Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer what calibers, weights of ballistic tips penetrate like partitions

I can vouch for the 8mm 180gr ballistic tip. Shot a few game with them on hard quartering shots and penetration was excellent with most exiting. Even caught a bullet and you can clearly see the thick jacket construction.

8x57 180gr BT w/ H4895 at 2740 fps out of a 22inch barrel.

No flames here, actually makes an awful lot of sense.

A few comments:

First, I didn't object to the OPs question comparing the heavier-jacketed Ballistic Tips to Partitions--but as several have noted, they're not Partitions.

However, my experience with the .338 200-grain is very extensive--partly because they were the first heavy-jacket BTs. I actually started using them shortly before Nosler announced them, when the late Chub Eastman (then the writer contact for Nosler) asked me to try some in 1993.

The first thing I did after working up a handload (which was easy) was test their penetration by shooting one into the "media" I'd been using for a few years to test big game bullets, a stack of dry newspaper. I've listed the reasons for this choice both here and in articles and books, but one of its virtues is being able to shoot more than one type/brand of bullet into the same stack, to compare penetration depth. I did that with the 200 Ballistic Tips and 210 Partitions--and the Ballistic Tips penetrated 90% as deeply.

The first animal I took with one was a bull caribou in northern Quebec, which is still the biggest-bodied bull I've killed out of a dozen, about as large as a typical 5x5 bull elk. He was standing broadside at around 200 yards, with his near front hoof maybe a foot in front of the the far one, and I put the bullet in the little pocket behind the near leg.

At the shot the bull dropped straight down and never moved, legs already folded underneath him, ready for the trophy photo. The bullet scrambled the chest cavity and then broke the big joint of the far shoulder before exiting.

After that I used that load on a bunch of other game both in North America and Africa, and also gave some to local friends with .338s who took deer and elk with them. One used it on a 6x5 bull that was quartering away at around 150 yards. Same sort of deal: The bull dropped right there, partly because that bullet also broke the shoulder joint on the way out.

The only one that was recovered killed a gemsbok bull that was almost facing me at 150 yards. That one broke the near shoulder going in, and then took off the bottom of the spine before ending up under the hide of the rump on the opposite side. It retained 60% of its weight.

Our fellow member Shrapnel has killed more than one elk with the heavy-jacket .30, one a cow that stood facing him when he was carrying his .300 Weatherby. Can't remember whether it was 165-grain or 180-grain bullet, but that bullet also ended up under the hide of the rump.

No, they're not Partitions, but the heavy-jacket BTs are pretty stout bullets.

I've also discussed bullet construction with the Nosler folks at their plant in Bend, which I've visited several times over the decades. One thing they do is tweak construction of their bullets after they're introduced, sometimes more than once. They do use different lead alloys for the front and rear cores, and have been since the Partition appeared in 1948, but they don't always use the same lead alloys in Partitions of different calibers for the front and rear cores.

During one visit they told about how they'd recently tweaked the 300-grain .375 Partition (the later, extruded version that appeared around 1990) by not only using a harder rear core, but a thicker rear jacket. Both tweaks not only helped the bullet hold up when hitting heavy bone, but also resulted in smaller groups in their indoor range.

More than one other bullet company does the same sort of tweaking, or even massive redesigning as Barnes has done with their various X-Bullets over the decades. But companies that make more conventional lead-cores also often tweak them.

338-06's. Left bullet is 200gr Ballistic silvertip pulled out of this deer. Jacket only 97.2gr.



Bullet on the right is 200gr NAB pulled out of this bear. 143gr



Examples of one, so take it for what it worth.

CRS,

Thanks for the info!

Have found "empty" Ballistic Tip jackets in several animals--but the animals were all dead, and the jackets were found on the far side of the animal. In the heavy-jacket models the jacket itself usually contains more than half the weight of the bullet, up to around 75%.

Might also mention that the recovered Partition that lost the highest percentage of weight in our collection was the 150-grain .270 that Eileen killed a medium-sized Shiras bull moose with in 1989. The bull was quartering away at around 125 yards, and at the shot took a step and a half a folded up dead. The bullet had entered the left ribs and ended up in the right shoulder, retaining 54% of its weight, yet penetrated somewhere around 3-4 feet. This one reason I haven't found retained weight the only factor in penetration or "killing power."

What were the details of the mule deer shot?

If I remember correctly.
Shot was downhill, about 130 yard range, broadside. Went through the top of onside scapula and lodged in off side shoulder. Took the high shoulder shot as I did not want him running down hill into the river breaks any farther.

Went down right there, which was good. Did slide down about 10 yards due to snow and steep hillside.

