"Bullet Selection"

[Guy Miner]

Coming from a comment in the Rifle section, and I've heard it many times over the years, how important is "bullet selection" to you?

Long ago I was really impressed with the idea of having a huge array of bullets from which to choose. As I've gotten older, I realize more and more that I want only one or two good bullets for each of my rifles.

When I was young and always used the same rifle for both varmints & big game, I'd have two loads; a varmint bullet and a deer bullet. Sometimes the deer fell to a varmint bullet, and that actually worked out fine too. A little messy, but fine.

These days I've easily settled into being very happy with one or two bullets for a particular rifle. And I'm not sure that swapping bullets is going to make one rifle do a lot better... For instance, with the .25-06, often discussed as not having much of a bullet selection... I say it's got the bullets needed, so who cares?

Basically its a pronghorn, deer & coyote cartridge, capable of instant death out to a quarter mile or so, easily.

That can be done with a 100 gr bullet, a 110, a 115, a 117 or a 120. They're all going to accomplish that. I've taken mule deer with 100 gr bullets and two different 115's. They all dropped dead just fine, near or far. I don't see where having a dozen more bullets to choose from would have helped at all.

Would a longer-range, high BC bullet be welcome? Of course! Particularly if it stabilizes well in a standard 1:10 twist barrel.

Ever really look at all the bullets in say .30 cal? Good grief! Couldn't we do it all with a good 165 or 180 and never need the rest? Seriously, what in North America couldn't be dealt with, using a 180 gr Nosler Partition? A little light on big Alaskan Brown Bear? Fine, it's a .30-06, I'll use a bigger rifle if I'm feeling the 180 Partition is a little light.

And how realistic is that anyway? I'm not going brown bear hunting anytime soon. Maybe never in my lifetime. Most of us won't.

I dunno guys, am not convinced that a big selection of bullets is anywhere near as important as having the Right Bullets available.

Guy

 

[Vince]

Good point Guy.

 

[SJB358]

I agree 100% Guy. I always hear the same about the 35's, but in reality, there are plenty of great options out there, four from Nosler alone. I could use just about any of the options available from just Nosler with about any of the 35 caliber cartridges.

I don't need 25 choices in order to make a cartridge effective. I have two loads for most of my rifles, but in reality, the hunting load is the one I tend to always have ready. Good point on the amount of bullets needed.

 

[PJGunner]

I'm beginning to agree. For many years all I hunted with was a 30-06. First with the 150 gr. Sierra Pro-Hunter although way back then they didn't call them that. Killed deer just fine. I got tired of getting so much good meat tore up so when a friend suggested I go with a 180 g. bullet, I used the 180 gr. Sierra. finally, when rifle loonyism reached a peak and my paycheck allowed more experimentation with different cartridges and bullets I went whole hog into loading, experimenting and killed a hell of a lot of paper, not to mention jack rabbits. Deer? Not so much. Once the state went to a draw system tags started getting hard to get and it only got worse.
These days I'm working for that one good load for whatever rifle I want to work with.
Paul B.

 

[HeathSexton]

I have only a couple loads per rifle as well, even my target loads I would hunt with full confidence. My main 30/06 load is a 180 NBT and it has killed everything from crows and groundhogs to deer to steel targets from ranges from really close to over 600yds.

I'm glad there are lots of choices but I try to keep a lot of bullets in a small number of choices, if that makes sense.

 

[Elkman]

Great post!
After my dad passed away, I ended up with a large variety of 7mm and .308 bullets, of various weights, and manufactures. He could not pass up a bargain, even if it was not "exactly" what he wanted. I have unopened boxes of bullets over 40 years old. I will never shoot them all. For my big game hunting I use the Nosler Partition, 180 gr. in the 300WM, and 150PT, in the 06 and.308. The 175 PT, in my 7 mm, STW. The Whelen is loaded with 250 gr A-Frames because I got a deal on them, when I re barreled the rifle. For general shooting, and practice, the 180 Sierra BT, in the WM, or some of dads. The 168 Nosler CC, Sierra Matchking in the .308 W. The 162 Hornady BT, or their match bullet in the STW. Of course I shoot some the others occasionally, but the rifles are tuned for the above bullets. I have tried a few other bullets for hunting, but have always gone back to the PT.

