Favorite bullet

[edward.penny]

What's your favorite bullet? I have shot a bunch of different bullets and now I'm going to try the Barnes. I have shot deer with the 240 grain xtp and the TC shockwave. Also shot a couple with round ball. Never had a issue killing but never had many exits.

Sent from my moto g(6) (XT1925DL) using Tapatalk

 

[03mossy]

Barnes 290 TMZ. That bullet has never let me down. Always pass throughs and have never had to track a deer using that bullet.

 

[280Bravo]

Barnes 250 and 195 grain.

 

[BuckDoeHunter]

For my longer range SML muzzleloaders - Bear Creek Ballistics 285 grain all copper ball point, these are shot sabotless but work well in sabots

For the smoker muzzleloaders for my kids - Barnes 250 grain TEZ in a black Harvester sabot

 

[long shot]

530 grn conical HP , 63 grns by weight of BH209

 

[ENCORE50A]

The Barnes 250gr TMZ with the supplied sabot has taken an awful lot of whitetail for me, sent with 110grs volume of BH209 and at ranges up to 250yds. There are some new bullets I'll be trying this year, land riders for 50cals (no sabots), made by Fury.

 

[Smyrnagc]

Hornady 300 gr XTP with green Harvester crush ribbed sabot

 

[Chris W.]

At the moment, I'm partial to the 250 gr Barnes expanders out of my Optima for deer. The most surprisingly effective bullet I've ever used though was a Great Plains 410 gr. flat point conical by Hornady. Pushed it along with 90 grs of FFF Triple Seven. The lead must have been soft enough to deform to some extent because it produced some pretty good size exit wounds. Never shot an animal where that bullet did not produce an exit wound. Hornady broke my heart and quit making that size conical a while back.

 

[edmehlig]

While I love my 465gr conicals with my 451 White's. I'm now swinging over to my 350gr HP's. Every deer my grandsons have harvested were either DRT or within 30 yds. And that is with loads as low as 50-70gr of Swiss or 777-3F. 70gr appears to be the Sweet spot for my 451 White's. My son's Encore seems to like Hornady's 300gr XTP with Crushed Rib Sabots.

 

[Lee 9]

The bloodline Lehigh consistently gives a nice exit hole that makes trailing much easier. I use the 250 in the 50 and the 200 in the 45.

 

[MrTom]

Both of my 50's like the Hornady 300 grain XTP in .44 cal in a green crush rib pushed along with 77 weighed grains of 209 powder. A Winchester blue box primer is the ignition. My Optima pistol sure likes a 63 weighed grain load of 209 and a 44 cal XTP in 240 grain in a Hornady green sabot. Same primer for ignition. My 45 cal Kodiak does well with a 200 grain 40 cal XTP/harvester sabot and 77 grains of 209. I seldom have the occasion to shoot out to or more than 100 yards and XTPs have been flawless for me, but I do have deep curls for all of the 50's as well as A-Frames too and know exactly where they shoot should I decide to load with either of them. Hornady makes such a fool-proof bullets that I trust them 100% for what I demand of them.

 

[ronlaughlin]

One thing i have learned is there are more good bullets available than bad bullets. So many good bullets in fact, i actually don't have a favorite. Can say, more deer have been in our freezer, killed by Deep Curl bullets, than any other. Probably because of cost, which seems unwise, but they do work. Also, it is kinda OK to use the same bullet for practice, as one uses for hunting.

 

[dbowling]

Love the 240/300 gr XTP`s in my .50`s and in my Whites either the .50 Bullshop 460 gr or in my .451 Eds 460 gr.
Don't know how many deer I've killed with xtp`s exactly but over 40 and never had any make it 60 yds yet.

 

[Idaholewis]

I’m with 45cal, edmehlig, and dbowling, It’s Hard to beat a Big Ole Hunk of Lead :yeah:

 

[Muley Hunter]

If sabots were legally here i'd say the Barnes 290gr T-EZ. For a legal bullet i'll say the Thor 300gr.

This would be a bear-elk bullet. You can kill a deer with a slingshot.

 

[rangerod]

Tough question to answer. I'll have to choose three according to the gun doing the shooting. Barnes 290 tez,300 grn Thor,300 grn Parker BE.

 

[Idaholewis]

If sabots were legally here i'd say the Barnes 290gr T-EZ. For a legal bullet i'll say the Thor 300gr.

This would be a bear-elk bullet. You can kill a deer with a slingshot.

What is so tough about these Black Bear? Elk I ABSOLUTELY agree

 

[Muley Hunter]

If sabots were legally here i'd say the Barnes 290gr T-EZ. For a legal bullet i'll say the Thor 300gr.

This would be a bear-elk bullet. You can kill a deer with a slingshot.

What is so tough about these Black Bear? Elk I ABSOLUTELY agree

Well, you never know. Last year a hunter killed a 550lb boar near me. Those older big boars get pretty aggressive and some have been known to stalk hunters/hikers. We have to hunt here by stalking. I hunt alone and deep in the high mountains if pretty thick timber/thickets. We don't always have time to take the perfect shot. Sometimes we have to blow through the shoulder. A big boar has a pretty sturdy thick shoulder. Plus, in the fall they're getting fat for the winter and have some thick fat to get through too.

It's not a situation for a weak bullet. Even an elk is pretty easy if you take a double lung shot.

 

[Squeeze]

Now I hunt with bloodlines, or big lead. But my all time favorite is the same as Hal, .452 300 grn XTP and a crush rib (or HPH 24) That was my standard for many years, and still probably my main plinking load

 

[Idaholewis]

If sabots were legally here i'd say the Barnes 290gr T-EZ. For a legal bullet i'll say the Thor 300gr.

This would be a bear-elk bullet. You can kill a deer with a slingshot.

What is so tough about these Black Bear? Elk I ABSOLUTELY agree

Well, you never know. Last year a hunter killed a 550lb boar near me. Those older big boars get pretty aggressive and some have been known to stalk hunters/hikers. We have to hunt here by stalking. I hunt alone and deep in the high mountains if pretty thick timber/thickets. We don't always have time to take the perfect shot. Sometimes we have to blow through the shoulder. A big boar has a pretty sturdy thick shoulder. Plus, in the fall they're getting fat for the winter and have some thick fat to get through too.

It's not a situation for a weak bullet. Even an elk is pretty easy if you take a double lung shot.

I agree Pete, The key to killing any animal with any Projectile is to “Hit them where they Live” and having a good Bullet is always important. I have killed quite a few Black bear over the years, even with my Bow, (i was 8 or 9 years old when i killed my first Bear) My dad AVIDLY hunted hound dogs for a Solid 40 Years (i seen a BUNCH during that time!) I have 2 Picture albums completely full of Dead Black Bear (And Dad rarely took pictures) Most were killed with nothing more than a little 30-30, and many of them with a Whole lot less than that, Large majority were shot between the Running lights I’ve been involved in a LOT of Black Bear over the years. Elk have always AMAZED me at what they could take and stil be standing like they weren’t even hit, I shot my first 5 point bull many years ago with a 7Mag through the Lungs at about 100 yards, when the gun settled he was just standing there like i had missed? I shot for behind the Shoulder 2 more times, each time he was stil just standing there? I was racking my 4th round when i seen him take a step backwards uphill, then seen his hind end Wobble, i knew i had him dead so I didn’t shoot the 4th time. Had i of known it, he was dead the First shot. They are TOUGH Critters. Even these Big Whitetail Bucks AMAZE me at what they can take