Are premium bullets really necessary?

[Paul B]

The title pretty much says it all. My thoughts run to the fact that any cartridge with a muzzle velocity of 2800 FPS or less really does not need a premium bullet. Frankly, I've only used them twice on game. One time was almsot a disaster and the second was spectacular.

The disaster came from a 30-06 loaded with the 180 gr. Nosler Partition. The animal was the biggest bodied Mule Deer I have ever killed. This animal weighed 296 pounds in the dressed quarters on a certified butcher's scale.

The first bullet clipped the top of the heart cutting a deep groove in the muscle but not making a hole to let blood out. Shot number two was right through the lungs. Shot nubers three and four were misses although one did cut off an antler. I forced myself to settle down and broke his neck with the last shot. The shot through the lungs looked like I'd poked the hole in them with a pencil; just a small hole with no other damage. Years later when I go a chronograph, I found the load was doing 2710 FPS. Shots at this deer ranger from maybe 40 feet to 35 yards. When I shot he ran to the right. When I shot again he ran back to the left. Every time I shot he would reverse direction just like those targets in a shooting gallery. The whole thing was like some kind of dream that at least ended well.

My normal deer load in the 30-06 is the Sierra 180 gr. Pro-Hunter but I only had that one day to hunt and hadn't made up any of my regular loads. Working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week because we were short handed does put a crimp in one's plans to reload and hunt.

The successful shot with a Premium bullet came from my .35 Whelen on my cow elk hunt last year. The shot was about 150 yards out with the elk running away slighly quartering to the left.
The load was the 225 gr. Barnes TSX over a stiff charge of Re-15 with a velocity of 2700 FPS. The bullet hit the elk just behind the short ribs and exited between the neck and the right shoulder. At impact, that elk hit the ground so hard that she bounced. I shot my first deer way back in 1949 and I've hunted something in the deer/elk class every years except during the time I was in the military and even then got a couple of hunts in. In all those years, I cannot remember ever seeing an animal go down so fast or so hard.

I have to wonder? Was that 180 gr. Partition just way too tough for use in the 30-06 or was it a case of bullet failure. In fact, it was a premium bullet that cost me a deer a few years back. It was a hunt in the KaIbab National Forest and the state of Arizona asked that hunters there use one of the monometal bullets. It wa sgetting close to the rut and the bucks and does were starting to stick together. I finally found a decent buck that would look great on the wall and because my Whelen was stoked with those Barnes bullets I did not dare shoot. Oh I'd have gotten that buck all right but that bullet would have passed clean through him and taken out a couple of does as well. Game Wardens frown of such antics. To be honest though, even a cup and core would have passed through and taken some does so maybe I'm being unfair.

Anyway, the question still stands. Are premium bullets really all that necessary if muzzle velocity is 2800 FPS or less? What say you.
Paul B.

[versifier]

That's a hard question to answer.

The only premium bullets I load are NPAR's. 100gr .243's, 100gr .25's, 140gr 6.5's, 180gr .30's. All have done the job when shot at deer by me and other friends (except the 180gr .30's which I got for moose hunting, but no one I know has drawn a moose tag since I worked up loads for them).

Generally I prefer to load either Sierra GK's or PH's which are always much more accurate and which have never failed to do their jobs either as long as the shots were correctly placed. Gutshot is still gutshot regardless of the bullet construction or its weight and caliber. I have yet to see a properly placed bullet fail, premium or not, but hunting here in the heavy brush where the ranges are short doesn't really push the envelope of bullet design parameters unless you try to shoot through a tree.

I don't shoot magnum rifles, so most of my loads are at or below 2800fps anyway and I have no experience as to how they would perform above 3000fps. I must say though that while probably not really necessary, they may inspire a bit more shooter confidence, especially after reading cup&core bullet horror stories. Either way, deer in the freezer are still dead and don't seem inclined to argue no matter what was used on them.

[kodiak1]

The biggest thing is put the bullet where it should be put and they will do their job.
I shoot a lot of speer, Hornady and Sierra's they work well if I do my job. As stated above a gut shot is a gut shot.
A new bullet that is coming out the first year or two I have a tendency to stay away from thill they get their quirks worked out. They may not expand like they would like them to or open up to easily. All that is suppose to get worked out in the lab but shooting ballistic jell is not shooting an animal.

You stayed with it and got your animals and that is the second most important thing. Nothing is worse than finding game that was crippled and left.

Ken.

