bigstickjrock
Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2013
- Messages
- 19
By the way, had a terrible experience tracking a wounded doe last year. 300 wsm loaded with Trophy Bonded. Not much makes up for bad shooting.
Sounds like you have tryed some of the best, personally I've been loading Sierra 130gr. pro hunters for my .270 model 70 for years with great success at ranges from 50 to 500 yds, I use a worked up load of 59grs. of imr4831 at just over 3000fps. and it has worked great for me so I've never had reason to change, if it works don't fix it, wish you luck in finding your dream load.Ok, so many years ago when I first started handloading I started off with the Nosler ballistic tip. I shot my nice buck with it perfectly broadside at 110 yards and the bullet completely exploded, it literally just made it to the vitals and that's it, the BT in my book was a varmint round, never shot another one since. I am told they made some changes to them but with all the nice bullets out there I won't give them another chance. Next up, for many years I shot the Nosler Partition. I loved the killing of that round, however I never could get it to shoot accurately out of my rifle, somewhere around 2-3 inch groups at 100 yards no matter what I tried. Next up, Speer Grand Slam. Shot many deer with great success, better accuracy, however I'm not of fan of the soft blunt lead nose that gets damaged and my hunting spots have changed over the years and I am reaching out to longer distances. Next up, the Barnes triple shock, unbelievable accuracy, honest 1 inch groups at 200 yards off a bench. Shot around 4 nice bucks with them, lost one. I will no longer shoot a solid copper. The picture perfect mushrooms in gel are all cute and all, but they don't kill deer the way the others do, some will argue but that's just the facts. I have hit deer perfectly with the Barnes and got little to no blood, deer have run off almost like they were not even hit, only to see them tip over 50-100 yards later. So, no more Barnes, and here I am now, looking again. I have thoughts on trying these options. Federal Trophy bonded tip, Hornady INTERBOND, not interlock, Nosler Accubond, and maybe even the Swift Scirocco 2. Again, this would be in the .270 Winchester round, in WI deer at ranges of 0-450 yards. I only want to do this one last time, enlighten me, give me advice, give me horror stories, tell me what to do..
And heaven knows the shooter and equipment would never be a contributing factor for a less then perfect shot. Says one who would know.It is extremely difficult to expect a bullet to perform EXACTLY the same for each kill. Every animal is different and kill post mortem will show you that the bullet did the job but probably in different ways. The BT "exploded" and barely entered chest but yet it killed the deer. The Barnes "lost" a deer but still killed others. This is hunting. Bullets will get deflected entering a deer from so many different reasons you could write a book, oh wait there are books.
You may never know if the buck you lost from a Barnes was actually killed and just went a long ways and died in some nasty location. My buck in my avatar was hit with a 200AB at 300 yards perfect 12X ring shot and still went crazy distance. Both lungs jelliefied so how do these animals do this?
I almost lost a big Adirondack buck hit with a 180 gr Partition (300WM) at 75 yards that was hit front side of lungs and still was able to go almost 400 yards and dang near made it into a beaver dam flow which would have been disastrous due to location so far back. He died at waters edge.
My point is, I would not toss a bullet based upon one time experience since we can never truly determine what actually may have cause the perceived lack of performance. Animals can defy logic when it comes to post hit trauma and still go ridiculous distances with what we believe is a DRT hit. The BT and Barnes have long proven track records and I wouldn't hesitate to use either one of them for hunting. There are so many variables when a bullet hits an animal that there are no perfect bullets out there that will kill an animal the same way every time.
I have a friend that shoots a 270 and he hunts way more than I have. He also shoots the Game King in a .300 Win. Mag.When I used the 270 Win. the old school 130 Sierra Game King pushed by 60 grs H4831 killed every one DRT that I shot with it. Probably the Nosler Accubond will fill what you described you want. I have only used the 130 Accubond in my 264 Win mag at 3350 fps and it exhibits the same performance from 25 to a touch over 500 yards for me. It is a very accurate bullet with very good ballistics. It goes in expands and takes out the vitals and exits with about a thumb size hole. I have killed 25+ deer with this combo and all have been DRT.
