Worst performing big game load?

todbartell

todbartell

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
290   0   0
Location
BC
A little bit of a twist on a question that always comes up, 'best big game load'

what have you found, in your personal experiences, to be the poorest big game bullet rifle cartridge/bullet combo?

discuss...


 
180 grain Nosler Partition bullet in a 30-06 on deer. No expansion at all - 2 pencil holes right through. A 280 139 grain Hornady dropped it cold 3 miles later.
 
My worse experience is winchester 180 gr power points on black tail deer. Freaking thing exploded sending fragments in all directions including off at almost 90 degrees when it hit shoulder bone :mad: Dispatched the deer fine but what a mess. Probably ruined 5lbs of meat which isn't a lot I guess but I wasn't impressed.......
 
Weatherby's 180gr hornady bullet load for the 300. Okay out there when the bullets have a chance to slow down a bit but up close very messy.

I don't trust jacketed boat tails on heavy game.
 
I shot 2 deer, one Blacktail and one Whitetail with 100gr Silver-Tip factory .250 Savage ammo. One was a neck shot, head on from ~150 yards, the other was a behind the shoulder shot, broadside, from 20 yards. Both of the bullets came apart and sent shrapnel in all directions. The deer died where they stood, but it was a big mess on the broadside shot, and I don't know whether it was just luck that the neck shot deer dropped. I had to finish that one off. When I skinned it there wasn't as much damage as I expected, Just lots of little shrapnel pieces.
 
Challenger slugs, 12 ga, 2 3/4" chamber, 1 ounce, Brenneke style with the finned follower. I shot a deer repeatedly with these things a few years back, and rounds aimed at the chest went through the hams, etc etc. Slugs that HIT the animal broadside came out at an oblique angle. NEVER have I seen such horrific performance.

I went back to Winchester 1 ounce rifled slugs (el cheapos) and have no complaints...

Doug
 
worst bullet

My worst was with a .308 shooting 150 grain BT's, bang ...splat.
Bullet blow up and fragmentation with an ugly ragged entrance wound. Dead deer but lots of wasted meat. :eek: Big bullets that expand at normal hunting ranges and exit seem to work better for me.:cool: After 30 some years of shooting I believe that the Hornady Interlock bullet will do just about anything needed for harvesting game given the right bullet weight is chosen and shot placement is right.:p Premium bullets are not needed for small game but when the size and weight of the animal goes up like moose and elk then premium bullets will penetrate further giving a better chance at a clean kill shot.:cool:
 
Gatehouse said:
150gr 7mm Ballistic Tips, blew up twice on deer at close range...:mad:
Click to expand...

heh, funny, I put a 150 gr 7mm NBT through the spine, behind the shoulders, of a 5x5 mulie @ 165 yards. Punched clear on through.
 
250 grain Hornady's in my 358 Norma,they act like a varmit bullet.shot a goat some years ago and just about had to throw away the whole front shoulder.
 
I thought the Ballistic Tip was a target bullet not meant for hunting. In any event a guy I hunt with used them this year and couldn't figure out why he lost 2 cow elk after making a "perfect shot". After I asked him what bullets he was using (out of a 7mm), I said "no ####?"

With all of the other great flying hunting bullets out there I don't know why people use anything but a bonded bullet for hunting.
 
skhunter said:
Interesting that these "poor performing" bullets were taken out of dead game, I thought that was what a bullet was supposed to do.
Click to expand...

90% of the time, when a bullet fails, it still kills the game dead, often rapidly

its the other 10% of the time...:rolleyes:
I thought the Ballistic Tip was a target bullet not meant for hunting.
Click to expand...


Ballistic Tips are hunting bullets in calibers of 6.5mm + (except a few 6mm & 25 cal offerings), and work well as long as they are not pushed fast and used on game bigger than deer. 8mm+ Ballistic Tips are engineered for game larger than deer, and are beefed up considerably. I find it odd that the 200 gr. 338 NBT has come up twice so far, as when I sectioned one last year, it was a very stout jacketed bullet, I would of thought it would perform well...
 
Last edited:
Nosler Ballistic Tips are either Varmint B/T's or Hunting B/T's and they are two different bullets in construction.
The hunting weight B/T bullets can work well if used on the right sized game and at the right speed.
This is true of most bullet sellections....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom