Factory Ammo Recommendations

VikingsGuy

VikingsGuy

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First time Pronghorn hunters looking for factory ammo recommendations. We will be carrying .243Win, 25-06, 7mm08 and .270Win rifles but none of us hand load. Any good factory ammo recommendations (bullet type, bullet weight, brand) in these calibers? We will keep our shots inside of 350 yds to make sure we take ethical shots. Your input is appreciated.
 
VikingsGuy said:
First time Pronghorn hunters looking for factory ammo recommendations. We will be carrying .243Win, 25-06, 7mm08 and .270Win rifles but none of us hand load. Any good factory ammo recommendations (bullet type, bullet weight, brand) in these calibers? We will keep our shots inside of 350 yds to make sure we take ethical shots. Your input is appreciated.
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I've been a big fan of accubond bullets for several years and though i'd recommend them in any of the cartridges you listed, i have been doing some work with the 25-06 and the Doubletap factory ammo that utilizes a 110 gr Accubond. This is, in my opinion, the perfect Factory hunting loading out there for the 25-06. The 110 gr pill fits nicely between the age old choice we've had between the 100gr hot rod and the 117 or 120gr smack down factory loadings. 3250 FPS at the muzzle and it still having 1000 FPE all the way out to at least 700yds instead of other's stuff making that mark only out to about 500 yds. If you add in that the pill is a Nosler Accubond, all you should need then is acquire a box or two and to see if they shoot reasonably well in that rifle so chambered. Can you tell i like that loading? lol They are pure redneck poetry for the likes of Antelope, Blacktail, and their sage mates further East, the Mule Deer.

The only bad i can see; Doubletap is a bit too proud of their ammo. I paid about $47. a box. Worth it, probably, but that's a lot for what it is. Good luck to you and the gang. I'll be hunting lopes this year...and i'll bet you can guess what will be stacked nicely in the mag of my ol 25-06.

edit, just because a cartridge has the numbers to potentially take game farther than one feels certain or comfortable with, that extra range capabilities is insurance only and i no way will advocate anyone taking a shot at a animal that they are not near certain of with a one shot clean kill.
 
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I agree with sage that the Accubond is a damn fine bullet, I use them myself in my 270. Since your crew is chasing speed goats, I would also recommend the Hornady SST, more specifically the Superformance line. Seeing as they aren't built as heavy as elk, moose, or bear you don't need a bullet that tough. As a matter of fact, I find that the average whitetails we have here in Oklahoma are too small to justify using Accubonds since they exit before expanding to their full potential. It's been my experience that the SST is the perfect bullet for deer and antelope sized game because they expand rapidly dumping a lot of energy while still holding together well and producing some impressive exit wounds. I've killed several deer with the 140gr SST out of my 270 and none have taken more a step before dropping like my standards after a 12 pack and I'm sure the results on antelope would be similar at worst; especially seeing as all those cartridges have loadings that push SSTs in their respective calibers and weight classes to 3000 fps or close to it.
 
Whatever the gun likes, shoot it. Try a couple different kinds and use what the gun likes best. Don't drive yourself crazy over complicating things. Any Bullet in the right spot will do the job
 
Antelope are light skinned so light weight bullets will work fine. I , however, would go with a slightly heavier bullet due to wind drift. 100-110 gr would be my lightest.
All your calibers sound fine though.
 
Google Federal Ammo. For each of the chamberings you listed Federal shows several perfectly acceptable loadings. Partitions, Ballistic Tips, Accubonds, Fusions. They will all do just fine, so find what O'l Betsy likes the best and run with it !

Anything you can pick up at Wally-Mart will probably do ya right as long as it shoots in said rifle.
 
I like Remington core-loc ammo, will not break the bank and shoots well for me out to 400 yards.

Goat
 
My tikka 25-06 really likes the core-locs. Did me well and a couple Antelope and whitetail.
 
Barnes Vor-Tx has been excellent for me and I handload almost exclusively. I bought some of this ammo because I needed ammo right away and it shot so well I'll probably be trying to recreate the load from the reloading bench.
I like Barnes all copper bullets for the consistent penetration and expansion, but on antelope I don't know if you're going to have any issues with penetration, but sometimes a bullet that fails to expand makes an animal run a long, long ways.
I'll also throw out the obligatory "shot placement is most important"
 
I shot Fusions out of all of my rifles and was very impressed with not only the performance for the price point, but the accuracy and animal killing ability.
 
