NSpeziale

I find that my rifle shoots best with ballistic tips like hornady sst or nosler ballistic tip but I've heard of them just exploding in deer and I don't like that because I want a pass through. Is there any bullets that perform like a ballistic tip but hold together and pass through an animal. Was thinking something like accubonds or federal fusion.

BRUSE

I've heard the same. Try some interbond, nosler partitations, or accubonds. Good luck

FlDeerman

I have a box I hope that doesn't happen.My Grandson shoot a buck at 150yards and it was a pass through and a great blood trail(about 20 yards.

Blackelk

I was in the process of writing a long post about bullet construction and speed. Just remember one thing. Shooting a deer or any animal for that matter in the proper vital area won't make a tinkers darn about what bullet construction you choose. If the bullet is properly placed into the heart and lung area it can go through there like shrapnel and still kill a deer with virtually the same results. Speed kills but it also plays hell on certain bullets.

30 years of using Speer boat tails. High BC and perfect thumper with enough retained weight to drive on through out the other side most times depending on yardage.

Topgun 3006

Step up to the SP or BTSP that Hornady puts out for better expansion and penetration on deer sized game and for bigger game their Interbond for even deeper penetration is great. I'm reloading the BTSP in .243, 25-06, and 30-06for antelope up through deer and for elk the Interbond in the 30-06 is the way to go. The price on them is not bad either, although the Interbond is spendy just like any other premium bonded bullet nowadays.

huntography

Barnes TSX has been awesome for me over the years.

Highly recommend them.

Rudy

Mojotex

If you are not aware ... there are two versions of the Nosler Ballistic Tip. One is for varmints such as coyotes, fox, prairie dogs, etc. where penetration is not critical. It is designed purposely to expand rapidly. Though no doubt deer have been killed with these "varmint" bullets, they are not in my opinion the right choice for medium game.

The information on the factory ammo or on the Nosler bullet box will tell you if these are varmint bullets or the other version of the BT which is perfectly fine for medium, thinned skinned game such as white tailed deer.

Several of the guys I hunt with use these medium game BT's. They do not seem to hold their weight as well as the bonded bullets, or the Partition. Indeed total pass-throughs seem to be rather rare, but I cannot recall a single incident of a decently placed shot not taking down the deer within a reasonable distance. Same goes for my very limited experience with the SST. I don't use either, but several that I hunt with do.

If you are looking for deep, assured penetration look no farther than the age old Nosler Partition. This is a flat based bullet whose design goes back decades. Does a fine job deep penetration on deer sized game.

Another sort of "tweener" as far as penetration is the Sierra Game King. I use these a lot in my deer loads. This is a boat tailed bullet. I starting using it when I headed out west for eastern Montana mule deer starting about 10 years ago ... where my chances of a long shot have been more the norm ... such as 300-400 yards. I ahve had no issues with good penetration, but these do not seem to penetrate as well as the Partition.

I have tried the Trophy Bond. One heck of a penetrator. Actually, I have yet to recover one. All shots have ended up as pass throughs. Even rather severe angle shots. All that I have used these on have been deer and feral hogs.

The only Barnes copper bullet that I have any experience with is their ML sabot bullet. I use them in my 50 cal. in-line. They group great and are one heck of a terminal performer. I suspect that their center fire bullets would perform the same.

joedublin

I'm trying Barnes for the very first time this season...I'll let you know how they work. All the reports I have read concerning their performance have been really good.

buffybr

Good advise from Blackelk. With proper bullet placement into the vitals of deer and deer size animals, I've never found them hard to kill.

For over 30 years, my favorite bullet for deer, antelope and several bighorn sheep was the Sierra GameKing. A few years ago, I changed to Nosler Ballistic Tips because they were a little more accurate in my rifle. All of the deer and antelope that I've shot with the BTs died just as quickly as the ones that I had previously shot with other bullets. Placement counts more than make of bullet.

I also used Nosler BT bullets in a 7 Rem mag on my first South African hunt, cleanly killing 9 animals from Kudu down to bushbuck.

The Nosler Accubond bullet is the same construction as their BTs but with a heavier jacket which gives more penetration.

I used Accubonds in a 7 Rem mag on another South African hunt, and again cleanly killed another 6 animals with them. One of my Professional Hunters was very impressed with the wound channels that the Accubonds made.

I have also used Accubonds in my 7mm Rem mag on several other Montana and Canadian hunts, all with good results. The 160 gr Accubond in my 7 RM is my backup elk bullet and rifle.

Barnes TSX bullets were also mentioned. I have found that the TSX and TTSX bullets are very accurate in two of my rifles, and they perform very well on game. I hunt exclusively with TSX bullets in my .375 RUM and with TTSX bullets in my .300 Weatherby, but these rifles are not my first choice for deer hunting.

Gunplummer

I have used 55 Gr Hornady V-MAX factory loads in my .223 for deer with no problem. I don't shoot over 100 yards with it, so that may be the difference. I prefer something that opens up fast with a light high velocity bullet. As some of the others have mentioned, sometimes the more expensive bullets don't produce the accuracy they should. I also have had problems with some bullets.