best whitetail deer bullet

[ultimag43]

5 Year old thread but a good topic since 3 days ago I shot a 7x7 whitetail at roughly 240yds with a 200 grain ELDX and it Blew the F up and no exit.
It only went 35 yards ran slow but like it had not been hit. The last 5yds it jumped into a cedar wind break and for 40 minutes I did not know if it was still going.
But it was dead inside 5 yards of the Cedars. Still causes stress LOL a 200 grain bullet at 240yds ***????

the eld x isn't made for short range high speed impacts { 3000 + fps} its also not designed for shooting through bone you recovered the deer obviously the bullet did its job the deer died
I've killed 45+ elk and whitetails & 15 black bears with a 6.5cm 143 eld x @2880 fps from 60 yards out to 550 never had one blow up never needed a second shot.
the eld x works best at impact velocities around 2600 or below they are a long range bullet they are not designed for short 0-300 yards} range high speed. impact or shooting through shoulders call hornady and they will clearly tell you as much .

 

[wv270wsm]

Attention all shooters Speer bullets are no good , send them all to me so they can be properly disposed of . Lol . I've had very good luck with them and nosler ballistic tips both . Generally one will shoot a little better than the other but it varies so much from gun to gun . My oldest sons savage axis 7 mm08 flat put Speer 120 gr almost into the same hole . Like dime sized 5 shot groups at 100 very repeatedly. My tc encore like the 120 gr ballistic tips same performance. But neither gun shoots the other bad . And as far as a whitetail bullet they are both very effective. My sons killed literally truck loads of deer with that combo . Very very few have went more than just a step or two .
The only thing that went more than just a step or two was his first bear it went roughly 200 yards but also the shot wasn't a good one . He was excited and hit way back like right in front of the rear legs . But that little Speer bullet still done what it was designed to do penetrate and expand. Wish I'd known about Speer bullets way back when I'd have nothing but them and have double my bullet stock pile

 

[Calvin45]

Attention all shooters Speer bullets are no good , send them all to me so they can be properly disposed of . Lol . I've had very good luck with them and nosler ballistic tips both . Generally one will shoot a little better than the other but it varies so much from gun to gun . My oldest sons savage axis 7 mm08 flat put Speer 120 gr almost into the same hole . Like dime sized 5 shot groups at 100 very repeatedly. My tc encore like the 120 gr ballistic tips same performance. But neither gun shoots the other bad . And as far as a whitetail bullet they are both very effective. My sons killed literally truck loads of deer with that combo . Very very few have went more than just a step or two .
The only thing that went more than just a step or two was his first bear it went roughly 200 yards but also the shot wasn't a good one . He was excited and hit way back like right in front of the rear legs . But that little Speer bullet still done what it was designed to do penetrate and expand. Wish I'd known about Speer bullets way back when I'd have nothing but them and have double my bullet stock pile

Yeah my old savage 99 243 loves the Speer 100 btsp about as much as anything. Honest 1 moa potential, no better but no worse which is pretty awesome really for rear locking lever action with a 2 piece stock, non floating pencil thin barrel, sponge trigger, topped with an ancient 4x scope of unknown make that probably magnified t-rexes back in the day, shooting mixed headstamp loads tipped with bullets that are often visibly dinged up on the super soft lead tips, or out of concentricity. But I can consistency pop milk jugs to 400 with that combo, and have put ZERO effort into making any of it better than it is haha.

 

[motrapper]

the eld x isn't made for short range high speed impacts { 3000 + fps} its also not designed for shooting through bone you recovered the deer obviously the bullet did its job the deer died
I've killed 45+ elk and whitetails & 15 black bears with a 6.5cm 143 eld x @2880 fps from 60 yards out to 550 never had one blow up never needed a second shot.
the eld x works best at impact velocities around 2600 or below they are a long range bullet they are not designed for short 0-300 yards} range high speed. impact or shooting through shoulders call hornady and they will clearly tell you as much .

I should have been under 2,600 fps at 240 yds only loaded 76 grains of H1000 although it did hit a rib bone!

 

[VinceMule]

My family has killed at least 300 deer here in the South with a 7 Mag using the 160g Sierra btsp...rare to ever see one move after bullet impact. Velocity on our load is around 3000 fps, not a hot rod load at all, IMR 4350, R#22, IMR 4831 get the job done.

I used the 160g BTSP to great success in several 280 Remingtons with a load right out of the nosler manual #4 at 2930 fps.

 

[Critter Picker]

I'm a big fan of the 129 interlock BT. Use it in my 260. They really work well. Used Nosler partitions for a while, but the hornady does the job for a lot less money. JMO!

 

[VinceMule]

Critter, I too love the 129g Hornady Interlock, but it is a flat base. I shot this bullet in cases from the 264 WM, 6.5/06, 6.5x55, and 6.5x47 lapua. The 129g sp thinks it is a partition and kills quicker than the 140g Hornady Interlock which is an unbelievably tough bullet.

 

[ultimag43]

Federals terminal accent from the muzzle out to
As far as you can hit your target they do exactly
As desighned

 

[Calvin45]

Federals terminal accent from the muzzle out to
As far as you can hit your target they do exactly
As desighned

Yeah they're pricy but they might be the single best all-applications hunting bullet design….I opted to let them spend a few years "working the bugs out" haha, and have a box of the older, long-proven federal trophy bonded tips on my shelf for my .300 win. The ascent is just the next progression of that design with a bit better bc and opening up at even lower impact velocity.

But it's almost boring (haven't even worked up a load yet) - not really any big game hunting in my future that a .300 win with 180 trophy bonded tips would be a poor choice for haha

 

[436]

Actually guys I think for jumping large whitetails I'd have to say my Marlin 444 is hard to beat with my 240gr hand load, yeah... I know, what if that magical buck is 250 plus yards away? Well, walk a little closer I guess. With that said, I still feel the .44 Mag and the .30-30 WCF are on the top tier as whitetail medicians for 90% of all whitetail hunting here in the North West.
Just my 0.2 Cheers

 

[birddog 68]

Yes the 30-30 works great in my neck of the woods also. I had good success with it using cor lokt bullets until I thought I needed "better" cartridges. Looking back now I think the 30-30 would have worked on 90% of my deer.

 

[ultimag43]

Yeah they're pricy but they might be the single best all-applications hunting bullet design….I opted to let them spend a few years "working the bugs out" haha, and have a box of the older, long-proven federal trophy bonded tips on my shelf for my .300 win. The ascent is just the next progression of that design with a bit better bc and opening up at even lower impact velocity.

But it's almost boring (haven't even worked up a load yet) - not really any big game hunting in my future that a .300 win with 180 trophy bonded tips would be a poor choice for haha

we use the 155 in our 280 ai for elk and the 130 in the cm for deer and they have proven very effective
but we also have done really well with hornady's ELD X 143 .264 7 7mm 150 also

 

[ultimag43]

Actually guys I think for jumping large whitetails I'd have to say my Marlin 444 is hard to beat with my 240gr hand load, yeah... I know, what if that magical buck is 250 plus yards away? Well, walk a little closer I guess. With that said, I still feel the .44 Mag and the .30-30 WCF are on the top tier as whitetail medicians for 90% of all whitetail hunting here in the North West.
Just my 0.2 Cheers

View attachment 351541

sharp looking rifle

 

[436]

sharp looking rifle

Thanks, great whitetail, and black bear combo.