nosler balistic tip?

[Roadkill2228]

One important distinction is that from .308" caliber 180 grain and up, the ballistic tips are designed harder and stouter than from 168 grain .308 and down (so everything from .243 95 grain up to the 168 30s)

[hooligan1]

I've shot a truckload of deer with the 150's in a 30-06. I will rewind what a couple fellas said, in the ribs behind shoulder is ideally where it shines. I now use 165' in Btip and Accubonds, but haven't shot any deer yet with those wieghts, they just shoot so consistant ly and it's not hard finding the right powder charge and COAL. After that your on your way...

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

I've used em. 270 win shooting a hand load a shade over 3200 fps. 130 gr. NBT are just too meat damaging from 0 to 150 yards. But they are flat shooting. Well enough to where I'm aiming at those white throat patches under the lower jaw or the back of their head and I hit what I aim at. Been thinking about a change up of bullets lately again. Have a good supply of both 130 gr. Win Silver Tips and NBT's to use. Although Silver Tips group just as well. I just haven't gotten around to reloading any. But will do eventually.

[Water-Man]

They've worked well in my 6.5x55 Swede on deer but, as has been said, don't hit bone.

[Mike / Tx]

Like some of the others here I have been working with and around the BT's since they hit the shelves. I also found out about the expansion traits with them as well.

One thing I have done however was to drop the velocities for them down to match up with the areas or distances I might be using them. In several places I can easily reach out to well past what most feel comfortable with, but in others a 75yd shot is a very long one.

I have been around the '06 my whole life, and while my pop would have argued till the cows come home it is the best caliber on the planet, I like variety. That said I have loaded thousands of '06 rounds and about half or more were with the BT's. I found that even with the first generation of them loading them to a muzzle velocity of around 2800'ish feet per second took care of a LOT of the problems most, including myself, found with over expansion even in the lighter calibers.

If you work up your load with something along the lines of 4350, (pick one) looking strictly for accuracy, you should have no issue hitting something that shoots good right about that 2800fps range. This will give you plenty of power to reach out to past your 200yd mark as well as keep things together on a close up shot. Going this route you can easily run the 150's or 165's and not have to worry about shredding a shoulder should you hit one.

I have shot a bunch of deer and hogs with this type load and found it just works great. For the higher velocity stuff I have moved to other bullets which will hold up to the impact speeds should I use them in close quarters. As for picking shots, I try to get something that will allow me to transect the chest cavity. In front of either shoulder and out behind the opposite, or from behind the shoulder exiting just in front of the opposite, then of course a straight broadside just behind the leg. This will usually result in minimal meat damage and takes out everything needed for them to go on. They usually just drop like you turned off their switch.

[samsmix]

I just noticed the OP's name has is "Swamp stalker". I think that implies smaller bodied whitetail.

Each of us will reply differently, but I'm sure that makes a difference. For me, I think it would make for a LOT of bloodshot with an '06 BT.

[Hawg]

I've killed a lot of deer with a 165 grain Nosler BT out of a hot loaded 30-06. All but one was DRT and the one was a small doe at 40 yards. She went about 25 yards. I have seen a few fragment but always got an exit wound.

[jersurf101]

I bought a box of ballistic tips in the early 2000s and used them for 3 years and killed 6 deer with them. They were .270 win 130s. Inside150 yards with good broad side shots every one exited the animal. None ran more than 50 yards when hit in the boiler room. The problem was the diaphragm was always broken even if the bullet hit right behind the shoulder. More often than not the whole cavity was reduced to red goo from stem to stern. That is the reason I stopped using them. Field dressing the animals was disgusting.

I did kill a 9 point head on at 125 yards. The bullet penetrated the heck and banana peeled the spine about 12". The recovered projectile weighed 47 grains. So in my experience claims of not enough penetration are over dramatized. At least for white tail sized game. I just could not deal with the meat\ cavity destruction .

[603Country]

Just don't shoot the parts you plan to eat. That approach works for me quite well. Putting the bullet right behind the shoulder won't blow up the guts unless you hit too far behind the shoulder.

[SansSouci]

Match bullet to game. Ballistic Tips will kill deer. But then again, just about any bullet will kill deer. For elk, go with Partitions.

[Kreyzhorse]

I've shot several whitetail and antelope with them. Only once did I have an issue with them, and that was this year with my 7mm RM.

Shot a whitetail at 45 yards broadside. Bullet hit a rib and simply exploded in his chest cavity. There was no exit wound and no blood trail. Deer jumped a ravine and walked about 30 yards before collapsing.

That really got me thinking about switching but it's been the only time I've seen a ballastic come apart like that. I believe it more fluke than anything.

