Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

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ChuckFinley
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Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

Post by ChuckFinley »

Hey y'all,

This is my first post and I appreciate the help I've gotten by just reading old posts!

My question is simple. Is there an ammo, for hunting, that will work better from a 16" barrel? I have been eyeing the barnes 110g and hornady black 110g. But, being that I'll get more velocity (is over expansion a thing?) from the 16", would it be better to go with the winchester deer season xp 150g??

I've tried my darndest to find the answer in old posts with no avail.

Thanks!
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der Teufel
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Re: Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

Post by der Teufel »

What are you hunting, and in what terrain?
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ReadyAimDuck
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Re: Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

Post by ReadyAimDuck »

Assuming you are hunting deer, the 110 grain Tac-TX bullet seems to be hard to beat. I also have heard great things about, and like the accuracy that I get with the 110 grain Hornady VMAX bullets.
ChuckFinley
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Re: Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

Post by ChuckFinley »

der Teufel wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 10:42 am What are you hunting, and in what terrain?

Deer. Indiana woods and corn fields.
ChuckFinley
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Re: Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

Post by ChuckFinley »

ReadyAimDuck wrote: Wed Apr 27, 2022 3:06 pm Assuming you are hunting deer, the 110 grain Tac-TX bullet seems to be hard to beat. I also have heard great things about, and like the accuracy that I get with the 110 grain Hornady VMAX bullets.
That's correct. I've heard all good things about hornady vmax.
BlogSarge
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Re: Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

Post by BlogSarge »

Any load with the Barnes 110 or 120 blackout-specific bullet will be wonderful. I’ve used this bullet to good effect many times.

If you can find the Barnes loaded ammo, great. If not, look at Black Hills and Gorilla. Gorilla often has ammo available. In fact, they do right now!

https://www.gorillaammo.com/product/gor ... round-box/

The VMax also gets good reviews. It is a varmint bullet but, at the more leisurely speeds generated by the blackout round, it lacks the explosive, rapid expansion that it evidences when popped off from a 308 Win.

The Hornady 110GMX (now CX?) load has also performed well, and is also solid copper so yo won’t get lead pieces in the venison.

And many have found good results witht he Hornady SST (125gr, I think).

My preference is the Barnes 110 and 120 ‘blacktip’ ammo. Good accuracy, great terminal effect and no lead chunks in the meat
Last edited by BlogSarge on Thu Jun 02, 2022 2:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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cwlongshot
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Re: Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

Post by cwlongshot »

Handloaded, I have two favorites.

A Hornady 135 FTX over 300MP powder and a 450/41 primer.
A Speer GD 150 over IMR 4227 powder with a 400 Primer

Both have taken deer for me under 125 yards. NO BULLETS RECOVERED from either. Something I cannot say from Hornady 125 sst use. (But never lost a animal either)

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blaster
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Re: Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

Post by blaster »

with the 300 Black Out my personal favorite hunting bullet is the Hornandy 125 gr. SST. I live in South Fla where the deer are small but the hogs can get big. also, the area where I use my 300 BLK all shots are less than 100 yds. keep in mind the 300 BLK is a marginal caliber for big game. (think light loaded .30/30) your deer are about twice the size of mine and even with my small deer, shot placement is very critical. I don't know how far your shots across a cornfield are but when I hunt the Everglades where long (2-300 yd.) shots are possible, I use my .30/06.
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cwlongshot
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Re: Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

Post by cwlongshot »

blaster wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 8:53 am with the 300 Black Out my personal favorite hunting bullet is the Hornandy 125 gr. SST. I live in South Fla where the deer are small but the hogs can get big. also, the area where I use my 300 BLK all shots are less than 100 yds. keep in mind the 300 BLK is a marginal caliber for big game. (think light loaded .30/30) your deer are about twice the size of mine and even with my small deer, shot placement is very critical. I don't know how far your shots across a cornfield are but when I hunt the Everglades where long (2-300 yd.) shots are possible, I use my .30/06.
This is KEY for me! I have had bullets fail me past 150y. Now Im in NE and our deer can get big. Many over 200#. One of my biggest was 262 dressed 5 days after kill. Feet was touching the underside of my roof in garage and head/horns still on ground/floor. (Grendel kill)

CW
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GeronPG
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Re: Best hunting ammo for 16" barrel

Post by GeronPG »

The OP may have gotten all the input he needs, but I'll add my $.02.

I'm a fan of the 16" barrel, especially if you're not using a suppressor. You get the max velocity out of supersonics, and you've used up more of the available pressure getting it, so muzzle blast and noise is not as great as with the shorter barrels. I reload, and have shot Nosler 125 gr. BT's and Accubonds, the Speer 125 TNT and 130 HP, the Hornady 130 SP, and am now testing the Barnes 120 TAC TX, all with about 17.5-18 gr. of W 296. All are accurate, the Noslers are the best so far for accuracy. I've taken 2 deer with the BT, both dropped within 25-30 yds.after being hit at 30 and 55 yds. Probably all of those will reliably kill deer or pigs with good placement; I'd go with whatever is most accurate in your gun of the bullets you have access to.
I have relatives in IN, those cornfields can get pretty big and so can the deer; the 300 BLK would not be my first choice for shots past 125 yds. or so.
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