Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip in the 7x57

Great info. Thank you for passing it along. Might just have to get another 7mm to try em out!

Thanks to all for the info. I may be sharing a rifle with one of my boys this Fall and a 120 will be easy recoil wise on him just in case he should shoot.

Has anybody done any penetration tests with the 7mm 120 and 140 grain Ballistic Tip bullets? Does the 120gn penetrate further than the 140gn, or the same amount?

I've heard the 120 penetrates better than the 140. Can anyone confirm this?

I can't. Prefer the 140s personally, as it appears to me they do more damage inside deer along the way to thin air. Am concerned with eating but not up to the hole...

FWIW, loading 120s down to 2800ish for the kids when they were young worked well for me.

Kill just as well and the recoil was not an issue.

I can't prove it but assumed the Sierras and the flat nose were "softer" and gave a little more indication of a hit at lower velocity than the 120NBT (boosts morale...:))

4 or 5 years ago took my 7-08 Mountain Rifle (the real one, BDL style, not DBM) to Wyoming. I killed my 3 antelope and brother in law grabbed it and killed his 2 does with it as well. All 5 were shot using 120 grain Ballistic Tips. Not a single bullet was recovered, pass throughs. Shots from 70 yards to 350 yards or so.

I've used the 120 Ballistic Tip in a 19" 7x57 carbine. 50 grs of H-414 gets me 2800 fps.

Two whitetail does have been shot with this load; one by my daughter at about 250 yds and one by me at around 200 yds.

I'm switching back to 154 grained bullets. The 120 BT's killed the deer but the 154's knocked them on their butts. Maybe at closer ranges the 120's do more damage at the higher velocities but at 200+ yds I'm not impressed enough to keep using them.

Dan

7mm-08, varget at 3050fps and they work great on deer and hogs

154gr Hornadys rock!

Who has shot shoulders with them?

I cross sectioned a 120BT and 140BT to confirm and the jacket is thicker. My nephew borrowed my T3 7-08 and now it's his. All he uses is 120BT's on Montana mule deer.

I can only think of a few reasons to shoot deer in the shoulders..... I never have as dad taught me different.

different strokes....

not an shoulder shooter, but my kid ran one thru the top of the buck's shoulder/spine joint @30 yards--it destroyed all three and continued to parts unknown....:)

Mine did also, but then I leaned it ends things really quick and they usually stay in the same spot you shot them. Which does have a certain advantage. Additionally I prefer heart over hamburg shoulder meat. There is more than a little hamburg on a Deer and only one heart.

Which is why I try to have a different stroke.

Another commonly heard rule is shoot for the opposite shoulder. Why not also shoot for the one facing you when you can?

How many grains?


P

45 gr is max load and works great in most of the 7-08s I've loaded for.

I have shot deer shoulders without trying, they go through one rather well and will be found under the skin on the other side if pushed really hard.

Midsized deer shoulders that is

45 grains varget and after that I start to get pressure signs, shoots well in 2 different rifles with the bullets setting way out the same, one at 3050fps and the other at 3100fps, I would not start with this load as half a grain over and one of my rifles starts cratering primers bad, it's the 3100fps one.

Thanks,

battue,

Try shooting them at the front of the shoulder, at the junction of shoulder and neck, no lower than midway up. If the bullet is up to this placement, it will break both shoulder blades and shatter the spine. Talk about DRT! The 154 Hornadys excel at this, and just about any other shot placement. The 175s do too. I have enough of both to last my lifetime.