shot from a 7mm-08. I am looking for passthroughs at as close as 50yrds and reliable expantion upto 200yrds.

Oh and before anyone chimes in with "use what shoots best", they all shoot close to 1" with just powder adjustments. So they all shoot good and can probably shoot better with a bit of work.;)
 
None of them. I find it odd that bullets I have been using for years are all on back order now, but "Special" bullets are in stock. Makes me wonder if they are worth buying.
 
None of them. I find it odd that bullets I have bee are all on back order now, but "Special" bullets ar me wonder if they are worth buying.
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And what bullets are thoes?

I completely agree with you but im late to the game with my 7mm. I cant find any traditional flat base splitzers under 150gr bullet (my 11 yearold likes it better than his 243). Thoes are my options along with the full sst line and 120gr nosler BTs.
 
In 7mm-08, a 139gr Hornady interlock, downloaded loaded to 2400 f/sec muzzle velocity in a Ruger Frontier will go 97% of the way through a 4 1/2y.o. whitetail's chest, quartering away @100 yards. Bullet found, intact and expanded, just past the ribs on the far side. Broke one of the floating ribs on the near side, traversed the lungs fairly high up and hit a rib on the way out.

Deer ran less than 100 yards and piled up.

They work.
 
In 7mm-08, a 139gr Hornady interlock, downloaded loaded to 2400 f/sec muzzle velocity in a Ruger Frontier will go 97% of the way through a 4 1/2y.o. whitetail's chest
Jimbo was that the flatbase or boattail interlock?

By the way my boy is shooting a 139/140gr bullet at around 2700fps (book velocity) says he prefures that over his 243 so who am i to argue?

I am leaning to the interlock design im just not sure about the boattail.
 
I have used 3 of the 4 (not the Nosler AB). Currently the 120 grain Barnes X is my go to. Have shot a couple with it, one up close and personal. I certainly have not been able to recover any of the X's, if your rifle likes them as much as my 7-08 does they are a great choice. Typical results, shot, jump/kick, run, huge blood trail to follow, dead deer. My son used the rifle and 120 grain XBT to shoot a decent buck a few years ago during youth season, first shot too far back, second shot at a severe angle from about the back of the ribs and out through the front just inside of the shoulder. Big puff of dirt on the other side of the deer from the bullet impacting on the other side, the deer dropped straight down at the second shot. It would be a tough deer that could stop a TSX at short range.
 
Thanks jimbo ive always herd that boattails blow apart but that was in referance to the gamekings not interlocks. I would love to use sierras 140gr gameking hpbt if its built anything like the 165gr in .308dia but it may be to hard for the 7mm-08. Well that and i cant find it.
 
I find it odd that bullets I have been using for years are all on back order now, but "Special" bullets are in stock. Makes me wonder if they are worth buying.
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Because the less expensive bullets get bought up faster.

I've never owned a 7-08, but the Interlock and BT bullets have worked great for me in the past in 30-06.

I've worked with AB's and TTSX, but have not had an opportunity to put one in game yet, but don't see why any of the above wouldn't work just fine. The Interlocks are the cheapest, if they shoot well no reason not to use them at those ranges on deer.

The premiums pay off when hunting game larger than normal for the cartridge, or at extended ranges. If you're hunting elk or bear, then consider the more expensive bullets.
 
Thanks jimbo ive always herd that boattails blow apart but that was in referance to the gamekings not interlocks.
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I've never seen any evidence that shows boattails blow up any more than flat based bullets. What causes a bullet to blow up as opposed to holding together is a combination of the tip shape and the jacket construction.

At those distances, any expanding bullet in those weights will work just fine. It's a deer, not godzilla.
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You are correct that deer aren't armored. However, bullet construction can make a significant difference in the ability to recover an animal. Many lightly constructed bullets traveling at high speed can shatter when they hit the shoulder bone rather than punching through and leaving a good blood trail.
 
I've never seen any evidence that shows boattails blow up more than flat based bullets. What causes a bullet to blow opposed to holding together is a combination of the tip s the jacket construction.
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This is true, my unfound belief comes from my grandpaw. The only bullets he ever shot were sierra and the gamekings are lighter in construction then the prohunter bullets. So it has been driven into my head ever sense i could shoot that ALL boattails are softer then flat based bullets and should not be used for hunting.

It would seem that i got my grandpaws stuborness though. Every time i see the BT on a bullet i ASSuME its a blowup bullet. The differance between he and i is after seeing how it preforms i can change my mind and not look for excusses on why i was wrong that time.:rolleyes:

At those distances, any expanding bullet in those weigh just fine. It's a deer, not godzilla.
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Yes you are correct, heck i know a guy that cant shoot a rifle that has any recoil at all and he is a very poor pistol shot. So he uses a 22lr, kills deer every year with it too. Im sure that the balistic tip has a much better chance dropping the deer than the others, but if it dont and im hunting in or near a thicket, two holes will bleed better than one.
 
I shoot a 150grn Nosler BT loaded over 45.5grns of H4350 for 2700fps out of a Remington 700 SPS Varmint that I used as a donor barreled action. I have never recovered a bullet from the 30 or 40 deer I've shot with the load. Exits have varied.

