Bullet performance 2025?

[finnman]

This is a huge subject and is all relative. However, it's fun to discuss and also to see what each person's own personal experience has taught them from observations in the field. To me this is the absolute. Not magazine articles, company papers, or ammo influencers. Give me the hard data off kill site observations.

I have been a fan of the basic Nosler Partition for many years. I appreciate the reliable expansion, decent accuracy, moderate cost, etc. I will be the first to admit that for certain game there are better choices for penetration or accuracy. BUT, for what I and the wife hunt and the range at which we choose to shoot, it seems this bullet was the right choice.

I have used it for antelope, deer, elk, and black bear. I have yet to see a failure. We just need to get it to the right spot.

Recent example is the cow elk my wife shot and dropped at 335 yards with a Weatherby mark V in .270 Winchester and 150 grain NP. The bullet squared up the on-side shoulder and went through the offside shoulder missing the leg bone and stopped in the hide on that offside. It started off as a 150-grain bullet and weighed in at home on the scale at 107 grains. that's a 71% weight retention after going through both elk shoulders.

Some would argue that the bullet did not exit the animal. Some would argue it retained to small a percentage of the original weight. But at that time, in those conditions, hunting open country, with a familiar rifle, it seems to have been the perfect combo with a very satisfying result.

What has been your experience this year? What did you shoot and with what and did it work out well?



 

[HereDuckyDucky]

I used to be a big fan of Accubonds—more accurate than partitions and just as deadly. Lately, though, they don’t fit my accuracy needs at distance. I now load Barnes TTSX and Hammer Hunters. Both have been extremely accurate and devastating on game. TTSX can be a bit of a laser if you’re too close, but dead is dead. I also like Berger Hybrids for long range stuff.

RW

[Antlershed]

I’ve fully converted to the 143 ELD-X in 6.5 CM and 147 ELD-M in 6.5 PRC. 5 Mule deer, 3 whitetail, a blacktail, and a Cow Elk. Shots ranged from 90 yards to 500 yards, none required a follow-up shot, and have died in sight. Stay off the shoulder, shoot them in the lungs, and they either stand there and die, or run about 30-40 yards before tipping over.

[jrebel]

Reader digest version (with pics):  Went to the cabin to install new heaters and security system.  It was a leave on Friday night after the wife gets out of work and return mid day Sunday.  Figured my projects would take up most of my time.....but looked forward to a couple quick hunts around the work.  Took the big boomer (.338 lapua) pushing a 213gain Hammer Hunter at 3175fps.     

Well...a couple hours before dark, I decided to take the rifle for a walk.  Started up a long ridge that I know bears cross going from feed to cover.  It was a windy day so I didn't have high hopes, but was willing to give it a go none the less.  Got up to a saddle and decided to sit out the last hour.  The wind was 100% in the wrong direction, but I was already up there so decided to finish the sit.  As the sun was setting, I was thinking....30 minutes of light left, no way I'm gonna see a bear in this wind.  I turned my head from the sunset to the open ridge to see a bear had walked in down wind from me, and was now 50ish yards away.  To say I was caught off guard and amazed would be an understatement.  I quickly level the rifle off and put the cross hairs on the bear.  The bear was hard quartering to me so I waited to see if it would turn.  About the time I lowered the crosshairs on the bear, a couple grouse spooked out of a bush in front of the bear.  The bear flinched and backed up, watching as the grouse flew up into the trees.  As it backed up, I saw the nose of the bear lift into the air and I knew the gig was up....he smelled me.  The bear turned to it's left as it was getting ready to leave town.  I squeezed at just the right time and hit the bear perfectly broadside. 

Took out the bears heart and both lungs with a complete passthrough.  The hammer bubble effect ripped the liver to pieces as well.  As I gutted the deer I was picking large pieces of liver out of the blood.  The bear wheeled and covered 30 yards before expiring.  It was dead on impact and the blood trail was very impressive. 

We have hunted with Hammers for the past 5 or 6 years and I absolutely love them.  There was a learning curve with reloading monolithics....but once I figured it out.....I don't see myself ever going back to cup and core.  Very accurate, very deadly and have impressed me with every kill we have made. 

