Premium bullets? save your money!

**Montell C. Williams** · September 19th, 2007, 10:35 AM

If you are hunting deer or black bear with a non- magnum you don't need premium bullets. Regular factory softpoints are just fine, plenty of power and penetration if you use thr appropreate weight and style, such as .30cal 150 or 165 grain Core-lokt, power-point or power-shock, same for
smaller calibers down to .243 just use the standard weight recommended for deer and save your money.

Gun and ammo makers have a problem cause their products last generations and the numbers of hunters are dwindeling so they have to come up with super duper cartridges and bullets to make you want a new rifle you don't really need.

If you want to play around with the latest round that offers marginal benifit over old standards go ahead, it's fun to have the latest and best but they aren't much better and not really needed, just sales hype.

**markheck1** · September 19th, 2007, 10:40 AM

While I agree with this to a point...I just use plain old Hornady Spitzers in my 300 win mag. Heck I think I could load that thing with a rock and it would still kill deer. As the gun gets on the smaller end of things, the better terminal performance of a better bullet will help, IMO...which is why I use Speer Grand Slams in the .243. Probably don't need it, but just like to make sure. Now, anything smaller than that I would definitely say a premium bullet is a good idea.

**Montell C. Williams** · September 19th, 2007, 01:32 PM

I didn't mention .22CF rifles cause they weren't intended for medium game in the first place, sure they can kill a deer quickly if every thing goes right, but so can a .32acp.

**Lycanthrope** · September 19th, 2007, 09:11 PM

I agree...I watch the hunting shows and every deer runs 50 yards afert it's hit.

Mine drop like someone filled them with wet cement.

Lycan7mmSTWandballistictipsthrope

**toadyoforangeville** · September 21st, 2007, 09:36 AM

if you use the right caliber you dont have to worry about enough penatration

7mm rem mag 140 ballistic tips would take care of any thing squirrels to elk it'll do

**Emptymag** · September 21st, 2007, 11:15 AM

I make no expert claims, as I am no expert, I just thought I'd share...

Back when I was about 15-16 years old, I dropped my first(and only)buck with a bullet/rifle combo that was without question, "less than premium".

The rifle I lugged around was given to me by my father and was a 7mm Mauser that had been butchered(I mean "sporterized")from it's former glory as a military rifle.
The rifle was really nothing to look at, and it always required one to really "slam" that bolt forward to chamber a round. Any round that had been chambered and removed, always had a chunk of lead smashed/chunked/shaved off an edge. I don't know the proper term for the bullet type, but it had a lead tip like the one seen here.(far left) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ition_7x57.jpg
Even the edge of the jacket, where the "visible" lead starts, would get damaged on occasion. Obviously the rifle could have used a gunsmith, but when you don't have much money, you learn to make do. The ammo that had chewed-up tips wasn't discarded, simply rotated on the next hunting trip to place the one with the least-damaged tip on top of the magazine. (Hey, a bullet with one side deformed is better than one with three sides deformed!)

Anyway, when that deer ran through the woods, and stopped broadside to me, I raised that heavy, old rifle, planted those iron sights on the deer, and pressed the trigger. BOOOOM! (I'm smiling right now as I recall the sights/sounds/smells of this day) The deer didn't even know I was there, it had been looking back over it's shoulder towards the hunters that had(fortunately)scared it in my direction. It jumped, turning 90 degrees and "ran" away from me. Due to the "roll" in the ground, (the deer was at a higher point than I, when I fired)I couldn't see where it went so I "slammed" another round in the chamber and walked forward, expecting that I'd be learning how to "track" that day, but there he was, only about 25-30 yards from where I hit him.

One crappy rifle. One really crappy bullet. One very tasty 8 point.

Thanks for listening to my story! Feel free to continue with your debate about premium bullets... "ballistics" confuses the hell out of me, obviously, there are going to be varying degrees of good/better/best, but I don't lose any brain cells worrying about such things.