Favorite Bullet Manufacturer for Non-Dangerous Game Poll

For African PG & large game on other continents, who makes your preferred bullet? Up to 5 choices.


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    223

odonata

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I've enjoyed hunting for years but in all of that time I've spent in the woods, my hunting has actually been pretty limited: Mostly it's been southeastern whitetail deer & hogs at moderate ranges. Because of this, a wide range of projectiles work pretty well for my hunting simply because I'm not putting excessive demands or expectations on my bullets. In the last few years, most of the deer I've put in the freezer arrived there via 140~150gr Hornady Interlocks and Nosler Partitions at less than 200 meters. But over the last five years, I've had various rifles setup to shoot bullets from eleven different manufacturers. Recently, I've been hunting with Nosler, Hornady, Norma, RWS & Woodleigh depending on the rifle & caliber.

After years of lurking on the periphery reading about other hunter's trips to Africa, I joined this site 15 months ago mainly because I had some questions I wanted to ask & this group seemed to have a lot of experience & opinions worth evaluating. One of the goals I've set for myself is to focus less on the hunting I'm doing now & think more about the hunting I hope to do in the future. I decided to do a poll just to see (hopefully somewhat definitively) what the favorite bullet manufacturers were that work well on African plains game (which includes many species larger than my current hunting encounters). I excluded dangerous game from this question because that topic seemed to be better addressed as a separate poll maybe focused on specific bullets or solids instead of manufacturers. I sent Jerome a request to expand the poll choices & he was kind enough to double it to 20. I based the poll mainly on the bullets I could find available on American & European reloading sites.

Assuming that most people are like me and might shoot different bullets for various caliber & bullet weight combinations, I gave everyone five choices since "Plains Game" is a pretty wide topic. Any information you would like to share about specific bullet model, caliber & game taken would of course be appreciated. While some shooters may have a wide variety of ammo at home (like me), it is my guess that this gets narrowed down to a smaller selection of favorites when you actually go on a hunting trip. I hope that this poll reflects what that preferred choice usually is.

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Over 20 years ago I started shooting Barnes bullets in most of my firearms. I've taken mule deer, coues deer, elk, bear, and pronghorn here in North America. All of my plains game in South Africa were also shot with them.
 
Over 20 years ago I started shooting Barnes bullets in most of my firearms.

While I am curious what the final numbers will actually be, intuition developed from reading a lot of trip reports gives me an idea of what the top choices will be. Barnes is the early leader.
 
I have used a variety of bullets over the years. When I was a teenager it was mostly Remington Core-Lokts and federal fusion. Then I started hand loading and have played with all kinds of different types of bullets. For North American big game from hogs and whitetails all the way up and any African plains game I’m pretty much just shooting Hammers or Barnes these days. Though I am playing with some Lehigh defense this year but haven’t killed anything with them yet.
 
...Though I am playing with some Lehigh defense this year but haven’t killed anything with them yet.

When I was doing the poll setup, if I got to a bullet manufacturer I wasn't too familiar with (e.g. Lehigh Defense), I did a Google search to see if there had been any AfricaHunting discussions about that manufacturer before including them. I knew of Lehigh Defense mainly because my AR-15 in 300 HAM'R has Wilson Combat ammo with their bullets loaded in them available. But I wasn't as familiar with their dedicated hunting bullets. I still have a lot to learn...
 
I really like Nosler. Easy to work a load up for and they get the job done if you put them where they should go. The nice part is if you get an off angle shot, they are still going to reach the vitals and do there job.

I do like Barnes and have used them for 35 years. But I find them more difficult to work a load up for and I'm simply tired of removing copper from my rifle bores. But I do still use them too!

I only use Swift on the big stuff. Best bullet ever made as far as I'm concerned.
 
I really like Nosler...I do like Barnes and have used them for 35 years...I only use Swift on the big stuff.

Because I've been using Nosler Partitions to good effect lately & I've read so many hunting reports where people prefer Barnes, I kind of thought they might be #1 & #2. It was enlightening to see that Swift was in the #2 spot at this early point in the poll.
 
Because I've been using Nosler Partitions to good effect lately & I've read so many hunting reports where people prefer Barnes, I kind of thought they might be #1 & #2. It was enlightening to see that Swift was in the #2 spot at this early point in the poll.
I would agree with your observation. Especially with Swift being like mining for gold just to find a box!
 
