Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Nosler Ballistic tip or Hornady SST?

If it were me it would be the most accurate. I shoot a 120 grain Ballistic Tip in a 7x57 Mauser and have gotten expansion and exit at 150 yds. I regularly shoot a 140 grain SST in a 270 WSM and have shot many deer at 200-250 yds with expansion and exit.

I've also used 130 grain Ballistic Tip in the 270 WSM. It expanded more violently at the above ranges and really blasted holes in the deer I've shot. They were all dead right there with that bullet.

Both bullets should work fine, pick the most accurate of the two.


Dan

I picked up a box of the 140 grain Ballistic Tips this morning and see that the mv is listed about 200 fps slower than the 139 grain Superformance SST's. All things being equal with less velocity, penetration should be more than with the SST's and maybe recoil a pound or two less. If I want to hot rod that 7mm-08 with a Superformance load, I might as well use my 7 RM. I've read that a lot of you guys have had good things to say about the BT's and never a discouraging word which hasn't always been the case with the SST's. Right or wrong I equate the distance that a deer runs or doesn't run after the shot with the lethality of the bullet. I don't shoot shoulders or cns normally so I haven't had drt heart lung experiences, but if a deer runs 70 or 100 yards before going down, that isn't as good as one that drops at half that distance.

Mathman, true enough about the battered tip on a lead head Interlock probably not making any difference at the distance that I shoot, but that deer still ran 50 yards and if there is something out there that would open even faster with a plastic tip, I'm going to give it a try. Deer are only 12" wide through the brisket. Hornady does put that 139 grain Interlock into their whitetail series, so to be sure they work pretty well. My last rifle deer was at 20 yards and the one before that 65. Post rut hunting here in November and the big guys are hanging out in the cover.

Man, I hate to get off topic but if you’re shooting factory ammo you should at least run a box each of Browning BXR 144gr and Winchester Deer Season XP 140gr through your rifle to see if it like ‘em. I’ve tried both in four different rifles and they’ve been very accurate.

Killed a few deer with the Winchester 125 and Browning 129 in a 6.5 Creedmoor and they knock the living crap out of everything I’ve hit (and my buddies, too). Spectacular DRTs and exits100% of the time from 40 - 280 yards.

They destroy innards like nothing I’ve ever seen and they’re affordable, as well.

140 grain Interlocks all day for me in the .270. Since 2009 I have never lost an animal or seen one run more than 25 yards. Usually, DRT. It looks like a freaking grenade goes off in the boiler room and less of a chance of a issue if I accidentally hit a shoulder. My shots typically range from 100 to 350 yards on average.

I had bad luck with them as well years ago. Do you think they behave like an Interlock now?

A buddy of mine used the SST bullet on a springbok cull hunt. These animals are small and from his account the pile of springbok he killed the bullets fragmented and didnt exit a single 90 pound animal

TXhunter80,

In my experience over the past couple years, both the SST's and ELD-X's perform similarly to Interlock Spire Points of the same weight/diameter, when started at the same muzzle velocities.

I've only used SST's in my .243. They're easily the most effective, quickest killing deer bullets I've used in that cartridge. Have never tried ballistic tips though so maybe they'd be even better. I know they've been more impressive to me than 100 gr. core-lokt, 100 gr. interlock, 100 gr. power shok and 85 gr Sierra BTHP. I had one close range {maybe 30 yards} front on shot on an exceptionally huge old doe. The bullet blew the top of her heart off, turned her lungs to jelly, blew a silver dollar sized hole through her liver and was lost in the gut pile after making a nasty, stinking mess of them. Seemed like plenty of penetration to me with exceptional mayhem along the way.

I have ran both NBT's and SST's in my 7-08. The SST's might be a little more accurate but they tended to be highly explosive at times when hitting bone. 140 gr NBT's are what I am using in that right now and they seem to drop deer harder.

My experience with SSTs have been in 140 and 150 grain 270s, 165 grain 30 cal and 170 grain 8mms
Some of the 270s and some of the 8MMs came apart badly and shed their jackets in deer and antelope. 270s were used on deer and antelope shot from both 270 Winchesters and 270 Short Mag. In 2 cases I found an empty jacket even though there was an exist wound, so that means part of the cores exited anyway. All the 270 kills total 8 animals. All kills were dramatic, but I really do not like having bullets come apart when I can get others that don't.

The 8MMs were used on deer, antelope and elk ,all from my short barreled 8X57 carbine. 4 deer all with good results and exits. 3 antelope all with good results with 2 exits and the one recovered bullet was pretty good, weighing 135 grains after it stopped. The elk were not as encouraging. 3 shots 2 at one elk and one at another. None exited. One bullet was well expanded and looked perfect, but the other 2 came apart leaving only lead frags and empty jackets. So I believe it's a good deer bullet, but a bit less then I want to for elk. I am going to the 180 grain GMX or the 200 grain Nosler Partitions in this rifle for elk hunting.

Oddly, the two 165 grain 30 cal SSTs I have seen used were one deer and one antelope, and they both worked very well. Shot from a 26" 308 Savage M110. Choreographed at 2722 FPS before the hunts. Deer was at about 60 yards and the antelope at 171 yards. Both left exits about the size of a Quarter, and not a lot of blood-shot tissue.

