Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa 30-06 and 180 Ballistic Silvertip ??

Any one have thoughts on using the 30-06 and 180 Ballistic Silvertip on African plains game up to kudu?

I'm planning a trip for next year and will either take my 30-06 or 300 H&H.

If the 06, my research has me planning to use a barnes 165g TSX. Think that will be fine up to Eland, but don't expect to go bigger than Kudu.

the 165 tsx works just fine. Read JJHack's site.

I am aware of how good the TSX is...but all I can find around here is loaded with the B/T...that's the question....if I could get TSX's or Accubonds, no question.....

There are better choices. Why risk it?

Yep...good old Rem Core Lokt are better than Ballistic Silvertips...

No they're not, by a long shot. Nosler beefed up the 180 Ballistic Tip a few years ago with the same ulra-heavy jacket they used for the 200-grain Ballistic Tip--and I put one of those in the "front shoulder" of a quartering-on bull gemsbok on the Namibia safari you and I made in 1999. The trackers found the expanded bullet under the skin of the rump on the other side.

The heavy-jacket Ballistic Tips act similar to Partitions.

I shot through a Northern BC Moose with a 180 Ballistic Tip.Its not going to bounce off a kudu.

Nope.

People kept wanting to shoot elk with 'em, so Nosler obliged.

Good to know...

So, is that where the heavier jacket starts--with the 180-gr 30 cal?

Where was I all that time?

I thought you two were shooting their version of the X bullet...cant even remember what they called those...

Pretty sure the 168's are mucho beefy-o too.

The 180gn .338 is pretty thick.

Tom,

Eileen was shooting 165-grain Fail Safes from her .30-06. I was shooting 200 Ballistic Tips and 250 Partitions from my .338.

Ever hear of buying ammo online? You can have Nosler custom load whatever you want for your 30-06, or any other caliber, and ship them to you for a reasonable total cost. Midway, plenty of other places to purchase quality ammo if you don't want to shoot ballistic tips. Personally, I would not hunt in Africa with them, and I say that having shot something over 60 animals in Africa ranging from grysbok to elephants. You're going a long way and spending a lot of money. Don't scrimp on the quality of bullets you shoot at game. Something like a Nosler Partition, TSX, or even Accubond is much better choice. Heck, even a Remington Core-Lokt is a much better choice.

George,

Nosler varies the jacket thickness of Ballistic Tips according to how people tend to use them. The smallest ultra-heavy jacket model I know of is the 120 7mm, and the 150 7mm is pretty stout as well. (Again, people kept shooting elk with it.)

But all the "hunting" Ballistic Tips made today are a lot tougher than the originals were, whether due to harder cores, thicker jackets or both. I shot a big Montana whitetail doe a couple of years ago with a 100-grain BT from the .257 Roberts, range about 50 yards. She was quartering toward me and the bullet broke the big shoulder joint and made a mess of the heart and lungs before ending up under the hide at the rear of the rib cage. I've seen Partitions that did essentially the same thing.

At the other end of the spectrum, a couple of Ballistic Tips that were only around a year or two but really worked well were the 250-grain 9.3mm and 260-grain .375. In 2002 watched my hunting partner use my Ruger No. 1 .375 H&H use the 260 to break both the base of both scapulas on a South African gemsbok--and exit. That took some doing, as gemsbok hide is very tough and thick over the shoulders, and the bull weighed close to 550 pounds on the ranch's scales. Both of those bullets, however, were soon turned into some of the first AccuBonds, and the BT version discontinued.

I would not recommend bringing Ballistic Tips for your .30/06 on a PG safari. There are much better choices.

For instance, TSX, TTSX, A-Frame, Oryx, Accubond, and Scirroco.

On a 2011 cat hunt in Zim, I used a .30/06 with Federal factory loaded 180 grain TSX's to shoot many bait animals. The load worked perfectly on everything and is my preference for the .30/06 in Africa. The 165 grain TSX in .30/06 worked well for a friend who returned from a Namibian PG hunt.

Safaris are expensive. Ammunition is cheap by comparison. Use a proven premium big game load instead of something that most view as marginal.

Have anyone used the 30 cal 150gr version?

Not deviating too far...

MD, is there any practical difference between the 180AB and the 180BT in cal. 308?