Hornady American Whitetail

[NMH5050]

I use them and like them a lot. 300 WM 180 GR

 

[antharper]

My favorite round for my ruger 7 mag . I try to shoot all my deer in the rib cage though, so I expect them all to run a little ways . I’d rather follow a blood trail than throw away 2 shoulders or mess with a bunch of blood shot meat . And I for sure ain’t ruining the neck roast ?

 

[Stainlessman]

I have a Browning BAR I bought back in the late 80's. Its 30-06 and I've taken like eight deer with it. I grew up shooting Remington ammo and they always worked well. But a few years back I bought a couple boxes of the Hornady American Whitetail. I never waste ammo trying it as I know my BAR is practically point and shoot. Honestly my favorite deer rifle of any I own. Anyway I was using the Hornady ammo one early morning on the edge of my field out back and its comming light and here comes a doe and a spike horn. I aim and take the spike, BOOM, two feet of fire out the barrel in the early morning. Spike rolls completely over. It was at that moment I relized what a killer charge of powder Hornady puts in this round. I've shot two more deer with his round with the same BOOM roll'em over results. Id hate to shoot it in a caliber bigger then 30/06 , hang on.

 

[buckpasser]

Haven’t used those bullets OP. My worst results have come from 130 g ballistic silver tip in .270 WSM. They basically just explode. I’ve also had 150 g corelokt in .30-06 just punch a tiny hole with seemingly no expansion. Same with 120 g Fusions in 6.5 G. Lately I’m a big copper bullet fan as I don’t do long range.

 

[WOODIE13]

Can't get them to group out of my Savage Axis 6.5CM, big groups, so I haven't used them to hunt with.

Anything 140 or above I can stack them on top of each other. Had 3 one shot kills with these last year, 2 deer and a bear (Federal Fusion)

 

[Evergreen]

Speed=expansion. Bullets expand more at close range because impact velocity is higher. Physics doesn't change in the deer woods.

Yes I would agree but when entrance and exit holes are the same or very similar in size I'm not sure they are doing proper expansion, im also not sure the cause of that, maybe soft tissue vs bone, maybe some folks just can't shoot, I can only speak from personal experience, any interlock type bullet I and friends have shot weve had trouble tracking or dropping big (200+) deer where they stand under 150 yards, where as with sst gmx or eldx tipped rounds its not an issue at any range, under a 10 yard track job or dead right there. Maybe it's a size of animal thing one buddy refuses to give up the the core lokts and he will drop a doe pretty much in place, but the 2 truly big mature bucks he's taken its been 200 plus yard tracks with lil to no blood ect ect. One was double lung and the other clipped the heart, just specs of blood every 10 or so feet. Very small entrance and exit holes, I don't understand the reason for that maybe it's shot placement, maybe the rounds aren't expanding as they should. At this point I got tired of inconsistencies so I swapped up. To each their own

 

[DylanSeverens]

My experience with the Hornady Whitetail is in 243 and I've shot 4 bucks with 5 shots and never had an exit. All shots were inside of 100 yards. Without an exit, the 243 doesn't leave much of a blood trail and two of those deer ran far enough that I had to just stumble upon them. I switched last year to the fusions and had an exit and great blood trail (wasn't needed because it went down in sight).

I think they are just too soft for close range shots, at least in 243.

 

[marlin]

Helped a friend drag one out Monday morning that was shot at 50 yds with AW ammo out of a 308. Deer was quartering to him shot went through the facing shoulder and stopped under the hide on the off side 3/4 of the way back. DRT. Deer weight was 173 lbs. I use the same ammo in one my 308’s and haven’t had any problems at all with them killing deer.

 

[furtaker]

Yes I would agree but when entrance and exit holes are the same or very similar in size I'm not sure they are doing proper expansion, im also not sure the cause of that, maybe soft tissue vs bone, maybe some folks just can't shoot, I can only speak from personal experience, any interlock type bullet I and friends have shot weve had trouble tracking or dropping big (200+) deer where they stand under 150 yards, where as with sst gmx or eldx tipped rounds its not an issue at any range, under a 10 yard track job or dead right there. Maybe it's a size of animal thing one buddy refuses to give up the the core lokts and he will drop a doe pretty much in place, but the 2 truly big mature bucks he's taken its been 200 plus yard tracks with lil to no blood ect ect. One was double lung and the other clipped the heart, just specs of blood every 10 or so feet. Very small entrance and exit holes, I don't understand the reason for that maybe it's shot placement, maybe the rounds aren't expanding as they should. At this point I got tired of inconsistencies so I swapped up. To each their own

Well, an entrance hole should be caliber sized. If you're getting small exits with a standard cup and core like Interlocks or CoreLokts, you're likely seeing where a fragment of the bullet exited. Those bullets are not particularly tough and will usually lose a fair amount of weight at close range impacts.

GMX are way tougher than a cup and core and made out of even harder material than the TTSX.

 

[hikingthehills]

Never had anything but great luck with SST's. Longest track so far maybe 30yrds, usually DRT. Obviously shot placement is important with any round. But whatever you get good results with, keep sending it and post some DDP's (dead deer pics)

I've killed a pile of deer and hogs with SST's in .270 and never had a problem. In my opinion it's the best ammo out there. But I may be biased because once I found what worked really well I never tried any other ammo. No need to.

 

[Evergreen]

Well, an entrance hole should be caliber sized. If you're getting small exits with a standard cup and core like Interlocks or CoreLokts, you're likely seeing where a fragment of the bullet exited. Those bullets are not particularly tough and will usually lose a fair amount of weight at close range impacts.

GMX are way tougher than a cup and core and made out of even harder material than the TTSX.

Very good point, I just can't figure out why I've dropped deer further than 150 but closer when there should be more energy and speed they run forever. I don't have that problem with different types of rounds

 

[SlowMotion]

I shot my 9 point with 308 AW last year at 50 yards. Kicked and ran down steep hill before crashing at the bottom maybe 50 yards. Caught front should on entry and had no exit wound. I had blood within 10 yards.

 

[ribber]

OP here. All good info in replies. Like I said before, I'm by no means a ballistic/bullet expert. I like to hunt and don't get caught up in all the which caliber/gun/bullet is better talk. I find what works for me and stick with it. I buy the ammo I can find and go with a brand I'm familiar with. The AW shoots good and we've not lost a deer so I'm pleased with it. I do have a box of it for my .270 but haven't shot anything with it yet.
I think the muzzle speed of the 6.5 is pretty similar to the .270 and bullet sizes are pretty close too. Guess I'm just curious to why almost every single deer I've killed with the .270 in the last 15 or so years was DRT and 3 of the 4 killed with the creedmor have ran a short distance. I think I'm going to try the AW in my .270 and see if I get similar results. I will say the core-lokts do not produce a massive exit wound and blood like the AW does, so if I were to make a bad shot it would be harder to find the deer.

 

[fireman32]

Very good point, I just can't figure out why I've dropped deer further than 150 but closer when there should be more energy and speed they run forever. I don't have that problem with different types of rounds

165 grain sierra game kings in my 7 mag are similar. I’ve yet to DRT one with it, even with proper shot placement behind the shoulder. It’s not hard to follow the blood trial though.