A better bullet for my 300 WSM

[GKPrice]

I have seen issues with bonded bullets not performing well on smaller game animals. In fact Ive seen partitions pencil through an elk only to chase them miles and miles trying to recover. I think they perform best if you put them through bone. The Accubond seems to do a little better as the BT helps to open it up. Not a barnes fanboy, and I dont like cleaning copper.

For whitetail I would shy away from these bullets, and look at something like the Berger, A-max, Nosler BT (or Combined Technologies). I like to dump all the energy into the animal and create hydrostatic shock.

Hydrostatic shock is good for knocking an animal down but not so much for the eatin' parts - A lot of it depends on the size of the hole in the barrel and the weight and velocity - I've shot pronghorns with 140/7mm Accubonds that opened up on impact more than I would have expected, that from a 7mm RM - Some of this "science" is and always will be unpredictable I think - If you have a good rifle that shoots a "good" bullet accurately you have a large percentage of the battle won, few and far between is the rifle that shoots everything as well as it shoots one or very few and accuracy means a lot when you're goal is to make that one shot a kill shot - I've always tried to be "that guy" who knew his ONE rifle but that may not be good wisdom exercised, MAYBE tailoring a rifle combo for each species or class of animal makes more sense ? On the upside, that would mean all of us could easily justify a new gun (or 3) .....

 

[LaHunter]

I used partitions our of my 7mm rem mag for a few years. Every white tail (probably 12-15 total) I shot ran at least 75 yards. Some ran as much as 150 yards. Some were shot right behind the shoulder through both lungs and some were shot through both 'shoulders'. Every one was a complete pass through with moderate blood and not much internal hydrostatic damage. I now use the Nosler AB. Now, the deer usually die within 10 yards of where they were standing when I shot them. For a 300 mag, I think the 180 grain AB would be tough to beat from 600 yards and closer.

 

[camping1601]

Thanks again for the input. I'm trying to find a balance between the mess and meat loss I was used to with BT's and the lack of killing power from the Barnes. I'm gonna try the AB's but only load a small amount this time. I'm thinking 165's for white tails? What's some thoughts? When I do decide to trade the bow for a rifle for elk I'll likely load just for that.

Anyone wanna buy some 150 grn Barnes Tipped TSX's?