When I first started reloading in the late 60's it was Sierra bullets than added Hornady with a couple Speer. When I findly started going to other States hunting Nosler's were my go to. Then I happened upon Cutting Edge Bullets and those copper-lead core bullet were only for shooting varmints and paper.
 
Barnes. Consistency in construction, flight, and performance sets it aside in my ammo safe in every caliber it shoots well in. With the exception of cats, I’ve taken deer, sheep (back-up guide work), brown bear (back-up work), caribou, moose, hogs, and African antelope.

Barnes for me 10/10
 
For me - pretty much anything but Barnes - had some very poor and inconsistent performance from some of their bullets - and I've got a memory like an old Jumbo, just hard to go back. In my opinion, there are monometal bullets out there from other manufactures that are every bit as good or even better than what Barnes has to offer - some of these bullets just haven't got the use or exposure yet.
 
Barnes for me 10/10

I have Barnes TSX loaded for my 9.3x74r & my 375 H&H. But based on the hunting I'm currently doing, these are not options that I've been choosing to take with me. In reading field reports, I often see enthusiastic recommendations like yours for Barnes. One of the reasons for doing this poll was to see if that enthusiasm would be represented in the quantity of votes or if it was just that Barnes had a small group of users who were more vocal in their support. Barnes was leading from the beginning, but at this early stage in the voting (42 voters), Swift is now leading by a single vote. Barnes support is still very strong.

While typing this reply, @Nosler guy's anti-Barnes reply popped up giving an example of a contrarian view to a popular choice.
 
No Remington Core Lokts ? I feel so antiquated…
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The game animals below (shot with my 7x57mm Mauser) were taken with the old Winchester Super- X 175Gr soft point (last produced in 1988). Today, I use the Sellier & Bellot 173Gr SPCE soft point.
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My other three choices would have to be:

Winchester Super- X Power Point (particularly for the .243 Winchester and the .270 Winchester)
Nosler AccuBond (particularly their 250Gr factory load for the .338 Winchester Magnum)
Norma Oryx (particularly their 286Gr factory load for the 9.3x62mm Mauser).
 
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I have used a variety of bullets over the years. When I was a teenager it was mostly Remington Core-Lokts and federal fusion. Then I started hand loading and have played with all kinds of different types of bullets. For North American big game from hogs and whitetails all the way up and any African plains game I’m pretty much just shooting Hammers or Barnes these days. Though I am playing with some Lehigh defense this year but haven’t killed anything with them yet.
Core-Lokts are still getting it done across North America with no fuss!
 
No Remington Core Lokts ? I feel so antiquated…

I saw lots of Remington Core-Lokts available as affordable commercial ammo. I wasn't seeing it offered in abundant quantities at the several reloading sites I checked. Hence its relegation to the "Other" category. It may still be used by lots of hunters since that isn't a scientific selection process. So don't take my poll as an slight against a well-known classic.

Having said that, you may be still be getting antiquated. I know I am... ;)

PS - Even though I had twenty choice slots to work with, I knew that wasn't going to be enough! Every poll comes up short on at least one option. :D
 
I saw lots of Remington Core-Lokts available as affordable commercial ammo. I wasn't seeing it offered in abundant quantities at the several reloading sites I checked. Hence its relegation to the "Other" category. It may still be used by lots of hunters since that isn't a scientific selection process. So don't take my poll as an slight against a well-known classic.

Having said that, you may be still be getting antiquated. I know I am... ;)

PS - Even though I had twenty choice slots to work with, I knew that wasn't going to be enough! Every poll comes up short on at least one option. :D
You’re right ! Antiquated but still we’re lucky enough to be functioning not too badly for our age.
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My other three choices would have to be:

Winchester Super- X Power Point (particularly for the .243 Winchester and the .270 Winchester)
...
Norma Oryx (particularly their 286Gr factory load for the 9.3x62mm Mauser).

My LH Sako 85 Hunter in 30-06 loves 165gr Winchester Super-X Power Points. It shoots them very accurately.

I have some 286gr RWS 9.3x74r T-Mantel's that my Ruger No. 1S shoots very well. I've always wanted to take those hog hunting (since going over to Texas to do that is fairly convenient) but I haven't had a chance to try that out yet. Unfortunately, I've only killed a few sheets of paper with them.
 
I love the Nosler ballistic tip for very light game and the accubond for non dangerous but a little tougher game.

I ask really like the TTSX. But if I had to choose one manufacturer it would be Nosler because of the whole lineup. Ballistic tip. accubond, partition. With those three they cover a very wide spectrum.
 

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