Thought I share a ballistic tip moment from last fall. For what it's worth:

Last fall on a Kansas Whitetail hunt I bagged an large and impressive buck. Here are the details....

The shot was 80 yards at a very sharp quartering away angle. The bullet entered on the back two ribs. On impact the 235lb buck swung 90 degrees, faltered, and dropped before I could chamber another round. The deer was stone dead when I reached him. Perfect.

Now the interesting part of this was the cartridge and bullet used. It was from a .25-06 and the load used a 100gr Nosler Ballistic Tip pushed to 3400fps by 64.5gr H870 and a CCI magnum primer.

I should mention that the bullet was not recovered (though a few copper jacket fragments were), nor was there an exit wound. The lungs resembled tomato soup.

This is the third big deer that has fallen to this particular rifle and load, and by far the most demanding shot as far as bullet performance is concerned. But perform it did! Just like it always has.

ps. I disassemble prarrie dogs with the same exact load.

In one of my less proud moments I suffered an acccidental discharge. It went through a terry towel @ 4" from the muzzle, into the spine of Handloaders Digest in a shower of confetti and the only thing recovered was one piece of copper jacket in the towel. I was looking for holes in my feet and wall-- nothing. The bullet was a PMC .223 fmj. Believe me I looked everywhere for any hole before MaMa got there(I could have crawled in avery small one that night).
I would have thought a mitary FMJ would have gone into the next county-not so. Maybe they are "mouse guns".

BT's are either loved or hated, it seems..

Even though they tend to be accurate in most rifles I've tried them in, I won't hunt with them, simply because there is often the chance of running into a bear or something, and so I opt for penetrating bullets like the Partition or, more recently, the x bullet.

Hunting whitetail here in sask I pushed out a big bodied buck. I was shooting the 280 150gr.BT the whitetail was running straight away from me so I shot, right from the rear end straight through to the front shoulder
the bullet travelled. The Ballistic tip still retained it's jacket, mushroomed perfectly."I still have the slug". Mind you I didn't hit bone, but have used these bullets for years and are the most accurate hunting bullet I have ever used.

For the past several years I have not approved of the use of BT's on truly large game. I have seen the older ones fail , but the current crop is much better. As a deer or antelope bullet they do work very well. They have always been very accurate for me too regardless of caliber. They are the bullet I pick when I want to load up some accurate loads to test a rifle.

I posted a few months ago witnessing a hunter take a truly large old cow elk at about 300 yds with a .300 Win and a 180 current BT. She basically dropped on the spot with a LUNG shot. I was very impressed.

They certainly can damage a lot of meat and I have witnessed that damage several times , especially with the hot .25's, .270's and even my .280 Rem. Then again they are generally very accurate so just place the bullet in the rib cage. Problem solved.

I am intrigued with the news that the current BT's have been changed by using heavier jackets on the larger calibers. And Noslers introduction of a 260 grain BT in of all things the .375" line. Have to try those and see how they work.

I think that the new BT's may deserve another look.

FN

I keep sayin' it and sayin' it.

A .25-06 with 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips "kill like chain lighnin'"!!!!!!!!!

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Be content with what you have but never with who you are.

I use the 165 gr BT's in my 30/06 at around 2800 fps, I have often hit bone in pigs and other ferals, they have not failed me however I have heard and read many complaints about them on this forum. The bigger calibres must be made tougher than the .22 cal BT's as they don't take much to blow up.

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I've used the 150gr in 270win, and they worked perfectly.

I shoot the 115 grain BT's from my 25-06 with complete satisfaction. Have taken 23 deer with this combo to date and have yet to not have complete penetration. Have made shoulder(a large 6 pt last year that broke both shoulders and still exited), chest and neck shots, some broadside others quartering. Hit a large doe quartering towards me this year that dropped on the spot (most do). The bullet hit furthere back than I planned and she was angling more than I thought and the bullet took out her right lung, liver, ripped through the stomach and exited infront of the left hind leg. No massive or mutiple exit wounds to date either. My shots have ranged from 30 yards out to 483 yards.
I guess you can tell by now that I am one of those that love them!

Robert

I have taken over 40 head of deer,antelope and bighorns with ballistic tips out of my 257wby(100gr) and 7mmstw(140gr).I have also taken two elk and two moose with my 300 ultramag using 180 gr ballistic tips.I have yet to experience a bullet failure of any kind.Most animals drop on the spot and none has travelled 50 yards after being hit.

I love them deerly. Accurate with the best balance of expansion and penetration I could hope for.

Shot a mule buck with large body, 6mm 95gr Bt@3300fps. Buck was large bodied@50 yards. He ran about fifty yards and fell with a perfect broadside on the lungs. When I put my finger in the exit hole I found about half the jacket stuck in the skin. Personally I think they are great for most shots, but quartering I would prefer someting else even if I sacrifice a bit of accuracy.

I have taken many deer with Nosler BT..They are very good bullets for this size game..I have never had one fail to give an exit wound.The only bad experince with the came when i thought 125gr .30 cal at 4000 ft per sec would kill flat out to 500 yards..i shot ,deer droped,deer got back up,tracked deer for 3 hours,buzzards found deer,then i found buzzards,3 days later i found my deer.the exit hole looked like the entry hole,and the entry hole looked like a point blank shot fron a 12ga shotgun....they will blow up if you push them to a point..

OL' Sarge - Others, This is great information. I have a post over in reloading asking about Nosler BT vs Hornady SST. I am particularly interested in the 25-06 100 gr. for all around varmit/mule deer. Do you have any info regarding the comparison? I did get one answer that the Hornady is just as good and maybe better.

Thanks to the group.

I have used the 140 BT in my 280 AI for deer and the results have been amazing and disappointing. When they kill, they kill like lightning, when the fail they fail badly. I switched to the 150 Scirocco and feel they are better. Just as accurate and deeper penetrating. Shot a big wild boar with it and he got hammered. I did try a BT on boar it was a nightmare 4 shots to kill him. I still like BT for just deer hunting, but you never know what will be coming your way so the Scirocco is what I shoot now.

[This message has been edited by Frank (edited 01-30-2002).]

Lost a spike bull elk with a broadside rib shot with a 150 gr. 30 cal BT. I will never hunt big game with them again! On the varmint board a guy is talking about the 25 cal BT blowing up on coyoyes! They are accuate as hell though.