This is the year I tune up and begin hunting with my M70 Super Express. I have an unspecified amount of time to work up to full power 300s (or 350s) so for now all I require is an affordable deer load with a reasonable middle distance trajectory. I am starting with the Hornady 225 gr spirepoint in the 2500-2700 fps range. Any and all suggestions welcome.

The Federal Classic 270gr soft point ammo works very well on deer.

I've been using a 375H&H for culling whitetail deer by permit (doing this since '94). I have 10 more to take this month on my current permit.

I started years ago using the 375H&H for this to get trigger time but soon found that it worked so well that I now turn to it first. Any 270 to 300 grain standard velocity loading works extremely well w/out excessive meat damage. There is no need to download. A case of factory Remingon 270 grain express cartridges are fairly cheap and work well. This bullet placed a bit higher and more forward than a traditional broadside heart shot has proven the most reliable method for me. The deer will drop where they are, I can use the meat up to the bullet hole and the heart will normally be intact which makes for good eating.

I have just a little experience with these bullets. I worked up loads with the 225g hornady to about 2700fps, using RL15, following the data and components in the hornady manual, in a win model 70 express. Accuracy was decent but not quite as good as 270 and 300gr bullets.

Gave up on it though, and never tried them on deer, full power 270gr work fine, no more meat damage than with a 30-06. I would suggest just starting with 270 or 300 grain bullets, it shouldnt take much time to find a load that works, or you can go with factory ammo as the others suggest. If you'r worried about recoil, I think you'll find that full power loads are easy to shoot in that rifle.

On the other hand, I cant think of a reason not to use the 225gr if you want, just about anything out of a 375 would work OK on deer.

.375 HH and Barns TSX 270 grs on 76 grs Vit N140.

Sighted 3" up at 100 meters, drop 2" at 250 meters, with no meat damage and usually the game (accordin' with GaryVA) drop where they are.
For me the best all around cartridge


Note that this load is the upper limit, on my Sako 75 works well BUT on Winchester 375 of a friend of mine is overcharged... PLEASE start with 72 grs of N140 and try with ONE grain more for each session test.

Have a great day, ciao

GaryVA,

quote:

soon found that it worked so well that I now turn to it first. Any 270 to 300 grain standard velocity loading works extremely well w/out excessive meat damage. There is no need to download. A case of factory Remingon 270 grain express cartridges are fairly cheap and work well. This bullet placed a bit higher and more forward than a traditional broadside heart shot has proven the most reliable method for me. The deer will drop where they are, I can use the meat up to the bullet hole and the heart will normally be intact which makes for good eating.

Absolutely right! Critters drop like a brick right where they stand with that shot as Gary describes... The standard 300gr Hornady RN at 2500 fps is the trick - accurate, cheap and keeps your edge sharp.

The high velocity rounds do more meat damage by far.