Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .257 Cal Bullets?

Used the 115 grain CT Ballistic Tips pretty extensively on deer and hogs. Have never used the 100 grain due to velocity concerns. Apparently I need to rethink that.

GreggH

If those 115 are fast killers there is no reason to switch.

Buddy shot em 20+ years ago on 2 deer. He didn't complain but he switches guns, loads and bullets like underwear.

10’
Rest assured if they shoot well a deer will catch one and his fall.

GreggH

Hell yeah…. They might be the second coming on your bucks Greg. If I remember correct they aren’t really deep in the chest and that 100 BT should be excellent.

I use the 100 grains Swift Scirrocos mostly now, but I’d have zero problems switching back to 100 BTs.

I’m late to the party but an always overlooked bullet that is lightning death on deer is the 85gr Ballistic Tip.

I’ve killed some nice bucks and a couple big caribou bulls with it doing 3800 out of my 257wby. It absolutely slushes their insides. No problems busting a shoulder either, in fact I put one through both scapulas of one caribou and it exited.


The 100gr Solid base I came into a stash off has been excellent as well.

Will be trying them in my 257 Wby as well. Have been using the TTSX. But have been getting erratic accuracy out of them. Field period amazing but don’t like the performance on paper. Pretty cool your results fall in line with what Dogzapper recommended.
GreggH

Yep. They label that as a Varmint BT but too tough for that from my experience.

That’s interesting. I need to try them in my 250 Savage.

Kid. Skimmed right past that you were using the 87 grain BT. What load were you using in the 257 Wby?

GreggH

Just happened to have my load book beside the chair. Notes show 75gr of 7828.

Noted. Never would have thought of using that bullet in the Wby.

GreggH

I never would have either. I had some loaded up I was shooting rocks and stuff with, just generally goofing around. Then when the plane flew away after dropping us out on the tundra I realized I had them instead of the box that had the 100gr Barnes in it. Having no other choice I shot a bull to see what would happen. He folded like a lawn chair with a hole through both shoulders.

A couple days later I was wondering if it was a fluke when a group of 7 bulls came by camp. So I snuck up to intercept them and shot the biggest one right through the shoulders. He too folded on impact. That bullet was under the offside hide after breaking both shoulders and the spine.

Thanks Kid. I will be adding those to my test list.

GreggH

I have seen the same results in my 25-06 with 117 SST's. Good thing I only have a few left. Save those for pigs when it doesn't matter. Switched to 115 TSX .45 groups.

My dad has used the 25-06 for a few years and hasn’t lost any, he’s used factory 120gr Corelokts on all of them.

25-06 is and can be very hard on bullets with the speed it makes. Not that it matters on vermin, but big game needs a more robust bullet design.

For years, we always used partitions in the 25-06. Mostly The100 gr. Nothing but dead game and that's including a big ol' lead cow elk the wife snipped at 250 yards a few years back. Bullet cleaved almost four foot of elk on an angled shot before busting the left front leg and stopping again the hide of the leg.

There was one whitetail buck she shot @100 yards broadside with a hornady 100 gr. Interlock as it made its way up the opposite side of the draw from her. Buck Instantly dropped dead with not even a quiver and no exit hole. When we skinned the buck, the bullet had hit farther forward than she planned, hitting the spine just in front of the facing shoulder, turning that bullet into mostly unrecoverable lead and jacket shards. I did'nt blame the bullet, I blame the over 3000 f.p.s it was traveling when it hit the deer. Same bullet is just flat reliable in the 257 roberts, regardless of game.

Shot up most of the partitions now and made the move to the 115 gr. Accubond in the 25-06. The bonded build, weight and design of this bullet seem to be near perfection for the 25-06.

Cool photo. The little hunter, nice rack, purposeful looking rifle. Good stuff.

I hadn't considered the 85 grain Ballistic Tip for deer. Interesting thought, thanks.

Yes, years ago I got some of those 100 grain Solid Base bullets when SPS was selling them. Accurate and deadly, no doubt. Mine are for the 6mm Remington though, not a .257" rifle.

Regards, Guy

Curious : were those bullets 115 Ballistic Tips or 110 Accubonds?

Just curious here… if none of the three deer were found and no blood or hair was found, how do you know you hit them in the boiler room? Was there any brush that could have deflected the bullets? Were the deer moving? What were the ranges of the shots?