Shot a big 8 point a few years back through the upper brisket, the bullet exited the back of the rib cage in a baseball sized hole. It's darn near removed 8-10 doe heads, broadside shots usually leave an 1.25" to 1.75" hole. I shot a doe in the neck at 323yds 2 seasons ago and she never took a step, DRT back the truck up. Most high shoulder shots have produced 2" exits and massive trauma wounds, no tracking.

Shot a doe on a rear quartering shot at 70yds Saturday, the exit was through the brisket on the opposite side, she died where she stood. Another doe died Sunday night with a broadside shot though both lungs, she went 60-75yd with a blood trail Ray Charles could follow.

The only other one I have real world experience with is the Barnes, the devastation was impressive when the cavity was exposed but the exit was about 1". The animal was dead where I shot it though. Oh and edit to add the doe I shot with the 160grn TTSX, that was a mess.

Hogs never stand a chance.
 
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I am leaning to the interlock design im just not sure about the boattail.
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What's wrong with boat tails? AFAIK they tend to be superior for hunting. Higher BC, less wind deflection, more energy/velocity, less drop.

There's nearly no disadvantage to boat tails with the exception of two minor things.

1. Boat tails tend to be longer and require a faster twist. With lighter-mid-weight bullets most rifles should have no problem stabilizing a boat tail versus a FB. Trivial in most cases.

2. There's potential that the jacket could be manufactured slightly less uniform with a boat tail compared to a flat base. This MIGHT translate to a small loss in accuracy. It shouldn't be enough for 99.9% of shooters to notice. A bench rest shooter MIGHT notice a small difference in accuracy (probably in the .1-.2 MOA range), at shorter ranges. At longer ranges, the higher BC makes up for the negligible loss in accuracy. This isnt as a big deal as it was years ago, due to computers and machines having much tighter tolerances.
 
I'd remove only the Ballistic Tip from your list. The rest should do what you want. Pick the one you like the best from your rifle.
 
I'd remove only the Ballistic Tip from your list.
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Why??? It does a fantastic job for light skinned whitetails From 90grn in a .243 to 180grn in a 300Wby I've killed deer with it. 150 in 7mm08 or 7mmRM and 165 in .308 and '06 I've killed truckloads of them. In 20+ years I've lost one deer and that was a freak thing.
 
"...am looking for pass throughs..." No you're not. Those mean the energy is not expended in the deer. Otherwise, any of those will do nicely. Any of 'em are just as likely to over penetrate at 50 yards too.
 
Saltydog235, because they are not as reliable on a shoulder hit...they blow up. They just don't cover as wide a performance window as the others on the list.
 
Saltydog235, because they are not as reliable on a shoulder hit...they blow up. They just don't cover as wide a performance window as the others on the list.
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In probably 140-150 whitetails over the last 20yrs, I've only experienced a BT "Blowing up" on a shoulder of a deer with the 90grn BTs in a .243. Those animals were all DRT and I didn't find much more than pieces of the bullet in the tissue. Anything in the 140grn and up 7mm bullets I've tried has been a complete pass through on a deer no matter where they were shot to the range of 323 yds.

The one deer I had the bad experience with was a pass through as well, the bullet never expanded, passing between two ribs on one side and exiting between two on the other. He hit the swamp and wasn't leaving much blood, in the water there was nothing to follow. I found him a few days later on a cypress knee hillock about 200yds from where I lost the trail. I hated it happened but it was freakish in the way it went down. I doubted the bullet for a while but statistical/historical results said otherwise.

I've never had one issue on a deer with the heavier bullets "blowing up" whether they hit a shoulder, neck, or a long transverse shot impacting bone and tissue.

That being said, if you are hunting in places where the deer are bigger than they are in the SE US, maybe the hypothesis holds true. Our deer are smaller with a big buck being around 200-220lbs and does averaging 80lbs and 100+ being huge. Almost all of those will typically be through and through shots with the heavier weight bullets.

Honestly the tougher jacketed AB and the Barnes bullets don't perform as well as the BT's on these deer. I shot a 100lb doe with my 7mmRM 160grn Barnes TTSX Ruger No.1 about 4 years ago. She was facing me, head down and I shot her in the top of the neck. The bullet exited right at her rear ham after smashing through the vertebrae and shooting bone fragments out the bottom of her neck. There was a ton of damage with her entire cavity being jelly. The exit was about the size of a nickel. When the processor put her on the winch to pull the hide, the head came off because the bone fragments had pretty much severed her neck. There was a lot of ruined meat in that doe.

Another I shot with a 120grn TSX in my 7mm08 was a through and through but the exit was very small. Telling me there wasn't a full expansion of the bullet.

None of the bullets the OP listed are bad at all. After all dead is dead and you can't make something too dead. I'm not doubting you may have had some sort of bad experience with a BT but my experiences over a large amount of kills is pretty dang positive. Take the lower value since I don't usually keep a total of kills by year of 140 with one loss in that time, that is a 99.3% success rate.
 
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