Hunters (Especially Big Game Guys)...Which Bullet Has Performed badly for You

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Wildalaska

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When, where, how and why...including caliber.....and the type of bullet please :)

Rifle, twist, range, barrel length, velocity.....:D

WildtheoldbasicallywhatstheworstbulletthreadAlaska TM
 
I can honestly say that none of my bullets have ever performed badly. They may not have hit the spot where I thought I was aiming, but they only went where I told them to. Everything that my bullet has struck I've killed might not be with the first shot but as long as I've got the animal the bullet has performed.

I probably don't have the experience that other hunters have as well as truth fully I'm only barely over what I can count using all fingers and toes on big game animals. I don't live in an area where I can easily hunt multiple deer or other big game animals easily or cheaply.
 
I've never had to track an animal I have shot more than 100 yards, but between soft-tips and ballistic tips I have had to walk further with ballistic tips. Many of the older ballistic tips have broken up too early upon hitting a rib. They are great for neckshots though.
 
My experience is contrary to fisherman's, and limited strictly to corn fed farm deer. I like the accutips, combined technology silvertips and the NBTs for deer sized animals, whereas I have found tougher, bonded bullets like partitions and failsafes don't do as much heart and lung damage or leave as large an exit hole. However, I only take full broadside shots, never quartering ones where I'd have to punch through a shoulder, so that is a big reason why I use the ballistic tips.


I've had plain old power points and corelocts zip right through deer without even slowing down and they left only small holes and minimal damage - compared to more rapidly expanding bullets. not really ' bad 'performance, because we still recovered the deer, but just not as impressive as the other bulets types.

edit, most hunting has been done with .308 win, 7mm-08 win and .243 win loaded with 150 grainers, 140 grainers and 100/95 grainers, respectively. Most out of encore pistols. most shots between 50 and 175 yards, a few out to 200 yards or so. sample size of 25+ deer.


just my .02, YMMV
 
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You know my experiences with accubonds from "Accubond Performance?".

Other than that, I took a 50-75 yard running shot at a small whitetail doe using a 180gr PowerPoint (factory load) out of the same 300 Win Mag. I hit the back hip and it REALLY exploded. There were chunks of copper and lead all over the place. Basically destoyed the hind quarters.

That said, both of these bullets have performed perfectly at ranges over 125 yards in the past. I think both are good performers at the right velocity/energy. Depending on what gun is used, thats going to translate into range.

Browning A-Bolt II 300 Win Mag - 26" barrel - 1 in 10 twist
 
I had a siearra 140 gn soft point fail on a whitetail a few years back . It was in 6.5x55 Swed. 18'' barrell, 1in 9.5'' twist.Had to switch to 129gn Hornady SST to finish the job.
 
I use the Hornady traditional 150gr H3031 most of the time.
Remington Core-Lokt a few times.

The only problem I've had was the Hornady not always expanding at close range. The deer still died so I guess not a big problem
 
A few years ago I watched my hunting partner shoot an elk four times before he finally dropped it with a head shot. All shots were made between 200-300 yd and were fairly well placed.

He was using Federal factory 7MM Magnum ammo which used a plastic tipped bullet. I believe the bullets were Nosler ballistic tips. I don’t know how heavy the bullets were.

When we skinned the elk, we discovered not one of those bullets had expanded. Every single one had simply punched right through with very little tissue damage. He may as well have been shooting armor piercing ammo.

The following morning, we did a little varmint hunting over his gut pile. He shot a coyote with the same 7MM ammo at about 200 yd. The coyote took off at full speed like he was untouched.
I had my crosshairs on him and was just about to pull my trigger when the coyote suddenly dropped in his tracks. He had run about 100 yards. He had been shot right behind the shoulder. It was a good shot.

Curious now, we skinned around the exit hole and found that once again, there had been no expansion and little tissue damage.

After seeing that poor performance, I would avoid ballistic tips for big game.
In contrast, I have loaded the Nosler Partitions for years and have been very pleased with their performance on the half dozen elk I’ve taken with them.
 
I've told this before, but a couple of years ago I was hunting with a youngster who was becoming interested in the sport. I was using 300 Wby(I know) factory loads with 150 grain Hornady spire points supposedly at about 3500 FPS muzzle. A doe came out about 200 yards away and I squatted down, put my elbow on my knee, and was going to impress this youngster with my shooting skill.I told him to hold his ears as I squeezed one off. Well,the deer took off, ran down a drainage ditch about 200 yards and turned in to the woods.There was one drop of blood about the size of a pea in that entire distance. My hunting partner came up and I told him I would have sworn I made a good shot. Luckily, I saw where the deer went and it was shot straight through both lungs.The fat filled the dime size exit wound up and it took that long for the deer to drown.