So I am not ready to condemn the lot of them. They have all been super accurate, but the inner-lock ring is about the size of a human hair. If they were to double the jacket thickness in the shank and base I am sure it would help a lot.

The early Ballistic Tips with the solid bases and thin jackets were some of the very worst "game bullets" I ever saw used, or used myself, EVER, ANYWHERE, or at ANY TIME up to that point in the early 90s. The only ones I have seen used that are as bad (even worse in many cases) were Burgers. Early Ballistic tips I used or was an eye witness to their use were 257" 120 grain,(2 of them) 130 grain 270s,(3 of them) 180 grain 30 cal (3 of them) and 210 grain 338. (1 of them) ALL sucked.

The new Nosler B.T. HUNTING bullet get far better reviews.

The jacket thickness is now about the same as the jackets were on the 1970s and earlier Remington Core-Lokts in 270 and 7mm, and I have used a bunch of those old Remington bullets with 100% success. I have 150 grain Nosler B.T. HUNTING bullets loaded right now in some 300 Savage ammo as well as the ammo I am going to use next in my M-1 Garand. My M-1 chronographs at 2775 FPS and the Savage M99 measures 2534 FPS. I am hoping for excellent results, but personally I have not killed any game with these yet, so I am only guessing as to what they will do, and simply going on the reviews I have read as well as a few conversations with other hunters who seem to like them a lot.

My friend Roger killed a cow elk with a 180 grain Nosler BT Hunting last year. That is the only "Ballistic Tip Hunting" kill I have personal knowledge of so far. It was a 4 year old cow (according to the warden,) and the bullet worked well. Good wound channel and the exit was about the size of a silver dollar. No jacket frags or lead pieces in the meat on the off side. He used a 30-06 and killed the elk at about 275 yards with a broad side shot tucked tight behind the shoulder, but the exit was through the heavy muscles on the other shoulder. It hit a rib but no heavy bone. Overall I though the bullet did well.

Lastly my nephew has used the 270s in both 140 and 150 grain to kill elk and so far he's been satisfied. I asked him to save the bullets for me if he recovered any, but he forgot on one elk and he said the rest exited.

So none of this info is specific to the OPs question, but it may be helpful in seeing a pattern.

szihn- just a reminder that you were going to try to video your 20 minute deer and 35 minute elk cutting and wrapping this year. Thanks.

What ever shoots better in your rifle.
My 270 likes the 140SST and I will be using them next month on Oregon mulies.

I had forgotten whttail. Thanks.
I'll ask my friend if he can come over with his video camera and shoot the vid.

The 140 gr NBT has worked well in my 7-08 on numerous deer and feral hogs. Never tried the SST.

About 18 yrs ago, or so, I used the Hornady LM 139SST in a little 7mm08. It clocked right at 3100fps, was "sticky" in extraction and very accurate. I shot a Texas Dall exotic sheep at 200yds, He ran downhill 75 yds and rolled over. the bullet had fragmented, tore everything up and fragments were against the opposite ribcage. I felt it was too soft for cow elk. I have shot a lot of them in other calibers, but not on game. I am glad to hear that they have toughened them up some. That old Light Magnum ammo was some funny stuff! Hot but usually accurate.

Jim,

Yeah, that definitely sounds like EARLY performance from SST's!

The 150-grain .308's we used on 30 Texas deer and pigs may be even tougher than Interlock Spire Points. Would have expected to recover at least a few Spire Points on the same sort of shots.

The 120 BT is wicked out of my 280 AI

I have only killed ~ 3 dozen animals and from my anecdotal biased memory comes this personal rating:

1) Nosler Ballistic Tips... the best
2) Hornady SST.... no complaints
3) Nosler accubond.... good enough
4) Berger VLD hunting.... I should not have to shoot a doe 5 times with a 7mmRM to get it to fall down.
5) Barnes TSX.... I go through a whole box and never got a group, just Copper fouling [no animals died]


I was on rec.guns on usenet in 1994 and could already see with the very intelligent scientists and engineers posters there that there would never be consensus on terminal ballistics. Just arguing between differing opinions. I think this is due to limited data and the out of control variable of shot placement. There is no hope for the current low IQ gun forum WWW contributors to do any better. If you read or post about terminal ballistics, maintain a sense of humor. Everyone but you is nuts.

Clark,
Great post.
I sure don't have the experience quite a few here have.
But I have seen a couple deer and elk die. Along with a pile of cow and hogs. (Domestic)

My experiences have been better, worse, and the same as other posters.
As you state, placement is a very variable, variable.
Identical hits can even be different due to angle or bullet path.

I find it amusing how so many put their manhood on the line in these conversations.

Really. We had a Ford car. 1. It was a pain, more high dollar problems than all the
cars I have owned, combined. But we did like it.
Honestly have had good service from every other brand we owned.

Never been a Ford fan, that one confirmed it.

The point.

That T-bird confirmed my (personal) bias.
I don't care to own another Ford. (Right price, I would go around again)

For the Ford fans.
Sorry, but those are facts Jack.

However, I don't believe for one second that every Ford is junk.
Or that other 93 T-birds weren't flawless.


Why is this all so dam hard for some to understand.

Clark,

What muzzle velocity'range with the 7mm Bergers?