nosler balistic tip?

I have used the BT in the past in one rifle and still do in another. For some reason One is a 30-06 I have used 165gr BT in it. I have shot 2 deer with this load and have not been impressed. Both deer ran one a good ways. Both was recovered. I have since changed to the 165gr accubond I have not had a chance to try it out yet on a deer.

Second is a 25-06 with a 115gr bt. This one worked well and I was a little surprised because the shot was at 40yards bullet went through the deer and she dropped. I figured the bullet may come apart since it was launched above their recommended velocity. I did not recover the bullet but It did not apper to come apart.
 
Samsmix, the Ballistic Tip IS a cup and core bullet. And, just to say it, if folks are expecting every deer shot with a BT or any other bullet to drop in their tracks, that is an unrealistic expectation. Sometimes they drop and sometimes they run a short distance. I have noticed, over the years, that medium sized deer shot with a 130 gr BT from my 270 tend to drop quicker than deer shot with the 100 gr BT in my 260 (which is why I'm going back to the 120 in the 260). I think that the benefit from using the BT in thin skinned game like deer is that it is explosive (to some degree) and transfers more energy to the deer than something like a Partition bullet would. The Partition would give more penetration, but on a 140 pound deer, how much penetration is needed?

Generally speaking, it isn't what bullet you use, but where you put the bullet.

As mentioned earlier, I've killed somewhere around 200 deer with the Nosler BT, and most of them were with the more frangible original version of the bullet. Another hundred or so were killed with CoreLocts, Powerpoints, and Nosler Solid Base Boattails, all of which worked just fine. As long as it isn't a varmint bullet or target bullet, it'll work. And yes, some folks use target bullets for game, though I don't and won't.
 
One of the best shots I've ever seen was about 430 yards on a pronghorn antelope with 140 gr Ballistic Tips (hunting version) in .270 Win.
Bang... THWOP... and that antelope looked like it got pounded into the ground by the hand of god.
Never twitched. Never moved.
Stone dead.

I don't remember whether or not there was an exit wound on that one.
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No exit.

Bullet entered low in the chest, just behind the left side front leg. Took out (more like obliterated) both lungs and the heart.



Although it worked great, and I've taken two antelope with 140 grain ballistic tips, I wouldn't use them again. I've switched to bullets that will hold together, and penetrate instead of disintegrating.
 
I've killed a dump truck load of deer and another of hogs with NBT's ranging from 90grn to 180grn in cartridges from .243 to .300Wby. I've only had one issue where I had a problem and that was in a 30'06 at 125yds, the bullet entered between two ribs and exited between two ribs never expanding. Everything else has been DRT or close to it.

I've found they tend to fragment at high velocity and seldom get exits in the .243 90grn but, I've never had to track one shot with my .243 either. Driven at modest velocities they've normally made nice big leaking holes that Ray Charles could follow.

To each their own but, I'll keep shooting them on deer and hogs.
 
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)
 
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...
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 .
 
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.
 
Match bullet to game. Ballistic Tips will kill deer. But then again, just about any bullet will kill deer. For elk, go with Partitions.
 
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.
 
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.
 
if folks are expecting every deer shot with a BT or any other bullet to drop in their tracks, that is an unrealistic expectation
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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