Premium Hunting Bullets

[ridgerunner]

What are recommendations for premium hunting bullets?

They will be shot out a .243 and 30-06.

Thanks for the input.

Any horror stories of bullets to avoid would be appreciated as well.

 

[muzz]

LAST EDITED ON May-08-03 AT 08:52PM (MST)[p]Nosler , Fail safe ,Bear claw, Swift, Sreer Grand slam.

Get a bullet that has a bonded core. A thicker Kacket for a even expansion. The above have been tried and tested and work very well.

Good Luck

Muzz
Chad

 

[Happyhunting]

The finest hunting bullet in my opinion is the Barnes x-bullet. 100% pure copper which retains 96% to 100% of its weight. Longer bullet giving it superior balistics.

 

[RLH]

ok, i'll say it again, i like the hornady boat tail soft points as good as anything. they aren't what folks call "premium", but to me that just means they cost more. they hold together real well. seldom shoot through, which means all the shock and energy is transfered to the animal. and are real accurate. and you can get a couple hundred more fps out them than the solid copper bullets. i always find em wadded up under the skin on the off side. really like em.

 

[Bob D.]

Barnes X, Swift A-Frame, and Trophy Bonded Bear Claws (now made by Speer) are good. There is a new bullet on the market that I'm going to try, North Fork Bullets. Check out their website: www.northforkbullets.com If anybody tries them before I do, I'd be interested in how they did as far as accuracy, and velocity in comparison to standard bullets.

 

[MartinHunter]

Hornady 100gr BTSP. Thats what I use and they seem to work fine.
Michael

 

[grizzly]

Winchester Fail Safe Mini-Mag? Something like that

It's a .30-06 that cooks to the point it has nearly the force of a .300 Win. Flat shooter too.

 

[MichaelJ]

Sierra Game King by federal. Shoots awesome out of my 30-06! got an extra 1 1/2 inches at 200 yds with this bullet. Compared to the Remington Cor-Lok (both 150 grains)

Michael

 

[centerfire]

I have to go with RLH, I use Hornady bullets for most all my big game guns. They work great, shoot real tight groops and kill just fine. I Like the 250 and 225 gr. in my 338 RUM. The Elk and Bear that I have taken with these bullets might not say the same.
If you have not tried Hornady Interlock bullets, give them a try I think you will like them. I have used them on small game to Moose in various calibers. They just flat work..
cf

 

[Triple_BB]

I think the hot new bullet for the 30-06 is going to be Hornady's Interbond if price is a consideration. I was at my reloading suppliers place last week and they just received stocks of 270 & 7mm Interbonds. The 30 caliber is supposed to be in sometime in the next couple of weeks. Can't wait to load up some 165 grains.

 

[studpile]

Might as well throw my opinion is as well. for the '06 I'd say give the Nosler partitions or the Ballistic tips a chance. You shouldn't be producing enough FPS to mess up the Ballistic tips perofrmance. Nosler would be good for the .243 as well, but I'd try the Swift Scirrocco if I had the cash...lol There's about as many as you have money to spend. The good 'ol Hornady is still a helluva standby.

 

[Cooter]

RLH and the studpile have it right. The Hornady's aren't really considered one of the premium bullets, but they sure work. The Barnes-X, Trophy Bonded Bearclaws, Swift A-frames and Nosler Partitions are top shelf. Personally, I like the tbbc's. Your gun might have a preference for something else.

Cooter

 

[BigPig]

Chock me up as a Hornady fan too. I shoot them out of three different rifles and their Custom and Light Mag lines are hard to beat. I've killed numerous wild pigs at a few feet to 250 yards. I killed a 5 pt bull at 328 yards with my 30-06. And I killed a whitetail with my 25-06 and SST's that dropped faster than I have ever seen any animal. They also shoot better in all these rifles than anything else. Last Sat My 30-06 Winnie M70 shot a three shot group with 180gr Light mags that was one ragged hole at 100 yards. I have the utmost confidence in Hornady ammo. Were I to start handloading they would be the first bullet I'd pick.

