Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 120 Ballistic Tip @ 7mm-08 velocities

Between 2600 and 3000 fps muzzle vel, I really like this bullet. When I pushed them over 3100, I started seeing them break up on bone. I really like the ttsx over 3k fps, it means I can shoot at any angle.

I've done big Alberta whitetail, mooses and elk with the 120Ballistic in the .280 Ackley. Only one bullet per customer and no complaints.

kd

Long ago I picked up a bunch of 120 BT's when I thought my kids would start out with 7x57's. Well, the kids opted for 6.5x55's.

All my heavier bullets were used or loaded in 280 AI.

So, when I finished up my 7x57 I only had the 120's on hand. I'd read enough good this about them that I decided to give them a try. I loaded them over a Max load of RL15 and took them to Texas in December. I took a nice 7 point buck, and two large sows. All were one shot kills. Two were DRT's. One pig ran about 50yds before pilling up. The bullet had clipped the lungs and taken out the heart.

I've always been a little leery of BT's being too soft. These 120's performed flawlessly. Glad I bought enough for two boys, I'll have enough to last me a long time.

Under 3,100ft/s bullet has been great. However, I had a bad experience on a couple of deer shooting this bullet close to 3,300ft/s.

140gr BT vs 120gr BT.


120gr exit out of my .280 @ 3,100ft/s at 30yds.

It had shed the core but it plowed through a ton of bone and about 24" of bear. That's the only one I've ever caught and the core and jacket were under the hide. Impact velocity was probably 3175.

These days it pays to work with some variety. I like a bit heavier bullet for game animals but that's just me. 120's will kill about anything for which the little 7 is intended. We have 5 7-08 in the family and the SiL so I've tried a lot of bullets and powders due lately to what I have on hand or can buy at the moment. If you find a suitable combination better pack in a bunch or have a laundry list in your "possibles" book. My wife has taken caribou and kudu as well as a nice 6X elk with 160's, for deer size stuff we use 139-145. Pretty much a "pick em" but you can get hungry if you only have one recipe for cooking..... Nice thing about all the 7's is you can mix and match when you handload 7x57 M,280 Rem, 7 Rem Mag./ Wby. yadda yadda..... Have fun!

I have posted on this question many times. I will only add to all of the above that the 120-grain BT is the only bullet that I load for three 7mm-08s belonging to one of my daughters and two of my grandsons. We have never lost a whitetail, mule deer or pronghorn. Most were DRT. Accuracy and terminal performance have been about all you could ask for.

I think what makes the bullet work so well in both the 7mm-08 and the 7x57 is that velocity is held to just below that point where they become too frangible. For the ranges and velocities I will use it, I expect it to continue to perform. In my 280 AI I would step up to heavier (more heavily constructed) bullets, especialy if the ranges were under 200 yds.

I run the 120 NBT out of a .280AI at around 3325 fps and I have yet to have one stay inside a deer or come apart at ranges from as close as 15 yards to 300 yards.

Old Doe Shooter

I've worked up a bunch of loads for the various 7mm-08's I've had over the years. The ones below have all shot sub MOA and worked the best for me performance wise. These will be the first ones I work up for my new custom. As you can see, I usually go with a little heavier bullet as well. Just want to try out the 120 BT because I've heard so much good things about them and it will add another load to the stable.

145 Speer Hot Cor
140 Sierra Pro Hunter
154 Hornady Round Nose
140 Nosler Accubond

I have some 120 bt's on hand to work up a load for pronghorn this fall. I am a recent 7-08 convert and ended up buying two last year. I shot a big cow elk at 320yds with a120ttsx out of a 24" bbl 700. She went about 20yds and piled up. Also shot a 4pnt bull elk at about 25 yards facing me in the timber. He dropped instantly to a 139 gr Hornady gmx out of my 20" bbl model 7. Love the Mono's for elk but don't think they are needed on deer or antelope.

I took a handful of 120 NBTs* along on a five/day caribou hunt. I was also carrying Barnes 120s. I put the NBTs into only one or two deer, but the first stood out. The animals were on the fly when I took a good lead on a 'bou and drilled it neatly through the shoulders just missing the scapulae, the bullet exiting neatly. That deer hit the deck and skidded dead as a dodo bird for about 30 feet on the hard snow. I don't have enough experience with it to be confident in what it will do, but I like what it can do.

20" 7mm-08, 150-200 yard shot.

TN Deer Hunter

Well, they always say a picture is worth a 1000 words, and the sectioned bullets sure show why the 120BT is a tougher than would normally be expected.

Nice clean exit hole on that doe as well. Load book shows that I should be able to approach 3,100FPS with my 24" 7mm-08. It's good to know that the 120BT will hold up to those velocities, especially at 30Yds.

Tope

How does that 24" 700 handle and balance? What barrel contour? What kind of stock?

Everyone
First... Thanks to all for all the responses!

These are a lot of consistently positive testimonies about the 120BT here. With the exception of the one "caution" from vabowhntr about not running them over ~3,100 FPS, every single post had nothing but good things to say about this bullet.

And I think Z1r's point about the 7mm-08/7-57 velocities being optimum for these bullets is spot on. Just fast enough to take them right up to, but just short of, their breaking point.

Assuming they are accurate in my rifle, I will definitely be adding the 120BT to my bag of 7mm-08 bullet tricks.

Originally Posted By: GF1
Not sure why, but Nosler puts thicker jackets on it than on others in this weight class.

To knock over silhouette targets.



I agree with the above.
I ran the 120 for a while in my 7 Rem mag. I didn't like the performance I was seeing on our small whitetails and switched to the 140. In my rifle the 140 is just as accurate as the 120 and it drops our little whitetail deer much quicker.

Latter, I learned the jackets on the 120 was beefed up for the silhouette shooters. That explained what I was seeing in the field.

If you haven't yet tried the 120 V-max, I'd recommend it. It's more accurate than the Ballistic Tips in my rifle and the flesh and bone performance is more in the "varmint" performance range than the "big game" level of penetration.

I get them up to about 3,000 fps in a 7-08.

And here's what they did to a hog (the li'l feller on top) at about 15 yards:






Opening him up, we found this:







Don't know that the bullet fragmented, but the shoulder bone surely did. But man, was the rest of him ever TASTY!

FC

It's a stock Remington ADL I bought for a donor when they were on sale at Sportsman's for $319.I threw a Vortex I had on it, and it shot 3 shots under an inch with 120 ttsx. Still not sure what I will do with it. Maybe just keep it as a loaner rifle. I much prefer my 20" stainless model 7 with walnut stock.

This year I shot a deer with a 120 NBT over 45 grains of varget from a browning a-bolt. Shot was under 20 yards and slightly quartering towards me. The deer spun and ran back downhill. The ground was covered in a small skiff of snow so I was able to follow the deer's footprints until I found it 80 yards later. There was not a single drop of blood on the ground from the pile of hair at the impact location to where I found it. It was the first deer I shot with this load and I was concerned about the bullet coming apart but had the opposite effect. Definitely penciled through. Not much meat damage when I skinned it either. They are superbly accurate and I have many more loaded. Hopefully it was just a fluke. Only time will tell.

I'm partial to stainless & wood too! However, my new custom stainless 7mm-08 will be sitting in a brown laminated stock instead of walnut. Of course, this is a whole other conversation :-)