Win PowerPoint performance

[FellSwoop]

Last day of hunting is over and I am I cabin by myself cleaning and packing up for the long drive back tomorrow. Being by myself got me thinking about the results and the tools. A couple of years back I bought a 300WM as a main rifle and am still working out a factory load for everything (have no desire to reload). Working through several weights it seems to group the 180 grain the best. First season I used 180 grain horniday SST as they grouped great and have a good reputation. I shot a huge (200+ lbs) mulie doe at 40 yards and the SST disintegrated and destroyed the outside shoulder, turned it to jello with no pass through. Ok wrong application for the SST but these situations happen.
I didn't shoot the rifle again until a month ago at the range
I brought some 200 grain horniday ELD_X and didn't like the grouping although acceptable (1.75 to 2.00 at 100 yards). Then I took a 3 shot group with the PowerPoints before packing up and all 3 were touching. Not a scientific conclusion but I said @#$ it, I'm taking the cheap 180 grain PowerPoints this year.
First animal this Monday, mule buck ranged at 369 yards quartering toward last light. Single shot dropped him not a step. Gutting and cleaning him shows 4 ribs broke on entry due to the angle and two one opposite side. No pass through. He is skinned but not butchered so I expect to recover the bullet.
Second animal today, partner and I quadded to a tough location 2 of us on a small KVS 360 quad so we only took one gun. We were after elk, I had cow tag and partner bull tag. Nice bull at location and he grabbed my rifle and free handed at about 130 yards. Bull down not a step. Skinning and gutting it looks like a left shoulder puncture and 3 ribs broke outside. No pass through, bullet still in meat. We split the animal down the middle and I elected to take the bullet side. Good chance for bullet recovery. We stopped elk hunting and focused on recovering this guy.
Third animal. Last day (today) getting low on light due to elk recovery time. The whitetail bucks I was hoping to be out were not there. Shot small 3x3 at last light at 100 yards free hand. I was not thinking of being 2 inches high at 100 and shot high splitting his spine. Not a step taken, no meat ruined. This is a small deer but no pass through and good chance to recover bullet. So the question is, are these PowerPoints a problem waiting to happen in a chambering such as a 300WM or did they do exactly what they were supposed to? Is pass through that important? Any fragments I saw were bone not bullet. I'm on the fence on deciding to use these next year or looking for a tougher bullet that groups as good. What are your experiences with this bullet?

[rem338win]

I've always found the power points expand easily and related them to the 2800fps MV or less category myself. I like no mess, no fuss, and good penetration.

That said, they seem to be working for you well. I'd avoid heavy bone, but again this seems like a call you need to make.

[KBF]

I shoot these in my model 700 300 Win mag. I shoot not even a box of shells a year with it so we abandoned reloading. I took an elk several years ago, a quartering away shot and bullet recovered while butchering, was 129 grains. I was happy with that. We shoot 100gr out of my wife's model 700 .243, with excellent results. Multiple one shot kills for her. And we found the accuracy as you did tight and well under an inch.

[shurshot71]

I use them in my 7mm rem mag always had good luck with them. They always killed what I was shooting at from antelope all the way up to elk and bear.

[ROA]

Everyone wants something different it seems. My preference is large but not crazy damage while still capable of penetrating to the far side of the vitals on a reasonable shot angle. For me an exit out the hide is meaningless as long as there is a big ass hole in the stuff that counts.

As far as your ammo. The power point is a very under rated bullet. They have a little thicker jacket than normal and are made of a metal alloy that seems to be harder than the average Speer or sierra bullet. Up front they have slits cut in the nose to help initiate expansion on the thicker, tougher jacket. At one time (don't know if it's still true) the 180g for the 300 mag was a little stouter than the one they made for the 30-06, 308 and such. A few years back there was a big chart floating around on the interwebs of 180g bullet tests. The power point was a top performer against the standard cup and core bullets.

Not long ago (this year?) on this forum a fellow posted his kills on African game with the 180g power point and it did very well according to him. I have used the 150 and 180g 30 cal, the 150 7mm and the 130g 270 with impact velocity from 2900 to about 2100fps. They have all preformed about the same as the equivalent weight Hornady interlock which is a good if not great bullet at actually killing game by making nice but normally not to crazy holes in vitals as well as going deep enough as long as velocity, shot angle and the correct bullet weight is chosen for the game being hunted.

[Lefty-Canuck]

I purchased a bunch of power point 180gr 30 cal years ago to reload with. Had great performance in almost all applications from deer to moose. I say almost all because this year Dad shot a cow elk (300wmag) and the bullet must have hit something before impact...little shrapnel holes were on the entrance side...shot was 68 yards. The elk required a follow up shot when it ran after the first hit. Butchering today will have a better idea what happened.

LC

[bb356]

I have used factory loaded Power Point's since I was knee high to a grasshopper ... 20 odd moose ... countless mule deer and white-tail ... Black bear's and Elk ... solid preforming bullet ... after seeing the recuvered bullet thread and examining mine ... I see no need to change !!!

[FellSwoop]

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm thinking that the PowerPoints are keepers.

[bb356]

Originally Posted by FellSwoop

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm thinking that the PowerPoints are keepers.

[obsessed1]

Not to hijack this but I bought a 700lr 300wm this year with the idea to load 208s for long distance work. I already have a 300wm and reload however my once fired brass would not chamber in the 700. So I bought the cheapest box of factory round to test chambering and ejection. Theses were 180 power points. First shot was about an inch right of POA. second shot seemed like it missed paper altogether and third shot hit right on top of my first round opening the hole up bigger. Upon closer inspection all three rounds landed on top of each other stretching the hole length wise to .552" from one outside edge to outside egde. Vertically they were bang on. By far the best 100yd group I've shot. To my dismay the best I can get my 208s reloads to group is .75" or so....as for a hunting round I have a few friends that will only shoot power points out of their 30-06s and have had no issues killing moose/elk/deer

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by FellSwoop

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm thinking that the PowerPoints are keepers.

