What is the lightest sensible deer bullet to try in the Roberts?

I have some small properties near town to hunt and am trying to rationalize what is the best sure killer load that will not leave bullets zipping around out of the far side (exit side) of the deer.

I'm typically a heavy for caliber guy, but am thinking of a lighter bullet at modest to fast speeds that will be enough to get the job done, but not be a danger to cattle and surrounding homes on these smaller >40acre hobby farm types of properties.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of hunting and or this type of load development? What should I be considering, and what type of performance should I expect? Most if not all shots should be well under 100yrds.

I'm caught between ideologies here of going heavy and real slow (25-35win types of loads), or light bullets and real fast.

My standard load for the Roberts is a 117grn Hornady interloc at 2700+fps.

Personally I think knowing what is behind your target is more important than worrying about a load that will keep the bullet in the deer. The area I hunt is farmland and I have to watch what direction I shoot and I can still safely use my .300 Mag. Load a Nosler BT or Hornday SST and you should be fine. Just watch your back stop.

I have used the Sierra 90 Gr HP on deer with devastation.....If it exits, it's with very little energy left!

I'd 2nd the 90 grain Sierra BTHP. I've NEVER had 1 exit with a lung shot. The usual scenario is that you get an entry wound that you can stick your fist through, lung pudding, and some fragments of bullet peppered into the off-side rib cage. You MUST pick you shots with this bullet, as it is an explosive killer when it works, but it has very little penetration potential. Any shot that isn't aimed behind the shoulder is a shot you shouldn't take with this bullet.

Jeff

The 90grn Sierra was the bullet I was thinking of trying.

What speed should I go for? I was thinking about 2800-2900fps although I could push them to around 3200-3300fps.

Any advantages of going full throtle or advantages to keeping it under 3000fps?

The 87-90gr bullet is what you want to use.
As for the speed 2800-2900 would be the best for what you are trying to do.
Kind of like the 250 SAV speeds.

With the 90 gr Sierra, you are better off by keeping the speed on the slower side. The Sierra manual says at higher speeds the bullet acts like a varmint bullet, but at slower speeds it makes a good deer bullet. I use them in my 250 Savage and it does well with pigs and deer.

Thanks for the info guys, I appreciate it.

I've shot a few deer with the 90 grain BTHP from a variety of .257" bore rifles, from the 250-3000 thru the 25-06, and think that if you don't want through/through penetration potential, you push the bullet fast and aim behind the shoulder to hit the lungs.

Jeff

Ive loaded 87 grain seirras in the 250 and 257 for my wife and my son when he was real young because of the reduced recoil and they shot a number of deer with them and i never lost on. I did though have a couple tricky tracking jobs when they hit to far back as they left no blood trail what so ever. But put one in the boileroom and it usually puts them down in there tracks.

I have shot lots of deer and hogs with the 100gr NBT and they tend to come apart pretty consistantly in the vitals. I quit using them for this reason but would suit your purposes well.

Perry

I've had good luck with Sierra's 90 gn HPBT and Speer's 87 gn Hot Core. Both are excellent bullets.

What about Hornady's 87 grain SP?

It's the bullet to use in the old model sav 99.
That bullet has killed a lot of game in it's time.

Have a neighbor who he and his grown son swear by by the 87 NBT. He even tried to convince me to use them for spike elk, saying the work wonders.

Alan

Has anyone ever used the Barnes 80gr tipped TSX on deer? I am trying to work out the lowest recoiling deer load. I was thinking of pushing the little 80gr bullet at say 3100fps from a 21" barrel. THinking this would be plenty of pressure and gas to make the muzzle brake work well and still me a fairly mild load.

Any thoughts?

I have shot a fair amount of game with Banes X and TSX's and really do not like them, to be honest. But this might be the best I can work out for my current situation. Would love to hear if yall thought this would work on large northern whitetails.

quote:

Any thoughts?

Marc,
I haven't used that bullet but wouldn't hesitate to do so as long as I picked a broadside hit to the rib cage....even a varmint bullet will wreak havoc to the innards with that shot! Further, most of the deer I've ever shot presented exactly that shot.....I'd go for it if you need that.

Marc- I don't know what your typical shot range is but I do know that the lightest kicking factory load for the Roberts that I've tested were the Remmington 117grn roundnose bullets, listed at 2660fps. They were creampuff on the shoulder, and would still make a viable 200yrd deer load.

Any 100grn bullet going 2700-2800 would also be plenty for 200yd shots, imo.


Everyone else-I did load up some Sierra 90grn hpbt over 40grn of h380, should be in the 2850fps range. I'll see how they shoot this week. If they are inside 2" @ 100yrds they will work for my purposes. I won't be shooting over 100yrds on these properties anyway, and most shots should be right around 50yrds.

If the place isn't really big enough to SAFELY hunt using a rifle, possibly it would be suited for bow hunting??? Your concerns confirm that it is not big enough and trying to work around that problem is not the answer--DONT rifle hunt there it is not worth it.

To the OP any of the 87gr bullets are made for big game hunting using a 250 savage, so they will work in a Roberts especially if they are not loaded hot. No disrespect to the guys using the 90gr Sierra but it IS a varmint bullet, of course placed properly it will kill, but why take the chance?

Mark, the 80gr TTSX will kill all out of proportion to its weight. Drive it fast and it will kill like lightning

carpetman-These are my bowhunting properties, but by loading smarter I will try to tailor a load for safety and effectiveness.

Legally I could use my 300win mag, or my bow in the rifle season. Realistically I'll more than triple my effective range by using my Roberts vrs. my bow, so I'm going to give it a shot.

Many others use their centerfires in the area and it is completely legal, I'm just trying to be covered on my end regarding safety.

dave-t--I never thought using a rifle there would be illegal. But your concern is that the bullet might travel too far after going through a deer. What if by some weird whatever you miss a deer? Happens to all of us. My thoughts are that if that small it's unsafe. Even tripling your range if it is unsafe--it aint worth it---use it for bow hunting and stalk closer.