Michigan Sportsman Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

2023 .350 Ammo debate

Jump to Latest

  • From treestands to ground blinds, all your hunting must-haves can be found at Bass Pro Shops. Shop Now.

    Advertisement
21 - 40 of 58 Posts
#21 ·
I have a 16” barreled AR gun in .350. Built it for my kids, as they are young and small framed. My son missed a nice buck opening morning but did connect with a small buck in morning #2 with a 150 XP. 75 yards, slightly quartering towards us. Shot was behind the shoulder and did not exit. Deer ran probably 80 yards. Bullet hit a rib going in, destroyed one lung, and then appeared to come apart. Destruction took out the stomach too. I’ve had ballistic tip type bullets react the same in higher powered rifles, so the bullet did what it was designed to do. I have some Bear Creek 140 grain bullets to load and some solid copper 129 grain ones from Hammer Bullets to play with. One person claims to be getting 2700 fps out of the latter, but as always, load with caution!
Image
 
#23 ·
SEMichiiganConservation said:
One shot. One deer. 5 point. Passed on several. Was feeling off so I didn't hunt the 3rd day.

How did you do?
Click to expand...
The Farm has not disappointed, its produced 4 bucks {1Funky Buck} and {3 Real dandy's, and 5 Doe so far,,, And for myself i killed the funky buck and a dandy with bow, and 3 doe with rifle
 
#24 ·
Shot this one yesterday morning. GLFA 350 using Barnes ammo. 80 yard shot slightly quartered to me.

Bullet went in near shoulder and exited low behind offside shoulder. Could not locate blood at impact. Walked to where I thought he went down and found him piled up. He made it 60 yards.

Back tracked good blood for about 30 yards. Then it got a bit sparse. Probably could have tracked back further but was a mile in the woods and didn't want to waste any more time as I had alot of work ahead.

Have two other kills with Hornady 170 grain. Good blood on one; the other dropped. Switched to Barnes this year as I use their ammo in my 30.06 and muzzleloader with great results.

Need to get a few more kills with Barnes for a better sampling.

Image
 
#27 ·
pauly68 said:
I have a 16” barreled AR gun in .350. Built it for my kids, as they are young and small framed. My son missed a nice buck opening morning but did connect with a small buck in morning #2 with a 150 XP. 75 yards, slightly quartering towards us. Shot was behind the shoulder and did not exit. Deer ran probably 80 yards. Bullet hit a rib going in, destroyed one lung, and then appeared to come apart. Destruction took out the stomach too. I’ve had ballistic tip type bullets react the same in higher powered rifles, so the bullet did what it was designed to do. I have some Bear Creek 140 grain bullets to load and some solid copper 129 grain ones from Hammer Bullets to play with. One person claims to be getting 2700 fps out of the latter, but as always, load with caution! View attachment 931895
Click to expand...
Best bullet to use in my opinion…the large diameter polymer tip is designed to open up rapidly producing a gigantic wound channel and impact trauma….I use the AR platform also love the mild recoil on my shoulder…
Image
 
#28 ·
I've shot maybe 6? deer with the 350. Mostly Bear Creek 160s, a couple with Barnes 170s. All have had good blood trails. Lost 1 deer but that was operator error, bad shot (brisket).

All but 1 passed through. Longest on recovered deer was 75 yards.

I'm not a fan of the fragmentation on the winchester 150 lead bullets, both due to the lead and the lack of a pass through.

Once I use up all my Barnes I'll probably give the Bear Creek 140s a try, their ballistics look fantastic out to 200+
 
#29 ·
o_mykiss said:
I've shot maybe 6? deer with the 350. Mostly Bear Creek 160s, a couple with Barnes 170s. All have had good blood trails. Lost 1 deer but that was operator error, bad shot (brisket).

All but 1 passed through. Longest on recovered deer was 75 yards.

I'm not a fan of the fragmentation on the winchester 150 lead bullets, both due to the lead and the lack of a pass through.

