Lark or ARIZONA GUIDE

[25-06]

Last year I finally got a deer, But I blow away a chunk of meat about the size of a football Any hoo, to make a long story short I shoot 100 GRAIN NOSLER BALLISTIC TIPS out of it ...They are the only factory loads that I have found that will get a 1/2inch at a 100 yards. The other day I shot a jackrabbit at about 200 yards and once again there was a big red mist upon impact, and the rabbit was cut in 1/2 I don't know alot about different bullets, but I'am starting to think that these are not the right choise for coues....Any suggestions?

[bullwidgeon]

I am not half as wise as either of those two especially that older gent but you should stay away from plastic tipped bullets that are not "bonded" if you do not want a big explosion. They make some plastic tipped bonded bullets that work great, Scirroco's by Swift are one of them and Hornady Interbonds are another. I have seen Scirrocos punch right through coues leaving exits about the size of a 50 cent piece after breaking ribs. I have also seen them pulled from the offside shoulders and spines of bull elk with over 80% weight retention and perfect mushrooming. You might try to see if your gun will shoot either of those as good as Ballistic Tips, either that or try a good old Hornady Spire Point or Sierra Gameking or Winchester Powerpoint, you know, something without the plastic frangible qualities of a ballistic tip. Good luck

 

Bret M.

[COUESAZ]

You may not want to hear this but I just use the basic wallmart remingtons in the green box. I have killed plenty deer with it one Elk and two mountain lions and who knows how many yotes. They shoot rabits about the same as yours did. But they make good short work of a coues deer buck. In the last four years I have shot two rounds out of my hunting box that I bought four years ago And got two deer with those two shots. That was until the year before last when I jumped the deer to top my best and got a bad case of the shoot and miss thing. Bret had some very good info for you if you like to shoot the high dollar stuff. I am to cheap for those kinds of bullets.

 

I think lark straps a knife on the end of his 25-06 and spears his deer.

You may want to work on that one before you try it on a hunt though.

[25-06]

Thanks for the info guys. Bret are the Scirrocos and Hornady Interbonds sold all ready loaded? ARIZONA GUIDE, I wish my rifle could shoot the remingtons straight, but I have all ready tried them along with winchester.Thanks again.

[DesertBull]

I know the interbonds are factory loaded by Hornady. I buy mine online from Cabelas.

 

BTW, I have shot the Winchester Ballitic Silvertips too and they have always performed well on deer / antelope. They are not for point blank ranges though. You will have a mess if you shoot something at less than 100 yards.

[.270]

personally, i am not a fan of plastic tipped bullets or "premium" or solid copper bullets. i am sorta interested in trying the hornady interbonds tho. i've had such good results with the regular old hornady btsp's that i see no reason to change. i've seen the plastic tipped ones blow up too many times to trust them and i can't see how a "premium" or all copper bullet can kill any better than what i use and they cost roughly 4x as much and the copper bullets have some real drawbacks for a handloader. i use the hornadys in my ol' .270, .300 mag and .243 and they work great. they are real hot reloads tho. but you can get the same bullet in federal ammo. they are more accurate than i am and they seldom shoot through anything. i always find em wadded up under the skin on the off side. that way i know all the energy is expended inside the animal. i don't see where 2 blood trails a couple feet apart is anymore beneficial than one bloodtrail. i've never had one come apart either. which to me, doesn't really matter, as long as it's going all the way through the vitals. i used sierras for years. almost all of them came apart. but they killed the heck outta everything i shot with em. as long as you use a good bullet, it will perform at least as well as you can shoot. marksmanship is the key. a gut shot is a gut shot, doesn't matter what you use, they're gonna run off. on something as light as a coues, plastic bullets are gonna splatter em and heavy jacketed or partitions are gonna shoot through and not do as much as a bullet that expands quick. if you're really concerned over meat loss, use a .243. anything bigger will pop a coues quite badly. the biggest problem most folks have killing coues is that they have such a small vital area. it's easy to hit em someplace that won't kill em efficiently. practice is the key. if i ever hunt coastal bears or something that can kill back, i'd use a real tough bullet, and a rifle with a hole in the barrel big enough to put my lunch in. but for anything Az. has, regular ol' good bullets are fine. Lark.