Wow, that's great velocity for a 130 grain bullet out of a. 264 mag. Most I ever got was around 3,100. That's why I now use a. 270 Win. With my. 270 I can get 3,100 fps with a 130 grain buWhen I used the 270 Win. the old school 130 Sierra Game King pushed by 60 grs H4831 killed every one DRT that I shot with it. Probably the Nosler Accubond will fill what you described you want. I have only used the 130 Accubond in my 264 Win mag at 3350 fps and it exhibits the same performance from 25 to a touch over 500 yards for me. It is a very accurate bullet with very good ballistics. It goes in expands and takes out the vitals and exits with about a thumb size hole. I have killed 25+ deer with this combo and all have been DRT.
Completely true on all counts. And different bullet companies design bullets to do different things. Sierra Gamekings, for example, are designed to fragment somewhat at close range, creating multiple wound paths and exit wounds, while their prohunter is designed with a thicker jacket so it creates one large wound channel at close range. This is because the Gameking is a longer range bullet, and has to mushroom at longer distances and lower velocities. The Prohunter is designed for ranges of less than 300 yards, and performs beautifully at its designed distances, but so does the Gameking; its designed distances are just different. However, many shooters would consider the Gameking to have had bullet failure due to the bullet's fragmentation at close range, and the Prohunter to have failed when it doesn't create a nice large wound channel at 500 or greater yards. But no bullet in any caliber is going to be perfect in every hunting situation. Even lightning doesn't always kill. By the way, the new Ballistic Tip works very well indeed. So do the Sierras and Speers. I use them all in my 243 cals, 25 cal., 30 cals and my 35 cal rifles without issues at distances of point blank out to 600 yards. Also, I don't consider bullet fragmentation to be bullet failure just because there is no enormous exit wound. The job of the bullet is to kill the animal. If it does that within a reasonable distance, it did its job regardless of the condition of the bullet afterwards. After all, I'm not going to use it again, anyway. By the way, I generally hunt deer and elk with a 35 Whelen and a 225 grain Gameking out to 500 yards because I start with an entrance wound at least half the size of your exit wound, and a golfball to hardball sized exit wound at 500 yards, which tends to drop an animal quickly with a proper hit. By the way, the Nosler BT was redesigned with a thicker lower jacket, and it holds together very well, now. Its pricey, but it is a very good bullet and will work from the muzzle to a terminal velocity of around 1,600fps and still create a pretty good wound channel and penetration in the .308 calibers. But there are no bullets like you want, that kill like lightning in every circumstance and at all ranges. They don't exist.It is extremely difficult to expect a bullet to perform EXACTLY the same for each kill. Every animal is different and kill post mortem will show you that the bullet did the job but probably in different ways. The BT "exploded" and barely entered chest but yet it killed the deer. The Barnes "lost" a deer but still killed others. This is hunting. Bullets will get deflected entering a deer from so many different reasons you could write a book, oh wait there are books.
You may never know if the buck you lost from a Barnes was actually killed and just went a long ways and died in some nasty location. My buck in my avatar was hit with a 200AB at 300 yards perfect 12X ring shot and still went crazy distance. Both lungs jelliefied so how do these animals do this?
I almost lost a big Adirondack buck hit with a 180 gr Partition (300WM) at 75 yards that was hit front side of lungs and still was able to go almost 400 yards and dang near made it into a beaver dam flow which would have been disastrous due to location so far back. He died at waters edge.
My point is, I would not toss a bullet based upon one time experience since we can never truly determine what actually may have cause the perceived lack of performance. Animals can defy logic when it comes to post hit trauma and still go ridiculous distances with what we believe is a DRT hit. The BT and Barnes have long proven track records and I wouldn't hesitate to use either one of them for hunting. There are so many variables when a bullet hits an animal that there are no perfect bullets out there that will kill an animal the same way every time.