I'm familiar with the area where he hunts, and yes, Barnes is overkill. More suited for longer ranges like my area where the ranges are pretty much unlimited, but its a solid performer.
Long range or short range doesn't matter, in fact, monometal bullets are less likely to expand a longer range due to lower velocity......the truth is, monometal bullets are unnecessary for deer sized game in "normal" deer calibers. There isn't a deer walking that won't die just as quickly from a cup and core bullet through the lungs as one with a TTSX through the lungs, period.
I've killed over 100 deer with everything from a 22-250 pushing a 50 grain bullet to a 300 win mag to 50 caliber muzzleloaders and a bunch of different handguns. I've killed them from as close as 10 yards to as far as 588 yards. Not once have I ever needed a monometal bullet to kill a deer.......it's only been within the last 10 years or so that bullet makers have educated us to the "fact" that deer have become immune to common cup and core bullets!!
Oh, I know, "ammunition is the cheapest part of the hunt, so you should always use the latest and greatest blah, blah, blah"......
I've killed over 100 deer with everything from a 22-250 pushing a 50 grain bullet to a 300 win mag to 50 caliber muzzleloaders and a bunch of different handguns. I've killed them from as close as 10 yards to as far as 588 yards. Not once have I ever needed a monometal bullet to kill a deer.......it's only been within the last 10 years or so that bullet makers have educated us to the "fact" that deer have become immune to common cup and core bullets!!
Oh, I know, "ammunition is the cheapest part of the hunt, so you should always use the latest and greatest blah, blah, blah"......
LOL, I've killed a lot more than that, and don't disagree. A deer isn't hard to kill with anything legal.
If you have killed them with a 50 grain bullet you've been in violation of the law. 55 grain is and has been the minimum weight for deer hunting.
I hope you killed them in another state where that is a legal bullet weight.
The SST is often compared to the Ballistic Tip and the Accubond. The later two have been great at all velocities I've loaded, from mild to wild. The two deer I shot with 7mm-08 139gr SST both resulted in less than stellar performance, I won't use them anymore.
Mine is bigger!
I hate to say this in public, but the last three deer I have killed with a rifle was with an AMAX bullet. I have found that the SST is not as accurate as the AMAX. I would not get the SST over 3000FPS. My choice would be 43-45 grs of varget, looking for about 2700FPS.
If you are contracted to cull or have deer pets you can kill them with a .22 short and it is legal.
Not defending the 50gr but just saying we may not know the whole story.
I would not be afraid of using the sst at your velocities..If it was accurate I would try it. But I like to try things for myself.
One thing i have done with the 55 V-Max fired from my .223 was keep the neck and head of a deer i harvested during bow season.
I then shot it with the 55 gr too see what it would do.
I was impressed and began using it on Hogs and deer and anything else I wanted to kill instantly.
The worst bullet I have used was the new sierra palma 155gr.
That thing is built tough and just pencils right through. I was hitting them at above 2900fps and NO expansion.
Very accurate though and likes to go fast . 3176 FPS in my 30-06 !
I use the 155 A-Max in my 30-06 and my .308 now.. the 168 is a good one also in A-Max as is the 178.
They all fragment (A-Max) and if you do not like that then do not use them.
I like it as it seems like a hand grenade went off inside them.
178 retains too much weight and I have shot deer in the shoulder and destroyed the shoulder I hit and passed through and destroyed the other shoulder.
Shrapnel also took the heart out in the same shot.
That 178 is brutal and I quit using it, only because I like more meat on my deer that I can eat.
I was not aiming at the shoulder during that bang flop roll down the hill with the 178 I was aiming at the neck.
It was an issue with working a great load at 100 yards and not testing it at 200 yards..I was lucky to get a 12" group at 200 yards.
Oddest thing I ever seen.. Kept under 1/2" at 100.
Now I test at the distances I will be shooting.
Pokinfun that load sounds like a .308 load.
Not defending the 50gr but just saying we may not know the whole story.
I would not be afraid of using the sst at your velocities..If it was accurate I would try it. But I like to try things for myself.
One thing i have done with the 55 V-Max fired from my .223 was keep the neck and head of a deer i harvested during bow season.
I then shot it with the 55 gr too see what it would do.
I was impressed and began using it on Hogs and deer and anything else I wanted to kill instantly.
The worst bullet I have used was the new sierra palma 155gr.
That thing is built tough and just pencils right through. I was hitting them at above 2900fps and NO expansion.
Very accurate though and likes to go fast . 3176 FPS in my 30-06 !
I use the 155 A-Max in my 30-06 and my .308 now.. the 168 is a good one also in A-Max as is the 178.
They all fragment (A-Max) and if you do not like that then do not use them.
I like it as it seems like a hand grenade went off inside them.
178 retains too much weight and I have shot deer in the shoulder and destroyed the shoulder I hit and passed through and destroyed the other shoulder.
Shrapnel also took the heart out in the same shot.
That 178 is brutal and I quit using it, only because I like more meat on my deer that I can eat.
I was not aiming at the shoulder during that bang flop roll down the hill with the 178 I was aiming at the neck.
It was an issue with working a great load at 100 yards and not testing it at 200 yards..I was lucky to get a 12" group at 200 yards.
Oddest thing I ever seen.. Kept under 1/2" at 100.
Now I test at the distances I will be shooting.
Pokinfun that load sounds like a .308 load.
The photo below shows a 7mm 140 TTSX that was recovered from the shoulder of a bull elk my wife killed, this bullet was a finisher shot from close range and smashed the shoulder joint. The bullet was fired from a 7mm Short Action Ultra Mag, the load chronographed just over 3000 fps. If you look closely, you will notice that the bullet is positioned next to the cartridge in the position it would have been before firing.......this bullet is expanded down to the bottom of the hollowpoint...in other words, it is expanded as far as it can.....the bullet has not lost any "petals".....notice how small the frontal area of the expanded bullet is?? Not exactly the picture perfect mushroom that Barnes advertises, is it?? If you loaded this bullet in a 7x57 or a 7-08 at 2750 fps or so and put it through the ribs of a whitetail, I have doubts that it would expand at all, especially if you stretch the range a bit.......
Again, there is no need to use a monometal bullet for whitetail deer if you are using a "normal deer caliber (243 and larger)".......now, if I decided to make a habit of shooting deer with a 22 centerfire, I'd consider it......even then, I'd probably just load the Sierra 65 grain gameking and call it good.
Again, there is no need to use a monometal bullet for whitetail deer if you are using a "normal deer caliber (243 and larger)".......now, if I decided to make a habit of shooting deer with a 22 centerfire, I'd consider it......even then, I'd probably just load the Sierra 65 grain gameking and call it good.
Barnes bullets recovered from deer at different ranges:
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man that SST will be brutal out of a win mag. But I wouldnt hesitate to use it, shoulder shots will ruin a lot of meat. I used a 168gr SMK for years and shot countless deer with it and it did a fantastic job without ruining everything.
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