Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Give me the short and skinny on the 6.5mm 120 grain BT

Alright guys, here is the deal-

I have a remington M7 in .260 remington that has been finicky as heck! It's a stainless/synthetic and I know the real answer is to restock the rifle, bed, etc the rifle but I just don't have the $$.

I finally found the magic load that it actually likes Varget (surprise surprise!) and 120g Ballistic tips. I am guessing I am pushing the Ballistic Tips out at about 2700-2800 fps (it was too dark the other morning thanks to the rain to get reliable chrono readings). I am getting 3/4"-1" consistent accuracy at 100 yards for three shots which is about 2" less than everything else I have ever tried (and it has been a lot!)

As much as I wanted to shoot the 125g Partition I just can't get reliable accuracy out of them. I also tried 120g TTSX's but couldn't get anything to go less than 2.0 inches.

My question to you guys is how are these 6.5mm (.264) 120g Ballistic tips on deer at these speeds? I don't shoot through the shoulders (intentionally) as I am a meat hunter, not a horn hunter. The only bone I may intentionally hit is a rib on the way through. Deer where I hunt average around 120 lbs for a mature doe, maybe 150-180 for a mature buck. I normally just shoot does but if a big one steps out, i want to be confident in what i'm shooting.

I know many who sing the praises of the 120 grain 7mm bullets but i can't find much information about the 6.5mm's by searching.

Let me know your experiences good or bad but don't let it turn into a bashing match. I only care about the ballistic tips in 6.5mm (not about the time you shot a 150 B&C class deer through the shoulder with a 55g BT out of your .223).

I appreciate your help! I just want to be confident that the 120's are good medicine for what i'm after.

It will work fine, even through the shoulders.

have a 6.5 mannlicher-Schoenauer that I am getting ready to hunt with, and was wondering th same thing, thanks

My late father shot early versions out of a 264 mag, and for that they were rather soft. But that was twenty or more years ago IIRC.

The current ones are pretty good at the sane speeds of a 260.

The 120 grain BT shoots good groups for me, but I don't recall having 1 provide through/through penetration, if that is important to you. The deer that I've shot with the 120 grain BT have died very quickly, when shot into the pleural cavity, and the spent bullets usually found imbedded in the off-side rib cage.

In the 260, I really like the 100 grain Partition for deer, and the 129 grain Hornady SpirePoint for "take on whatever comes".

Jeff

That you have found a really accurate loading brings up the adage: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But, I too own a Model 7 SS but in 7mm-08 and I obtain very acceptable accuracy with most anything I feed it. Perhaps after deer season, you might have a competent gunsmith check or fine-tune the bedding. The synthetic stock is a casting. and there could be some flash that's compromising the bedding.

Early BT's were most accurate in my gun (.260 Model 7 SS). Everything else shot patterns at 100 yards.
But did not get much penetration. Especially at close range. We lost a big buck and a huge boar that year before I came to my senses. Almost ditched the gun in frustration. Rebarreled instead.
140's Core-lokts are proven beast slayers.
The 120 grain Accu-Tips have been deadly on hogs this year from 30 to 300 yards.



stumpy

How early were those Bal Tips?

federali,

It's not too much of a secret that the M7 synthetic stocks are only good for a big door stopper. I have a long-term goal of dropping it into a McMillan Edge stock but the $$$ isn't there right now.

I do most of my gunsmithing myself and have considered bedding the rifle but it looks to me like it would be an even bigger headache due to stock design. I think i'll just replace it.

For now though, it is shooting quite well with these 120's. It will shoot other groups using the 125g partition of around 1.5-2.0 very consistently but I was looking for something marginally better even though we all know that a 2" group at 100 yards will kill deer very dead. It's more of a confidence thing for me.

I am strongly considering trying some of the 100g TTSX bullets in 6.5mm. I also saw the 100g partitions. How are they on deer sized game? I haven't picked any of these bullets up mainly because I have such an abundance of the 120g BT's and the 125g Partitions on hand.

BTW- the boxes of 120g ballistic tips I have were all made within the last two years so I know the lots were recent

I ran 120 BTs out of a .260 M700 Mt. Rifle for a deer season. I shot a couple mule deer and a whitetail, all big deer. The only thing I was unhappy about is that they did more meat damage than I thought they would, but they smacked deer down right nicely, and I didn't recover any from chest cavity shots. I'm a meat hunter too, and they'll do the job, you have to mess up something to kill a deer, but I'm running 140 gr. Partitions in a different .260 Ruger M77 MkII now and will use them on deer this fall. splattermatic here at the 'fire ended up with the other .260...

I used the 120 ballistic tips out of my swede last year, between my kids and I we shot 6 deer with it and did not recover any bullets all were pass through. I think that at 260 and swede velocities you will have no problems with the 120 BT

killed a buck antelope last year with a 120 bt norma factory load out of my swede. 85 yards through both shoulders. they kill quick

Has to be 10+ years ago.

stumpy

bluedot and rockchucker-

Any idea of the velocity you are pushing them at?

Thanks for the input guys! keep it coming

I also have a model 7 in 260. If you want to try another bullet tougher than the BT, try the Hornady 129SP. My gun gets .75" or less with them and Rel-22 with a CCI250 lighting the charge. I get about 2650 from my 18.5" barrel.

A friend had a VERY finicky Kimber that shot patterns until he tried Rel-22. Now he gets 130TSX and 129 Hornady SPs in nice little clusters.

I've only tested them into wet phone books but they held together very well and penetrated better then any of the other 120gr. bullets I could find at the time. I've got a pile of different 6.5 bullets if there is something you want to try. Give me a shout, I'm sure we can work some kind of trade out.

I wouldn't hesitate to use the 120gr. BT and just picked up a box to try in my new swede.

The 120 BT is the only bullet I have used for deer and antelope in my 6.5-06. I am shooting them at around 3100 fps IIRC and couldn't be happier with performance. The only one I have recovered ruined a better part of a whitetail bucks backbone.

I wouldn't hesitate a bit using them for deer or bigger animals either.

ruck, i'm shooting the 120 ballistic tips over 51.o gr of MRP, is right at 2950 fps in my tikka T3 Lite and from my 28" heavy barreled varmint rifle they are right at 3100 fps.

2800-2850 if i remember correctly