sabotloader

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....

wabi

For my .50s I like anywhere fron 250 to 350 grain bullets whether sabot or conical. The rifle makes the final decision for me on which one by it's accuracy. Some rifles like the lighter end, some the heavier, but most .50s I've owned will shoot something in that range accurately. Most of my deer have been killed with 300 grain Barnes or XTPs. All but one have been the "bang-flop" result and the one that travelled went about 30 yards. Put a good bullet in the heart/lung area ant the blood trail will be short.

dmurphy317

Just a clarification on my previous comments. I'm not endorsing one size over the other but just pointing out there's almost no difference in the trajectory out to at least 150 yards and further. So pick the one that shoots the most accurate and will do the job on whatever your hunting and don't worry about the trajectory until it gets beyond the point blank range your set up for. Beyond that just be aware of the drop and it's not that hard to compensate out to 200 or so yards if you know the range.

For me I shoot both plus I'm liking the 200SW more and more. It carries similar energy to the 300SW due to it's higher BC when launched with similar powder levels and gives me about a218 yard 6" PBR with 130 grains of pellets. I also like shooting the heavy 460's in my gun and with a 6" PBR of 148 yards it's only down about 15" at 200 which is fairly easy to compensate for. That load still has 1000+ fp energy out to 375 yards, longer at higher altitudes.

sabotloader

dmurphy317

Perfect... points right on