 

[dubyam]

I'm a "one rifle, one load" sort of guy, for the most part. I have maybe two rifles for which I have multiple loads, and one of those is a pure accident. For my 270Wby I have two loads. One is a target load, built for initial shoot-in purposes, which turned out so dadgummed accurate I could not let it go. It has turned in multiple sub-caliber groups over the years, and is consistently sub-half-MOA if I don't drink too much coffee. I only load 20 of those at a time, and only shoot three to verify the rifle is still good. The powder for that one (AA8700) has been discontinued, so I will eventually run out of that load. The other load is my hunting load (130gr E-Tip @ 3420fps) and that's the one I shoot all the time at anything I want dead by that rifle. For my 243, I also have two loads. I've used a 100gr load for deer for years, and also an 80gr varmint load, just for fun - and I keep saying I'm going to get serious about coyote hunting with that load, too. I'm moving that rifle to a single bullet load, which will very likely be the 85gr Nosler Partition. That should eliminate the "two load" setups in my battery.

The one advantage to bullet selection for me (and it's a slight advantage, at best) is the ability to find the right load for a given rifle, regardless of how finicky that rifle is. I tend to buy rifles with a purpose in mind - thus the "one rifle, one load" philosophy. So when I buy a new rifle, I'll already have in mind what I want to do with that rifle, and what range of bullet weights I'd like to try in it. Then it's just a matter of finding the bullet that suits my purpose, and demonstrates the level of accuracy and precision I require. When there are a lot of choices, I have a better chance of finding a working solution which is exactly what I want from the rifle.

Of course, I am also the king of "odd ducks" in that I love obscure rounds as much as I love mainstream rounds. I own a .323cal, and a .358cal, and I want a .366cal. Even my beloved 270Wby is in a caliber that, up until recently, did not have the selection of bullets available to compare to the 7mm/308cal offerings. It still doesn't, though it's better since the introduction of the WSM variant.

All I really need is one bullet in a given caliber, per rifle. The good part about there being a lot of choices, is that I can own a 30-30WCF, 308Win, 30-06, 308Norma, and 300Wby (in my dreams, mind you...) and have the perfect bullet for each of them, for the purpose for which I'd use each one. Of course, even with all the selection out there, I find myself getting the best results on both paper and game with my Nosler bullets. That's not meant to blow sunshine up the skirt of our host, but it is a nice thing to know I can count on Nosler for quality bullets which meet my needs. I think I need to go peruse what's on SPS right now just to be sure I'm showing Nosler the love...

 

[DrMike]

Excellent post. I confess that I'm a tinkerer, however. Because of what I've done with other people's rifles, I have usually had a large selection of bullets. Realistically, a couple of bullets per cartridge would satisfy almost every requirement. However, what would I do with my extra time? :grin:

 

[truck driver]

Actually if you look on my bench I have 3 .308 cal. bullets that are mine and 2 that were left behind by friends who I reloaded for and latter moved on to never being heard of since but there are at least 2 sizes for each caliber I load. one bullet for varmints and one for large game.
I also use my target or most accurate loads for hunting.

 

[Guy Miner]

When I got my first .375, I ended up with a large assortment of bullets from three different friends, all of whom used to hunt with .375's.

At one point I had over 1,000 .375 bullets, but no more than 150 of any given type & weight. So, although I quickly settled on two loads for the .375 for hunting purposes... I've been using a LOT of different loads in that Ruger Number One, just to shoot up the oddball bullets and get some practice. I didn't realize until I got one that there were so many different .375" bullets avail!

Guy

 

[Oldtrader3]

I am the same way in that I tend to rely on one bullet per caliber. If that load does not suit my need, I go to a different rifle and caliber in order to solve the problem. The only rifle that I might use for two loads would be the .257 Roberts. This is being considered because I no longer have a 6mm rifle for longer range varmint shooting.

 

[truck driver]

I am the same way in that I tend to rely on one bullet per caliber. If that load does not suit my need, I go to a different rifle and caliber in order to solve the problem. The only rifle that I might use for two loads would be the .257 Roberts. This is being considered because I no longer have a 6mm rifle for longer range varmint shooting.

Charlie, mine really likes the Hornaday 75gr HP and it opens up a ground hog like a hand grenade went of in them. But my rifle has a 1-12 twist and prefers the short light bullets.

