I know several posters have talked about using this bullet on deer but they are such prolific posters that I could not find them in looking at 50 pages (Dober) of their posts! I am planning to use a varmint weight 243 for feral hog control, mostly shooting at night making head and neck shots. I just happen to have a bunch of these bullets but have never put one in a case yet. My main question is will these bullets have much steam left after exiting a hogs head or neck, if they exit. I want something a bit better than my 22-250 but not too much better.

I don't remember any particular thread about the 70 BT being used on hogs, but I remember Steelhead talking about using them on deer with good success.

I have shot several hogs with my 6mm DTI AR using the 70 grain BT all were head shots from 150 to 80 yards and there was never an exit and all were dead when they hit the ground. Hog size was from 40 to 225 lbs. Load them up and shoot away.

Actually it was Steelheads posts I was looking for even though they were about using them for deer, thanks for ponting me there. How fast does a 6mm DTI push 70 gr. bullets?

I took this boar with a chest shot shooting my Savage .308 rifle. Despite the top half of his heart ripped away, this animal ran about 15 yards before toppling over in mid stride. I've also taken wild boar with my 30-30 carbine with nearly identical results. But I have no experience shooting these animals in head or neck.

Sherwwod

I've head shot several using the old 70 grain Sierra HP bullet in my 243 & 6mm. A 22mag 40gr Winchester FMJ works great too. It's all about shot placement, though. Wrong Angle on a pig skull is not always a good result.

A .357sig 125gr Speer FMJ leaves them DRT when I head shoot um with my Glock. The trick is stalking up close enough for a head shot with a pistol.

Damn things are getting smarter & harder to stalk than Whitetails ! And their sense of smell is probably 5 times better than a deer or a dog.

Hogs are way harder to pattern than deer are. Where I hunt them they are almost totally nocturnal.

I wouldn't hesitate to try these on a hog. Just aim in the 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock area under the ear. Shouldn't have any trouble at all.

If you hit them here it really doesn't matter what you shoot them with...

I shot a big, old Muley Doe with one in my 6MM-06. Full frontal shot. The BT penetrated about 18" (fairly straight ---- the front of the Doe was elevated) and exited the backbone.

I was surprised!!

Actually I am hoping for penetration on a hogs neck that leaves the bullet in pieces under the hide on the far side or with little or no chance of damaging a cow after it exits.

My guess is that they will work fine. I realize you said that you had a bunch of these bullets, but if you are up for testing something else, make a run with the 60 grain Sierra HP.

Testing a wide range of bullets in the 243 while doing Blue Dot testing it the 243 and 6mm Rem, I found that even 'varmint' ballistic tips perform much like regular ballistic tips...

what matters is what kind of velocity that it is subjected to..

using trees for backstops out on Forest Service land when testing over the chronograph, I noticed that ballistic tips penetrated right thru the trees.. this was noticed when the MV was under 2600 to 2700 fps, right down to about 1800 fps, for both the 55 and 70 grain Ballistic tips...

same with the 65 grain V Max, and the 60 gr Sierra HP and the 70 Speer TNT...that was when these bullets were moving a little slower than the Ballistic Tips, right at 2500 or so MV...

so a 70 grain Ballistic Tip would really work great at a 6 x 45's MV range, 2700 fps MV or so... if you want it to hit and expand then just crank up the MV a little above that number ( 2800 fps to say 3000 fps) at over 3000 fps range, it certainly start acting like a varmint ballistic tip and go off like a grenade once inside the animal's neck...

I'd sure like to see Nosler make a 70 or 75 grain Ballistic tip to compete with the 75 and 80 grain A Maxes in the 22 caliber market place... by not doing so, I think they are missing a market segment that they could be doing well in...

I figure on using 3300 fps or so and keeping the range under 100 yards, maybe just a bit more. Interestingly I found the 75 gr. Hornady HP to be tougher than I liked though a very effective bullet.

Substitute the V Max then.. myself, I shoot a lot of the Hornady 75 gr HP over the years... probably more of those than any other bullet or two bullets combined thru 6mm barrels..

Gotta say I have never owned a decent 6mm the 75 gr. Hornady HP didn't shoot very well in.

I know first hand the Hornady 75 gr V-Max from the 6mm-06 isn't the best choice for one shot kills with behind the shoulder shots on hogs. Last one i thumped got back up and could still walk , took another shot to finish the job.

I have hit a bunch of hogs behind the shoulder and had them travel a bit, even with my Whelen. The difference really is that the Whelen leaves a blood trail and a good one but gives way too much penetration on small properties with cattle. I have shot a few hogs with the 60 gr. Hornady HP from my 22-250 broadside a few inches over the "elbow" and recovered them after just a short run. This hit seems to me to be the most effective chest shot on a hog. On the other hand this same bullet on head hits has left a bit to be desired, still doing damage but appearing to change direction after the bullet hits. Not every time but often enough to notice. Had a pretty exiting few seconds when a pig got up and snapped at me one night.

