For years, I have used the Sierra Game King boattail bullets for deer. They certainly do the job if my bullet hits in the sweet spot just rearward of the front shoulder, but I have had a couple of them blow up on bone when I used them at higher velocity. My favorite load is the 117 grain in my .257 Roberts, using 48 grains of MRP powder.

In recent years, I have experimented with Speer bullets. I took a black bear in Alberta last year with one shot at about 250 yards with a 180 grain Speer Grand Slam bullet from my .30-06. We recovered the bullet and it was a perfect mushroom. My other black bear was taken using the 180 grain Barnes XBT from the same rifle. It was also a one-shot kill, but the bullet went the whole way through and we didn' t recover it.

I am a believer in using decent well-constructed bullets for the tougher game. I don' t think it matters much what bullet you use for average whitetails if you hit them in the ribcage and take out the lungs. I still use the Sierra Boattails, and recently bought some Speer Hot Cor boattails to experiment with. I will try them on deer this fall.