I am so very, very sorry for your loss. I know the feeling, having lost my youngest son to suicide in November 2020 at age 23. I will be praying for your family, and please feel free to reach out if you want to talk. God bless, my friend.
I use AA#9 in my warm 45 Colt loads with good results. 250gr XTP or 240gr XTP Mag gets me about 1700 fps from my Henry lever rifle. Good deer medicine.
FWIW, I used the 129gr SST load to take 2 deer last fall: A 6pt and a button buck. Both shots were short, only about 30 yards or so (the property is heavily wooded) and taken within an hour or so of each other. Both were the classic behind-the-shoulder broadside shot. The button buck was first...
Welcome. While you are checking out deer bullets, don't overlook the Hornady SST. It's their version of the Nosler BT. I've used both with good success.
Brian
I shoot warm loads in my Henry 45 Colt rifle. 240gr Hornady XTP Mag or 250gr XTP at a little over 1700 fps, using Accurate #9. Pretty nice deer load in the woods.
A quick update on this load and results from deer season.
129gr Hornady SST over Varget, at about 2800 fps. Rifle is a Franchi Momentum.
I was able to take 2 deer with this load, both from the same spot and within an hour or two of each other. Due to the nature of the terrain on our place...
I've got to believe that unless you are really stretching out your shots and there is prize money involved, you're going to have a hard time noticing the difference between .04gr precision and .1gr precision. I'd love to see a blind test between the two, tho.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."
Praying that dawn will soon be breaking on your situation, with better days ahead. God bless.
He's recently posted on one of the FB groups I'm on. As was mentioned, he just went thru a big relocation to OK and may not be back into the reloading stuff yet. He seems to be doing fine, tho.