My .270 win likes Federal Premium 130gr Partitions. You don't need a Partition for an Antelope, but I've used them in the past because they grouped well and I was using the same gun for mule deer.
 
I just got a couple of boxes of WBY 257 115 Ballistic Tips in. That's what I'll be using. Use whatever groups well.
 
Thanks for all the helpful comments so far -- I will be shooting a Savage Axis 25-06 as my primary and have my Savage Model 11 .243Win as my back-up for the trip. At this point I am going to buy one box each of Hornady SST (95 grain for the .243 and 117 grain for the 25-06); Federal Fusion (95 grain for the .243 and 120 grain for the 25-06); Hornady Whitetail (a boat tail interlock bullet) (100 grain for the .243 and 117 grain for the 25-06); and Remington Core-Lokt PSP (100 grain for the .243 and 120 grain for the 25-06) and see which loads the guns like best. If there is any interest I will report back what I find in a month or so (life is busy). My buddies will be shooting .243 & 25-06 as their primaries with the .270 and 7mm-08 as their backups but I don't know what model rifles they have. I am going to recommend that they test the same four factory types as me, but who knows what they are thinking at this point. [Great friends, solid hunters, but not always great at taking advice :)]
 
I am a handloader, but last fall I got myself a Kimber Hunter in a .243. I didn't have time to work up a load and when I do I use Nosler bullets. I just bought 4 boxes of Nosler 90gr loaded ammunition and sighted it in for my Colorado pronghorn hunt. The factory ammunition shot great and one well placed bullet put my speed goat down. My good friend that went with me used factory loaded Nosler Accubonds in his .270 and took a really good antelope as well. If you choose a reputable manufacturer with a good bullet you won't have an issue. I am a Nosler fan and have put more animals down over the past few decades with Nosler bullets then I can count, and have never had an issue.
 
I like accubonds. I just bought Nosler Trophy Grade NABs on sale for $30/box at Cabelas.
 
VikingsGuy said:
Thanks for all the helpful comments so far -- I will be shooting a Savage Axis 25-06 as my primary and have my Savage Model 11 .243Win as my back-up for the trip. At this point I am going to buy one box each of Hornady SST (95 grain for the .243 and 117 grain for the 25-06); Federal Fusion (95 grain for the .243 and 120 grain for the 25-06); Hornady Whitetail (a boat tail interlock bullet) (100 grain for the .243 and 117 grain for the 25-06); and Remington Core-Lokt PSP (100 grain for the .243 and 120 grain for the 25-06) and see which loads the guns like best. If there is any interest I will report back what I find in a month or so (life is busy). My buddies will be shooting .243 & 25-06 as their primaries with the .270 and 7mm-08 as their backups but I don't know what model rifles they have. I am going to recommend that they test the same four factory types as me, but who knows what they are thinking at this point. [Great friends, solid hunters, but not always great at taking advice :)]
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I'd suggest that rather than the SSTs that you just use their Interlock. They shoot the same and won't blow up like I found the SSTs to do and quite using them. I reload 100s in my .243 Sako, 117s in my Ruger 25-06, and 150s in my 30-06s and have never had a problem with accuracy or performance on any animal.
 
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Topgun 30-06 said:
I'd suggest that rather than the SSTs that you just use their Interlock. They shoot the same and won't blow up like I found the SSTs to do and quite using them. I reload 100s in my .243 Sako, 117s in my Ruger 25-06, and 150s in my 30-06s and have never had a problem with accuracy or performance on any animal.
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Good info. Also, the SSTs are 40% more expensive at cabelas so would really have to shoot well in my guns to win the day. Didn't see straight interlock factory at cabelas but will poke around a little more, but the their Whitetail ammo is a boat tail interlock with good BCs and is on the list (and cheap).
 
I've had great success with factory loaded Nosler accubond.
 
243 - 90 gr. Accubond factory loads or 100 gr. Partitions
25-06 - 110 gr. Accubond factory loads or 100 gr. Partitions
7mm-08 - 140 gr. Accubond factory loads or 140 gr. Partitions
270 - 130 gr. Accubond factory loads or 130 gr. Partitions.
 
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