Once I use up all my Barnes I'll probably give the Bear Creek 140s a try, their ballistics look fantastic out to 200+
Click to expand...
The Bear Creek 140's did a great job on my deer at 120 yards.
 
#31 ·
I had an experience unrelated to the 350 but in line with this topic on blood loss and lack thereof. In my case I was using Hornady ammo in a 20 ga slug gun. Searching online I found that several others were having the same issues as I was, great shot placement and no blood ! was incredibly frustrating and stressful.

From what I gathered, at close range the Hornady slugs did not expand at all. The results were dreadful with many folk assuming they missed. Giving due diligence, people were finding their deer several hundred yards away and noticing shot placement was spot on. Past 50 or so yards, the rounds were devastating but just didn't perform well at closer range.

Could be what you guys using 350 are facing, bad performance at closer ranges
 
#33 ·
onenationhere said:
I had an experience unrelated to the 350 but in line with this topic on blood loss and lack thereof. In my case I was using Hornady ammo in a 20 ga slug gun. Searching online I found that several others were having the same issues as I was, great shot placement and no blood ! was incredibly frustrating and stressful.

From what I gathered, at close range the Hornady slugs did not expand at all. The results were dreadful with many folk assuming they missed. Giving due diligence, people were finding their deer several hundred yards away and noticing shot placement was spot on. Past 50 or so yards, the rounds were devastating but just didn't perform well at closer range.

Could be what you guys using 350 are facing, bad performance at closer ranges
Click to expand...
A well designed bullet will perform well at all ranges possible for the caliber.
 
#36 ·
onenationhere said:
I had an experience unrelated to the 350 but in line with this topic on blood loss and lack thereof. In my case I was using Hornady ammo in a 20 ga slug gun. Searching online I found that several others were having the same issues as I was, great shot placement and no blood ! was incredibly frustrating and stressful.

From what I gathered, at close range the Hornady slugs did not expand at all. The results were dreadful with many folk assuming they missed. Giving due diligence, people were finding their deer several hundred yards away and noticing shot placement was spot on. Past 50 or so yards, the rounds were devastating but just didn't perform well at closer range.

Could be what you guys using 350 are facing, bad performance at closer ranges
Click to expand...
not an issue with me for Bear Creek 160s so far. Shot one at 8 yards, and one at 30 yards. Neither deer went more than 75 yards, both great blood trails. Recovered the bullet shot at 30 yards (only non-pass thru I have gotten) and it was perfectly mushroomed.

May well be an issue with some of the other factory ammo though.
 
#38 ·
o_mykiss said:
I've shot maybe 6? deer with the 350. Mostly Bear Creek 160s, a couple with Barnes 170s. All have had good blood trails. Lost 1 deer but that was operator error, bad shot (brisket).

All but 1 passed through. Longest on recovered deer was 75 yards.

I'm not a fan of the fragmentation on the winchester 150 lead bullets, both due to the lead and the lack of a pass through.

Once I use up all my Barnes I'll probably give the Bear Creek 140s a try, their ballistics look fantastic out to 200+
Click to expand...
I got some to try
 
#40 ·
My vote for all around performance in a non premium round is Hornady 170 grain soft point. Out of 30 ish deer have only recovered one bullet, that one traveled through 10" of heavy bone and was in the offside hide almost exited. All others have passed through and left enough blood to track or the deer was drt. 2 bad shots, 1 was blood trailed 250yds for a follow up shot. The other made it 125yds and was dead. Shots ranged from 15 feet to 190 yards
 
21 - 40 of 58 Posts
About this Discussion
57 Replies
24 Participants
Last post:
rmrvette
Michigan Sportsman Forum
posts
9.2M
members
105K
Since
2000
A forum community dedicated to hunting and fishing enthusiasts in the Michigan area. Come join the discussion about safety, gear, tackle, tips, tricks, optics, hunting, gunsmithing, reviews, reports, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Michigan Whitetail Deer Hunting Detroit River and Lake Erie MichiganWaterfowl.com Upland Game hunting, Dogs and dog training Saginaw Bay and its Tributaries