You don't need a premium bullet for deer. They are easy to put down with proper placement. I like the 140 grain Hornady btsp. It plain works. Even elk and moose fall down when it is placed where it is suppose to go. If the premium bullets are such a great invention, how did our ancesters manage to survive when subsistance hunting with plain old lead cast slugs. The premiums have their purpose, but for deer, they are not needed, as a cup and core is more than adequate. I use partitions only on things that can and will do you a world of hurt, given the opportunity.

Hornady 140 grain BTSP, IMHO the best cartridge out there.

I tend to hunt in public areas (with large crowds of hunters) or in the mountains of south-eastern KY (where fatally hit deer can go a long-ways straight down steep hillsides)...so I tend to put bullets through the shoulder, which seems to solve the problem of deer movement after the shot (DRT).

I tend to use a slightly heavy for caliber bullet...my 7mm Remington Magnum currently uses Winchester 150-grain Supreme Ballistic Silvertips (extremely accurate [0.5 MOA] and very effective)... I have had issues with both standard bullets and BT-style in standard or light for caliber weights (ex. 130 grain Silvertip in 270 Winchester)--too much initial upset, lack of penetration, core-jacket separation.

For complete penetration with "explosive" initial performance (IMO the best all around bullet out there) go with a medium heavy for caliber Nosler Partition...and be prepared for large exit holes and massive damage... MOSTLY NOT NEEDED FOR WHITETAILS, though much appreciated on Elk, and reassuring on Bear.

If you want a light for caliber bullet, go with either a bonded bullet (Accubond, Scirroco) or a solid copper bullet (X-bullet, Failsafe) though they do not tend to expand well on deer (in my experience).

This. Good old fashion lead tipped cup and core style bullets have been around for a long time. And with good reason. They work as well as anything else on deer sized animals. Heck, they work better for that purpose than many of the premiums that cost much more. I like Hornady Interlocks.

Never cared for ballistic tips. Too explosive IMHO. Basically just a hollow point with a plastic nipple snapped in the end. Don't know why I would pay more money for that.

***Hornady Interlocks are all I use on antelope up through deer in my .243 100 gr), 25-06 (117 gr), and 30-06s (150 gr). I go to their Interbond for deeper penetration on elk with my 30-06s and they shoot to the same POI, which is nice because it saves having to reset my scopes.

Hornday sst bullets, I have used them for years and they will blow thru 200 lbs of deer every time and have a great blood trail.

They'll blow up alright! That's why I only used them one year when they blew up on the ribs of a cow elk and buck deer out in Wyoming and made a mess of things. Then I went to handloading their SP and BTSP Interlocks and ever since then every goat and deer I've shot has had perfect expanion and penetration with minimal loss of meat and the animals haven't gone ten yards total. I've heard good and bad about the SST and I think it all depends on the caliber and speed that it's going as to whether you get good or poor results with them.