Bullet weight for deer hunting?

[blackmamba]

For whitetails I use a commercially cast 265 gr SWC GC over 12 gr. of HS6 for about 1175 fps out of my 6½" 629 Classic. Super accurate, easy recoil and goes all the way through from any angle.

[sixshot]

jiminpa, let your gun tell you what velocity is correct for your gun. After you find the sweet spot go ahead & chronograph the load. I think it always depends on whether the hunter is stalking or hunting from an elevated blind. For the blind hunter, he can usually pick the shot he wants & the 200 gr bullets are an excellent choice for broadside shots through both lungs which gives an exit (usually) and a good blood trail with very little tracking.
For the foot soldier who is quietly stalking him whitetail, its usually a good idea to use a bit more bullet because its very possible to end up with a quartering (Elmer called them raking shots) shot where you have to lay the bullet on a rear hip with the vitals lined up on the far side. This is where the 300 gr XTP's that James mentions, or a good cast bullet with a wide meplat is the gold standard of six gun bullets. What these bullets mean is that there is no bad angles, just know the anatomy of the deer & make the shot, the bullet will make it happen, one hole in & one hole out. Many, many times over the years Elmer talks about jump shooting elk in the timber, almost always he was shooting at the rear of the elk, so he had to use enough bullet to get the job done. That's why he always favored heavy bullets.
Deer aren't hard to kill but they can be hard to hit, just use good bullets & make the right shot.

Dick

[bigbrowndog]

For deer I’ve never needed more than a 240gr JHP, Hornady, Nosler, sierra, are my normal ones. I have used 200’s once and 180’s once, the 180 spined the deer so it was there laying on the ground needing another shot, the 200 was used on a smallish pig, 100 or so pounds and I was not impressed with the performance and lack of exit. I picked the shot as Dick mentions and it was mostly broadside slightly quartering at 1600fps it as mentioned did not impress. 240’s have become my much preferred choice, for normal cup and core bullets and deer. Although 200gr. Hornady Handgun Hunter mono’s have impressed as have the 270gr. Federal HammerDown loads.

Trapr

[jgt]

I have never shot game with them, but sierra bullets in my freedom arms 83 44 magnum are the most accurate other than my swaged jhp 240grn bullets. My dies were cut to make a bullet like the sierra design.

[bigbore5]

I've had hollow points fail to penetrate before. I just don't trust them anymore. Wide flat noses are my only choice now.

[messybear]

I shot some deer with those 200’s and many other cup and core softs and hollows over the years. Don’t remember any failures with any of them. But to be fair none were extremely close or with high velocity loads that would cause failure. Most were 1300 FPS from a model 29

[Cholla]

I've shot five head of game, three deer, a javelina and a sow, with cast HP's and I don't intend to use them anymore; not enough penetration for my tastes.

The expanded bullet in my avatar to the left is a 265 gr. SWCHP and was fired from a 45 Colt at roughly 1050 fps. I shot a buck with it at 48 yds. and obviously recovered the bullet.

This one is a 250-ish gr. cast SWCHP fired from a .44 Special at 1105 fps MV into a buck at 38 yds. The off shoulder stopped it.



Conversely, this bullet, cast from an RCBS 44-250KT mold, struck a nice size mature buck in the left flank at around 1050 fps and traveled to the juncture of the neck and the right shoulder.



That's the kind of performance I want.