Your "go-to" bullet?

I'm just curious to see what SINGLE make and model bullet have you killed the most big game animals with.

With the number of deer I've taken doing crop damage hunts, the Hornady 75gr V-Max from a .243W is probably the bullet I have used most often on deer. It's taken several dozen deer at ranges from 50yds to 417yds and done excellent. Shot selection is critical and limited to broadside, high shoulder but man does this thing knock a deer stone dead. For general deer hunting this would not be my choice but for the style of hunting we do, it works great.

After that, it's a toss up between the Hornady 150gr #3031 SP .308" (loaded in any number of .308W and 30-06) and the Hornady 162gr A-Max from the 7mm-270 WSM.

Hey Dan
Here is what I use for Indiana Whitetails.

Encore 16" 7x57 Ackley Improved - 120gr Sierra SPT Pro-Hunter
Encore 15" 35-06 JDJ - 220gr Speer FP Hot-Core

Contender 14" 358 JDJ - 180gr Hawk FP x.025

I am currently working with my Contender in 309 JDJ, although I have taken deer with 150gr SP's I am now testing the 125gr weights as I have not been overly impressed with the 150's terminal performance.

B..

No contest- Nosler Accubond. IN 6.5/.284 have done deer to 550, moose, zebra, lots of plains game in multiple calibers. They've never failed. Always highly accurate. I shoot lots of other bullets for fun, but when the hunting is serious with my single shots, especially for game larger than deer the AB is IT. All the big game I took in the past with other bullets was before ABs came out.
AMaxes will get you in trouble when shots are angled. They are way too fragile for any angled shots. Work great on perfect broadside shots. I sold all of mine and bought some more ABs.

Mine has been the Nosler 120BT in 7mm. Now that they have toughened it up some I will be looking for another. Have heard good things about the v-max at pistol velocities so it may be next.

a 45 cal 250 gr xpb at 1750 and taken waterbuff, oryx, elk, to deer and hogs.

I shoot too many calibers, even when rifle I hunting I might not take the same gun two trips in a row. In general for revolvers it's the XTP in standard magnum power guns like the 44 and 45LC and the XTP Mag for my 454 and 475 stuff. For centerfire whether it's rifle or pistol I go with the Accubond and before they came out it was ballistic tips and partitions. The nice thing about the AB's is you can buy BT's in most of the same weights and they are half the price. They are identical other than the bonding process so you can shoot both without re sighting the gun which makes practice and shooting lighter game more affordable.

As far as straightwalls, the 250 XTP in .452" is the only one I use in my faithful 45.

xtp, or Cast Performance. Depends on the game I'm chasing.

Yep xtp or cast performance here as well. I use the bowler 120 BTs in my 6.5 JDJ. I have taken 30 deer with that bullet over varget.

Cast in the revolvers and Sierras in the longer guns.

Hornady, for the 30 cal"s, I use the 130 gr. sp, #3020,the 200gr.FTX bullets in the 460"s.

XTP's still have the top numbers for me in the wheelguns - 200 gr in the 44 was my staple before I "diversified". Now split between the XTP's, Barnes, Nosler Partitions, and Speer Gold Dots from .357 to .500.

Cross section of SST's, BT's, and AB's in the single shots.

Killed a lifetime worth of deer with the 100 gr Speer SPBT and Rem Core-Lokt out of the 6mm Rem, back when I primarily cheated (as Doc would say) with the long sticks.

Have to be those XTP`s. Reliable, lower priced, consistent and accurate.....

140 Accubond in 284 XP bang flop.

Wheelgun's: XTP's has most kills, but I favor the Nosler Partitions.
Single Shots: Nosler Ballistic Tips!

In my .511 bores, my go-to is Cast Performance's 525 grain WFN. I use it in my .500 Linebaugh, .500 Maximum, and .50 Alaskan.

nosler partition in 260 gr 45. because of their scarcity now, swift get the nod, but I want to experiment with the XPB, which must be good cause it has obviously served tradmark well!

Past two years the 300 Speer Gold Dot Deep Curl for my 454 has worked great. For my long guns 30-30 running either 170 Speer Deep Curl or 150 Barnes TSX; and my 30-06 with 150 Hornady SST or 150 Barnes TTSX.

260gr or 350gr cast for 45
and all my 30 cal long guns get fed Berger 175gr VLDs

I have mostly used Hornaday's in rifles. Speciality hunts get partitions. Pistols are cast and xtp's especially the 140 grainers in 357.

My 6mm that is like your 243, is best with heavier bullets with western mulies. I use 80-100 grainers in an old remy 660. Partions are great but some new bullets on the scene perform better than the partion and are cheaper. Gold dot or XTP in the 9mm and 357. 44 and 45 get heavy casts or soft point speers.

I am in a shotgun, muzzle loader and handgun only firearm state. 90% of the deer are shot with a Barnes bullet of some type. The rest are shot with Swift A frames and broad heads.

The FEW times I had the chance to rifle hunt I used Winchester Ballistic Silver tips In my .280, they worked great.