 

[fisrtcoueswas80inches]

i was shooting the speer 165 out of a 308 at a big cow elk at around 50 yards and the bulet went through the heart and was logged on the othr side. did its job well and now i shoot a 30-06
casey

 

[TAM]

I used 165 grain Hornady Light Mags in my 30-06 with great results for several years. When I started reloading they were my bullet of choice as well. Now I use them in my reloads for my .270 Weatherby mag and shoot 130 grain bullets over 3500 fps with groups you can cover with a quarter! As mentioned above they are usually not considered the premo fancy bullets like partitions and Barnes but they have always got the job done right for me!

 

[eweikum338]

This is a late post, but if you are not satified with what you have tried, here is my .02 cents.
For the 243, Remington core-loks.
For the 30-06, Speer Grand Slams

I have had terrible luck killing anything with Noslers and Winchester Fail safes. When I shoot a buck or bull, I want it to go down and stay down! Grand Slams are my total favorite.

Ed

 

[oldoregon]

my dad and i have both been shoting remington corelockts for years, and never had anything go wrong!

 

[whtailtaker]

try PMP Ammo-made in South Africa- have had good luck with it-
great patterns and knock down power- priced right

whtailtaker

 

[etoh]

I won't use Noslers or Fail Safes any more either. BTs blow up. I've had the top come off partitions a few times and make little holes (they still work, but I'd rather have a bullet that stays together.) Fail Safes won't group. Sciroccos have been great so far. 2" groups at 200 yards, good expansion, and they stay together. The 180 grain 30 cal scirocco I pulled from the neck of my elk weighed 147 grains and mushroomed perfectly. They do cost more but how many shots do I get at game? Might as well make the most of them. jim

 

[bowhunt]

Ok I have to get in on this one:
In my 30.06 I have the very best group with the Fail Safe 180 grain bullets. I bought a box of every bullet out there...shot them all for groupings at 100 yards. Each did quite well, but the Fail Safe had the best pattern.(just by a little) I then shot each one of them into a sand bank. The Fail Safe by far retained the most weight.
Now for my 243 I shoot the Federal Premium boat tail. I went through the same process and found this bullet to be the best all around. (100 grain)
I do believe that different guns shoot different bullets better...but for me and my guns this is what worked.

Good luck!

 

[kilbuc]

etoh,

Nosler partitions are designed to open very quickly, peel back and then stop at the partition and give great penetration. It is very common and normal to loose the front piece of lead. Have used for years and recover very few bullets but the ones I have, have showed 65% weight retention. If you want max wt. retention go to Swift A-frames or Trophy Bonded, they give 95% plus.

from the "Heartland of Wyoming"

 

[bowhunt]

One more thing:
I have shot several animals with the 243. It worked GREAT every time. The last was a large 4 point Mule Deer at 327 yards. It did a nice job. I have not shot anything with the 06 and a failsafe.
I will be elk hunting Idaho in November with the 06 and the failsafe. I hope it does as well on animals as it has on targets.

 

[etoh]

Yeah I know, that's why I don't care for them. Like I said they work but I'm fond of bullets that mushroom rather than the top shearing off. I know others have had great success with partitions and thats why I started reloading with them. I just wasn't happy with the small holes in the lungs of the elk I shot with them. Since I've swithed to Swift bullets I've noticed half dollar size holes through the vitals and I've only recovered one bullet. I'm very happy with them. I have batch of A-frames loaded for the .270 but will have to wait for next year to try them. Besides, my rifle likes them.

 

[IdahoCowboy]

Nosler partitions.

 

[Coach Hunt]

Howdy,

According to my records I have killed deer with the following bullets, A-frame, Herters Wasp Waist, Rem core-lokts, Winchester, Sierra Game King, Hornady Interlock, Sierra Pro Hunter, Speer Hot Core, Nosler Solid Base, Nosler Ballistic Tip, Nosler Partition, Swift Scirroco, Winchester Silver Tips (both the old metal tip and the new ones by Nosler).

My favorite, Nosler Partitions. Second place, Winchester Silver tip (old metal tip style).

Coach