We still shoot Accubonds in some a couple rifles and I also love the accubond.  Have previously shoot partitions and they work well too.  As I shoot the accubonds up, I will be switching all rifles to Hammers for the simple reason....no lead in my meat ever again. 

I will post pics from my phone of the wound channel from this years bear. 

[jeffro]

The nosier partition has never failed!
Why try something else?

[Sneaky]

I’ve fully converted to the 143 ELD-X in 6.5 CM and 147 ELD-M in 6.5 PRC. 5 Mule deer, 3 whitetail, a blacktail, and a Cow Elk. Shots ranged from 90 yards to 500 yards, none required a follow-up shot, and have died in sight. Stay off the shoulder, shoot them in the lungs, and they either stand there and die, or run about 30-40 yards before tipping over.

https://www.hornadyle.com/rifle-ammunition/147-gr-eld-match-tap-precision#!/

great bullet choices. Staying off the shoulder helps with the meat loss but lots of good data on these style of bullets carrying plenty of penetration for big game. Check out the gelatin results from hornady for the 147 eld-m with over 12.5" of penetration after encountering auto glass. I got to witness a 147 eld-m from 6.5CM at 2450 ish impact speed vs whitetail this year and the terminal performance was impressive to say the least...way more trauma than a deer taken at similar distance with a 7mm rem mag and barnes TTSX.

[hunter399]

ELD-X
HOT COR
Basically my go to bullets.
Those hammer's look pretty good.👍

The hot cor in my opinion is the poor man partitions.
I see performance as similar to older style of ammunition.
They punch holes,my son and I have used them on deer for awhile.
They are not long range bullets,but in the 100 acre woods,timber,or stand hunting. Where it's fairly normal ranges,they do the job,leave a nice blood trail.

[Antlershed]

I’ve fully converted to the 143 ELD-X in 6.5 CM and 147 ELD-M in 6.5 PRC. 5 Mule deer, 3 whitetail, a blacktail, and a Cow Elk. Shots ranged from 90 yards to 500 yards, none required a follow-up shot, and have died in sight. Stay off the shoulder, shoot them in the lungs, and they either stand there and die, or run about 30-40 yards before tipping over.

https://www.hornadyle.com/rifle-ammunition/147-gr-eld-match-tap-precision#!/

great bullet choices. Staying off the shoulder helps with the meat loss but lots of good data on these style of bullets carrying plenty of penetration for big game. Check out the gelatin results from hornady for the 147 eld-m with over 12.5" of penetration after encountering auto glass. I got to witness a 147 eld-m from 6.5CM at 2450 ish impact speed vs whitetail this year and the terminal performance was impressive to say the least...way more trauma than a deer taken at similar distance with a 7mm rem mag and barnes TTSX.

Yeah, sorry, wasn’t trying to imply that they couldn’t go through a shoulder, but was strictly talking from a meat loss perspective. 👍🏻

[C-Money]

30-06 bullet of choice...150gr Hornaday Interlock. From whitetail, Mule deer and elk, bullet has been exceptional. Probably my all time favorite. I just works so well, every time.

.270 win bullet of choice...140gr Nosler Accubond. From whitetail, mule deer and elk, I do not ever remember finding an Accubond bullet, they all exit, including the elk. The Accubonds are excellent. Recently, my son used the 140gr Hornanday interlock in his .270win, taking two bucks. They worked like any other Interlock, Perfectly. He went back to his 30-06 this year.

7mm-08 we have been using 140gr Nosler Partitions. They worked filling tags, deer were just as dead as any other. Long ago, I posted about the the Partition mushrooming back, with no lead left above the partition in the bullet, just the copper jacket peeled back over the base above the partition on bullets recovered in deer. Interlocks do not look like an empty cup when recovered. Much discussion was had on this forum. Me and my family looked at the evidence and made a choice. My wife has not been hunting, so that rifle has not been used. When I load a new batch of ammo for her to hunt with, I will be using the 140gr Interlock as it has a perfect track record of holding together, and the Partition does not.

