Which Bullet for Deer? Accubond, Scirroco, Barnes Triple Shock, Interloc

[jasonprox700]

I have a Ruger M77 Mk II in a .280.  I was wondering which bullet to use.  I want to stay around 140 -150 grains that stays together.  I was wondering which bullet I should go with, Accubond, Scirroco, Triple Shock, or the Interloc?  I use to use Sierra Gamekings, but had explosive results that wrecked a lot of meat.  Made me a little weary of the bullet construction.  The bullet doesn't need to retain weight like a partition, but I don want it to open up well and penetrate, preferably with an exit.

[Graybeard]

Remington has added the .280 Remington to its LSS Mtn. Rifle line up for 2007. As soon as they become available I will be bringing one home. I've been wanting a .280 Rem. for a long long time but it just never seemed I was able to find what I wanted. This one is IT.

I'll be trying the Nosler 140 and 160 AB plus the 140, 150 and 160 PTs, the Hornady 154 IB and which ever seems to give me best accuracy will be selected for exclusive use in this rifle. It's main purpose in life will be deer hunting and other deer size game.

Harder/tougher bullets than these are just not needed for deer and especially not at the velocity the .280 Rem. runs them. I am hoping one of the 150/154/160 bullets proves adequately accurate in my rifle as that's what I'm really wanting to use. I guess I don't care which of them but those not the lighter 139/140 grain bullets are what I plan to use.

[beemanbeme]

Ain't nothing fancy about it but the plain jane Rem Core Lokt has probably killed more deer than all the others combined.  Sometimes we make our problems much more complicated than they really are.
The velocity window of the .280 lends itself to standard bullets.  Using one of the magic bullets may make you feel better but I doubt it will kill the deer deader. 

[MnMike]

The Sierras may ruin a bit of meat at close ranges, but they have never failed to stop a deer at 45 to 300 yards. In may area, I don't  know what range I will get a shot. I think that killing the critter quick is the responsible thing to do. I hate tracking wounded animals.

mike

[NONYA]

barnes xxx

[Lloyd Smale]

what beemabeme and MnMike said. You dont need premium bullets for shooting deer. Siearra spitzers, corelocks, speers sprizters, hornady interlocks all work perfectly well.

[Graybeard]

Yup I agree but that's not the bullets he asked about. In my case I will likely be using the .280 for most all of my hunting and want to chose one single bullet to do it all. I've used more Hornady Interlock and Remington Core Loct bullets than anything else I guess but I do love those Nosler PTs and from what I've seen and read on the AB and IB I'm really thinking they just might do what I'm wanting.

[jasonprox700]

Do you guys think that the Interloc hold together a little better that the Gamekings?  That's mainly what I'm looking for.  Because of price, I would like to try the Interlocs and see how the accuracy is, then try out the Accubonds.  A friend gave me about 10 150 Grain Scirrocos to try.  Haven't loaded them yet, but he said he gets superb accuracy with them out of his 7 Mag Sako.

[Graybeard]

In standard (non magnum) chamberings the Hornady Interlock and Remington Core Loct do fine. In Magnums pushed to the max they come apart fairly often. They are all you need for deer from cases based on the .30-06 or .308 case.

[Val]

I added a Remy 700 Mountain in .280 to my arsenal last year. I developed a load using the 140 grain Nosler Accubond that yields three shot .75" groups. Because of the the thin sporter barrel, ample cool down between shots when bench shooting is required. I bagged a nice pig with this load in June.

[jasonprox700]

How did the bullet perform?

[Val]

It was a one shot kill. The hog ran about 30 yards before it dropped. Did not recover the bullet but I would have to say the bullet performed well. It was a 170 pound hog that took a bullet to the heart and lungs.

[klong]

I do not know if you have made your choice yet, but some things I do know.

- You need to choose a bullet that will perform with the accuracy requirement you have. That variies for each of us. And depends upon the individual rifle.
- Any of these bullets will work. The expansion of a bullet is determine by its construction and the velocity at the time of impact and what it hits. As was aleardy noted in this discussion the distance to the target has an impact upon the bullet performance. The bullet that blows up at 50 yards may be perfect for 250 yards. The reason behind that is velocity. I know this may sound simple, but I used to think for the longer distance you need a premium bullet. The opposite is gennerally true. The slower the impact velocity the less you need bonded heavy duty bullets (for deer), so long as you are not peeling jackets leaving the barrel from the speed. 
- All us want quick kills and no lost game. If you poll enough people you will find someone who has had great performance from almost all the bullets you can find. I would start with what I felt was a good one and load up some and see how the accuracy was. Then go  hunting. I would not start with the most expensive first.  I would use one recommended by someone I knew that hunting similar conditions with the same rifle with good success.
- I personnally have had good success with a large variety of bullets on deer at distances from 30 ft to 300 yards.

Good luck.
   

[millwright]

The only experience that I have is being with my son when he shot a moose with a 150 gr sirocco at 150 yd with his 7mm mag, about the same as the 280, the bullet did a good job, nice mushroom and good retention.  Did not exit, liver shot, killed the moose.  Relating to deer, again, I was with him when he shot a 205lb whitail at 403 long paces with a sierra 140 gr bt gameking that I re-loaded with H4831.  The bullet performed well, no exit, I removed the heart in 3 pieces.  I am not promoting either one, just my experiences with 140=150 gr bullets in two seperate and different applications, hope this helps.

[EsoxLucius]

.284" 154 grain Hornady Interbonds, 280 Rem AI, 2950 fps muzzle velocity

[Don Fischer]

As you said deer, I think you ought to pick the one YOU can make the best argument for. I don't hunt with anything other than Hornady inter-Lock's and for some time befor that Hornady Spire Points. I did use Speer at one time in a couple rifles but you didn't ask.

If Hornady made the 129gr or 140gr 6.5 bullet in an Interbond, I'd use it if it shot well. I shoot Hornady's because they are cheap, give me a pass thru about 99.9% of the time, they shoot well in my rifles and I like the red box.

For the 280, I'd stick to 150 to 160gr bullets.

[MS Mule]

I've had really good luck using Sierra Pro-Hunter bullets in my two Ruger M77 rifles chambered for the 270 Win. cartridge. Both rifles shoot less than 1" groups with thier particular recipes and both favor the 130 gr Sierra Pro-Hunter over any other bullet.

I took a nice 9 pt. 1-10-2007 with one of these rifles at about 50 yds. Broke both front leg bones and was able to salvage most of the meat on both shoulders.


Mule