[Clinebo]

I had a similar failure with a 140 gr Bronze Point in my .270. Shot a Whitetail buck at about 50 yds. It stood there and looked at me. Shot again and the same result. At this point I was wondering if my scope had gotten knocked out of whack. It walked away and I followed and found blood and hair where it had been standing. I HAD hit it. 150 yds away I found him. The holes were a half inch apart, one above the other. Punched right through between the ribs and never hit any bone. He bled out internally. At that range a good round nose soft point might have been a better choice. I had been looking at longer shots so had the Bronze Points in the magazine.

[303tom]

For nail driving accuracy, in a word YES ! Other wise NO......

[Paul B]

For nail driving accuracy, in a word YES ! Other wise NO......

I find your post a bit confusing. I don't consider most Sierra bullets premium including their very accurate match grade bullets yet even their common cup and core Pro-Hunters and Game-Kings have all been "nail driving" accurate in my rifles.

By premium bullets, I meant bullets like the Nosler Partition, Barnes TSX and their ilk. Nosler Partitions have always shot decently for me but their equal in weight Sierra has always out shot them. The barnes TSX has been a mixed bag for me as the 225 gr. .35 caliber bullet shoot .50" from my .35 Whelen but the 100 gr. .25 caiber TSX will only do 1.25" from my .257 Roberts. Yet that very load is a .75" grouper in my ex-son in law's .257 Roberts. Both rifles are Winchester M70 Featherweights. Considering the reputation of the Roberts, I wonder if a bullet that toughis really necessary? After all, rounds like the "Bob", .270 Win. and 30-06 were killing deer and bigger game long before those pricey bullets came upon the scene.
Paul B.

[303tom]

Well I am sorry if you don`t get it & I am not trying to be sarcastic. Your mistake was using the 180 gr. Nosler Partition, & like you said I don't consider (SOME) Sierra bullets premium but if I am not shooting out past say 3 or 350 yds. I am not going to use a pointed bullet. On that Muley I would have used a 180gr. RN & poked a big hole in him, 180gr. RN & .30-06 that is a lethal combination out to 300 yds.

[kodiak1]

Paul B
I have seen rifles where the bullet that should work great (one would think) just plain old dosen't.
I think you have to find the right bullet for that particular firearm and it may not be a premium bullet.
Most people look at cast bullets as ho hum but if you really take the time and work with a rifle you will get that bad boy to shoot deadly accurate!

Another thing that makes reloading a mind boggler at times!

Ken.

[Paul B]

Well I am sorry if you don`t get it & I am not trying to be sarcastic. Your mistake was using the 180 gr. Nosler Partition, & like you said I don't consider (SOME) Sierra bullets premium but if I am not shooting out past say 3 or 350 yds. I am not going to use a pointed bullet. On that Muley I would have used a 180gr. RN & poked a big hole in him, 180gr. RN & .30-06 that is a lethal combination out to 300 yds.

Methinks you either missed or forgot this portion of my original post.

"My normal deer load in the 30-06 is the Sierra 180 gr. Pro-Hunter but I only had that one day to hunt and hadn't made up any of my regular loads. Working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week because we were short handed does put a crimp in one's plans to reload and hunt."

Again, my normal deer load in the 30-06 is the 180 gr. Sierra Pro-Hunter and depending on where I'm hunting I do sometimes use a 180 gr. Sierra round nose. However, under normal circumstances, my Sierra and Nosler partition loads were worked up tp be compatible in one particular rifle I can count on either to hit within two inches of each other at 200 plus yards. The Sierra bullet was my deer load and the Nosler specifically was loaded for elk.

For that particular hunt due to over a month of very nasty working hours, I could not make up a box of my normal deer load and had to use the elk load that I'd planned using for the elk hunt that work prevented.

I have come to the conclusion that if the muzzle velocity of any cartridge I'm shooting is 2800 FPS or less, I will not be using a premium bullet unless force to by law. As I don't even plan to hunt in California's condor fly zone mono-metal bullet probably won;t see much use. The only reason my .35 Whelen was loaded with them is I used the rifle on a Northern Arizona deer hunt and the state requested we voluntarily use bullets typified by the Barnes TSX and the like. In fact, that bullet cost me the only decent buck I saw on that trip and I'm sure he could have made the book. But, if I'd shot him I would have also taken out a couple of does that were standing behind him. I'm afraid the state or Arizona frowns very severely on such shenanigans. Even my ex-son in law couldn't take a shot with his .257 Robt. because the 100 gr. TSX would have passed clean through and taken out at least one doe. To be honest, I think even a conventional bullet would have done the same considering the deer was only about 50 yards out.
Paul B.

[303tom]

Sorry Paul, I said I was not trying to be sarcastic.........