.243win bullet of choice....100gr Hornaday Interlock. I've killed the largest mule deer bucks of my life using this bullet in the .243win. Bullets hold together, and the deer drop like they were struck by lightning. Warm memories punching tags with the .243win. Little to no recoil, and unreal performance on deer. When my kids became old enough to hunt, I started carrying a .243 as well, sighting in the rifles on the same load. This opened my eyes to what a true jem the .243win is. We all have much respect for the .243win, and wonderful memories created with that bullet.

There are a lot of bullets out there to choose from. No need to over think it. A Hornandy Interlock is what my family uses most often, and it is proven to be the best for us.

[Bushcraft]

I personally think it's a really dumb idea to use typical cup and core lead-grenade bullets for any animal you intend to put in your or others' mouths.

The Barnes TSX and TTSX bullets have never failed to very effectively get the job done on a bunch of big game animals I've shot.  Bam. Done.  No mess. No fuss. No wondering if some small piece of lead is going to make it into steaks, roasts, grind, or sausage.

Sure, they need to be moving along at 1,850-2,000 fps in order to reliably open and do their thing, but the vast majority of people have absolutely zero business shooting at animals that far out anyway.

[KP-Skagit]

Shot my buck this year, young mule deer 3 pt with my new 270 with 130 grain ttsx. 250 yards broadside. Almost a perfect shot right behind the shoulder, maybe an inch or two forward and a tad high. Hard to say, because it was a very steep incline. I had a poor rest and could not follow up but dont think the animal moved an inch, just dropping where it stood.

Very interesting to find far more trauma on the entrance side. 2 to 3 inch hole, blood trauma spread into the front quarter, multiple broken ribs. Both lungs and surprisingly the heart were goo. The exit side was much cleaner with only about a 3/4 inch hole and very little trauma. Did not recover any bullet or debris from the animal.

Honestly less meat was than I thought when cutting so I am pleased. Initially when I saw the entry I was thinking both fronts were gone. First animal shooting ttsx, we will see how it does, gun came with 200 bullets so hope I dont hate it!

[10thmountainarcher]

Shot my buck this year, young mule deer 3 pt with my new 270 with 130 grain ttsx. 250 yards broadside. Almost a perfect shot right behind the shoulder, maybe an inch or two forward and a tad high. Hard to say, because it was a very steep incline. I had a poor rest and could not follow up but dont think the animal moved an inch, just dropping where it stood.

Very interesting to find far more trauma on the entrance side. 2 to 3 inch hole, blood trauma spread into the front quarter, multiple broken ribs. Both lungs and surprisingly the heart were goo. The exit side was much cleaner with only about a 3/4 inch hole and very little trauma. Did not recover any bullet or debris from the animal.

Honestly less meat was than I thought when cutting so I am pleased. Initially when I saw the entry I was thinking both fronts were gone. First animal shooting ttsx, we will see how it does, gun came with 200 bullets so hope I dont hate it!

I switched from the Nosler E-tips to the 139gr TTSX in my 7MM and have been pleased with the performance. They’re accurate and the one bullet I recovered stayed together really well.

[WSU]

My kid shot a 2 point blacktail last weekend.  80 gn ttsx from his 243 at about 10-15 yards.  Tiny entrance, 1inch exit and blood shot in the rib meat, both shoulders, and neck.  Blood shot stopped at the membrane cover the backstraps but was bloody between the hide and backstraps.  Clipped both shoulders but didn't hit any bone. 

It was a mess!

[jrebel]

Shot my buck this year, young mule deer 3 pt with my new 270 with 130 grain ttsx. 250 yards broadside. Almost a perfect shot right behind the shoulder, maybe an inch or two forward and a tad high. Hard to say, because it was a very steep incline. I had a poor rest and could not follow up but dont think the animal moved an inch, just dropping where it stood.

Very interesting to find far more trauma on the entrance side. 2 to 3 inch hole, blood trauma spread into the front quarter, multiple broken ribs. Both lungs and surprisingly the heart were goo. The exit side was much cleaner with only about a 3/4 inch hole and very little trauma. Did not recover any bullet or debris from the animal.

