Deer Rifle Bullet Performance
Posted: Saturday, January 09, 2010
by Jack H. Schick
I'm not going to argue which is the best cartridge for hunting North American big game. There are dozens of calibers that will do just fine for deer or antelope and other medium sized game. There are a dozen more that are sufficient for the larger animals like moose and brown bear. I won't debate which type of bullet, powder or primer to use. I'm like most American hunters. I go to the sporting goods store and buy the least expensive box of shells I can find. Most hunters will agree that where you 'hit' the animal with the bullet is more important than any of the myriad statitistics you'll find on ballistics and hand loading charts. Here, I'd like to discuss some things I've seen some of those 'factory loads' do.
Once, when I was home from college, I borrowed a friend's open sight .30-06. Few will debate that the .30-06 is just about the best all round hunting cartridge ever invented (it didn't do to bad on the Krauts and Nips, either). I was hunting in S.E. PA. I shot a running four pointer at about 40 yards. I hit him high in the middle of the back. With his spine blown out, he dropped like a rock. He writhed and suffered for a minute or so before he died. I felt a little bad for him. The 180 grain pointed soft point did tremendous damage. Half of both back straps were gone. I thought the bullet did excessive damage, but the bullet placement was bad, and it was pretty short range. The short barrel, pump action was LOUD. It's the only time I remember my ears ringing after a killing shot. It's the only time I killed an animal with a .30-06, too.
Before I bought my first rifle I pored over the ballistic charts in an old Gun Digest my grandfather had. Since all my friends advocated the .30-06, I decided to be contrary and got a .270 bolt action with a scope instead. In the last 40 years I've gained alot of experience with the performance of that cartridge! The 130 grain .270 bullet is a notorious 'meat eater'. I've used core-lok, pointed soft point, and bronze tip bullets. It doesn't seem to make a difference. You shoot a deer or antelope through the front shoulder with a .270, 130 grain, and you've probably lost both front quarters-but the animal quickly dies.
I shot a black bear in Maine one year-with the 130 grain pointed soft point. I put the bullet right through the animal's heart (note: it ran 50 yards! Watch those bear. They're tough). My partner got one the same day with a .30-06, 180 grain psp with similar bullet placement. While we were boning them out he asked, "Why is your bullet hole so much bigger than mine?" The .270 130 grain is definitely a meat destroyer.
I only used the 130 grain bronze tips in my .270 one season (they were on sale at K-Mart). They advertised "for maximum expansion at maximum range." I was living in Wyoming at the time. The average kill shot on an antelope is over 200 yards, 'they say', so I thought I'd try them. It did fine on the antelope (at about 250 yds), damaged some meat, of course. On my mule deer it suprised me. I was stalking just below the crest of a steep red rock butte up in Hole in the Wall Country. A six pointer jumped out about 30 yrds down the hill and was just about around the corner and out of sight when I got my shot. I hit him in the neck at 60 yards and nearly took his head off. There was a hole the size of my fist out the back side. Maybe it has great expansion at long range, but it was like a grenade going off up close.
One year I decided to try the 150 grain round nose soft points in the .270, to see if it did less damage. I'm not sure it was a good test. Propped on my backpack, I put one through the shoulders of a mule deer doe at about 350 yards. She only staggered a few steps before dropping, but, again, both front quarters were gone. It might have been the range. The bullet had slowed down some and had time for maximum expansion as it went through. I went back to the 130 grain. It's more accurate.
I can't bad mouth the 130 grain bullet too much, though. It's done some wonderful things over the years. I wounded a big mulie up on Clear Creek in northern Wyoming one time. By the time I got another shot, the buck was cresting the top of the bluff. I just saw the top half his body when I shot. He dropped! It was over 400 yards. It was a lucky shot, I guess.
One cartridge I will bad mouth a little is the .25-06. I finally got the Ruger #1 I always wanted and chose it in the .25-06 as my antelope rifle. I always used the 120 grain soft point (I think Federal is 117 grain). Because of the velocity (I think), if you don't hit a bone the bullet zips right on through with minimal damage. I trailed a mulie doe for an hour once, after shooting her through the chest. I shot her through the chest a second time and she kept going until I finally hit a rib with the third shot.
Up on Crazy Woman Creek out of Kaycee, Wyoming, I shot a doe at about 175 yards up a very steep slope. She flopped down, I assumed dead. I went over into the next coulee after a buck I saw take off that way and got back to the doe about 15 minutes later. She jumped up and took off. I shot her again, in the neck, and again, just about took her head off. The first bullet hit a rib on a steep upward angle, skipped along it, blew a chunk of back strap the size of my fist out and knocked a fin off a vertebra. A flap of hide the size of a post card was hanging loose. Why she was still alive, I don't know. Why the bullet didn't penetrate and skipped off, I don't know.
Another time I shot an antelope at about 150 yrds that was facing me head on. I hit it a little left of center. I never saw such a mess. The bullet went off like a grenade in the front leg socket. I ended up cutting the front quarter off and leaving it there. The velocity and trajectory of the .25-06 is great. I've made some fantastic shots with it including my longest ever, over 500 yrds on an antelope, but the bullet performance is disappointing.
Many will argue that all my complaints are the result of poor bullet placement. Yes, a head shot with any of them would have eliminated all problems. There are very few of us, average hunter, pretty good shot guys who can always hit the ten ring "under fire." I usually just aim for the biggest, widest spot and expect my bullet to do its job.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Great well written article with lost of facts and illustrative points. I am sold.Thanks for reading!
They never give up aye?Thanks for reading!
Very good article, Nick. I agree that the 30-6 is just about the best all around caliber for just about anything.Yep, but I use the .270 still. Thanks for reading!that's great round as well.
Look at you with 3 articles in the reader's top 10 today! Congrats. I let Mick pick my ammo but my favorite rifles are my Winchester Model 100 243 (which had a nervous breakdown and lost part of the ejection mechanism after I show 3 in a row in a 1 1/2 inch circle at 100 yards..... and my current favorite (but hard to find ammo) 7mm08. Love both because of little kick. Marijo
That 25-06 us what u gave me to hunt with! Ur a jerk! LOL
Interesting story . Thank you , I enjoyed it .boy this is an old one. I'm better now--true events, though
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