hey guys whats the best bullet?

GMB54-120
Posts:203
Joined:April 19th, 2012, 12:02 pm
Re: hey guys whats the best bullet?

Post by GMB54-120 » November 5th, 2014, 10:53 pm

Jlineman wrote:Barnes original with orange mmp sabot over 110 gr. of blackhorn.
I second getting away from powerbelts, if you can't use a sabot try the Thor
Bullet. Good luck

Good luck with reliable expansion on deer with those Barnes Originals and only 110gr of BH209. You may want to contact Barnes and ask about the minimum recommended fps. The BO jacket is really thick, its even thicker than a Parker Match Hunter. Both are good for larger game where more penetration is needed or high shoulder shots.....boiler room shots on deer...not so much at that fps.

I think you will find that 110gr of BH209 falls below that minimum recommended fps unless the shot is pretty close. I use 91gr BY WEIGHT in my 52cal and keep shots to under 150 yards for that load. That kind of defeats the purpose of shooting a high BC bullet when a 325gr FTX will shoot/kill just as well at that range and cost about half as much.
Green Mountain 54-120 Brush Gun
Elite 45 blued
Original DISC 45 SS
LRH 52cal

GMB54-120
Posts:203
Joined:April 19th, 2012, 12:02 pm

Re: hey guys whats the best bullet?

Post by GMB54-120 » November 8th, 2014, 1:49 am

The BO jacket is .032 Many years ago it was .040. The BO SPs do not expand very well below 2100fps MV on deer sized game. Ive shot them at Savage speeds also (2300fps). There is a BIG difference how well they expand if you can get them moving. The BO flat points do ok at slower speeds but why pay that kind of money for a plain old soft point? Might as well buy a cheap Sierra 300gr 458.

Its really a waste of money for deer unless you can take advantage of the BC and can generate enough FPS. The 325gr FTX does just as well or better inside of roughly 150 yards and flies almost as well to 200 yards. Plus they expand a bit easier and cost about 60cents each vs $1 each for the BO.

Try a Parker 300gr BE if you want a reasonably good BC and a bullet that will expand well when the fps drops. They shoot fantastic in several of my rifles including sabotless in my smokeless Pacnor 45cal. Its a .451 but they shoot as good as any ,458 ive tried.

Another excellent bulk bullet is the Barnes 300gr 458SOCOM but its a boattail and they can be problematic since sabot selection is limited to 2 sabots for .451 boattail bullets. Some people have good luck with them in the MMP Orange. Oddly i shoot them in the Harvester 54x45 sabot in my Green Mountain 54-120 and they shoot excellent with a max load of BH209. Ive had that load leave roughly a 2" exit hole and the internals were soup.

The Barnes 290gr TEZ should perform in a similar manner and its a flat base bullet. Im not sure how easy they can be found in bulk though. I chose the 458SOCOM simply because the typical 458SOCOM MV is extremely close to a 110gr load of BH209 in a ML. It also shoots quite well in my 52cal LRH with 91gr BY WEIGHT of BH209 using the 52x458 sabot.
Green Mountain 54-120 Brush Gun
Elite 45 blued
Original DISC 45 SS
LRH 52cal