[pete2]

I've killed quite a few Texas whitetails with 130 gr BTs in my .270. Our deer are small, kills them just fine but they do tend to come apart, I wouldn't use them on a large animal like elk. They work just fine behind the shoulder.

[Todd1700]

if folks are expecting every deer shot with a BT or any other bullet to drop in their tracks, that is an unrealistic expectation

That's not my complaint about them. Over expansion, lack of an exit hole, fragmentation, and excessive meat damage are the things I dislike about them.

I don't trust them to penetrate well if they hit solid bone or on sharp quartering shots. I have seen them fragment on good broadside shots and perforate the diaphragm (and guts) on a deer. I helped skin a deer shot quartering away with a 150 grain ballistic tip and the entire front half of that deer was ruined. And at the end of the day meat for the freezer is the primary reason why we hunt right?

I never lost a deer with them personally but I know more than a few people that have lost a deer using them and have sworn never to use them again. They often don't exit. Exit holes are what give you the best blood for trailing if you have to track a deer. When you hunt near thick timber and briar thickets like I do a deer shot right at dusk dark that leaves no blood trail doesn't have to run very far to be a pain in the ass to find. Spend a few nights grid searching a briar thicket with a flashlight because you have no blood trail to follow and it will teach you the virtue of a bullet that exits.

[Hawg]

I use a 165 grain Nosler BTBT out of a hot loaded 30-06. Yeah sometimes they fragment on short shots but I never had one not leave an exit wound. I had one go about 20 yards with a high lung shot but all the rest I killed with them were DRT. It pretty much reduces the heart and lungs to jelly but really doesn't destroy a lot of meat.

[603Country]

Hawg, it sounds like you and I have about the same approach - don't shoot the deer parts you plan to eat. It's a very good plan.

As to what some say about exits with the BT, I wasn't getting exits with the 100 gr BT's in my 260 when shooting pigs, but was getting exits with the 120's in the 260 and the 130's in the 270. As soon as I've shot up the reloads of 100's, I'm going back to the 120's.

[std7mag]

I personally have had very good luck with the 165gr. Ballistic Tips.

Never had to track a deer, always DRT. Shots ranged from 30-300 yards.
Never found any of my bullets.

Hit small buck about 100 yards, slight quartering away. Good shot placement on the near side, blew out the whole front shoulder on the far side. Literally picked deer up, and threw him down.

[michaeldarnold]

I have shot two does with hand loaded BT in 7mm Rem Mag and both deer went less than ten yards. Both shots have been near 50 yards. Both shots were once and done and the projectile exited the animal.

My load is a 150 gr BT, pushed by 61 grns of IMR 4831, out of once fired Remington Brass. Approx 3200 fps. Rifle is a Remington 700, 7mm Rem Mag.

First doe was out of a tree stand. Probably a 40 yd shot, and I was 20 feet up the tree. She was on the move being chased by an unshootable buck, yes we have those limits in Missouri, shot went in the neck and blew up the far shoulder. She dropped in her tracks and expired. There was no exit wound. (Corrected this hunt, my details were fuzzy.)

I hunt in Missouri. 7mm is way overkill for the brush we have, but my last shot on a doe was 60 yds up hill, on a forest road, while walking in for the afternoon hunt. Broadside. She got hit, spun 180*, ran 10 yds and expired. Exit wound was the easily 2.5 inches wide by 3.5 inches long. Tasty.

[turkeestalker]

Originally posted by Sure Shot Mc Gee
Well enough to where I'm aiming at those white throat patches under the lower jaw or the back of their head and I hit what I aim at.

I'm much the same, prefer to shoot them right behind the jaw just under the ear. Less meat damage and no blood hemmorage migrating under the skin to go rancid, if you like to hang them awhile as I do to ripen them up. After all, when it comes to beef, aged beef costs more, works with venison too.

I've loaded some many years ago for a 7mm Rem. Mag., light and fast as I believe it was a 130 grain. Harvested one deer during an antlerless only portion of the season here at about 70 yards just under the ear. It dropped instantly as they always do when you pop them there. I was kind of shocked when I got to it though because it had virtually decapitated the deer it was so explosive. Just a bit of skin and fur and ragged meat still holding the head onto the body. No need for that kind of damage, and I've not used them on deer since.

I realize that it was part my fault due to the bullet weight being a bit light for the caliber and the speed that I was pushing it, even still... yikes!
I also believe that the distance played a factor meaning that the BTs don't really come into their own as intended until they get out there a ways.

I will say that around that time I did load some of the 55 grain 6mm BT bullets for my 240 Weatherby that are honestly tipping a tad over 4,000 fps over a chrony. Though I've never done it yet, I would love to see what that would do with a coyote at a decent distance. Betting it would pick one up and flip it over a couple times before putting it back down.