Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Moderators: gds, bakerjw, renegade

slyfox1561
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:21 pm

Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Post by slyfox1561 »

Best bullet over 115g for hunting? We all know that the 110g black tips are a favorite, but I’m looking for something with a little more punch! Pick your poison... Barnes 120g tac tx, Hornady 125g sst, or sig 120g ht!?! Which would you chose and why?
User avatar
smustian
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 3433
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 5:55 pm
Location: Central Virginia

Re: Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Post by smustian »

Have not seen too many reports on the 120 Tac Tx so my choice would be the 125 SST. Proven in the field, accurate and relatively cheap. Look in the Hunting section and IIRC there are photos of entrance and exit holes.
blaster
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 780
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:18 am
Location: Fla. Keys

Re: Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Post by blaster »

I have had great results with the 125 gr. SST and 18.3 gr of H-110/W-296 on hogs and Fla. deer.. recently I got some of the 150 gr. Speer Gold Dots. I just finished working up a load and sighting my Mini 14 in with it but haven't shot anything with them yet.
peace through superior firepower
slyfox1561
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:21 pm

Re: Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Post by slyfox1561 »

blaster wrote:I have had great results with the 125 gr. SST and 18.3 gr of H-110/W-296 on hogs and Fla. deer.. recently I got some of the 150 gr. Speer Gold Dots. I just finished working up a load and sighting my Mini 14 in with it but haven't shot anything with them yet.
Thanks for the info...glad ppl are having success with the 125 sst because I really wanna use them. What size barrel are you shooting them out of and would you happen to know velocity with that load? I’ve heard some people using the 125 SST’s and not having very good expansion. I’m assuming that it was probably because they were being shot out of a SBR or maybe they’re just not pushing them to max.
MinimalistNutter
Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu May 17, 2018 1:06 pm
Location: Mountain West

Re: Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Post by MinimalistNutter »

Not being a fan of low sectional density bullets on game I am looking forward to seeing more real world performance from the new 150 Gold Dot. That would be my pick even without it having a proven track record yet.
slyfox1561
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:21 pm

Re: Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Post by slyfox1561 »

smustian wrote:Have not seen too many reports on the 120 Tac Tx so my choice would be the 125 SST. Proven in the field, accurate and relatively cheap. Look in the Hunting section and IIRC there are photos of entrance and exit holes.
Thanks for the info, I’ll look into this.
slyfox1561
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:21 pm

Re: Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Post by slyfox1561 »

I’m also considering the 130g Barnes ttsx and the Nosler 125g ballistic tip as viable options!
blaster
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 780
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:18 am
Location: Fla. Keys

Re: Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Post by blaster »

slyfox1561 wrote:
blaster wrote:I have had great results with the 125 gr. SST and 18.3 gr of H-110/W-296 on hogs and Fla. deer.. recently I got some of the 150 gr. Speer Gold Dots. I just finished working up a load and sighting my Mini 14 in with it but haven't shot anything with them yet.
Thanks for the info...glad ppl are having success with the 125 sst because I really wanna use them. What size barrel are you shooting them out of and would you happen to know velocity with that load? I’ve heard some people using the 125 SST’s and not having very good expansion. I’m assuming that it was probably because they were being shot out of a SBR or maybe they’re just not pushing them to max.
I use the SST and the load I listed in my 16" AR Carbine, 16'' Mini 14 and 9'' AR pistol. out of the 16" bbls, they chrono just under 2200 fps and the 9" bbl is about 100 fps slower. where I hunt, shots are all under 100 yds. I have yet to recover a SST bullet from game as every shot has been a pass thru with about a one inch exit hole. I did find a jacket in the exit wound hair of a 200+ lb boar hog I shot with the pistol at about 70 yds. but never a complete bullet. if you can't get the SST to expand at Black Out velocities, your target must be hundreds of yards away or your load is very underpowered.
peace through superior firepower
User avatar
plant.one
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 6823
Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:31 pm
Location: Oakland County, MI

Re: Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Post by plant.one »

slyfox1561 wrote:I’m also considering the 130g Barnes ttsx and the Nosler 125g ballistic tip as viable options!
i dont know much about the barnes, but i will say you need to drive the nosler's pretty hard for good hunting performance. This bullet has a min expansion velocity of 1800 FPS. which with the blackout limits its usage in most cases to 100 yds or less. and the closer you get to that Min value - the less expansion happens.

i had my first lost kill using this bullet - neck shot a buck under 75 yds... he chicken flopped around, got up and ran off. Jumped a fence & some brush a while later, and the blood just turned off like someone shut off the spigot.
Reloading info shared is based on experiences w/ my guns. Be safe and work up your loads from published data. Web data may not be accurate/safe.
This disclaimer will self destruct in 10 seconds.
User avatar
dellet
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 6967
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 1:25 pm

Re: Best bullet over 115g for hunting?

Post by dellet »

If you’re looking for weight/energy the new Speer 150 needs serious consideration. If you compare it to the the 125 SST at 100 fps less velocity, you will have basically the same flight path with 10-15% more energy on impact.

Minimum expansion velocity on the SST is about 1800-50, on the Speer it’s 1600. That will give you about 100 yards longer range.

The SST with a 125 yard zero, 2200 fps will be about 5/8” high max to 125 yards, the Speer at 2100, 3/4”.
At 150 yards the SST hits about, 1/4” higher than the Speer.
At 250 yards the Speer still has enough velocity to expand at 1650, the drop is only 3/4” more than the SST. But reliable expansion for the SST was over somewhere between 150-175 yards.

Lots of things to consider when choosing a bullet.
300 Blackout, not just for sub-sonics.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests