125 grain nosler for deer?

[Zed Stewart]

Ok, I'm here and have a little time. ( It turned out to be 1.5 hrs.) It is time for a terminal ballistics lesson. Please bear in mind that for the sake of this discussion we are talking about killing things, not holes in paper. This is real long.

There are two paradigms to look at when discussing a bullet's terminal performance. The first is the traditional "soft points and spitzers are the only bullets suitable for hunting because the deform, given the impact velocity is high enough, and therefore offer a humane kill if placed in the appropriate place on an animal." This is true... most of the time. If the wrong bullet is used they may only deform or expand very little and only become a flat nosed bullet after impact and travel in a straight line through your target. An example of this is just about any 200 gr or heavier .30 cal bullet. These are designed for high velocity cartridges such as the .300 Mag. They are too hard to expand much at even .308 velocities. Lighter weight bullets usually do not have these problems and expand in the expected way.

Now for the "other" paradigm... Nonexpanding bullets. This is the part of the story that is the most misunderstood part of the shooting world. There are two types of nonexpanding bullets: flatnosed and spitzer. A flat nosed bullet tends to travel in a straight path through the target crushing tissue and bone as it goes. This is what the .44 mag and other large diameter rounds do. With these, velocity only serves to push the bullet through the target, nothing else.

Then we have spitzer type nonexpanding bullets. For this we are talking about FMJ and hollow pointed match bullets. Neither are designed to expand on target. They are just supposed to get there. However, they do something after impact that most people do not know about. They upset.

A small digression:
When a bullet flies through the air it must have a certain rotation rate to be stable in flight. This spin rate depends on the shape of bullet to be used and how long it is. A .50 cal round ball only needs a 1:66" twist to be stable. A .44 mag needs 1:22", if memory serves. The difference between the two is length and shape. The .44 bullet is longer and has a nose that is smaller that the base. Since there is more weight in the base it wants to come around and travel base forward. ( You will see this material again.) This is the most stable position. ( Remember the discussion about seating 220gr bullets backward and shooting them out of 1:10" twist barrels with good results?) This weight forward position is especially sought when the bullet strikes something that is much denser than air.

Back to the story:
This upset of the bullet is very destructive to flesh and bone. The bullet will become unstable and yaw about 4" to 6" after impact. When this happens, it will turn to seek a base forward position. It may turn over once or twice before this position is achieved.

Now we are to the interesting part. A .30 cal 150 gr FMJ bullet is about 1.12" long, a 175 gr is 1.28" long, and a 220 MK is 1.48" long. These are the measurements of the widest point of the wound channel when using the respective bullet. It will taper at both ends but the center, where the vitals are located, will be the largest. A traditional spitzer soft point bullet is doing well to expand to twice its size.

To expand on this, we will look at the role velocity pays in terminal ballistics. With traditional SP bullets velocity must be enough to cause expansion. If the bullet is overmatched for the cartridge the velocity may not be high enough even at the muzzle. This is one problem with the 300 Whisper, not a slam but a factor to be delt with. Bullet upset is not as dependant on impact velocity. However, there will be no upset if the bullet deforms to a flat nose on impact with minimal expansion. This is where a FMJ comes into the picture. A FMJ will upset. The higher the velocity the more violent the action. The longer the bullet the more destruction.

Take into consideration the 5.56mm. A 55 gr FMJ bullet will do an amazing amount of damage to flesh. If the impact velocity is above 2700 FPS it will break at the canelure and become a multifragmented projectile. I have shot an Axis Deer at 175 yards with a 5.56 round and killed it dead. It only traveled about 10 yards at a walk. This is only one example. I have shot a number of critters with a 5.56 and done very well. There is one caveat when using this round. There is no room for a bad shot. There is usually not complete penetration so there will be no blood trail.

There is also a 7.62 bullet that duplicates this behavior on a much larger scale. It is the 150 gr copper washed steel jacketed bullet. These go unstable and break apart with amazing effect. They are like the proverbial bolt of lightening. These bullets also break at the cannelure and do their thing but on a .308 scale. These particular bullets are usually match grade as well.

Only bullets with a cannelure will break in half.

Back to the subject at hand:
Heavy, solid .30 cal bullets will upset and cause a great deal of internal damage. They may only appear to go straight through but that is only on the outside. They usually exit base first if the hold together. They do far more damage that a "pencil." If you have killed the number of animals I have with FMJ bullets and done postmortems you would have no qualms about using this type of bullet. It is my bullet type of choice. They will out perform a spitzer type bullet every time, at any velocity.

If you will recall JD Jones' statement about the heavy subsonic rounds for the .300 whisper, "They kill out of proportion to the what the paper ballistics would have you believe."

Knowledge is power. If you want to use 125 BT go for it. You won't be wrong. If you use the heavier bullets you are not wrong either. If you load your own I would still make them go as fast as possible. I am planning to try out some 130 SP FN at 2250 and 220 MKs at 1400 fps on some hogs next week. If for no other reason that to confirm what I already know.

I will throw this in to make my views know. It will make a few mad but that will be nothing new to me. I tell it like I see it. After guiding hunts and being around hunters professionally for almost 10 years, only idiots take head shots at anything beyond three feet. A deer has a 8" vital zone. The heart is about 3.5" around. Aim for it. If you miss you will still get two lungs. Lat time I checked nobody ate deer ribs so you can't use the meat destruction excuse.