Considering bullet change

[Coach]

My 25-06 loves the 115 grain Combined Technology ballistic silver tips. Haven't shot any game with them yet because the gun is a little on the heavy side, but they are extremely accurate in my Savage 110FP. They'll shoot much tighter groups than I can. When I'm doing things right, 3-shot groups can be covered with a dime at 100 yards and a quarter at 200. I didn't have much luck with Nosler ballistic tips - guess some guns just like certain bullets.

 

The silver tips are not a super strong bullet compared to accubonds, but for coues or other light-skinned game, I love them. I've shot a couple deer with the silver tips in .30 caliber and have been very impressed with their performance. I've seen multiple coues almost lost using bonded bullets because they don't expand quickly in smaller animals. One in particular was hit cresting a ridge with a .270 Nosler Partition. Lucky for us, the deer died shortly within 30 yards of the hit, but had tiny entrance and exit wounds despite the bullet hitting pretty far back and coming out the front shoulder. It passed through a lot of tissue but never expanded. There was absolutely NO blood trail and we couldn't even find the wounds until we skinned the deer. There were two tiny blood drops right next to the buck's nose where he died, even after the bullet had gone through most of the vitals.

[firstcoueswas80]

AzOne,

 

That my friend is why I choose the Accubond or VLD for deer. I have seen a few deer die from a TSX and actually to my surprise there was some expansion. (both deer were hit in the neck/spine so bone was involved). The combination of penetration, weight retention and how "hard" or "soft" a bullet and matching it to the game being hunted is something I have been researching and testing for quite a while! Would I use a Ballastic Tip on a elk? NO! MAYBE on a deer, but in my mind there are better options. Now, I use BT for coyotes etc because they do a great job, and IME that is where they are matched perfectly. I have killed and seen deer killed with BT's and NOT been impressed with how they performed. I have also seen about 6 deer killed with Accubonds and have been nothing but impressed! Shots from 35 yards (recovered that bullet, after hitting from shoulder and being found in the hip it still held %69 of original weight, with a MV of 3250) all the way to 531 yards, going clean through both high shoulders and knocking the buck DRT.

 

In my opnion and experience, I think they Accubond and or the VLD are both matcher perfectly to our Coues. I was not a fan of the VLD, infact Tim, and Gino and I used to get into arguments about them... Then I tried them. I hit my buck about 3" away from being PERFECT at 571 yards. This buck took about 25 minutes to die... I have no idea how.. His insides were MUSH and he had only about 1/2 of his lungs! He didnt go anywhere (13 yards) and he didnt bleed... AT ALL! But, the VLD performed like it shoot creating havic on the insides, and not exiting. Would a Accubond have killed this deer? Yep! Would a BT? Yep! Would either one have done a better job? Doubt it.

[CouesridgeConst.]

I would'nt use the ballistic tip if every shot was in the same hole! I lost the biggest coues buck I have ever seen to BT's. I know lots of people that have killed lots of animals with BT's but I also have heard plenty of horror stories since my experience. I have hunted coues deer now for 18+ years and that buck is still the largest that I have ever seen and that experience still gives me nightmares. I shoot a .257whthrby and prefer the tsx or ttsx (I havent had any luck yet getting the vld to group). I would rather take the chance of blowing clean through a deer with not as much expansion, than risk not penetrating because of too much. Just my two cents.

[HaYen]

@CouesridgeConst. - How are you setting up the VLD if you don't mind me asking?

[CouesridgeConst.]

I'm still trying a couple of different things...when I find a system that works I will let you know.