Please allow me to switch to some other calibers to make a point when it comes to expensive bullets because I am on a limited budget.
Until recently I had a 6.5x55. I had handloads in the 140-grain and 120-grain Remington C-L, and the 140-grain Nosler Partition, along with Swedish FMJ. I found that the rifle put those bullets in the same little 100-yard group. On finding that out I saved the Noslers for hunting. On impact the Nosler PT flatted a buck at 150 yards. I was impressed with the 6.5 and the bullet.
The second rifle is a 300 Savage that Dad gave me when he quit hunting because of advanced age. I had inherited a rifle with a history of taking deer. I have loaded for the rifle over twenty years. It likes I50-grain bullets, but I tried 165-grain bullets. I tried Hornady, Remington, and a limited supply of Noslers. Again I had three bullets shooting into the same group. I would have been happy with any of the three but hunted with Nosler after running the ballistics.
I killed this buck with the 165-grain Nosler, the bullet hit the deer at an angle in the front shoulder, and the bullet went deep into the shoulder, up the neck, into the spine and out the other side. The deer went down so fast that I lost it in the recoil of the rifle. I have fired about a 100 rounds out of that rifle this winter, but none of them were my Noslers.
Temptation got to me last summer and I bought a box of 130-grain TTSX Barnes bullets for my 270 Winchester. These guys cost more than Nosler Partitions. This has to be the most accurate bullet I have ever loaded. I am pleased that they shoot in the same group as 140-grain WW (old) Silvertips do in my rifle. This bullet is reported to give premium performance that goes with the premium price.
If your rifle will group the low price bullet and the high price bullet at 100-yards save the high price bullets for hunt. One way of taking the 22-250 out of the varmint class into the deer class is the selection of the right bullet. My friend’s .222 Remington experience using a varmint bullet for deer left a poor test in his mouth. He knew he was using the wrong round for the job and felt sick for doing so. As long as I knew him he did not return to deer hunting.
