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bamaranger · May 13, 2014, 02:24 AM

I've no experience with SST's, and have only handloaded ballistic tips (no factory ammo).

Based on that, I can tell you that the B-tip 130/270, and 180/.30 (in a .308) has been an extremely accurate slug for me in a Rem 700 (.270) and a Savage hog rifle and Savage Scout in .308. They have been good killers, but are a "soft" bullet, so to speak, and will shed a good percentage of weight if recovered from an animal. Somebody will write in and tell us how much soon I bet. At least one scribe has called the b-tip the "ideal" deer bullet.

The early 180/.30 B-tips were a bit soft,and supposedly Nosler toughened them up a bit for those folks who might take on an elk. I have little doubt that a contemporary 180/.30 b-tip would punch through an average deer at the shoulders. I actually like the early, soft 180's for whitetails, but the old solid base, 100 pack slugs are near impossible to find these days. I have not shot any 150 or 165 b-tips at deer.

The 130/.270's behaved very sedately for me, I think one reason being that the impact velocities were low due to longer range and broadside lung shots with no real bone encountered. With the 22" tube on my rifle, I could not break 3000 fps at the muzzle (2875 +/-) with my best accuracy load, and at 200 yds or so, the bullets did not expand dramatically at all. But they did result in very dead deer. I did recover one of these longish .270's, a quartering away shot. The slug was just so much chewing gum ahead of the off shoulder, with an entrance at the onside diaphragm. Another very dead deer.

There's a lot of internet chatter about the b-tip being too soft and resulting in lost game. Got a buddy that slams them regularly. But much of that I think is bad shooting.

May 13, 2014, 02:24 AM	#29
bamaranger Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2009 Location: North Alabama Posts: 8,308	ballistic tips I've no experience with SST's, and have only handloaded ballistic tips (no factory ammo). Based on that, I can tell you that the B-tip 130/270, and 180/.30 (in a .308) has been an extremely accurate slug for me in a Rem 700 (.270) and a Savage hog rifle and Savage Scout in .308. They have been good killers, but are a "soft" bullet, so to speak, and will shed a good percentage of weight if recovered from an animal. Somebody will write in and tell us how much soon I bet. At least one scribe has called the b-tip the "ideal" deer bullet. The early 180/.30 B-tips were a bit soft,and supposedly Nosler toughened them up a bit for those folks who might take on an elk. I have little doubt that a contemporary 180/.30 b-tip would punch through an average deer at the shoulders. I actually like the early, soft 180's for whitetails, but the old solid base, 100 pack slugs are near impossible to find these days. I have not shot any 150 or 165 b-tips at deer. The 130/.270's behaved very sedately for me, I think one reason being that the impact velocities were low due to longer range and broadside lung shots with no real bone encountered. With the 22" tube on my rifle, I could not break 3000 fps at the muzzle (2875 +/-) with my best accuracy load, and at 200 yds or so, the bullets did not expand dramatically at all. But they did result in very dead deer. I did recover one of these longish .270's, a quartering away shot. The slug was just so much chewing gum ahead of the off shoulder, with an entrance at the onside diaphragm. Another very dead deer. There's a lot of internet chatter about the b-tip being too soft and resulting in lost game. Got a buddy that slams them regularly. But much of that I think is bad shooting.