What is the best round for whitetail?

I'm shooting a Savage Model 110 I believe its a 2002 first year they had the AccuTrigger.
I have shot a few different rounds over the years. Remington Corelok, Hornady American Whitetail, Winchester Silver Tips, Winchester Deer Season XP

.270

Curious what you think is the best?

Caliber?

Whatever is most accurate in your gun. You’re fixing to find out people way overthink this stuff.

A light weight Barnes TTSX will make a mess .

Yep. Knew a Winchester 30/06 that hated winchester ammo but was lights out with Remington 180 round nose corelokts.

I have shot Coreloks in 30:06 and .270 my entire life with zero problems. Not the most glamorous shell but gets the job done consistently.

Ballistic tips


3.....2.....1

MK211 ..... drop mic, close thread.

TSX

I hate playing find the easter egg

Well if you're wearing skinny jeans and have your hair all tied up in a nice tight little man bun on top of your head, there is only one best round for whitetail and that is any bullet in a 6.5 CREED. Notice I remebered to capitalize it 338!!

If you're too afraid ot the killing power and not shooting a Creed like many on here, then anything shooting a Barnes TTSX, Hornady BTSP, or Nosler Partition. Killing deer is easy. Put a good round in a good spot and they die like they are supposed to.

Don't forget your HECS suit and magic ozone box. 😀

Oh, I've always got those with me. Man you know you cant hunt without a hecs suit and I've found that 10 of those ozonics running at the same time really do the trick on killing your scent. I just didnt mention them because I thought that it was such common knowledge that everyone already knew that.

Since we don’t know the calibre I’ll have to say if you wet the stopper it’ll stick to the plastic deer target better

Generally speaking, the best whitetail rounds:
A. Make an entrance.
B. Make an exit.
C. Cause the deer to spray lungs from his mouth and nose.

I have had the opposite experience with the 130 ttsx out of a 308. They seem to penetrate like there's no tomorrow and expand fine, but I dont think they shock enough. I think I'm switching to ballistic tips.

I loaded 48 130 gr tsx with 58 gr of Imr 4064 spitin’ out at about 3250 FPS out of my 30-06. I think they’ll leave a mark...

Barnes or GMX. I like the idea of being able to drive a bullet lengthwise through a deer even when big bones are in the path. That’s not gonna happen with a cup and core bullet. Occasionally you may get lucky but I don’t want to chance it. If a mature buck walks out I have confidence that I can drive a bullet to the vitals no matter how he is standing (extreme quartering, etc).

Cheap will kill no doubt about it but why skimp on a $3 cartridge when you spend untold amount of money on everything else.

That bullet is too light for caliber in my opinion. I shoot the 150ttsx in my 7mag. In the past 2 years I’ve shot 5 deer. All were dead within 10 yards of where they were shot. Of course I shoot for the ball of the shoulder which makes a huge difference. Double lung one and they can run 100 yards no mater what cartridge.

I’ve been shooting tsx and ttsx 165s and 180s for 11 years. Of all the critters I’ve killed only 2 bullets did not completely past through. If I don’t get an exit wound with the 130s I have 100+ rounds of 165 ttsx 56.5 gr imr 4350 .

My experience is I always get pass throughs and the ground looks like a crime scene. Most are DRT , those that run never go out of sight and leave a red river blood trail.

Yes & Definitely YES lol

I’m a fan of Remington CoreLok... knock on wood, but I’ve never lost a deer with one where I placed the shot in the right spot.

Call it what you want but I don’t track wounded deer and my family isn’t consuming lead

My main complaint has been a lack of a blood trail. I'm loading them to 3175 fps. I would think that would be enough speed? My experience with them is a sample of 3. One was quartering to, I shot him right behind the on shoulder and exited the flank. The deer ran about 200 yards and didnt seem to bleed much, but I saw him fall. The second was shot through the lungs and went about 50 yards and bled hardly any. The third was quartering away pretty hard. I shot him behind the on shoulder and the bullet exited his neck, but missed his spine. He fell and laid there for several minutes. I had to pee bad so I stood up to drain the tank and saw him get up and try to get gone. I had to shoot him again (and probably peed on myself a little bit).

If yall are so confident in them, maybe I will shoot a few more with them before I make up my mind. They sure do shoot good in my kimber.

FL
Don’t shoot a deer with a gun the way you would shoot it with a bow. Aim for the shoulder, not behind it. Most will drop right there

When you start shooting light for caliber bullets bullet construction and performance becomes VERY important.