[couesdiehard]

Guys,

Don't claim to be an expert but I know what I've seen. Seen plenty of screwed up meat from ballistic tips and used Remington extended range crap for one season (They might as well have called them "explosive range"). My buddy got me started on Barnes copper X-bullets because of the way they perform. They do punch straight through most times. .30 caliber on the way in, and about .60 caliber on the way out. If the impact doesn't put the animal down the rapid blood loss out of two gaping holes dropped them within feet, not yards. We recovered one bullet from a bull elk. Bullet had gone through bone and vitals and through the far shoulder bone to lodge under the skin. On the scale at home it weighed the same grains as when it was loaded. A bullet that performs that dependable, accurate and leaves as much of that precious whitetail meat for the eating as possible, that's a winner to me. Just my 2 cents.

Lee

[Diamondbackaz]

I use the Hornady's and Sierra's for years and wouldn't consider a plastic tip for deer, especially when my old ones work fine. I still use the ole stand by for Elk; nosler partition.

[mikey b]

hey whats up...im shooting a .270 and a 130 grain balistic tip out of it and i thik it works great on coues. i shoot a 3-4 inch group at 250...so those are great for everything.

 

mike

[matthewp45]

I have tried sierra, hornady, winchester, barnes and have found that the new nosler accubonds shoot the best for me. I shot my coues this year at 298 yards broke both shoulders and had a silver dollar size exit wound. In my experience these bullets are very accurate and hold together well. I am not sure if you can get them in factory ammo. They shoot well in my .280 and .300 try them and see how they shoot in your gun.

[Benbrown]

The .257 100 grain ballistic tip is a varmint bullet--it was never intended to be a big-game bullet. The 115 grain is tougher, but can still ruin a lot of meat with shoulder shots at higher impact velocities. If you want to shoot 100 grain bullets, the 100 grain Barnes X has performed very well in a couple of .257 Weatherbys and one .257 Ackley Improved that I am familiar with. Since I don't buy factory ammo except in emergencies, I have no idea if anyone is loading the 100 grain Barnes X in .25-06.

 

For what it's worth, I have used Ballistic Tips in .243, .257, .270, .280 and .338 calibers. The 120 grain BTs in several 7mm-08s have performed the best on game, but I load them for my daughter (petite) and grandsons (oldest is just now 16) and I use moderate loads. With loads at the hotter end of the spectrum, I no longer use them in .25, .27 and .28 caliber rounds--too much bloodshot meat. The 200 grain .338 BT is a different animal. It has a thicker jacket and penetrates with less frontal upset than do the lighter bullets. It has performed well on several elk in a .338-06.

 

My wife has a Winchester Model 70 in .280 that shoots a maximum load with 140 grain BTs into one-half inch at 100 yards year in and year out. About five years ago, she insisted that I load something else as she likes to take shoulder shots and does not like the mess that BTs leave (however, they do kill deer about as quickly as anything that you can shoot). She now shoots Partitions and is much happier with the terminal ballistics.

[Noel Arnold]

I shoot 140 Grain Balistic tips in my 280 with good results. For whitetail I am usually shooting 300 to 600 yards. You never have a problem wth meat damage at those distances. I also never load to the max for accuracy.

Noel Arnold

[coueshunter]

I use 115 ballistic tips in my .257 wby mag and yes they blow up meat but what I like is how they kill. I use a .280 for other game with 150 partitions but am changing to Hornaday's bullet like Brett talked about. Partitions punched through two elk last year for a client and we lost the elk. I love/loved partitions but after that experience I really have rethought partitions. Duwane Adams swears by ballistic tips and I have to trust him thats why I use them in the .257.......kinda like ford and Chevy's.............Allen Taylor..........

[hunterboy]

25-06,

I have a winchester 25-06 i also used the rederal 100 grain nosiler bullets the do desrtoy my dad also has a rembington 25-06 and he used 117grainboat tail soft point made by hornady they group very well in both out guns. and i killed my buck with it last year ranged at 386 yards one shot behind the shoulder and her ran ten yards and fell over his self. i have tryed every brand of 25-06 bullets and the hornady 117 btsp are by far my choice but i change over in summer to 75 grain hornady sst for ground hogs but for deer 117 grain btsp