Last tuesday the doctor said I have "walking Pneumonia" and prescribes anti biotics and steroids (ugh) so I feel rough to say the least. I look out my kitchen window and there are 4 feral hogs rooting across my horse pasture. It is windy and the range is about 200 yards. I wait for the perfect angle and squeeze off. The other pigs run off and the one Hit drops. Still using the 75 gr. Hornady HP's and this 150 pound hog's neck captures it almost perfectly with just a few pieces of bullet exiting (or bone). I have all my 243 cases loaded with the 75 gr. bullet, haven't felt that good to load the 70 gr. NBT's. I think the bullet may have clipped the rear upper portion of the hogs jaw but still no whining allowed. Other than the wife got up and said I am not going out there to load the pig (windy and raining in the 50's). I called my hunting buddy who came and got the hog saying thanks!

The Nosler 70's are in some brass and some have been fired to get the rifle sighted in with them. Initial testing shows they have at least the penetrating ability of the 75 gr. Hornady HP's in water filled gallon milk jugs.

More testing shows the 70 gr. Ballistic Tip has measurably more penetration however I don't think the fragments exiting will hurt much.

I was out fooling around on a farm near West, Tx and spotted some hogs in a trail between a treeline and a corn field so I got my 243 out of the tool box and got ready for a shot. They were moving slowly knocking down corn and were coming my way. One stopped just long enough for me to get a shot at her ear and I made the shot, it hit a bit b elow the ear and angled back right into the spine. A few small exit holes in the far side could have been bone or bullet fragments but the hog was dead right there. Not a big one around 200 pounds. This was one of the few hogs I have killed in the daytime. The 70 gr. NBT will get more of a workout after deer season.

Thanks for the update. I'm thinking these would be perfect deer medicine for a loaded down .243 for my wife/daughters in the future.

I'm beginning to think it may be good enough at 3300fps on deer. There was damage all the way back to where I cut the hogs head off and shattered bone all in the neck.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear you are right. Steelhead has put his stamp of recommendation on that bullet several times. I don't have any in the NBT category, but I do have quite a few Sierra Blitzkings in the 70 grain denomination.

Now that I have a little more time on my hands, I may have to piddle around with them a bit.

Mark D recommended them and I ran them. I like the bullet in the 6x45.

I can't speak to actual hunting experience but the accuracy of this bullet is beginning to impress me. IMR4350 and the 70 grain Ballistic Tip resulted in a .101 3 shot group from my 243 yesterday. At first I though I had missed the paper with 2 shots until I looked at the back of the cardboard. Thinking it was a fluke I tried another group and the first two did almost the same thing before I got excited and pulled the third one.
Not bad for a 'blemished' bullet-glad I bought several bags.

Just an FYI,

I shot a hog in the head with a 7-08 140 gr. BT and it didn't penetrate. It flattened his ass, but when I finally got to the spot where he fell, he was gone. LOL

Located him a little ways away and shot him again.

I guess the impact angle was weird and it just dug a groove in his head and cracked his skull before going elsewhere.

I was on a bluff and the pig was about 250 yds away below me.

From my experience, I would use something that was a little tougher than a 70 grain BT.

I've shot hundreds of them and head/neck shots using a light at night ain't always possible.

You realize that not all NBTs are created equal right?

Laffin.

They used the 22 short,long and long rifle for head shots on the farm for many a year. Can't see where a BT at twice the speed and weight wouldn't work.

A lot of people go on about the BT's lack of penetration. I have found them generally tougher than the Hornady spire points,especially in the heavier weights. In fact all this sniveling has cause Nosler to make it's BT's tougher than needed to satisfy all the hard bullet types. Compared to the Hornady 75 gr. HP the 70 gr. BT is by far the tougher bullet. In my 7x57 the seconds I have in 140 gr. with the gray tips penetrate very well on both hogs and deer pushed to 2700 fps. I think they have thickened the jackets a bit.

I've shot enough hogs at night to sink the Queen Mary.

The point I was making - and I even said as much - was that head shots aren't always doable at night with a light.

Once you've started smoking hogs, they wise up real quick. You'll be in for running shots and if you have any experience in shooting animals at night running, you'll know what I say is true.

Far better to use something that will reliably kill if you have to take broad side or quartering shot.

That's just a fact. The punishment those animals can absorb is sometimes surprising.

I usually try to hunt on nights with a lot of moon and often don't even turn a light on when I shoot. Typically though I will turn the light on just as I squeeze the trigger. The hogs in our lease area are very spooky and rarely seen in the daytime. I usually walk down sandy roads sneaking up on piles of corn or the feeders with the wind in my face. If they run they are in the brush so no shot anyway. If all I get is a broadside or quartering shot I just go for the spine. In the thorn brush on the lease if they go 50 yards you might never find them.

Recent testing of this bullet. Two large hogs were taken ove the holidays with this bullet pushed to around 3400 fps. One shot in the head between the eye and the base of the ear dropped so hard he bounced. Range 40 yards. The other hog had his head in a bait hole so I shot him in the neck a bit from the side and 3 inches from the base of the skull. This hog dropped also but was still alive needing a finisher from my 45 colt. Range 60 yards. I think if I had a tougher bullet there would have been no need for a finisher. Now a friend who uses this bullet a lot on coyotes used it on two deer. Both shot at around 50 yards. His load was the Federal factory 70 gr. BT called the Vshok. The doe hit in the ribs had a big hole where it was hit and ran maybe 200 yards. The buck, a large 10 point was hit twice broadside in the ribs, took off and was not recovered. I don't know if the Vshok is a softer variant of the Ballistic Tip or not. I switched to the 95 gr. Ballistic Tip.