My outfitter friend has a theory that a bullet can go through an animal too fast, which I thought was a wacky idea. Maybe not.
 
had to shoot a game ranch raised ram 3 times at point blank range with a 7mm remington mag. two shots to the neck (didn't hit bone, tho) and one final one to the ribs before it finally went down. was using remington core lockt, 150gr, pointed soft point
 
worst and only bad performer for me was a muzzleloading bullet. 245 gr. Powerbelt with 150 gr of pyrodex pushing it. the bullet completely fragmented and did not exit the other side of a 132 pound 6 point at approximately 60 yards.
 
Remington corelokt softpoint standard green and yellow box (not premium bullets) .270 win. At 75 yards this year my hunting partner hit a large 4x4mule deer broadside in the ribs. The bullet exploded and created about a 4 inch oval entrance wound. The deer died but we keep finding bullet fragments in our deer peperoni:(. Pretty disapointed in these bullets.
 
Nosler 240 JHP. I think the cavity plugged up and the bullet failed to expand. I shot a beautiful big 8 point right behind the shoulder with my Redhawk .44. He ran like a scalded dog with afterburners. It was 40 yards and I heard the WHUP and saw him hunch up. I looked for that deer for 3 days and had to give up because of the snow. I went to hardcast lead and never lost another one. YMMV. CB.
 
I've had really bad luck with T/C .50 sabots, both jacketed and lead to the point where I quit using black powder for hunting. They just don't go where I tell them to under field conditions greater than about 75 yards. I can sight them in at the range and they do well and if they hit they knock the deer down but a difference of just 20 degrees in the temp or a tiny bit of difference whether there is any grease in the bore or if they are tamped too hard seems to make a big difference where they land in the field.

(That's it! no matter how poor a shot you are if you blame the bullet nobody notices!!!):o
 
I shot a nice buck about 7 years ago with a Ruger M-77 in 30-06. The ammo I was using was a 220 Gr. Winchester Silvertip. Upon impact, behind the front left shoulder, he jumped up and kicked his hind legs and thought he was going to face plant right there. Instead, he took off and took me and my dad on a 5 hour trek.

We never did find that deer, even when we enlisted the help of some of my cousins to track it. In talking with some other hunters, they said that the 220gr. just punched a hole in him and that a lighter bullet would have closed the deal. That's possible, but I'm fairly certain that he died considering the blood trail he left. That box of 220s is still in my ammo box, half-full and I'm hesitant to use them again.
 
I shot a nice buck about 7 years ago with a Ruger M-77 in 30-06. The ammo I was using was a 220 Gr. Winchester Silvertip. Upon impact, behind the front left shoulder, he jumped up and kicked his hind legs and thought he was going to face plant right there. Instead, he took off and took me and my dad on a 5 hour trek.

We never did find that deer, even when we enlisted the help of some of my cousins to track it. In talking with some other hunters, they said that the 220gr. just punched a hole in him and that a lighter bullet would have closed the deal. That's possible, but I'm fairly certain that he died considering the blood trail he left. That box of 220s is still in my ammo box, half-full and I'm hesitant to use them again.
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All I use is 220 grains in 30-06 and have never had a deer go more than 20 yards, the majority of which have dropped in their tracks. Feel free to ship those silvertips my way :D
 
Don't use Sierra BlitzKings on anything bigger than a squirrel.

I have a CZ 527 .204RUG, 1:12" twist

The 39gr BK's, even at 3500 fps-impact, refuse to penetrate deeper than a half inch. ~80 yards

The Hornady 40gr V-Max leave a min. 6 inch entry hole on body cavity hits, three inches across in rib-bone "holes", and a minimum 4 inch deep penetration on solid muscle (neck w/bone)(only one inch wide hole). A true performer. ~100+- yards

All of these results are tested on 120Lb-160Lb feral pigs in north-central Texas.
 
PMC .30-06 in my M1903A4. more than 2 MOA 100 yds. But then again it's not even bedded yet (I did shoot some remingtons and they were around 1-1.5 MOA)
 
Don't use Sierra BlitzKings on anything bigger than a squirrel.

I have a CZ 527 .204RUG, 1:12" twist

The 39gr BK's, even at 3500 fps-impact, refuse to penetrate deeper than a half inch. ~80 yards

The Hornady 40gr V-Max leave a min. 6 inch entry hole on body cavity hits, three inches across in rib-bone "holes", and a minimum 4 inch deep penetration on solid muscle (neck w/bone)(only one inch wide hole). A true performer. ~100+- yards

All of these results are tested on 120Lb-160Lb feral pigs in north-central Texas.
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I'd consider this a failure on your part to properly select a caliber and bullet for the game you were hunting. Why would you use a varmint bullet on something as solid as a pig? The .204 was not designed for this kind of hunting why even try it? I'd say the Blitz Kings performed just as they were designed to do.
 
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