Honestly less meat was than I thought when cutting so I am pleased. Initially when I saw the entry I was thinking both fronts were gone. First animal shooting ttsx, we will see how it does, gun came with 200 bullets so hope I dont hate it!

My experience with Tipped monolithic bullets is the same as your experience.  Anecdotally, I think the tip causes them to open faster than the non tipped version.....thus causing more extreme damage on entry.  Because they are monolithic and stay together much better than cup and core bullets, they still get great penetration and passthroughs making up for the rapid expansion.  I shoot Hammer Hunters and for the very reason you saw....I stay away from the tipped hammers.  Lots of guys love them...and dead is dead!!  But, I like dead with not a lot of blood shot meat.  I shot a bear with a 168grain HHT (tipped hammer hunter) and the entry was big.....lots of blood in between muscle groups.  Killed the bear,  but no better than my non tipped hammers that don't cause that bloody mess. 

Mono's have really come a long way and performance has been fantastic in my opinion. 

[buglebuster]

I absolutely love the 147 ELDM out of my 6.5 PRC. We’ve killed 9 deer and 5 elk with it over the last couple years. From ranges of 50 yards to 500 and never had an animal go more than 20 or so yards. Most are DRT. Here is a pic from this years cow I shot at 250 yds. This is the entrance hole. I was tight to the shoulder but didn’t hit the shoulder. Must have hit a rib going in. The sheer devastation inside the body cavity was unreal, and fragments went out the off side and lodged in the skin. I call that a win! Don’t need a blood trail when they devastate them like this. I’ll include a pic of the off side exit as well, laying on the tarp. As bad as the damage looks to the shoulder, I was able to trim it up and with hardly any loss.

[Bushcraft]

My kid shot a 2 point blacktail last weekend.  80 gn ttsx from his 243 at about 10-15 yards.  Tiny entrance, 1inch exit and blood shot in the rib meat, both shoulders, and neck.  Blood shot stopped at the membrane cover the backstraps but was bloody between the hide and backstraps.  Clipped both shoulders but didn't hit any bone. 

It was a mess!

Clipping both shoulders will be a mess with nearly any bullet.   Running excessive velocity can be a real terminal bummer when it comes to meat loss.  With small framed animals, large and slow can be a great combination...otherwise you're going to have a prairie dog detonation situation.

Hopefully the kiddo learned a valuable lesson on shot placement. Congrats though!

[jrebel]

My kid shot a 2 point blacktail last weekend.  80 gn ttsx from his 243 at about 10-15 yards.  Tiny entrance, 1inch exit and blood shot in the rib meat, both shoulders, and neck.  Blood shot stopped at the membrane cover the backstraps but was bloody between the hide and backstraps.  Clipped both shoulders but didn't hit any bone. 

It was a mess!

Clipping both shoulders will be a mess with nearly any bullet.   Running excessive velocity can be a real terminal bummer when it comes to meat loss.  With small framed animals, large and slow can be a great combination...otherwise you're going to have a prairie dog detonation situation.

Hopefully the kiddo learned a valuable lesson on shot placement. Congrats though!

Speed is not always bad......especially if you are shooting the right bullet.  Shot placement is key though.  Mono's need speed to stabilize as they lack the sectional density of a similar weight cup and core bullet.  Speed and spin rate / rotation will increase straight line penetration with monos.  I think where most go wrong with mono's (in my opinion) is they go to heavy for caliber.  I personally try to balance weight and speed....but when in doubt, go light for caliber.  I'm pushing a 101 grain bullet in a 7-08 and wouldn't hesitate killing deer, elk or bear with it.  I also have 6.5 creed and PRC shooting the 124 grain bullet and it is a proven killer.  We also get very little meat damage with the bullets we are shooting. 

I do agree that big and slow works well....but with cup and core.   45/70 is a classic example of this. 

