Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Speer or Gameking.

All the way through the deer, or just the shoulder?

A good shot with any hunting bullet will kill a Whitetail or Hog. They aren’t tough game animals. A poor shot with a partition will mean a lost animal.

The Trophy Bonded tipped Federal’s should be awesome. I have some loaded, hoping to try them on pigs soon. The old Bear Claws were good, the new ones should be better!!

Regarding the 130gr SBT Sierra bullet, in each case, the bullet and jacket did not stay together after hitting the shoulder bone and "take out the plumbing" and neither of the bullets exited (not a "game changer" if the internal organs were shut down). If I had I shot the deer behind the shoulder and taken out both lungs, I probably would not have had to track them as far as I did and would have had a much easier blood trail to follow (IMO). I, in recent years, prefer to shoot medium and big game in the shoulder when possible for "quick kills"; and I prefer a bullet that will at least drive through the chest cavity from most "reasonable" angles and penetrate the heart/lung area. I don't use Partitions in every caliber I own, but if they are accurate, I've found them to work well in some of the worst of circumstances or shooting angles on animals big and small; and on bone and "soft tissue". I particularly like how they seem to make the smaller caliber rifles more effective on the "bigger" animals of the "species". I agree that a "good shot" can kill deer with just about any hunting bullet or caliber and I know there are those on this site that are just that good - I readily admit that I am not and have to keep shooting almost weekly to come "close" to my "betters" (load, load, load and practice, practice, practice!). Of all the Sierra bullets I've owned and shot, the 130gr (.277) spitzer boattail has been my only failures on deer where the shot was "called". Consider that I've loaded and used "Game Kings" in .243, .257, .264, .284, .308, .323, and .358 diameters for nearly 40 years (I live close to the factory) - I'd call those two "failures" were probably "anomalies"; however, I've had a "bias" against that particular diameter bullet ever since (my bad). I also developed a "bias" for the 150gr Partition in the .270 caliber because my rifle likes them so well and they have always worked for me (go figure!). There are some great bullets out there, like the Trophy Bonded and such, that work just as well as the Partitions and most of the times any "Red, Green, or Yellow" box works fine if your gun shoot them accurately and they are designed and marketed for the game you are after. Isn't it great that we Americans have so many choices provided by our "Capitalistic" society! Fortunately, we all have many different opinions on what constitutes the "Best", so we can keep those great companies researching and turning out better products for the future generation of hunters/shooters at reasonable prices.

Sierra for me all day. I use both game kings and pro hunters and the deer never complained. I prefer fast expanding bullets in the ribs but have put game kings through shoulders near and far on occasion.

I use Speer 120gr Hot-Cors in my 25.06 the are very accurate and work excellent on deer. My daughter uses the Sierra 120gr Pro Hunter in her .260 with equal results. I tried the Speer 120gr in her .260 but couldn't get the accuracy that the Sierra gave in her rifle so we went with the Sierra for her.

I have used the 130 and 150 grain Sierra boat tails and the 140 grain HPBT. All have worked on deer sized game. The 140 is much tougher and is my favorite. The BC is lower but that's not a factor at the ranges I shoot. I have been using Barnes bullets for the last several years.

i like both of them

I find them both to be good when shooting medium-to-heavy weights for caliber at moderate speeds in typical deer rifles like 7mm-08.270/30-06 etc. They are very effective. I am not a fan of such soft cup/cores in 6mm/257 chamberings, as exits are not as reliable as I'd like.

I’ve had good luck with Speer 7mm 145 gr BTSP on deer. Only Sierra I ever ran were 25 cal 100 grain BTSP at about 3300 FPS out of a 25-06. Killed deer but blew to hell if it hit bone.

That sums it up