Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 115 grain ballistic tip

GSSP is that an amax on the bottom picture on the left? What is the middle bullet? How does one go about sectioning a bullet like that?

Per the caption that accompanied the pictures, left to right; 162 AMAX, 162 Hornady BTSP, 150 BT.

When i've sectioned bullets, i've pinched them in vice grips and ground the bullet down, 1/2 way, against a rotary grinding wheel. Not as clean as the pics I posted.

CCR was better, anyway.

Yep!

Thanks GSSP! I am not savvy enough to be posting pics like that, and I didn't know how I was going to convince shootbrownelk that he was seriously mistaken. Then I read down, and this awesomeness appeared!

And once again, I'd love to get my hands on some 1st generation BTs in 30 cal. Hint.

Why, unless you want to make a mess. I shot a total of two coues whitetail with them and both were total decapitations.

Poked 2 or 3 of those in 180 grains through ol' Bull-alces with nary a fragment recovered.


......wait, there was one, a messy deal which encountered willows along the way and strayed rearward. I remember finding green plastic in the meat. (But the lung shots were clean and thorough.)

Because the are more cases that shoot 30 cal bullets other than those that hold 50+gr of powder.

You're missing the point. The old ones were grenades at times. The new ones, not so much.

No 25 caliber cartridge or bullet has given me the slightest problem killing deer or antelope, but I've chased enough wound channels through elk with them to say they never impressed the hell out of me either in that role,compared to other stuff.

Even a pair of 120 Partitions fired into good sized mule deer bucks were riveted,bases squished and lead protruding,and lacked the muscle and jacket thickness to do a thorough job of smashing off side shoulders,unlike 270-130's and 7mm 140's, which blow right through the same mess leaving good sized exits at any distance from a few feet to several hundred yards. I can't imagine things would get any better on an animal weighing two to three times more. Maybe they have beefed them up.I'm no bullet engineer but seems there's only so much room to work with jackets and cores in a bullet that squeezes down a 25 caliber tube.

My own personal (bull) elk bullet criteria is that it has to smash (break) an on side shoulder,quartering on,reach the vitals and tear them up....and from quartering away do the same thing from the last ribs and have enough muscle to still smash a shoulder on the off side.(it doesn't have to go end to end since I don't generally shoot things that way).

But if I have to wait for a perfect broadside rib shot on any elk because I lack confidence in the bullet, I done brought the wrong stuff. Elk aren't so tough when you simultaneously bust up means of locomotion while destroying vital plumbing,too.

If there's any doubt it will do those things to an elk, I leave it home.I have to admit I have never used any mono on elk, but a 25 is still a 25 and straight line penetration is not the only part of the killing equation.There's frontal area of an expanding bullet as well,and enough weight retention to keep the expanded portion moving forward through heavy resistance.

I know enough about 25's to know they kill elk,but also know they aren't "ideal",at least to me. Maybe the new beefed up 115 BT will do these things and maybe it won't. The manufacturer doesn't mention the bullet being intended for elk. I think they make other bullets for that. Maybe it will on a meat sized cow but not on a herd bull...I don't know and have no intentions of finding out. It's just as easy to shoot them with something better suited to the task. JMHO. YMMV.

I hate to state the obvious, but it is you that have missed MY point. Bullet performance has EVERYTHING to do with impact velocity.

Start the most frangible bullet at moderate to low speed and it performs admirably in tissue, expanding enough to damage what needs to be damaged, and holding together to penetrate on through. Doubt me? Take your most fragile game bullet outside and throw it at something. I'll bet it held together just fine.

As I alluded to, there are platforms to propel bullets like the first version of the BT that will allow them to perform admirably on game. I think Nosler knew what they were doing the first time, and I think they had good reason to revamp the line later. That doesn't make the first versions worthless. They are still bullets made with Nosler quality specs, designed for hunting game, with ideal expansion properties for my purposes.

I am not asking you to use them. You obviously don't want to. I am stating that I want to use them. The new ones are a bit on the tough side.

One of the problems with the early ones was that the poly tips were defective and caused problems. They fixed that eventually. I much prefer a Nosler Solid Base over the original BTs and I have laid in a life time supply.

Interesting. I killed some animals with the Solid Bases in calibers from 6mm to .30 and found them on the hard side, even though muzzle velocities were all in the 2900-3000 fps range. Much preferred how Partitions in the same sizes killed, probably because of the relatively soft alloy they use in the front core.

Like a lot of people I wasn't crazy about the first Ballistic Tips, but they solved the problems and I like them a lot now. They tend to both kill quickly and penetrate well. Oh, and shoot accurately too!

I had good luck with the solid base bullets, and initially was pretty irritated about the new-fangled plastic-tipped Ballistic Tip Noslers...

But.. They sure did shoot well. Grudgingly, as I ran out of Solid Base bullets, I started using the B-Tips. Learned to put 'em in the chest rather than through a shoulder. Really quick kills!

Now I like them better. They've been wonderful from 6mm Rem, .25-06, .308 and .30-06, absolutely wonderful in the later versions. Still shoot great. Open fast. Penetrate very well.

Guy

There is never a dead horse around when you need one.....

I think the Ballistic Tips make an interesting point- The point being, by the time the average hunter shoots enough game with a bullet to make a valid assessment of it, they change the damn thing and you have to start all over again.

Ironic ain't it?

You have got it all figured out...at least the way I see it. If I were King for a Day, I'd name you Secretary of State. It seems when you use enough gun, as you say, less crap happens. Provided we put the bullet where it's supposed to go. I am way too risk averse to trust a 115 grain BT on an elk, even though I love BT's on deer. Love your quote about "coolness factor going minimal"....I got torched for calling it "stunt shooting". Just hitched up my asbestos underwear a little tighter and rode on.

Did i get lost in this conversation or did it switch from Ballistic tip to boat tail. i have used 117gr ballistic tip on 25-06 on elk out to 100yds and they work great as long as they are put in the right place as always.