I will admit that I bailed on the old soft pointed bullets at some point for boutique style tipped/hollow point bullets with shiny nickel brass and fancy names. I just can't recall why. Last 5 deer in shot dropped in their tracks with a well placed shot with minimal damage. Distances were from 70ish yards up to 300yds. Bullets usually had a small entry and the exit if there was one was about the size of your thumb. I know these style bullets will not work for the majority of this forum strictly because they have the BC of an ACME brick.
I just went thru some of my ammo crates after the bullet construction thread. My comments made me pause and seriously recall why I quit using the pointed soft point ammo. I stopped looking when my back started hurting from moving them out of the closet to the center of the bedroom.
223/5.56 ammo crate was filled with several thousand rounds of various brands of FMJ/Tipped/BTHP/Fusion soft points. Some are specific purpose ammo, Fusions were great for around the house and chicken coop, even killed some big pigs with them up close, 50ish yards.
243 ironically was filled with nothing but pointed soft point 100gr stuff.
6.5 Grendel was Nosler Ballistic Tips cause they flat kill and there's no tracking, but they are not meat friendly.
6.5 Creedmoor was a mishmash of almost 3000rds of stuff usually purchased from members of various forums. Accubonds, Partions, Berger Hybrid Hunters, Elite Hunters, Terminal Ascent, BTHP, FMJ, LRX, and 1000rds of 131gr S&B Pointed soft points.
6.5 PRC is new to me so I only have 200rds each of Nosler Accubonds and Berger 156gr EOL ammo.
280 Ackley was Accubonds, Partions and handloaded Berger VLD-Hs.
The bullets I have used of these newer style concepts have all killed deer effectively and efficiently. I am a meat hunter, so I don't like wasting/losing meat to excessive damage. I was raised by my grandparents so everything we ate came from the woods or we raised it in the garden or pigs, chickens and cows.
We get 5 tags here in Texas and other than the occasional cull, I try to shoot does, more of them and they don't get the pressure bucks do. I am also not above taking a headshot in the perfect scenario, but that takes an alignment of the stars. The caveat is, a big doe is 120lbs hanging dressed out, they are rare on our lease, most are 95ish - 105ish pounds. We hunt over corn feeders, there is usually a kiddo tagging along or doing the shooting.
I rambled thru that to ponder the question, when did our parents and grandparents bullets quit being effective?
I am going to shoot the first doe of the season with the S&B 131gr pointed soft point, then possibly all 5 of them. They are consistent velocity wise and they are plenty accurate enough, plus they are super cheap, less than a $1 a pop. The box stated 2740fps from a weird 21 1/2" barrel IIRC, but I routinely saw 2830 to 2855, the 20shot velocity average was 2837fps out of a 24" Proof Sendero Light. Their stated G1 is .389 and the G7 was .195. The longest shot to one of the feeders is a hair over 300yds, so I think with the smaller stature of our deer, these will be a great choice. I am curious about the wound cavity. I shot a couple of biggish sows at the farm in the 180-200lb range, but didn't cut them open, one took a couple of steps and never twitched, the other fell in her tracks and did the curly shuffle and I stuck another one under the chin to shorten any suffering.
Thoughts, recommendations, any potential issues I am not seeing? If not, then a range trip to get more data with the Labradar, verify the data at the 200yd station and then verify at the farm at 300yds and 400yds. If I did my math right, 400yds is on the edge of the 1800fps minimum threshold for expansion, although I have not found a recommendation for minimum expansion velocity for these bullets. At the lease, 250yds will be the maximum yardage I attempt a shot and it will be the high CNS shot.
I am not in the same situation as most here, 400yds is a long poke. Most of my deer are shot off of feeders at 160yds, 220yds and 250yds but I have shot Antelope and deer in excess of 700yds, with a 240 Weatherby and a 257 Weatherby, my only bull elk was about 160yds with a 300 Weatherby. The cows I shot were anywhere from 60yds to 250ish. Lots of pigs out to 450yds, a few at close to 500yds and coyotes up to 700ish yds when I did nuisance control for the county.
