I was out culling feral goats at the weekend and tried 55gr Nosler ballistic tips in my 243, i was worried they may too soft for goats,no worries they worked very well,This goat was only 20 yards away and bullet exited

TP:

Don't tell anyone that it worked taking a goat even at 20 yds. We have a lot of guys in here that KNOW it does NOT work. They may not have actually tried it themselves, but that never stopped them from claiming it won't work well, and criticizing the guys who have had success with it.

My opinion is just don't tell the bullet and it won't know the difference.

Actually now I am more interested in the rifle in the picture. That looks like some real classic iron you have there. Being an American, it looks like something European that I am not familiar with. A Steyr or Mannlicher would be my first guess based on that bolt handle.

I don't know what your MV was on your round, but I have found that those Ballistic Tips ( 55 grainers) if they leave the muzzle at 2800 fps or less, they really penetrate quite a bit. More than anyone would have guessed.

Cheers and good shooting
seafire

I'm amazed at the penetration of the 55 and 70 Nosler BT's . Shot 2 roos with the first 55 BT I tried on game . Sometimes not quite explosive enough on varmints . Shot a cat at 390 yds with one today and had to finish him off . Shot was in the diaphragm area , probably 2 inches too far back and an inch lower than optimum . He was walking slowly and I should have allowed a little lead at that range . Left an exit hole probably 3/4 inch in diameter . A lot of varmint bullets would have killed him outright I reckon but these things are bloody accurate .

Many years ago I noted in informal penetration tests (dry paper) that Nosler Solid Base bullets gave greater penetration than most "conventional" bullets, and even pentrated about 90% of the distance of the solid rear section of the Partition.

While the nose section of the Ballistic Tip is somewhat faster opening than the old lead-tipped solid base, the base section is still the same (solid base of jacket material). The Ballistic Tip does lose a lot of mass in its trip through the target, but the base section, complete with the expanded jacket and a bit of lead core, pushes on to pentrate rather well (and creates quite a bit of tissue upset, ie. trauma).

I prefer something else myself, but I have a friend who frequently hunts deer with a .243 A.I. using 55 grain NBT's and has every confidence in them.

But as to their expansiveness, I have never seen greater "aerial" displays of prairie dog anatomical parts than when using the 70 grain NBT in a .243. Expansion and penetration are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Seafire the rifle is a Tikka M590,its my goat and Fallow deer rifle.

Top P:

Very nice, very nice indeed! Shows you are gentleman with a taste for some class. My compliments!

Cheers
seafire

So I guessing it is safe to assume that the 55 and 70 bt are to be removed fom the list of remotly fur friendly . Myself I would have expected a large entrance crater and no exit wound at that distance (assuming full speed loads not one of seafires Blue dot loads wich would have behaved that way ), it is a varmint bullet after all.

Power wise 243 is plenty, how big can these goats be 80lbs max , the 243 is the perfect hammer for that nail. That said I would be using the Sierra 85 gr bthp myself, but that is only because I would not have expected that sort of penetration from a varmint bullet.

I guess there in lies the problem wih message boards. One guy posts "243 55 gr BT is a great coyote round" or someome post picture of varmint bits that were left over from a hit of the same bullet, perfectly valid observations.

Then a guy post a picture of an exit wound from a goat shot at close distance and it still exited, again perfectly valid observation. Some guy see this and thinks the same bullet should work should work for he small deer around here and it would have e side benifit of using the same load for groundhogs one load for everything and for the most part it works (luck or good hunting/shooting who knows). But sooner or later someone tries it on a elk or moose and low and behold it does not work and Monday mourning there is a post "243 is crap". And the circle begins.

Just for the record how big are those goats?

The goat in the photo would only be 20lbs,a really big billy would be 100lbs.I have tried sierra 85 bthp they went alright 75 and 87 V-max are my main load for goats.55gr BT did not exit on the bigger goats,i would not shoot anything bigger than a goat with the 55BT that is what 95BT are for.

@ 20lbs that picture makes perfect sence, and it jives with lots of posts. The bases off those heads just keep pushing even though most of the bullet is gone. I am not sure I would call it penetration but rather a secondary projectile that went straight.

Maybe it's somthing with that particular head, because a couple of times this winter we were forced into some close range (similar to your goat) finishing shots on coyotes. with a .224 50gr Nosler BT out of a 223 and we got horrible entrance wounds, just big craters. I would have expected it to behave similarly.

I am still trying to figure out how they managed to get a 55 grain .243 to have a better BC than thier 55 gr .223 ?

I'm also a 55 grs NBT fan.
I use it in my Sako Vixen 6X45, getting speed up to 3240 f/s.
I shoot this 40 lbs beaver at 150 yards with no exit wound, it dropped dead..



There was no lead left in the bullet and the weight was 24,5 grs.

A Beaver??There was some photos of seals(sea rats) that a member had shot a few days ago,its good to see all the different animals people are shooting all around the world.You either love or hate BTs

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I am still trying to figure out how they managed to get a 55 grain .243 to have a better BC than thier 55 gr .223 ?

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