Best Hunting Bullet?
 

Ok heres my problem. I've always been a diehard hornady man when it comes to hunting bullets. I've always either shot hornady or a good handload loaded with a hornady. I just had my gunsmith build a custom 260 rem., and hornady doesn't offer a factory load for that caliber. I do reload but would just as soon shoot factory ammo for hunting due to convenience. I bought a box of federal premium 120 gr loaded with the barnes tsx bullet. Great accuracy, half inch groups at a hundred all day long. However, I'm skittish of this all copper hollow point bullet for hunting. Anybody have experience with the performance of the barnes tsx bullet? If not, any other bullet selections? If the barnes performs well thats what i will hunt with. If not I'll load up a good bullet. Lets hear some suggestions

I shoot Winchester ballistic silvertip. In both my .280 and my wife's .243. Best group in both cals. And I have never tracked a deer in 10+years they always drop on the spot.

I used to shoot those ballistic silvertips till I had one go straight through a deer and I never found him. Lot of my shots are closer than 50 yards especially when Im in the woods and I have lost a few deer cuase the bullet never mushroomed to do enough damage. Now I shoot Winchester PowerMax Hollow Points. I dont even track them anymore, they just fall over. Plus they are great at short range as well.

I was bored one day so filled a gallon milk jug up with red coolaide and made a makeshift shelf out of 2 pieces of scrap wood and nailed it to my target board and set the jug on top of it. 1 round and the jug exploded into pieces, the wooden shelf spllintered into like 7 pieces as well and it punched a hole the size of a quarter through the half inch thick board I was using to staple my targets too.

I shoot Hornady Interlock Spire Point Boattails out of my .280. Great bullets, they perform excellent at close and long range. I would say you couldn't go wrong with them in your .260, and I'd probably opt for something in the 120gr range with that gun. I would work up some good handloads, I mean you just had a custom gun built.

I honestly don't know what is available in factory for the .260. My son shoots factory Rem Core Lock in his .243 and they work well every time too.

The TSX get glowing reviews. I am trying them this season for the first time, but it is still muzzleloader season. I used Ballistic Silvertips in the past and never had a failure, but they just explode and do too much damage IMO. I mean baseball-sized exit wounds. Too much.

In muzzleloading I have had incredible results with Speer DeepCurls. I wouldn't hesitate to handload DeepCurls for a centerfire rifle and hunt with them.

SG3 you already have THE best bullet available! The Barnes is what everyone is now copying. They DONT fail, EVER. Put one thru the pumphouse & get the guttin knife ready, its that simple! :barmy:

You WONT be disappointed! :fighting0007:
HL

They work well. If you recover one, treasure it, because it won't happen very often.

I am calling b.s. to your stats. I shoot a 280 and the wife shoots a 243. We have shot over 100 deer in the past 10 years. I personally have shot the ballistic Silverton from 350yds. To under 20 yards same with the 243. The only deer that have walked away from the spot of time of shot would be a missed shot.

Firm believer in the Barnes TSX or tipped TSX.... I use them in my 7 Mag and deer just tip over EVERY time...... The only other bullet I can compare to drop in tracks performance is the Swift Scirocco II... Try em, you will be happy...

Federal Premium has proven to be a very effective round for me. I haven't used the caliber you are shooting but from .243 and .270 my deer have been one and done. Excellent performance and great accuracy. I would not hesitate to use them on black bear. If I get to hunt something that is a bit thicker bodied such as grizzley or moose I might look for a different round but for whitetail deer it is fantastic.