Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Anybody ever section a 243 Ballistic Tip 95 grain?

1OJ: I guess we could both be accused of using anecdotal experience as data (hence our completely divergent conclusions).

I do think there would be better choices than to use a .25 100grain Ballistic Tip on a large-bodied deer, especially if driven at velocities approaching .25-06 speeds.

However, for antelope, I have found that very bullet to be perfect for antelope when launched from my Browning B78 (.25-06) at 3450fps. Antelope are not thick-skinned, and I'm not in the practice of shooting them in the fanny as they run away.

At more earthly velocities (such as from my .250 Savages), I find the 85 grain Ballistic Tip to be the cat's meow for antelope. Early on when using this bullet (and the 100 grain in the bigger gun), I thought the bullet was never exiting. Almost without fail, upon skinning, a tiny hole could be found where the copper "disk" that was the solid base of the bullet (and perhaps some wall jacket attached) made it out of the animal.

I would not want such bullet "blowup" on an elk, moose, or a silver-faced muley. On the other hand, with antelope or average sized deer, if "blowup" results in a rapidly deceased animal, I find very little dissatisfaction with such performance.

My early loading experience with the .270 was centered on the old Sierra SPBT. Mostly because it shot so well (and still does) out of any .270 I tried it in. While I stood with a buddy admiring an old regressed fork-horn 250lb mule deer, we discovered a lump just under the skin on the far side of the bullet entrance hole. We carved it out, and found the Sierra jacket well flayed but pretty much all there , with only a button of lead that promptly fell out of it. My friend remarked, "Oh. You've got core separation!", in a tone of voice that a doctor might use to tell me I had a social disease.

I looked down at a very inert huge muley that had become very inert very quickly after inflicting "core separation" upon me and my bullet, and had difficulty grasping my friend's point.

I still do.

What the heck is overpenetraion?

My "anecdotal" evidence on whitetails, a 25-06 (or two) and the 100gr BTips, amounts to a coupla dozen dead deer between myself and a hunting bud. Some out in the 350 to 450 yard sweet spot.

All of mine were one shot kills (primarily heart/lungers). Recall he wound up pepperin' a big doe once, that insisted on playing hide and seek in a brushy creek bottom one year, otherwise his were all one'n done?

None of which went far, or ever exhibited any of the infamous Btip Blow Ups we read so much about. And many (most?) of those were with the original 100gr Btips of years ago. Not even sure if any of my kills were with the "improved" version, although there are about four black boxes of 'em in the cupboard. Think all of my deer kills were with the ones in the old green, red and white boxes?

If I'm hunting deer with one of my 25-06s, it'll have 100gr Btips in it. Has been so for many years. If I ever decide to tote a 243 for deer, it'll have 95gr BTips in it.