Not sure why you would do that. A basic understand of ballistics says you have not really done yourself any favors shooting small for caliber bullets.

If you are going to shoot a 120 grain from a .308 get a Barnes or Partition or something bonded.

If you want to shoot a 165 grain you can kill deer the same way they been dying since the 1940's. Millions of dead deer later.... it just takes a lot of guessing, questions, wishing, etc. out of the equation. It will just kill whatever you shoot with it.

I think the real question the OP should ask first is what grain bullet those on here like to shoot and let them try to justify why they shooting a pea shooter tiny bullet at a deer. You can't make a good argument for it other than talking about how your plumber's cousin said he kilt 2 deer with one neck shot offhand at 200 yards and it cut the first deer's head off like a lazer and that's the best dern bullet Billy Bob every said he seen.

There is no good reason to do that. If recoil is a problem... y'all know my thoughts on that... grow a pair. You shoot a 12ga shotgun don't you.

If you are talking about the 130 TTSX out of a 308, I can promise you bullet construction isn't the problem. I tried them because I was so very impressed by the 62 ttsx out of my kids 223 that kills like lightning, that i wanted to try them in a 308. All the research I did on the barnes bullets says that they like/need velocity and that light for caliber is the way to go. I have honestly seen more blood from the daughters 223 than I have from my 308/130 ttsx. These fine fellas have about talked me into shooting a few more with them before I jump ship though. Maybe my sample of 3 is too small.

I do 90% of my deer hunting in front of a pack of hounds with a 3.5" 12 gauge and a bad ass 00 handload. I can assure you that being recoil shy is not the problem.

Remmy core lokt in my bolt guns hornady lerevalution in my lever guns .

shoot them in the neck it wont matter. the biggest deer I have on my wall was dropped in his tracks with a 168gr sierra hollow point boat tail. its all I had to shoot that day and I wasnt about to drive to town for a box of ammo that I wasnt sure my rifle would shoot accurately. I dont like to ruin the front quarters when i kill one.

a chunk of lead flying 2800fps per second is a chunk of lead no mater what kinda fancy name you slap on the box if i can get a 2-3 inch group out of it at 100 yards Ill kill any deer in alabama with it. I do shy away from the federal blue box stuff because I had a primer fail to ignite once and the click scared off a good 8 point. other than that if its a soft point ill use it

This is called a solution looking for a problem.


Case in point.... Move to a Barnes 130 TTSX.... then have to worry about "speed" and "what ifs". Is it going fast enough? What about at 300-400 yards where going to a small bullet with a lower B.C. has potentially caused accuracy and energy issues. Does i have enough energy at _____ distance to cause this hyper expansion resulting in a massive wound essentially gutting the deer for you where it is standing?

Skip all that. Shoot a 165 or a 180 and it you still want to worry about expansion just shoot a Partition or something in the same bullet weight. Both have proven results.

No way I would carry a gun that shoots 2-3” groups at a 100. A $300 Ruger American will do better than that.

i wouldnt either but the kill zone on a deer is about a foot across and 90% of your shots are within 100 yards so 2-3 inch group is still inside that zone out to 300 im just saying you dont need a sniper rifle shooting match ammo to kill one

Truth be known a 2” group at 100 yards is plenty sufficient for most deer hunters. They aren’t shooting precision matches. They’re killing deer and have quite a bit of error in which to get it done.

I’ve killed hundreds of deer with Core-lokts in .243, .270, 30-06 and .308 without a single hiccup. I’ve killed a bunch with federal fusion too in .308. I’ve had the opportunity to shoot more deer than most people will ever get to shoot and bullet choice is quite simple. Soft point with controlled expansion kills crap, every time. I can achieve that with some of the cheapest bullets on the shelf. I’m not spending $60 on a box of shells when I can buy 3 boxes of proven killers for the same price.

I can get on board with this, just follow this mans advice of “light weight” or you’ll just punch a .270 hole right through. 130gr.

Barnes TTSX or a Nosler Partition.

Been saying that for years . Not a big fan of core lok but people like them . I like a good shooting rifle though . Never know when I might have to make a hard shot . What some call a shot unethical, I'll take them alllllllllll day long


I hear you on the 60 a box stuff . I aint doing it either

416 barett

A Raufous round ???? No cleaning necessary.

Depends on the rifle. My Remington 783 in 30-06 ironically hates the Rem Core Lokt bullets, but loves the Federal Premium Power Shok in 150 gr. I’ve also shot more expensive ballistic tips through it and nothing is more accurate than those blue box Federals. Each gun has its own personality.