Chuck R.
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Xtra bonus, a lot easier to pack out...
Also a heck of a lot easier to get permission to hunt.
Beginner hunter.. what is the best bullet for whitetail deer?
- Thread starter Odessit86
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Xtra bonus, a lot easier to pack out...
Also a heck of a lot easier to get permission to hunt.
9x56MS
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And they taste great with biscuits and gravy.
9x56MS
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Plus you can scout for deer while hunting squirrels. Found some great deer stands while squirrel hunting.
Atavar
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I was once a card carrying Girl Scout for a number of years. On one weekend camp it happened to be squirrel season so I went off and brought back a brace of squirrels. All the little girls went "Ewwww!’ But I cleaned them up and we made a pot of squirrel stew and a pot of beef stew. They still went "Eww" but at the end of the night the squirrel stew was gone and there was beef stew left.
Random 8
Member
I'll keep it simple for the OP, and stick to a formula that has worked for the orange army since before blaze orange was a thing.
Find some 150, 165 or 180 grain ammo labeled "sp" or "soft point ". Buy a few boxes of same grain weight, different brands ( if possible). See which your rifle likes best. Buy 4 boxes of that brand and shoot up the rest for practice. All will kill whitetail effectively.
After you've achieved proficiency with your rifle, get back to us if you feel the need to shoot something fancy. It's not really necessary, but some like to feel they have an edge with expensive shells.
Find some 150, 165 or 180 grain ammo labeled "sp" or "soft point ". Buy a few boxes of same grain weight, different brands ( if possible). See which your rifle likes best. Buy 4 boxes of that brand and shoot up the rest for practice. All will kill whitetail effectively.
After you've achieved proficiency with your rifle, get back to us if you feel the need to shoot something fancy. It's not really necessary, but some like to feel they have an edge with expensive shells.
LOLBELL
Member
If you put it where it needs to be any soft point bullet in the 150 grain range will work better than good. If you are going to eat it I would shy away from the ballistic tipped bullets. They don’t kill any deader and tear up way too much meat.
CarJunkieLS1
Member
OP find yourself some Hornady American Whitetail ammo "Red Box" either 150 grain or 165 grain. Shoot them both and whichever your rifle likes best pick that one. There isn't a deer on this planet that can take either of those bullets in a vital area and run very far.
J-Bar
Member
When you are squeezing the trigger on a deer, say to yourself “front leg, front leg, front leg”. Most beginning hunters (and many experienced ones) instinctively aim for the middle of the animal when excited, as if it were a bullseye. Hit the chest in line with the front leg and any of your choices will work dandy.
courtgreene
Member
This is good advice. Do this. In fact get a target with a deer on it and practice the heck out of this. When in the field I start with my crosshairs on the ground, and move them up the front leg until I reach my target to avoid shooting too far back (but accidents do happen).
Ugly Sauce
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I think the op already has those bullets, or did I read that wrong? My impression is the he(she?) reloads, and has those on hand. ? Anyhow, of course they will all work. If the range is going to be 100 yards, give or take a few, I wouldn't even load them up to full velocity if you want to save more meat. Maybe around 2600fps, but that's just me.
Ugly Sauce
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Ahhh...more info! Under 100 yards I think the core-loks could be the best answer. Or I should say don't waste any $$$ on expensive premium bullets. Also at close range like that I would trim some velocity off, you won't need what a .30-06 can produce at that range for a white tail deer. I'd load the 150 grain Core-Lok to 2600fps and you should get a nice clean kill, and not tear up the hind quarters too bad should you make a bad shot.
BringHomeTheBacon
member
What caliber of rifle or you going to hunt with in the first place? For .308, 150 grain soft point boat tail is par for the coarse in CF-rifle-legal deer country.
Oops, you said .30-06 later on, I see. That's a rather stout cartridge for lesser deer species anyway. I would use the loads that kick the least then. Even the least-recoiling .30-06 round should summarily drop a whitetail deader than a door nail with a well-placed shot. You just can't kill what you can't hit with a 22, a BB gun or a cannon. Probably the lightest -06 soft point boat tail bullets. Take the game ethically but save your meat and your firing shoulder both.
The last time I fired .308 ammo was in 1992. It was a box of Remington ammo bought at a Long's Drugs store in California in 1986. BTSP 150 gr. was all they sold in that caliber and I thought that was virtually run-of-the-mill for hunting ammo. My ideas about ammunition are simple and old-fashioned. Deer hides are no tougher to punch through nowadays than they were 100 years ago.
Do you believe a pharmacy in California used to sell hunting ammo? Well, they had that stuff right next to the fishing tackle in a showcase. Just the kind of medicine the doctor ordered to put venison, for health-conscious meat-eaters, in the freezer.
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Patocazador
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Boat-tailed bullets are really unnecessary. If that's what you have, fine. If not don't worry about it.
Ugly Sauce
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So, Odessit, you said you have not shot the rifle yet, have you fired a .30-06 before? And do you reload? I got the impression you had those bullets on hand, that you listed, and would be reloading them. ???
daniel craig
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Every single one of those that you listed is perfectly good for deer hunting. You have to do your part and they will do theirs.
Glockula
Member
I think bonded bullets leave room for error. I have killed almost all of my deer with cup and core bullets. Call it 30 deer with SGK sp projectiles alone. A cup and core can hit bone or deflect and not bleed because it doesn't exit. If you are in more open woods it's no biggie. Tracking can be a bit easier. Here in eastern NC 2 holes are better. Blood hitting the ground close to where the animal is shot is a good thing. So I believe a bonded bullet is more likely to punch through bone and not deflect or fragment.
tightgroup tiger
Member
Are these bullets you have for reloading or do you have loaded ammunition? I'm a reloader so when some one says they have bullets, that to me means only the bullets and they are going to make their own ammunition.
Anyways, I would only use the 150 and 165 gr "ammunition" on deer and save the 180 gr for bear or something that bites back. I always used 165gr in my 30-06 but not for any good reason except I just always have.
Edit to add: I'll bet the green box Remington Core lock ammunition (cheap stuff) in 150 gr has taken more deer than most of the rest of them put together. Not because it's that good, but because it's that cheap and mass produced, and in a lot of places, the only choice other than $60.00+ stuff.
kingfish76
Member
Speer Gold dot
If you have the ammo, clean your gun real good, shoot one any where by the target(called a fouling shot) and THEN try a couple of different size bullets of a minimum of 3 shot groups and see which shoots the best at 100 yards. To be fair, have a target for each size bullet and shoot a 150 in the first, then 165 in the second and a 180 in the third. Repeat minimum 3 times in that order. This will help eliminate, flinches, sneezing, hiccups, irregular heart beats, fatigue, buck fever, two legged buck fever watching you or shooting next to you and prejudice of different ammo. Over the years I've shot 150s, 165s and 180s. I keep coming back to the 165 grain, mostly because it is a tact driver in my gun.
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Cowhide Cliff
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Whichever one shoots best in your gun, placement will mean more than anything because all those are going to get the job done.
alsaqr
Member
Any of the bullets listed in the OP work very well on deer: Select one and put it in the right place. A 55 grain bullet from a .223 in the heart lung area trumps a 180 grain TSX bullet from a .30-06 in he guts.
Shooterbob
Member
Nothing wrong with Remington core locks I’ve killed a boat load of deer with them before I started hand loading. And it’s rite on the box they are the deadliest mushroom in the woods!!!
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