bigstickjrock
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- Oct 15, 2013
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- 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.
.270 whitetail bullet shopping again, for the last time.
- Thread starter Mike Hennig
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For over 25 years I watch my in-laws bring down somewhere around 150 deer with 270's. They all use Sierra 130 gr SPBT. Some we had to track, but not many of them. If you don't hit them right with any bullet, they are going to travel. The main factor was the bullet didn't come apart and blood shot the entire side of the deer. They were deer hunters an nothing else in big game, because we didn't have elk or other big game here where we hunted. I learned a lot from those guys, and also brought new tricks into our group. I had move into the 3 level of hunting.
Scooter 45ACP
Well-Known Member
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.
epags
Well-Known Member
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.
zb338
Well-Known Member
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.
and he has shot Elk and Moose with the same good results. He says "They work and they are inexpensive".
Zeke
tyleray
Member
As suggested earlier, the new Federal Terminal Ascent is a hybrid between bonded and monolithic with high BC designed to open at long ranges and still be fine at point blank. In my .300 wsm, I'm getting .4-.7" groups, and single didgit SD. Have not hit animals with this round yet, but have no reason to believe they will not perform.
RD57
Well-Known Member
My experiences with Nosler BTs began when they first came out, and I had a blow up and a lost deer at 80 yards that I shot. The pigs on Ft. Stewart ate well. Forward to 2009 and 24 years later in Colorado where I shot a mulie at 90 yards with a 140 BT excellent performance and pass through, and then again a year later at 160 yards with complete pass through. Muzzle velocity through chronograph was 3005 fps avg. I'd say the Nosler BTs made today are very good for your 3100 fps and less muzzle velocity cartridges, and if your rifle is faster than that or the game is tougher go to the Accubond. They both shoot very well out of my 270s.
19elkhunter51
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2008
- Messages
- 250
First and foremost, NO bullet will make up for poor shot placement. Over the years, I am 69 and have been reloading for over forty five years, I have done just like all the other responders to this post. Tried to find "the one bullet". No such thing as the perfect bullet with perfect performance. When we started to hunt elk I believed we needed to shoot a heavier bullet. Back then the only "premium" bullet that we could afford was the original Nosler Partition. At that time I was loading for five different 30-06 rifles. NONE of them would shoot a group with the Nosler that didn't look like a shotgun pattern at a hundred yards. Ended up going with my favorite hunting bullet at the time, Sierra Gameking. I was able to get sub moa groups from all of the rifles with different loads for each of the rifles. Used this load for several years and we always killed what we shot at. Dead animals on the ground, whats not to like? The Sierras worked well. Seemed like we always found the core lodged under the skin on the off side of the shot. But that wasn't good enough.
Now and for the last fifteen years it has been the Barnes bullet. In our rifles we are all shooting sub moa groups and the bullets perform well. Have not recovered more than three or four and ALL of those look just like a picture form the ads for the Barnes bullet.
Long winded for the final analysis but the bottom line, in my opinion, is there is NO one bullet. Different animals, different distances, different angle of the shot all make it IMPOSSIBLE to declare "the one bullet". Personally at this point in my hunting life if I had but one bullet to choose I would go back to the Sierra Gameking. Incredible accuracy in anything that I have ever reloaded for and will do the job at the other end when it contacts the animal.
My usual ending. two cents worth and just my opinion.
Now and for the last fifteen years it has been the Barnes bullet. In our rifles we are all shooting sub moa groups and the bullets perform well. Have not recovered more than three or four and ALL of those look just like a picture form the ads for the Barnes bullet.
Long winded for the final analysis but the bottom line, in my opinion, is there is NO one bullet. Different animals, different distances, different angle of the shot all make it IMPOSSIBLE to declare "the one bullet". Personally at this point in my hunting life if I had but one bullet to choose I would go back to the Sierra Gameking. Incredible accuracy in anything that I have ever reloaded for and will do the job at the other end when it contacts the animal.
My usual ending. two cents worth and just my opinion.
Got five hunters with 270's in my family and we've killed over 100 deer, 100 hogs and 27 elk over the last 20 years with 140 grain Accubonds. For big WI whitetails I think you would be very happy with the results. It's tipped, has controlled expansion, typically will retain 60-70% or it's weight and has good terminal performance from 50-500 yds. You could try the 130's, 140's or 150's now and see what your rifle likes best. The 150 Interbond is awesome but very hard to find. I have had great results with the 150 grain Speer Deep Curl but it has also been discontinued and it has a soft lead tip like its brother the Grand Slam. Good luck!
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 bu
llet out of a 22 inch barrel.
greenejc
Well-Known Member
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.
verticalslope1970
Member
I hunt Mule Deer and Elk in the west. I used to load the Combined Technology Ballistic tip. I loved the load but found issued when I hit the shoulder bone. I switched to the Barnes TTSX and have had great results with bullet weight retention. Since switching I have harvested a Rocky Mtn goat, elk and mule deer. All dropped in their tracks from ranges of 200 yards to 550 yards. This year testing out the Barnes LRX 129 grain with IMR 4451 powder @ 3300 fps.
