I have used round ball out of a 50 caliber muzzle loader to a 35 Whelen on deer and have come to like a velocity of 2600-2800 pushing a bullet with at least a .220 sectional density that opens fast. Not sure which I have killed more deer with but a lot have fallen with 150 grain .308 bullets and 150 grain bullets from my 7x57. I have yet to see a penetration problem or a lack of damage from standard cup and core bullets. Most used are Speer, Hornady and Nosler's Ballistic tips. I could do all the rest of my deer hunting with the 150 gr. Speer Hotcor and a 308 or 30-06 and never look back. That's not going to happen but I could! Convince me there is really a better bullet style/velocity that would improve on what I am listing here. If I shot at game farther than 350 yards I would use a bit more speed but I don't.

140 grain Sierra Game King at 2850 fps from a 26" barrel. Not saying it's better than what you're shooting, but it seems to be perfect harmony in a 7mm-08 to me.

To give you my background, I am no expert. But I have 35 some odd years of experience, and I like to try new guns/bullets. I really like big slow bullets. for under 100 yards, I often grab the 45/70. Loaded hot, I am loading a 300 gr Hornady HP, and the book says I should be around 2200 FPS. It does a fantastic job, does not tear up a ton of meat, and drops them quick. For longer range, I really like the 130 gr accubonds around 3050 fps in my .270.

My favorite hunting bullet is a partition. I like controlled expansion, heavy for caliber bullets and modest velocities. My go too critter getter for the past 20 years has been a 270 win lobbing 150 grain nosler partitions at about 2600 fps.

.308 150 grain Gameking

in a .270 I like 130 grain Interlocks from Hornady.

Won't always get a pass thru, but it drops deer without effort.

In bigger calibers/Faster guns I like the Nosler Accubond for no other reason than that's what I started shooting out of them and they have worked well.


My .257 wby spits a 110 grain accubond is moving along at just under 3500 fps. It will drop a whitetail like a bolt of lightning.

The 7mm-08 is a great round. I like the 140 grain soft point myself in that caliber. We have had great luck with the SST in that caliber.

As long as your using large-for-game calibers, like a .308 for deer, cup & core bullets will likely work (assuming good placement of course).

Where the more premium bullets shine is the smaller-caliber-for-game.
Like .243 for deer. Sure, .243 cup & core bullets kill lotsa deer yada yada yada, but a premium bullet performs more consistently & uniform, in terminal ballistics.

For instance, .300BO has some fantastically designed projectiles that really maximize its potential, especially in the supersonic weights & loadings.

When impact velocities start to eclipse the 3000fps mark you better be using something other than a cup and core. Seen them come apart first hand and even experienced a splash wound with one. That's coming from someone who is a huge fan of the cup and cores and has tested just about every bullet I could get my hands on. For tougher bullets I have settled on the Accubond and Partition.

Experienced deer hunter but admitted no expert on the finer points of guns/shooting/bullets. Ive shot 3006 165 Partitions forever and they always perform great(about 2800 to 2900). Even though ive killed lots of deer Im smart enough to know my personal experience is still a small sample size. Ive been with it so long and im so happy with it that I don't do a lot of research or keep up with newer stuff coming out. Having said that, I have NEVER EVER heard anyone say anything negative about a partition for deer. I do not know why they even make any other bullets!!! I assume the only knock on them is that they are not quite as accurate as some. Assuming that's correct and you are a target guy then I get it for sure but we are talking about deer hunting not paper punching.
On ballistic tips I just don't get it. Once again my personal limited experience with guys on my lease shooting them is worse than 50/50 at killing a deer when shot in shoulder at feeder type distance. More than one instance with a 300 mag blowing up on shoulder bone and not penetrating. Worn out dogs trying to track em and never found. What am I missing? I am a sponge for knowledge- please enlighten me.

The Ballistic Tip is a fine bullet when used correctly. Ballistic tips got a bad rap early on because the larger caliber BT's were built just like the varmint BT's and they did not hold up well on bigger animals. Once the jackets got thicker on the bigger bullets they performed just fine. They will never shake the "explosive" finger pointing though and its usually from those that have never even used one.

The 300 Win Mag/Ballistic Tip combo is not a good one. At normal feeder ranges your impact velocity will be right round that 3000FPS mark I mentioned earlier. That's got disaster written all over it! The standard ballistic tip is just a standard cup and core with a pointy tip. That kind of bullet construction aint made for that kind of impact velocity. Been there, done that! Starting at the 7 Rem Mag I ditch the cup and cores and grab something bonded or Partition like. I only have one exception to that rule but its a long story.

Bottom line, I use heavy for cartridge high BC bullets in most everything. It is more important to me than ultra fast.

.223 A.I., 80 gr. (is ultra fast though)
.22-250, 75 gr (also, still fast)
6.5 Creedmoor, 140 gr (not very fast, 2800 fps)
7mm-08, and 7mm-08 A.I. 162 gr. (pretty slow, 2640 fps, short-ish barrels)
7 Rem Mag, 180 gr. (happens to be fast, 3000 fps)

Just to give a few examples.

If I had to walk the earth, forver, with just one it would be the 7mm-08.

I like the Amax (or ELDM) and the Barnes LRX. Both pushed fast, 2950-3000 on the Amax and 3400 on the LRX. Lightning bolt strikes on deer and pronghorn. 10+ animals with these two.

HOWEVER- the last several animals I've shot have been 168gr Amax from a .308, registering around 2700 and had similar one shot kill results (7 kills, including a Red Stag).

Gonna shoot two new rifles this year. I plan to take a 270wsm to Colorado and push a 150gr Partition around 3150 for Bears and a .257wby with Chad's 115gr VLDs around 3400 which are already shooting .4" and under.

you will like the .257 wby.


light recoil and 7 mag performance

180 Gr. Hornady Interlock Boat-tail from 30-06. I'm not sure of the velocity. When I bought this rifle, I was taking it to Africa, and took only Federal 180 gr. Nosler Partitions. It did so well, and shot so well with that bullet type, that when I started reloading for it, I just stuck with what worked for me. Running 47.1 grs IMR 4895 for that bullet.

For those of us who are "target guys", it just makes sense to shoot something that will give match type accuracy and still be effective on game. I love to take my go to deer rifle and stretch it out to it's limits. I'm running a 6.5 mm 143 gr ELD-X in my critter getter and it holds up nicely out to 1000 yards (on targets, not deer). On calm days when I'm shooting good, 5 - 6 inch groups at 1000 are the norm. I doubt I could ever do that with a Partition. MAYBE, with an Accubond. So I guess the bottom line is that I really like practicing, especially at long ranges, with the same load I'll use hunting. It makes those 200 yard shots at a deer seem like a chip shot.

Now that makes sense. Thanks. Im new to the shooting for fun and competition stuff so that's the stuff that helps me. I guess I have assumed that if I ever got into being a "target guy"(nothing negative implied at all) that I would just have a different load for off season target and just switch come Fall and rezero. I certainly understand the getting used to the same thing for target and game.
However, I think the OP was talking JUST about a deer hunting bullet and not one that also is good for target/precision accuracy.

Abolut

Absolutely! This is exactly what I use as well for my 7mm-08. I'm still playing around with different powders, but I've been most happy with w760 so far. What do you use?

For my deer hunting 30-06 150gr. Federal Power Shoks and my new 6.8 I am shooting 110gr Nosler Accubonds.

22 cal 90gr vld at 3300fps.

Where I hunt the longest shot on the whole place is about 200 yards.

A .223 with a 64 Grain Nosler Bonded Solid Base at 2900-3000 fps will go through both shoulders and exit easily on deer and most hogs. In fact the doe I shot last year at 45 yards shoulder/spine/shoulder had about a 3/8 inch exit hole. A really tough bullet and my current favorite.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Very underrated bullet imo. They are ugly blunt nose flat base suckers but they flat out work.

I like Hornady SST 140 Grain in my Sako 270. 3090 fps at muzzle. I shot my best group with this bullet at 1". I shot a very large hog in the lungs at 170 yards and it knocked him off his feet. He laid there about a minute and then got up and walked off kind of wobbly. I'm sure he didn't go far the way he was walking. I was happy I didn't need to walk to the feeder and drag him away.

In the 270, it’s a 130 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip at 3000 FPS. Used it for decades. Hundreds of deer.
In the 260, it’s a 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip at 2850 FPS. Been using it for about 5 years. Dozens of deer.
In the 223, I still have not decided on a favorite for pigs/deer, but use a 40 gr Nosler BT for coyotes. So far, for pigs, good results have been with 60 gr Nosler Partitions and 65 gr Sierra GKs.

Very blunt lol. In my rifle they are touching the lands at 2.225, and I load them at 2.215 for three shot groups around 5/8-3/4 inch at 100 yards.

The 65 Grain Sierra Gameking mentioned by 603Country is a close second. I put one of those through a doe two years ago at 170 yards, shoulder/spine/shoulder with a 1/2 inch exit hole. Those shoot around 5/8 inch three shot groups at 100 yards.

The right bullet in the .223 makes all the difference.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr