Bullet choice for hogs AND deer

A

ajvigs

Handloader
Nov 1, 2012
664
0
If this is in the wrong forum, forgive me

I have used Federal Fusion in my MRC 1999 7mm08. While it shot incredible, it was WAY to destructive on the hogs I shot. It literally blew apart a whole shoulder, rendering it un-eatable.

I will be running factory fodder for now, and want something tough, good penetration and expansion. It will serve double duty on deer and hogs (with the possible bear if the move north comes through :wink: ).

Leaning hard towards either:
Nosler Trophy Grade 140 grain AB
Federal Premium 140 PT
Federal Premium 140 AB

What does the consensus say?
 
Those bullet choices will work great, just need to find out which of that ammo your rifle likes best.
 
Partition or AccuBond - whichever one shoots better from your rifle.

Only thing I can say about the ruined shoulder meat is that most hunting bullets will do that to any shoulder they hit. Most of my deer have fallen to a shoulder shot, and I just accept that some meat will be ruined.

When I'm hunting primarily for meat, I tend to place the bullet just behind the fore leg/shoulder. That still produces a quick kill for me, and I don't ruin any worthwhile meat.

Or there's the infamous head shot. A fellow's got to be careful with that one though, the brain isn't necessarily an easy target. I've done that successfully a couple of times, but I'm not sure I'll ever try it again, just for fear of messing up the shot and inflicting a nasty wound and perhaps losing the deer. Hasn't happened yet, but I could see that happening.

Yup. Accubonds or Partitions. Accept some meat loss, or go for tight behind the shoulder.

Guy
 
Like Guy Miner said, behind the shoulder on deer is prefered, I ALWAYS head shot a hog if I cant get a quartering away shot. Head shot on a hog is first choice for me because I want all my meat.

AccuBond or ballistic tip for deer but I use tsx or etip for hog

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
 
I have a box of Nosler TG to give a try, am ordering some HSM berger loaded rounds, and will also pick up a box of the PT's and Ballistic Tips.

Im also leery about taking a head shot. I know it can save some meat damage, but something about it doesnt sit well. On one side, a shot to the T box is lights out, no matter what. But you have a much smaller target then going for lungs/heart and like Guy said, if you miss...yeah
 
I'm a tight behind the front leg or right on the leg shooter depending on angle. I accept some meatloss for the surest and largest kill zone.

I 2nd the others. AB or PT. Whichever shoots better.
 
DON'T USE THOSE BERGER BULLETS IF YOU DON'T WANT MEAT RUINED. Those things go in about 3" and just explode. I shot only one deer with a 155 Berger VLD with my 30X47 caliber rifle with the bullet leaving the muzzle at 2650 fps. Deer was broadside a 111 yards. Bullet entered center of right front shoulder and exited tight behind the offside shoulder. It blew an exit hole in the hide the size of a baseball. Both shoulders were a bloody pulp and even ruined a little of the back strap that runs along the top of the font shoulders. I went back to my 125 Nosler ballistic tips for this rifle and deer. By the way with all this damage the deer still ran 50 yards into a THICK cut over and left NO BLOOD TRAIL. I had to crawl on my hands and knees down this little deer trail until I found the deer. The cut over was so think that is the only place the deer could have gone. Like has been said, with any high power rifle bullet you are going to mess the shoulders if you shoot them there. Heart/lung shot will kill them just as dead but you most often have to do a little tracking. I have seen too many deer lost from people trying head shots. Many times they blow the lower jaw off and the deer really dies a suffering death.
 
Guy Miner":fz009lfz said:
Partition or AccuBond - whichever one shoots better from your rifle.

Only thing I can say about the ruined shoulder meat is that most hunting bullets will do that to any shoulder they hit. Most of my deer have fallen to a shoulder shot, and I just accept that some meat will be ruined.

When I'm hunting primarily for meat, I tend to place the bullet just behind the fore leg/shoulder. That still produces a quick kill for me, and I don't ruin any worthwhile meat.

Or there's the infamous head shot. A fellow's got to be careful with that one though, the brain isn't necessarily an easy target. I've done that successfully a couple of times, but I'm not sure I'll ever try it again, just for fear of messing up the shot and inflicting a nasty wound and perhaps losing the deer. Hasn't happened yet, but I could see that happening.

Yup. Accubonds or Partitions. Accept some meat loss, or go for tight behind the shoulder.

Guy
Click to expand...

What Guy said.
 
Florida Hog and Deer are usually a fairly close range affair and you need a bullet that will hang together especially when the hogs start getting in the 200lb area. I would go for the Partition knowing that it will definitely stay together for you.
 
I would be using ABs if I was shooting. The AB will stay together in close & if you need some distance it is boattail.
A PT is not a bad second choice :mrgreen:. I have quit attempting to find something that shoots similar to what I like in a AB! I just use them right away, to date they have never disappointed me!
Just a old guy's opinion :).

Blessings,
Dan
 
...my guess is you shoot anything w/ any bullet thru the shoulders @ close range/ high velocity, yer gonna get a lot of damage/ loss...
 
I've shot a ton of the Federal Power-Shok ammunition over the years; it worked quite well. It was usually accurate in whatever rifle I tried it in, and it seemed to manage to kill animals reasonably well.
 
The Hot Cor is a great choice as well and worth seeing how it works.
 
Hot Cor's have been impressive to me when used in standard cartridges. The 250 Hot Cor is one of them, that I use in the Whelen that is truly a premium bullet when ran at Whelen speeds.
 
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