***Edit***
My math was wrong, two different ballistic calculators put the 1800fps between 450 and 475, but that will be well beyond my goals.
I just went thru some of my ammo crates after the bullet construction thread. My comments made me pause and seriously recall why I quit using the pointed soft point ammo. I stopped looking when my back started hurting from moving them out of the closet to the center of the bedroom.
223/5.56 ammo crate was filled with several thousand rounds of various brands of FMJ/Tipped/BTHP/Fusion soft points. Some are specific purpose ammo, Fusions were great for around the house and chicken coop, even killed some big pigs with them up close, 50ish yards.
243 ironically was filled with nothing but pointed soft point 100gr stuff.
6.5 Grendel was Nosler Ballistic Tips cause they flat kill and there's no tracking, but they are not meat friendly.
6.5 Creedmoor was a mishmash of almost 3000rds of stuff usually purchased from members of various forums. Accubonds, Partions, Berger Hybrid Hunters, Elite Hunters, Terminal Ascent, BTHP, FMJ, LRX, and 1000rds of 131gr S&B Pointed soft points.
6.5 PRC is new to me so I only have 200rds each of Nosler Accubonds and Berger 156gr EOL ammo.
280 Ackley was Accubonds, Partions and handloaded Berger VLD-Hs.
The bullets I have used of these newer style concepts have all killed deer effectively and efficiently. I am a meat hunter, so I don't like wasting/losing meat to excessive damage. I was raised by my grandparents so everything we ate came from the woods or we raised it in the garden or pigs, chickens and cows.
We get 5 tags here in Texas and other than the occasional cull, I try to shoot does, more of them and they don't get the pressure bucks do. I am also not above taking a headshot in the perfect scenario, but that takes an alignment of the stars. The caveat is, a big doe is 120lbs hanging dressed out, they are rare on our lease, most are 95ish - 105ish pounds. We hunt over corn feeders, there is usually a kiddo tagging along or doing the shooting.
I rambled thru that to ponder the question, when did our parents and grandparents bullets quit being effective?
I am going to shoot the first doe of the season with the S&B 131gr pointed soft point, then possibly all 5 of them. They are consistent velocity wise and they are plenty accurate enough, plus they are super cheap, less than a $1 a pop. The box stated 2740fps from a weird 21 1/2" barrel IIRC, but I routinely saw 2830 to 2855, the 20shot velocity average was 2837fps out of a 24" Proof Sendero Light. Their stated G1 is .389 and the G7 was .195. The longest shot to one of the feeders is a hair over 300yds, so I think with the smaller stature of our deer, these will be a great choice. I am curious about the wound cavity. I shot a couple of biggish sows at the farm in the 180-200lb range, but didn't cut them open, one took a couple of steps and never twitched, the other fell in her tracks and did the curly shuffle and I stuck another one under the chin to shorten any suffering.
Thoughts, recommendations, any potential issues I am not seeing? If not, then a range trip to get more data with the Labradar, verify the data at the 200yd station and then verify at the farm at 300yds and 400yds. If I did my math right, 400yds is on the edge of the 1800fps minimum threshold for expansion, although I have not found a recommendation for minimum expansion velocity for these bullets. At the lease, 250yds will be the maximum yardage I attempt a shot and it will be the high CNS shot.
I am not in the same situation as most here, 400yds is a long poke. Most of my deer are shot off of feeders at 160yds, 220yds and 250yds but I have shot Antelope and deer in excess of 700yds, with a 240 Weatherby and a 257 Weatherby, my only bull elk was about 160yds with a 300 Weatherby. The cows I shot were anywhere from 60yds to 250ish. Lots of pigs out to 450yds, a few at close to 500yds and coyotes up to 700ish yds when I did nuisance control for the county.
***Edit***
My math was wrong, two different ballistic calculators put the 1800fps between 450 and 475, but that will be well beyond my goals.
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