 

[Hegland]

I've caught myself pondering this on more than one occasion, Guy. Historically, I think we're in a pretty decent period of time for making bullets. We've had a flood of new cartridges introduced over the last 15 years or so, manufacturing technology is moving forward (think AccuBond, E-Tip) and the current sales environment provides ample motivation for manufacturers to maintain capacity and product development. All of this adds up to options for us.

I've gravitated as well to more or less a single load for each cartridge, but have experimented some too. My .270 is a case in point - I have probably two or three lifetimes worth of 130 PTs that will likely constitute 99% of the rest of my shooting with that rifle. However, I have a couple boxes of 90 grain Speers and 160 PTs as well, and I have a hard time thinking of anything I'd try with a .270 which couldn't be accomplished with that collection. There may not be as high a number of bullets available as the .284 or .308 diameters, but there are definitely enough.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I am the same way in that I tend to rely on one bullet per caliber. If that load does not suit my need, I go to a different rifle and caliber in order to solve the problem. The only rifle that I might use for two loads would be the .257 Roberts. This is being considered because I no longer have a 6mm rifle for longer range varmint shooting.

Charlie, mine really likes the Hornaday 75gr HP and it opens up a ground hog like a hand grenade went of in them. But my rifle has a 1-12 twist and prefers the short light bullets.

My .257 Roberts shoots the 85 gr BT Nosler at 3395 fps with 44.0 gr of 4064. I would not recommend this load normally because my rifle is freebored and handles heavy loads. However, the 85 gr BT load is a killer as far as I can shoot.

 

[hubcap]

I love to tinker and load anything I can get my hands on. Could I get along just fine with one bullet per rifle ? Sure I could. I do really like the idea of picking a certain bullet to match the terrain and the game. An example of that would be using a 200 grain PT in my 06 for elk in heavey timber at close range while picking a 150 BT for longer ranges on mule deer. Same with the .270 I can go long with a 130 AB or 150 LRAB as well as load some 160 PT,s for shorter ranges. With the 300mag I pretty much run a 180 PT or AB for all situations. I do think our modern day bullet choices are sweet.

 

[FOTIS]

I am a ---one gun one load---- so I pick one and call it a day.

 

[.300winmag]

I agree Guy, I don't think there is much on the Earth a 180 grain .30 Cal. Nosler Partition couldn't handle. I am however an engineer and have been involved in long range rifle shooting (palma/F-Class) for over ten years and have studied external ballistics extensively in my career. I for one favor heavy for caliber bullets for higher SD's and BC's. I do a lot of long range shooting and bullet drop is the least of my worries. Most of my misses at long range are due to wind. If I can minimize wind drift, I can maximize my hits. Heavy bullets also retain energy better. I agree completely however, for most hunting situations, a 180 grain Partition is more than adequate, I feel the most recent bullet designs were brought upon by the' 'long range trend' by television lately.

Very interesting post, I will be following it closely to observer others thoughts.

 

[HTDUCK]

Depends on the rifle and it's intended purpose.
Some of my rifles only see the light of day during hunting season. I don't target shoot with them.
These rifles (243, 280, 06, 264, 7STW, 35 Rem ) one bullet/load and I keep 50-100 rounds loaded for them.
Only the 35 Rem is zeroed w something not made by Nosler .

Now the 223, 22-250, 308, yes I have multiple loads for them.
Target loads and hunting loads.
I'm a fledgling in the long range target game, just got into it last year actually.

Bullet selection these days is staggering. Every company makes a bullet that fills a particular niche.
My go to in most any caliber is one of the Nosler line.
As a general rule the first bullet I reach for is a BT.
I've shot some really small groups this past year with Custom Comps.

I must admit I play with SMKs and Bergers for target work.


And as previously stated, ain't much I couldn't handle with the 06 and a 165/180.
But life is too short to have just one rifle.

 

[JD338]

Good point Guy. In my younger years, I would work up several different loads (and bullets) to cover a wide range of hunting situations. These days, I am a 1 load (maybe 2 ie: AB and PT) for each rifle. It seems to simplify things. The only draw back would be having more rifles. Did I just say that? :shock:

JD338

 

[Grundy53]

I agree with Guy and am pretty much a one load per gun loader. However variety is the spice of life and every gun likes what it likes. So a large variety is a good thing.

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