I remember being surprised that I found the bullet and it had not passed through. Bone obviously had something to do with it. I also attributed it the the 1:9 twist I now run in my 338-06's vs 1:12, or 1:10. Thinking the faster twist could possibly put a little more strain on C&C design.

Dunno about the twist-rate, but since the shot was "high shoulder" assume it also went through the spine. Is that correct?

I mentioned an ELD-M that exited on a frontal shot on a big bull moose, but that was not an ELD-X. Very different bullet.

Here is a pic of the entrance.

Thanks for that photo. It looks like the bullet went not only through bone on both shoulders but also the heaviest part of the spine--which is some of the thickest bone on deer (and elk, etc.)

I am not making "excuses" for the bullet, but just noting you never know what might happen when you pull the trigger. One of the oddest bullet recoveries that I have personally witnessed was a 340-grain .416 Woodleigh Weldcore bullet from a wildcat round. Muzzle velocity was around 2400 fps, and the animal was a female fallow deer around 100 pounds live-weight, which was angling not quite directly away at around 100 yards. At the shot the deer staggered around 25-30 yards and fell dead.

The bullet angled from the rear right ribs to inside the left shoulder. The base was found protruding through the skin, after the expanded bullet tumbled and the "petals" hung up on the skin. It retained around the typical 90% of its weight.

MD,
What has been your experience with the 25 caliber 100 and 115 BT’s? I have been using the 115 a good bit the last few years and have been impressed with the penetration on deer and hogs. I haven’t been able to catch one yet. Thanks.

GreggH

MD, that 340gn Woodleigh .416 was a very soft bullet so I am not surprised at the result on a fallow doe.

I tested them when released in my .416 Weatherby and because it was a spire point, loaded them up to over 2900fps. At that velocity they literally tore a feral goat in 2 and sprayed the neighborhood with carrion. When I told Geoff McDonald about it, he told me they were intended for a maximum velocity range around 2500-2600fps.

It was a better bullet for longer range as I found out on other animals but up close, the velocity needed to be kept down a bit. Geoff tests his bullets on game before release but as you say, I am sure they get tweaked where improvements can be made.

It's a shame my articles arn't available on the net as I am sure people would love to read them.

MD,

No excuses, deer ended up in the freezer. I was certainly pondering the bullet performance after the hunt in 2019, but you put your no nonsense opinion on it back then when I originally posted about the bullet performance.

Also curious about this, at Roberts velocity in comparison to the monos from Barns. My guess is both options likely get stuff on the ground and in the freezer. But these discussions get us through the long off season. And keep the wallet exercised as items get production runs for the fall.

115 Ballistic Tips are all I run in my 257Wby. Strictly anecdotal, but imo, these bullets have held up very well shooting thin skinned game at Weatherby velocities(3400 fps). Ranges have been between 90 and 300 yds. Usually complete penetration, but recovered bullets have almost always been intact. I've found them to be very assured killers and exceptionally accurate in every 257Wby I've owned.

Here's a 115BT I recovered from a medium bodied whitetail shot at 160 yds. Bullets was found underneath the skin on the offside. High shoulder shot. Deer dropped at the shot.

Bt’s in 6mm in particular the 55 grain and the 50 and 55’s in 22 cal are about the best coyote bullets you can get. The little bit of copper in the base will drive through shoulder enough to strike something vital. However I have found bt’s to generally not shoot as well as Berger Sierra or Hornady offerings. They are one of my first try bullets when working a coyote load.

Yeah, I'd sure like to read them!

Thanks for the info on that 340 WL. The wildcat that was used on that fallow doe, if I recall correctly, was the .416 WSM, and the velocity was in the 2500 range. I might still have a photo of the bullet and round, and will check later.

I started using the 115s soon after Ballistic Tips were introduced, and they were soft even from the .257 Roberts. The first animal I shot was a mature whitetail doe that was facing me at around 100 yards, and I aimed for the "dimple" at the base of the neck. She dropped right there, then stumbled to her feet and started walking off broadside. Another one in the ribs dropped her.

Turned out the first one had really opened wide, and lost the core, and deflected on the front of the chest. Told Nosler and they told me about how they were beefing up many of the BTs.

Didn't used the 100s until I knew they'd also been beefed up, and shot several deer and antelope with them, encountering no problems. One of them was a really big whitetail doe, quartering to me at around 125 yards. Aiming for the near shoulder and she wanted about 30 yards and keeled over. Found the expanded bullet under the hide at the rear of the ribs on the far side. Will look it up later, but seem to recall it retained about 60% of its weight. That was from a .257 Roberts at 3150 fps or so.

Do a search for Dogzappers information on the 100 grain Ballistic Tip.

I am thinking it is fairly stout for what it is.

My go to bullet in the .257 Roberts had been the 100 grain Hornady Interlock but I don't know that they are available any longer. Might have to try a BT now.