What has been your experience of the performance of the 125 grain 30 caliber BT on the high end of the velocity ranges on deer size game. I know some of you are really sending them out of there from your 30-30 AIs and others.

Louis

I have yet to shoot a deer with them in the 30-30AI. but I have poked a few with the 125 BT out of a standard 30-30 and have yet to recover one single bullet..all have passed through. I think they will do just fine at AI speeds in the 14 inch contenders...I believe SDhandgunner has done in a couple deer with them in the AI and is pleased with them.
The AI will be going huntin tomorrow and if I get lucky I'll let you know the results.

shortgun

I took two Whitetails with the 125gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip out of my .30-30 AI last season. The muzzle velocity was 2683 FPS.

The first deer was a smaller 4x4 Whitetail Buck at a lasered distance of 286 yards. The buck was quartering towards me, and actually at more of an angle than I thought. At any rate the bullet entered the buck high behind the near side front shoulder and exited through the off side ham, just missing the femor and leaving about an inch hole in the meat of the ham.

The other Whitetail was a medium sized doe that my daughter shot. This deer was perfectly broadside at 126 yards. The shot was a little high striking the near side shoulder towards the top, clipping the bottom side of the spine and then exiting through the top of the off side shoulder. The exit wound was about the size of a quarter.

Both deer never moved after the shot. However a cou-de-grac was needed on the buck as he was trying to get up on his front feet when I arrived at the deer.

SD Handgunner

Thanx SG and SD.

I am shooting mine out of stock 30-30, but will have max distance shot of 100 yds and more likely under 50. Little thicker woods where I hunt.

I will likely get an AI this next year and then I will have to get rid of so many "extra uneeded" barrels.

SD, That's good info! I'm putting my faith in good performance from a high velocity 125 gr NBT load this year for my 10 year old son. For this year's deer season, I bought him a Savage bolt action rifle in 308 Win. I'm using Blue Dot and the aforementioned NBT at a muzzle velocity of 2500 fps. Recoils about like a 243. I'm hoping he gets a chance to see how the bullet performs.