“power point”

Looking for a “different” deer bullet for your treasured .308 Win? Here are seven superlatives.

You’ve probably heard that African dangerous game can absorb five hits from an Abrams tank and keep on charging. You’ve probably heard that kudu, eland, wildebeest and even impala are so tough from evading lions and leopards they’ll soak up bullets that would floor a North American brown bear. Nonsense.

Old is not dead, and though the 8x57 has had to endure vast improvements in cartridge design, powder development and bullet performance, it remains a perfectly viable hunting cartridge.

With a suggested retail price of just under $400, the new bolt-action Compass is Thompson/Center’s entry into the budget-friendly hunting rifle market.

In this, its 150th year in business, the history of Winchester firearms is well known. After all, “The gun that won the west” was a Winchester, the Model 1873. The Winchester Model 70 is known as the “Rifleman’s Rifle” and the Model 1894 is perhaps the most successful sporting rifle in history. The company also shook up the scattergun market with classic shotguns like the Model 1897, Model 21 and Model 12. The raw truth, however, is that none of these guns could have made their mark in history without ammo to shoot out of them. It’s kind of the red-headed stepchild in terms of glory and glamor, but Winchester has been in the ammo business as long as they have been in the gun business.

The Power-Point was developed by Winchester in the 1960s. It is not a fancy bullet. But next to the Remington Core-Lokt, the Power-Point has probably killed more deer than any of its peers.

Every once in a while I get quizzed as to what rifle to bring on a hunter’s first pronghorn hunt. Most of the time I ask in return what the hunter already has.

Winchester’s affordable new ammo features a bonded bullet that exhibits 2.5-times expansion—perfect for deer.