Your favorite bullet for reloading

What is your favorite bullet for reloading and why? I know. It's going to be different bullets for different situations.

For me, I like SST's in slower cartridges like 300BLK - 308 velocities. I think the 125 gr SST is about perfect in the 300BLK. Excellent expansion, excellent accuracy, and they are cheap. I like accubonds for anything faster, like 130 gr .270 win. For .357 Mag, I recently have gravitated to hard cast bullets. Missouri bullet 180gr WFN. I feel like I get better velocity and accuracy than I got with XTP's. Gonna try the same in coated bullets next. So what are some of your go-to's and why?

In no particular order:

Hornady ELD-X
Hornady ELD-M
Any Sierra
Berger Hybrid
Berger Classic Hunter
Berger-VLD

the simple Hornady bthp match with my favorite being the 168gr. Mostly for the price. it was an excellent bullet for me in various calibers and weights. They all worked from good to a few really great loads so starting off with these felt like the bullet wasn't holding me back. I am now more aware of how good a good bullet is but I still like these alot.

I don't really hunt with anything I reloaded but other target bullets i like are the eld-m, berger vld (especially the 155 30 cal) and the 185 308 scenar. I'm looking forward to trying this 6.5mm 136 scenar-L.

Nosler ballistic tip, accubond, 139gr Lapua Scenar.

I shoot hand guns the most and really like the cheap coated cast bullets. For hunting with a hand gun or for accuracy I like the Hornady XTP.

With rifles the 75gr Hornady open tip match in .223 is a favorite. I still love Amax bullets in all bore diameters but they have nearly gone away.

Hunting nosler partition. Just shooting could be anything almost but had good luck with v-max NBT’ hornady btsp.

The one that shoots dots and I can find without paying $1 a piece...

For what I reload, I really like SSTs in my .243 (95gr) and .308 (150gr), and for the price, there's probably not a better bullet.

For .357 Win, it's FTX, which looks a lot like an SST, but based on the specs, probably has a little more controlled expansion (but maybe not).

For .223, it's 65gr Sierra GKs.

For 6.8 SPC, I'm going with 90gr Gold Dots. I've recovered two of these from larger deer and they lost little to virtually no weight.

Ditto for rifle shooting

Hornady HAP/XTP for 9mm and 45

Hunting
Nosler Ballistic Tip for most hunting.
Accubond for tougher critters.

The new Speer Impact Bullets look promising.

Shooting
Sierra TMKs or MKs

Hornady 6mm 105gr AMAX. Shoots like a dream out of my 243. No longer made but have 1600 in reserve.

120 gr Nosler BTs in the 260. 130 gr Nosler BTs in the 270. 123 gr SSTs in the Grendel. 40 gr Nosler BTs in the 223 bolt gun. And at present 55 gr Hornadys in the AR, for plinking. 55 gr Nosler BTs and 55 gr Sierra GKs in the 220 Swift. Standard BBs in the Red Ryder.

That's impressive. Might have to look at the game king in the future.

Those in the pics are Gold Dots in .277, 90 gr, for the 6.8, sir.

Berger VLD hands down

You know what I never do? Weigh used bullets and judge their performance based on retained weight versus judging their performance on having a dead animal.

The ones I make because they work well and are nearly free.

The few jacketed bullets I use are Sierra for .30-30 WIN (when I am not loading a Ranch Dog RNFP with PC and GC) and Hornady for the 5.56X45 NATO.

For target/practice in 9X19 and .45 AUTO, I use Berry's plated.

For self defense 9X19 and .45 AUTO, I use Hornady XTP.

You know what I at least try to never do? Make a judgement about something without having all the facts. You do realize these were pulled from dead animals, right?

But for posterity, here are a couple other potentially more important data points... accuracy and smiles. However, if you're a shooter/reloader who has no interest in understanding how your bullet actually performs on the intended target, potentially in terms of expansion and weight retention (just more pieces of the overall data set), then I have no words for you. As it is, it appears my bullet of choice is working exactly as designed and it is also doing what I want it to do.

Not to shabby for a 12" barrel...

I was poking fun of comments made in another thread where someone was complaining about SST bullets. I do realize you pulled those bullets from dead Critters. I don't worry about what bullets you use and I value learning from the experiences of others.

