Understand bullet performance better... lets do this

Paul at Fechan

Well-Known Member
I'm a little worried out the types of bullets stalkers are willing to throw at deer before they understanding how a particular bullet is designed to perform. Match hollow point bullets for example, do they penetrate as Ballistic Tip Hunting bullets or Gamekings? And while the most of us will be sitting there confident in the answer, many will not be. Reloading your own bullets is great but too many reloaders are faced with take it or leave it deals that see them walking out of the shop with bullets that simply will not be suitable for the deer they intend to shoot. Lets try and put together some good information with pics and vids that will help stalkers choose the right bullets for them. Here's a good start.
 
Barns Bullets are the business,I wonder how an A max would go on (tin hat on)

Very well but not legal in the Uk other countries use them to great effect on deer size animals, but like any bullet design it has its limits and its only ethical to know what a particular bullet was designed for and its uses and it surely is the responsibility (ethically) of the end user to have some knowledge of what He-She is using on live game.
 
Research what bullets you're thinking of using, see what they're designed to be used on, ask other people's opinions. But primarily use a bullet for its intended purpose, be it deer, fox or what ever.

A bullet designed to f*ck up foxes isn't (in my opinion) a good recommendation to a beginner for use on deer, irrelevant of some people's beliefs.

Tom
 
Most of my experience is with 140gn and 150gn 7mm and 150gn and 165gn 308 caliber bullets from 2700fps to 2900fps mv. At those speeds I don't see the need for monos. This is a deer sight, so I'm talking about deer to 400lbs are so under 300yds. We don't have tiny deer, the smallest deer I'll shoot would be a yearling doe that might weigh 70lbs live weight. I think all the cup-and-core bullets are about the same. Pick the one that shoots best in your gun and go hunting. It's not rocket science. Those bullets are made for deer. Target bullets are made for TARGETS, if you use them and they fail, blame yourself. It's the same with varmint bullets. One last thought; some don't like the Nosler Balistic Tip. The early ones were at times problematic. They have been refined and in my opinion are now one of the best of the non premium bullets. I've killed 4 red hinds, all killed at around 2500fps impact speed, hit 1/3 way up behind the shoulder, with a 7x57 using 150gn Noslers. There was no discernible difference in the wound, all exited. Two were Balistic Tips and two were Partitions. capt david
 
has anyone noticed that 6mm 70gn nosler bt's seem harder than they used to? 5 years ago or so they used to explode foxes, dont seem to get that effect as often now...
 
has anyone noticed that 6mm 70gn nosler bt's seem harder than they used to? 5 years ago or so they used to explode foxes, dont seem to get that effect as often now...


I don’t know about foxes but they sure will spoil any UK Deer’s day.
 
has anyone noticed that 6mm 70gn nosler bt's seem harder than they used to? 5 years ago or so they used to explode foxes, dont seem to get that effect as often now...

I think that they might have changed the design of a few different nosler ballistic tip bullets over the years. I remember a friend complaining about .270 bullets not expanding some years ago, I haven't heard anyone complain about this in recent years.
 
Gary, some years ago the packaging for BT's wasn't as clear regarding if it was hunting or varminting bullet construction. Could you have had BT varminting with were very v-maxy in performance instead of hunting?

What are the bullets in the 'federal power shok' factory rounds? I use .308 150grain soft point.

from the federal product info it doesn't say but it looks like a speer grand slam? If it is then it's a cracking tough bullet anyway
 
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The ballistic tip performed really very well I thought. A decent amount of penetration even after striking a hard object.
 
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