dmurphy317 lemoyne

for my 2 cents I agree with both of you.... I shoot the lighter bullet for deer because I am more convinced it will open and do it's job on a thin skinned-thin bodied whitetail. I do then switch to a 300 grain for elk and/or larger thick skinned bigger bodied animals. The 300 grain bullet is a stronger bullet with a thicker copper jacket. The only place I see the difference being critical is at close range... shots taken from 25 to 60 yards. It has been my experiance that a 300 grain Nosler partition will get in and out of a deer at these close ranges with out doing maximum damage. One other point is that I really do not expect to make long range shots on deer - especialy deer so I am unconcerned about 200 yard velocity or energy which the as murph has indicated the 300 grain will carry more out further.

Several years back i shot a really nice whitetail buck @ 15 yards with a .451/300 grain Nosler - that bullet was in and out of that animal so fast it really just put to nice neat holes in the deer - the lungs were gone but the animal managed to run a couple hundred yard downhill away from me. In my mind a 250/260 grain would have entered and done more damage as it expanded...

Chap, has shot deer at close range with the Speer 300 grain Gold Dot and said it performed well - so maybe the Gold Dot or even the XTP would would fine... I am not sure...

again just my 2 cents....