Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Deer kills and bullet holes...............

That looks like a CNS boiler room shot. Prolly didn't go far.....

That SST shot is pretty messy. Didn't ruin too much backstrap I hope.

Not long before cell phones with cameras I made a great shot on a running buck. 444 Marlin. Hit him while he was bounding upward, he went down and never moved even a twitch. 50-60yds. Broke spine so bad you could fold the deer in half. You could put the backstraps in a hot dog bun

Here is one from this morning a 3 pt. mulie hit at about 260 yards by a 165 gr. Sierra Hollow Point Boatail leaving the muzzle at about 3350 fps.

What speed are you running the 123 scenars? I have two swedes that shoot the 123 scenar into tiny groups at range (actually better than 139 scenar in these rifles) but I just have never used it on whitetails...

3400fps

Bob,

Nosler started toughening up the Ballistic Tips shortly after they introduced them in the mid-1980's. At first they simply put a plastic tip in what had been the Solid Base soft-points, but didn't realize what effect the rather large hole necessary for the insertion of the tip would have on expansion. But as soon as it became apparent, they made changes, at first in core hardness.

But eventually they also thickened the jacket as they introduced new models. The first of these was the 200-grain .338, which appeared in 1993. I tested some in dry newspaper (a very tough bullet test), shooting 210 Partitions alongside them, and found the 200 BT's penetrated 90% as deeply and retained around 60% of their weight. Killed my biggest-bodied bull caribou with one that fall, at about 200 yards, the bullet entering the pocket behind the right shoulder and exiting the bones of the left shoulder. The bull dropped right there, straight down, posed for the trophy shot, and the wound channel could have easily been made by a 210 Partition.

A few years later used the same bullet and load to shoot my first gemsbok, a good bull quartering almost directly toward me at 150-175 yards. The bullet cracked the spine where it dips down between the shoulders, then went on through the rest of the bull, ending up under the hide on the rump, retaining 59% of its weight.

I never had any trouble with various Ballistic Tips from 1992 on, but always made sure to use recent versions. This included a 140-grain from a 7mm STW shot into a pronghorn buck angling away at about 200 yards. The bullet entered the rear of the ribs on the right side and was found, bulging the skin of the left shoulder, retaining 56% of its weight.

There are still essentially two versions, one which might be called the "standard" model and the heavy-jacket version based on the 200-grain .338. If recovered, the standard version usually retains around 50% of its weight, give or take 10%. Fairly recent examples are a 120-grain 6.5mm shot into a pronghorn doe quartering toward me at around 250 yards from a 6.5 Creedmoor. The bullet entered just behind the right shoulder joint and was recovered from the skin of the left ham, retaining 59% of its weight.

Another was a 100-grain .25 put into the shoulder joint of a Montana whitetail doe at about 50 yards, the bullet started at 3100 fps from a .257 Roberts. The bullet was recovered under the hide at the rear of the ribs on the far side, retaining 42% of its weight. Last winter a friend (who happens to be more of a heavy-bullet guy) killed a big aoudad ram at around 250 yards with the same bullet from a .250 Savage. This was his first aoudad hunt and he'd heard a lot of people recommend .300 magnums, but the little Ballistic Tip shot so well in his rifle he went ahead. The ram went about 40 yards and fell over dead. A Montana friend shot a broadside cow elk with one from a .25-06, and the bullet blew on through, dropping the elk within a few yards.

I obviously don't use Ballistic Tips all the time, partly because of having to mix things up due to my job, but have used the 95-grain 6mm; 100- and 115 .25's; 120 6.5; 120, 140 and 150 7mm; 165 and 180 .30; and 200 .338 enough to have plenty of confidence in using any of them. (Oddly enough, haven't used any in the .270 Winchester, but a local friend has taken over a dozen elk with the 150, and prefers it over any other .270 bullet for elk.) Might choose the equivalent Partition (or AccuBond) for some purposes instead, but in the past 25 years haven't experienced any problems with Ballistic Tips.

Nice shot.

.300 Win Mag?

The ones I had problems with were packed 100 to the box.They were the early ones that had the bad reputation.I think around 1995 they started packing 50 to the box.The 120gr and 140gr didn't seem to be as bad as the 150gr in 7mm.It was so bad at the time,some ranches here in Texas would not allow them being used.Nosler fixed all that and they have me back as a customer.

yup, that is faster than my swede ;-)
I still suspect it works at slower swede speeds just fine

John I shoot the 150 BT in the 7 mag and the 100 gr in the Roberts. I just have not killed anything with either one yet but it sure seems like they have toughened up over the years.

Elk, yes!!

My pics all suck. Lots of dead deer, just nothing taken specifically to look at bullet holes.

This was an entrance made by a 250 Gr. Barnes Expander MZ at 40 yds. Angling shot. Buck never took a step.....

Ar-15 5.56 via 70 gr TSX at 30 yds. Went through front between brisket and shoulder. Through heart, exited by his butthole. He ran maybe 30 yds......

One I stuck with a Schrade 15OT. Now you know why it is called the 15OT "Deerslayer".....

Poorly placed off hand shot with a iron sighted 375 h&h , 300gr round nose soft point , on a doe culling trip on my buddies property .

Dang, I missed this post till today.
I could have got pics of my 2016 Michigan archery buck kill. A 100gr Slick Trick center punched heart.

Still have 4 tags , stay tuned...grin

JG, in your opinion, is that typical of VLD's ?

I knew they were made to be frangible, but that wound is horrific.

It's hard to imagine there was anything edible on the front half of that animal + possibly loins, from what looks like perfect placement behind the shoulder.

I'm not too fond of a bullet that waste that much meat.

New 2 99's, I can't honestly say, but I would want a sample of more than one to be sure. I hear great things about them, but when something like this happens it's hard to forget, ya know? I do know I also shot 4-5 feral hogs with them and got no blood trails, no exits, and had I not seen the hogs go into a particular plum thicket I would not have found any of them.


Sorry I can't be more help on the subject.

Cheers & thank you for your honest reply JG.