Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 6.5 140gr NBTs

Anybody breaking shoulders with these? Sometimes I don’t get an opportunity for a perfect shot and have to take a shoulder shot and need all the penetration I can get.

Spill your guts on performance please. I’ll even take performance of 120s if you’ve used them.

I’ve used them a bunch. It will break both and keep going. 6.5’s and 7mm 140’s are great bullets 120’s will also. Have you considered a 120 Barnes? I use them in Creeds, 140 Ballistic tips in 264’s and a 26 Nosler. I use the 120 Barnes in a 6.5-06 also.

You can’t go wrong with the Ballistic Tip if that’s what you like. They are a touch cheaper.

I’m looking at factory cheap ammo because I won’t have time to reload. I’ve used TSX in my 260s but I have a 6.5CM I’m going to use and will just use factory ammo this year. Maybe. Who knows, I might pull off the reloading at the last minute.

What cartridge And at what speed?

While I am confident that they will break the on-side shoulder at reasonable distances, I wouldn't test that very often.

About the only thing I use the 140 BTs for in 6.5mm and 7mm is to find a load that my rifle likes so I can load up some Accubonds to hunt with. The Accubonds will punch through both shoulders, if necessary. In all of the rifles I have tried them in the BTs and Accubonds shoot to the same point of aim and all my group sizes are within 0.25" of each other.

My experience is that they, BT's are a very fragile bullet. If a shoulder is hit it is destroyed. A massive loss of eatable meat. If you must hunt with a C&C bullet there are those that are far more stout. Like the Nosler 140 AB. My personal choice is with one of the mono's. Try the Barnes 100gr TTSX Hammer 110gr. . These bullets will take the biggest deer & will drive thru both shoulders on a side ways shot. Almost no bloodshot meat. Eat right up to the hole. I have shot these on my range to 522yds with no problem.. Give them a try & see the difference..

If that's about all BT's then I'll have to disagree. I'd like to see the deer I wouldn't drill with a 168 out of a 308.

At Creedmoor velocities they will work great or at least they do in the Swede. If I knew I was going to shoot for bone I might pick an Accubond or mono instead. The hunting ballistic tips weight is around 50% jacket so if they come apart you still will have 50% weight retention, this varies 40-60% depending on which BT bullet your using. Like others have mentioned my only complaint with the current BT is they can be messy if put in the wrong place but not a problem with behind the shoulder shots at all.

As long as you avoid varmint bullets and some target bullets you can't go wrong with any of the Creedmoor loads for deer.

140 SGK out of my 260 has been the greatest performer I have ever used. Modest speeds have given me extremely quick kills like clockwork and complete pass throughs every time even on good size hogs. Nothing messy either. Just an option.

I used a 120nosler bt just once on a large body deer. It dropped dead and the bullet was found in the far side under the skin. Pretty great performance but I Prefer the heavier Game King

I ended up sighting my 6.5Jesusmoor in with federal blue box and it stacked them really tight. My 140 Nosler factory loads showed up and it stacked them too. I’ll be using the Nosler’s next weekend though. They were cheaper than the Federal blue box believe it or not.

Were you shooting those in an A-Bolt?

I'm using the 140 NBT's in my Creed, and if I ever see anything big enough to shoot, I'll let you know how well they work.

Didn't break a shoulder, as I shot this deer just right behind the front shoulder. Complete pass through. 140 grain NBT out of a 6.5 Creed.

high shoulder shot?

Shot was right behind the shoulder, through the ribs. Deer ran maybe 25 yards. I killed another deer with the 6.5 CM a couple of years ago, using a 120 grain NBT. This one was a shoulder shot, with the bullet sticking in the skin of the off shoulder.

I used a 120 NBT probably 19 yrs ago in my 260 and it did well for me but that was an easy slight quartering away shot.

My thoughts are that we sometimes tend to overthink these things. Put the right bullet in the right spot, and the results are almost always a dead deer, with no tracking required.

Same experience here out of a 6.5CM.

They break shoulders at 220 yards. 221 I’m not certain 🤪. Made a mess of the lungs in the process. I bought 5 boxes so I’m good on factory ammo for it.

Shot two this year with the factory 120 NBT in my 6.5cm. Both deer came quartering in to me so only shot I had was through the facing shoulder. Both times punched right through it and out the other side. It did ruin a patch of meat in the shoulder but both deer fell within 5 yards.

Plus this factory load groups 3/8” out of my Seekins Havak.