Sometimes the simple ones are the most efficient...I got some not made hornady bullets I still reload with and they never let me down.

[covey ridge]

My first rifle was a .284 win at a time when the only factory ammo was Super-X with PP bullets. I shot mostly deer but did kill one elk. I soon had a collection of really nice perfect mushrooms from the ones that did not pass through.
Then I started reloading and reading magazine articles by famous gun writers. What really screwed me up was those articles about bullet failures. The only bullet failure I ever had was with a 125 grain power point. Actually that was all my fault for not placing the bullet right on a deer that was quartering away. Dead deer but one rear quarter wasted.

Even though I did not experience much bullet failure II read all the articles and tried everything that the experts sold me. I settled on Nosler partitions in any rifle that would give me reasonable accuracy.

Now I no longer reload. When I buy a new to me rifle I start with Super X power points and if I get reasonable accuracy I look no further,

A couple weeks ago a shooting friend bang flopped a mule buck at about 300 yards with a .243 100 grain factory Super X power point.

[FellSwoop]

The elk and whitetail are deboned and in the fridge for processing this week. Recovered both bullets. The elk one was peeled back with some core left. The whitetail bullet separated when it hit the spine and the cup broke an outboard rub and stopped before hitting the hide on the right shoulder. Minimum meat damage. I assume that the lead core bits dropped out with the lungs in the field. The mule deer is on my engine hoist will debone him tomorrow. So far I don't see a catastrophe from cup and core separation. But it would be nice if they stayed together.

[Pioneer2]

The 150gr PP worked fine on a big mulie doe last fall out of a K31 7.5x55 at 120 yards or so.Bang flop.

[covey ridge]

Originally Posted by FellSwoop

The elk and whitetail are deboned and in the fridge for processing this week. Recovered both bullets. The elk one was peeled back with some core left. The whitetail bullet separated when it hit the spine and the cup broke an outboard rub and stopped before hitting the hide on the right shoulder. Minimum meat damage. I assume that the lead core bits dropped out with the lungs in the field. The mule deer is on my engine hoist will debone him tomorrow. So far I don't see a catastrophe from cup and core separation. But it would be nice if they stayed together.

It is hard to argue that the bullet did not preform when you are searching the carcass for the remains of the bullet.

BTW congratulations on the great harvest

[Wisebuck]

Originally Posted by covey ridge

It is hard to argue that the bullet did not preform when you are searching the carcass for the remains of the bullet.

BTW congratulations on the great harvest

X2. They killed em good. No run away. What is the issue with that?

[Okotokian]

I always buy "premium" ammo (partitions, accubonds and the like). I admit I may be wasting my money. But I figure with the amount I shoot (little)the added cost for a bit more piece of mind when trying to take elk, etc. is worth it. As I said, I may simply be a victim of a good sales pitch.

[ROA]

Sounds about like what I would expect, the bullets are pretty much "used up" but made it as far as they needed to go.

For what it's worth Spines are very hard on bullets even a deer spine. At the velocity you would have had at 100 yards it did better than a Sierra or Speer from what I have seen. I once recovered a 165 Nosler partition from a mule buck spine. It was the classic recovered partition with the front blown off but this one also had the rear core squished out and was flattened sideways. Interlocking bone will do that.

[covey ridge]

Originally Posted by Okotokian

I always buy "premium" ammo (partitions, accubonds and the like). I admit I may be wasting my money. But I figure with the amount I shoot (little)the added cost for a bit more piece of mind when trying to take elk, etc. is worth it. As I said, I may simply be a victim of a good sales pitch.

It is hard to argue with that. When I was loading I always started with partitions for my larger rifles. It often ended with partitions if they grouped well. From antelope to moose they always worked well and I was never disappointed. For the most part when I started loading the partition was the only premium bullet available. When the numerous premium bullets arrived on the scene I tried some and most worked well but for me the partition was my good old reliable. When I stopped loading I even bought factory loaded premium.

Somewhere along the way I wondered how we ever got along without premium ammo. Other than one store in Calgary that sold Winchester and Remington ammo, everyone else only sold C-I-L. Only having one choice never did seem to be a handicap for harvesting game. The only failure stories I ever heard were Weatherby magnum rifles on very short ranged game shot in the bush. I never confirmed any of those as true.

In recent years I mostly buy Winchester Super X Power Point, Remington Core Lokt and Federal Blue Box all non premium. All worked well especially since most of my game are deer. My last elk I used Federal Premium but my last moose, the blue box did the trick.

Now this is just my opinion but I think that premium ammo especially for deer is just a way to convince hunters that they need to spend more. No one would have made any money if everyone just sold C-I-L non premium.

I do not want to divert from the original topic too much but I will say that I think for the most part premium stuff is not needed and the Power Point is one of the best off the rack choices.

[FellSwoop]

Last animal - the mule deer butchered tonight. Now just the meat grinding and vacuum sealing tomorrow. TGF a friend who helped. Did not find the cup but did find a string of core embedded in the sirloin on the entry side which means it must have reversed itself and came back somehow.
Not sure of the physics behind it but ultimately no blood shot meat on this one either. Considering the results I don't see a reason to change bullets. I looked in my ammo box and see a couple boxes of federal fusions that I never tried on this rifle yet so I might try them but as one commenter mentioned, at the whitetail distance not alot can be gained from premium bullets (And IMHO fusions aren't really premuim). Thanks everyone for your comments and input.