[Sneaky]

I’ve fully converted to the 143 ELD-X in 6.5 CM and 147 ELD-M in 6.5 PRC. 5 Mule deer, 3 whitetail, a blacktail, and a Cow Elk. Shots ranged from 90 yards to 500 yards, none required a follow-up shot, and have died in sight. Stay off the shoulder, shoot them in the lungs, and they either stand there and die, or run about 30-40 yards before tipping over.

https://www.hornadyle.com/rifle-ammunition/147-gr-eld-match-tap-precision#!/

great bullet choices. Staying off the shoulder helps with the meat loss but lots of good data on these style of bullets carrying plenty of penetration for big game. Check out the gelatin results from hornady for the 147 eld-m with over 12.5" of penetration after encountering auto glass. I got to witness a 147 eld-m from 6.5CM at 2450 ish impact speed vs whitetail this year and the terminal performance was impressive to say the least...way more trauma than a deer taken at similar distance with a 7mm rem mag and barnes TTSX.

Yeah, sorry, wasn’t trying to imply that they couldn’t go through a shoulder, but was strictly talking from a meat loss perspective. 👍🏻

No apologies you are spot on! I had read about 147 eld-m for years and was surprised how lethal it was. I have a bunch of 178 eld-m for the .300 win and I am rethinking ever shooting that at game after seeing the creedmoor performance. I think it would be too much

[Kingofthemountain83]

I mostly use a 243 for deer and bear... A lot of other bullets work... But since I started using Hornady monolithic... The 80 grain Hornady GMX now CX is devistating... I've only found one bullet in a blackie I shot facing me at 51 yards... In his rear leg... Over 4 feet of penetration... Went through brisket, one lung, stomach, liver, hit the hip bone, stopped in the ham of the rear leg opposite of impact... Was impressed... Broadside or slightly angled they zip right through muley, bear, blackies, and a cougar... Nice wound channel...   

[highcountry_hunter]

95 grain STT and 108 grain eld-murder. Stuff dies quickly out of a .243

[Sneaky]

95 grain STT and 108 grain eld-murder. Stuff dies quickly out of a .243

I've got a tikka .243 that is hammering with factory 95gr SST can't wait to see what it does terminally.

[highcountry_hunter]

95 grain STT and 108 grain eld-murder. Stuff dies quickly out of a .243

I've got a tikka .243 that is hammering with factory 95gr SST can't wait to see what it does terminally.

You won’t have to worry about whittling meat off the front shoulder of a deer if you put one through it

[high_hunter]

243s been a deer killer for us this year. My dad took a big bodied mulie using factory Hornady 90gn eldx at 160yds out of a vanguard with 24" barrel.  Quartering away shot it pulverized half the liver, lots of hydroshock, and he dropped after one lunge. Some bloodshot but minimal meat damage overall once cleaned up. We found the nicely mushroomed bullet trapped in far hide just behind the opposite leg.

Next day my wife dropped a 3x3 BT in his tracks using the Federal/Berger 95gn hybrid hunter at ~75yds slightly quartering from a m77 with 22" barrel. Broke a rib going in, clipped top of both lungs, nicked spine with its upward trajectory as she was in a kneeling position and sighted for mpbr. Not much left of the bullet and didn't exit the far side. Next to no meat loss other than a 2" diameter. area on each side of the ribcage.

Her first deer 2 years ago was similar distance, hit, & result with the 90gn eldx in the m77. A few years before 1 shot DRT using the nosler 90gn ballistic tip in the vanguard at 130yds high double lung but with a bit more loss.

All have been killed almost instantly but a small entrance hole and no exit may have made for difficult tracking had it been necessary with a poorly placed shot.  But like others have said, doesn't matter if you don't have to track them. I'll probably stick with the ELDXs going forward in this caliber and am excited to use them in my .30s as well.

[Rigby416]

This years action was harvesting a bear at 40 yards with a .358 Winchester using Hornady 200 grain Interlocks.  It was a double lung shot through and through, went about 20 yards and tipped over.  My deer was taken with at about 115 yards with a .338 Federal using Nosler 210 grain Partitions.  It also was a double lung shot through and through, also went about 20 yards although it was downhill and he may have just fell down that far.  I usually don't shoot farther than 250 yards, so these bullets have worked well for me through the years.