Expansion isn't the whole story on bullet performance. Given enough velocity a flat point solid will blow wound channels considerably larger than caliber size. Take enough velocity away and a expanded bullet will make holes smaller than the expanded diameter. Although that's better than not expanding at all, its still a long ways from the same expanded/half blown up bullet making a wound channel the size of my leg. A bullet can still make large wounds at low speeds by fragmenting, and that is the real bottom line on using frangible target bullets for long range hunting. From what I remember of using 30-30s they loved to blow the front end of the bullet off. Back then I thought that was a bad thing, but with time I learned that that was the best deal around for a low velocity deer gun.
what is the best caliber for a lower recoil, easy to get ammo for,deer rifle.
- Thread starter hardek
- Start date
I load the #30303 in my .300 Savage and while I can't confirm or deny if there is any difference in the jacket thickness i can say that the bullet shape is different than the #30302 version with the cannelure lower and a lower BC. The bullet its self is a little shorter, stouter as well. I had assumed this was better suited to the .300 sav's short neck length. ??
We used to recommend cup & core SP's to our black bear clients... they resulted in the most predictable results, IOE... a perspective developed over a couple of decades Of following up on wounded and subsequently deceased bruins... whether the cartridge was .243, 7 RM, 7X57, .308, .30/06, .300 WM etc... we even had lever guys double jacking SP's with excellent results.
I don't think we're very far apart. Ordinary cup and core bullets have been around for a long time because they work. In a lot of cases they work better. Its only when things are taken to extremes that something else stands out. Extreme penetration, extreme range(low velocity), extremely high velocity (short range), extremely large game are a few of those. Usually to make a big gain in a specific area something had to be given up somewhere else.
Most game is ordinary. Not too big, not very tough, not very far away. It stands to reason that ordinary bullets make most of the people happy most of the time. If something was a better compromise, it would become the standard overnight. That hasn't happened.
and there is some calibers were mostly any bullets will work excluding really big game ...
Yes, and that brings up another extreme. The guys that want to hunt big animals with their coyote guns. They are bound to push the hard bullet side of the envelope, when they would probably be better off with a real gun and ordinary bullets.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
After believing it's Barnes or go home for a five year spell, fatherhood and lack of time found me buying what I can get off the shelf in Fort Nelson BC, Fort St John (the city), Grande Cache AB, and so forth. For .375 H&H that's usually Federal blue, same box of brass you just saw. They killed everything I shot with them on two continents and an island- and that's a lot of things from Lion to Wood Bison. I've become a ballistic sceptic, figuring most stuff is pretty good, and cheap cup and cores have been very effective. This all said if the kids are eating it I load Barnes, and they work great too!
Medved and Dogleg good point on light cartridges, tough bullets will matter there, the above all refers to .375 H&H. It doesn't seem to much care what type of bullet it spits unless you're hunting extremely heavy stuff off this continent.
I would agree with your observations... the good old C&C SP applies to a far broader range of velocities and purposes than many would like to admit... IMO many promote "specialty" bullets more to make a statement on the unique effectiveness of their chosen rig, than out of necessity. I have run C&C SP's from mild to wild with boringly predictable results. As Dogleg suggests though, there are extreme circumstances on either end of the spectrum where there are better choices... few perambulate in those extremes... but, heck... if it makes them feel special to shoot a funky bullet, that's fine and dandy with me.
I've played with premiums and love partitions but most days and calibers its Hornady interlocks for me. Cheap. Shoot well. And they just plain work. Groundhog crow coyote deer wolf and black bear have all fallen to the same load from my 25/06. I'm positive it will do just fine on moose as well
Most times boring old vanilla is all that's needed even if it's often overlooked
Most times boring old vanilla is all that's needed even if it's often overlooked
naktabar72
Regular
- Location
- Posted to #### Hole QC
My vote: 243
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
There you go, in terms of terminal performance, the traditional loads in a big case .375 answers most questions put to it, and has since 1912. What premium bullets allow in the .375 is for the African hunter to use a single load for everything, rather than loading a cocktail of solids and soft points in his magazine. We've learned much over the last century though, and modern solids with parallel sides and flat or hemispherical noses have proven to be far superior to the old tapered Kynoch design. Thus the .375 is now a viable one gun option for the hunter who has elephants on his license, whereas previously he'd have carried a heavy in addition to his medium. With premium expanding bullets, he can kill impala or buffalo without fear of having too much or too little, as the target density determines the degree of bullet performance, but then to some extent it always has.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Certainly the rifles for the 7.62X39 can be light and portable, particularly the mini-Mausers like the CZ-527. If you were hunting in typical white-tail or black-tail habitat, it would be a good choice, but if you hunt in open country, and the range stretches out to a quarter mile, with mule deer in addition to white-tail on the menu, a full sized rifle cartridge is a better choice. Since the OP is a Manitoban, he could be faced with a longish shot, if he chooses to take it, but if in the eastern or north central part of the province, the ranges tend to be on the short side, power-lines and lake shores notwithstanding.
mudgunner49
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
A typical affliction of residents of SE Ontario... LOL
longbranch*
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Victoria,BC.
If your 6.5X55 is a quality bolt-gun I don't see how you you could do better, but if a new caliber is in order then .260, .270WSM,7mm-8 for a short action, .270, .280 should do. A lot of it has to do with a rifle that fits you well.
