bowhunter elite

hey guys how do you feel about using a 125 gr speer spitzer for whitetail out of a 30-06? seems as though everyones saying at 150 grs but i' ve seen deer killed very cleanly with 55gr bullets out of of 22-250, 125gr speers shoot extremely accurately out of my 30-06.

Vapodog

heck yes.....go for it.....Most deer weigh from (field dressed) 80 to 150 pounds and they don' t take a big bullet to kill.

But sure as heck, you' ll come across a super large 240 pound deer and the only shot you' ll be presented is a quartering away opportunity and I guarantee you that you' ll wish you had something built for penetration.....and that 125 gr TNT just is not the bullet you want.

The decision is yours.

stubblejumper

I guess it does depend a lot on the size of the deer you shoot.I will take only mature bucks which are usually at least 250lbs(live weight) and often exceed 300 lbs so I would not use anything less than 150gr in the .308 bore unless it is a controlled expansion bullet.

eldeguello

Mike Martinez, the State of New Mexico game warden in San Miguel County, N.M., in the early 1960' s, used 125 and 130 grain bullets in his .308 Win. for mule deer shooting, and did not feel undergunned. Some of these bucks were over 350 pounds live weight!!

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Mykey

I don' t know about the exploding bullets like the tnt or hollow points for deer but i' ve had great success with the soft points in a lighter bullet from my 30.06. I' ve been loading the Hornady 130 SP for about 5 years now and have killed many deer with it from close up to long range and it' s extremely accurate. The recoil is also a little lighter with the lighter grain bullet which helps when making long shots. I' ve never lost a deer with this bullet and the majority of the one' s i' ve shot fell in their tracks and the few that did run didn' t run very far at all. I' ve only had a couple of these bullets that didn' t give complete pass throughs and they were shoulder shots and the bullet was lodged in the skin on the opposite side of where i shot the deer and they were still in tact and a nice mushroom. I use to think i needed a heavy bullet but a couple of my friends who shoot light bullets in their 7mm mag talked me into going lighter and i have no regrets. A good friend of mine took a trip to Kentucky last year and killed a huge buck with a 100grn Partition out of his 6mm and i know others who shoot nothing but a 243 and 100grn bullets and kill deer regularly. I think the key is bullet design and shot placement. As long as you put it in the vitals it' s gonna kill.

My pet load for my rifle is....

Hornady 130grn Spire Point
Remington Brass
52 grns IMR 4064
CCI 200 Primer
Bullet seated .008 off the lands

Good Luck!

frizzellr

The only 125 grain .308 bullet listed in the Speer manual is the TNT which is a varmint bullet designed to give rapid expansion, not penetration. In other words you are going to have a wounded deer on your hands. I think Sierra makes a 125 grain bullet suitable for deer but I' m not sure. Personally I don' t like Speer bullets anyway. Always found them to be fragile. As to your comment about deer being killed cleanly with a 55 grain bullet out of a 22-250 Rem, well I have seen deer taken cleanly with a 22 LR but it doesn' t make it wise.