My favorite bullet in the 6.8 is the 115 gr Speer GoldDot. When you can find them, the cost for a 100 bullets is about like 50 premium bullets. Why not practice & plink with what you like to shoot deer with. Weight retention is 99%. Great accuracy & penetration. There are .277 cal 130 gr component Speer GoldDots sold by Federal under the Fusion name. I've shot 4 deer with these in the 6.8 & they seem to perform like the 115 gr although I've never recovered one.

For the .270 Win I use Speer 130 gr HC flat base. I have shot a lifetime of deer with these so I'm not inclined to change. Note that the BT version of this bullet is not a HC & is "softer" so performs differently.

I select bullets based on a combination of accuracy, terminal performance, and price. If I could still afford them, I'd use Accubonds for everything. Currently, my favorite hunting bullets are:

.243, H 100 gr BTSP
7-08, N 120 BT, Sp 145 SP HotCor
.270, H 140 BTSP, N 140 AB, N 150 Part
.30-30, Sp 150 FP
.30-06, N 150 Part
.300 WM, N 165 AB, N 180 AB

Most loads are primarily for deer and hogs and some long-range steel. The .300 is primarily for elk.

6.5 breedmore 143 eldx

.223 65gr sgk's

You have everything around the 308, but no actuall 308. I'm kinda butt hurt here, on behalf of all 308 fanboys.

Narrowing down to favorite is tough. For hand guns and lever guns it is an assortment of cast. I get a kick out of loading and shooting as well as tweaking terminal performance of the bullets I cast myself.

I stock my bench with an assortment of jacketed Bullets. Hornady, Sierra, Speer, & Nosler. If I had to nub those down to one favorite it would probably be Sierra Gamekings.

Pretty much the same as me above.

Hardcast gas check in revolvers for boom boom. Regular lead for boom.

A-Max in everything rifle but I’m about out. Switching to A-Tip in 7-08 and Matchburners in .260.

The Barnes Matchburner in 140g is shockingly accurate and cheap. Crappy bc but I’ll take the consistency.


Hunting ammo is seldom used but I use SST, Interbond, Partition, and cheap Speer bullets.

OK, maybe I should have titled it "some of your favorite bullets". I am just curious as to what bullets people use and why. Figure maybe I might find a new bullet to try that I had not previously thought about.

All depends on the caliber, cartridge and intended use. Over the years I have loaded for over 40 different cartridges so have used different brands and bullet designs many times.

These days I load and shoot a few compared to those days.

6.5 Grendel most accurate loads are with Berger 130gr OTM and hunting loads 129gr Nosler Accubond Long range.

375 Winchester 200gr Hawk

44 Mag 300gr XTP hunting and 240gr Hardcase lead

357 Mag and Max 158gr hard case and 180gr Nosler Partitions, down to 50 left to load for hunting will be switching to Hawk I think for these when gone.

Those and 22 rimfire are mostly what I shoot these days.

I am all about high BC when looking at bullets. I like the Berger VLD, Hornady ELD match, etc. If I were going after really big game like an Elk or something then I would be concerned more about the bullet construction but match bullets work fine on deer and hogs. I actually think the ELD match has performed better for me on the hogs I have shot with it than the ELD-X has.

What kind of expansion are you getting with accubond LR at Grendel velocities?

About what I expect from a partition small entrance and 3/4 to 1.5 inch exits. Doe double lung shot just rib in and out small entrance and about 1.25 inch exit with the lungs just jelly, she went less than 40 yards. Buck High shoulder shot in through shoulder blade, clipped bottom of back and exit through the 90 degree part of the shoulder blade solid inch plus hole all the way through. I wanted to try them so bought 500 blems from shooters proshop and using those. Load for the Berger 130OTM and Accubond worked well enough for me Berger under half inch and Nosler just over half MOA good enough for my bolt action. Both loads shoot MOA or better from the AR so good enough for the ranges I shoot.

ABLR bullet is designed to expand at as low as 1300fps but reports are good expansion to as low as 1600fps. With my loads still have 1000+ ft/lbs at 400 yards. Don't kill as many deer or hogs as I did for years so sample sizes still small but liking what I am seeing so far.

X-treme brand 148gr double end wadcutter out of a target 38 or 357.

I reload mainly Berger Bullets. Load them in two 6.5 PRC’s, a 6.5x284, and a 7mag. They kill well.

2,800fps and slower, Sierra Gameking or Prohunter. Over 2,800fps, Nosler Accubond. A dedicated bolt action hunting rifle gets one of the two for testing before any others, and most often never have to look any further.