Bullets That Provide Excellent Expansion & Exit Wounds

[147 Grain]

We all know that an ideal bullet is one that provides massive expansion and still has enough weight leftover to exit an animal.  Better said than done!

Granted, most bullets are on one end of the spectrum or the other, but manufactures are getting much better while moving closer to middle ground with adequate expansion / penetration in most cases.

Hunters should always look for penetration first and expansion second because an exit hole = a good blood trail and more than likely a recovered animal.

Moreover, just because a bullet expands and penetrates well on light-skinned deer, doesn't mean it's automatically adequate for elk.  I.E. Remington Core Lokt, Winchester Power Point, Sierra Game King. Conversely, just because a round does well on elk, doesn't make it a deer bullet either.

Example of all-around performing projectiles:

Bullets from Nosler (Solid Base / AccuBond / Partition), Speer (Hot Core / Grand Slam), Hornady (Interlock / InterBond), Remington (Ultra Core Lokt), usually provide the best of both worlds (good expansion, plus exit wound);  performing well on deer or elk as long as the right grain is used.  

While a bullet may have the ability to expand and take a deer, remember that in order for an exit wound, light for caliber rounds MAY need to be avoided.

[147 Grain]

Please join in a discussion on bullets that are all-around performers for light and heavy game.  

Steve

P.S.  Those who only hunt one species are welcome to discuss their favorite loads as well.

[Lawdog]

I used to use nothing but Nosler Partitions no matter what the caliber.  Now I am switching to Barnes TSX.  Reason is accuracy, penetration and expansion.  Haven’t yet recovered but a couple of bullets but when I have they weighted almost as much as before they were shot.  The TSX is doing exactly what Barnes claims they will.  They made a believer out of me.  Lawdog
 

[Don Fischer]

I use nothing but Hornady Interlock's on game for three reasons; accuracy, penetration and expansion. Been doing it for almost 40 yrs with Hornady and have no reason to change. Have never recovered a bullet from a game animal. Don't use small for animal calibers or light for caliber bullet's. Have never shot at a game animal over about 250 yds.

Shooting into wet newspaper at 100 yds, I found Hornady and Speer Hot Cores  retain 85% of their weight, expand to double their caliber and penetrate as deeply as Nosler partitions.

[longwalker]

I have had similar results with Speer bullets.

.257 100 grain spbt at about 3200 fps. They pass through chest cavity and destroy vital organs. This on big game they kill prairie dogs pretty good too.

.338 200 grain sp hot core at about 2670 fps. Completely pass through large wood channel and very little additional meat damage. The exit wound would indicate good expansion.

In my opinion the .338 bullet at these moderate velocities is a far superior hunting, put meat in the freezer, gun.

longwalker

[147 Grain]

LawDog:

While I'm somewhat familiar with Barne's new Triple Shock bullet, can you please educate me on how it is superior or equal to Nosler's Partition?

Thanks again for your expertise!

Steve

[Lawdog]

LawDog:

While I'm somewhat familiar with Barne's new Triple Shock bullet, can you please educate me on how it is superior or equal to Nosler's Partition?

Thanks again for your expertise!

Steve

I used Nosler Partitions for over 40 years no matter what the caliber.  Reason is they just plain did the job as advertised.  Accuracy wasn’t always the best but penetration made up the difference.  Partitions have one failing as far as I am concerned and that is sometimes the front portion of the bullet gets “wiped” off upon hitting bone.  Thus you loose a good portion of the bullet weight which means you can loose some of the penetration power.  With Barnes TSX bullets you don’t loose the front portion of the bullet thus it retains more of it’s weight for better penetration.  Plus when I tested 100 gr. TSX against 115 gr. Partitions in my .25-06 on wet phone books I found that the 100 gr. TSX penetrated an average of 3 - 5 inches deeper and retained 99% of it’s original weight as compared to only 96% weight retention for the Partition.  This is what I mean by equal or superior to Partitions.  Better accuracy, penetration and weight retention.  Mind you if I can’t get Barnes TSX’s for some reason then you’ll find Nosler Partitions going down my barrels.  Lawdog
 

[nomosendero]

I read the results of a test that confirmed the superior penetration of the
Barnes X Bullet. I believe it was in the Handloader Mag. complete with a
very detailed chart. The results were close to what Barnes says, namely
that the X will penetrate about 28% more than PREMIUM lead core bullets.
For example, a 30 cal 165 Gr. X will penetrate about like a 200 gr. Part.
My personal experience bears this out also. This gives you the opportunity to load a lighter bullet faster for a  flatter trajectory. And remember, the
X bullets usually have a good B.C. & the new TSX is very accurate as well!
The 100 Gr. .25cal TSX that Lawdog mentioned for example has a BC
almost as  high as the better 115/120 conventional bullets!

[Larry Gibson]

Hell, I'm with Don and Longwalker. I've been using Hornady Interlocks mostly and a few Speer Hot-Cores for more years than I care to count. Never had a problem with them. Seen a lot of Corelocs, PowerPoints, Silver tips and Game Kings take a lot of deer and elk. Like Lawdog I gave up on Nosler Partitions for the very same reason he did after killing one elk with them. 147 sounds like he reads to much advertising hype. Though if I were to use one of the super sized magnums that for some ungodly reason some think are necessary to kill little deer and elks I would probably use a premium bullet. But since I use the '06 for most of my serious deer and elk hunting I have no need for "premium" bullets because I am using them, Hornady Interlocs.

Larry Gibson