Hi!
I have bought a box 7mm 150grs. BT�s to day for use in my Ruger MKII .280Rem. I gonna use them for Roedeer hunting.
My problem is no loadingdata for Norma MRP or 204 in Nosler�s manual.

Can anybody give me some loadingdata?
Any experiance with BT�s on small deer?

Thanks!

Jonas, Sweden

Jonas,
These two powders are on the slow end of the scale for that bullet weight. Loads of 56.0 grains for each will fill the case to the bottom of the neck and not top out the pressure. With MRP you will be wasting powder and not achieving good velocity. Are there any other powders that you would consider?
Bill

I now only use ballistic tips in my 6.5x55. They are fantasticaly accurate and work very well on all the deer (muntjac, roe and fallow) I have shot with them (approx 100) Their superior mushrooming ability has saved me on more than one occasion when a deer has taken a step as I've fired or I've just plain made a poor shot. I use the 120gr at 2850fps which will expand nicely on a chest shot, make a mess on a shoulder shot and lodges in the stomach on a front on shot.

I am certain that someone will cite their poor textbook performance eg core loss, poor weight retention, carcass damage when heavy bone is hit etc. All I can say is that when I gutshot a fallow pricket (just clipping the liver) at 8pm one evening with a 120gr ballistic tip (it was the one that took a step as I fired), I was able to recover it the next day dead from blood loss.It was found 50 yards from where it was shot. Despite not hitting any bone it still expanded well - I daresay a textbook premium could well have zipped straight through and that deer would have died horribly. Don't get me wrong I like a hole both sides for trailing but on a Roe you'll get this with the ballistic tip and have less trail to follow because it will expand and the animal is likely to die quicker than if it was hit by a bullet designed for a 7mm rem mag (as I'm told many 7mm bullets are) acting like a non expanding solid.

I have never lost a deer because I used a ballistic tip.

If you use starting load data for IMR 4350 or Alliant R-19 with your Norma 204, you can work up a nice load from there. With MRP, you probably can't get enough into the case to create dangerous pressures.

my experience with ballistic tips on roe deer has been with 55gr 224, 95gr 243 and 100 and 120gr in 6.5mm
in all cases, performance was outstanding.
roe deer are small and "soft", and controlled expansion bullets, which I have also tried, do not kill them as fast as bt's.
the price you have to pay is that more meat is wasted whenever you hit heavy bone.
anyway, not as much as if the animal were not recovered.
I eat what I kill, and love doing so, but I do not hunt to eat, so this is not a problem for me.
My experience is that you will not find a too-soft-a-bullet for roe deer.
regards, montero