Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7mm 120-gr NBT

As one of Nosler's tougher BTs, what's the largest animal any of you have taken with it?

RM

Pardon the blood in the photo, but it was intentionally taken that way to show the exit from the 120 grain BT. The range was 190 yards, and the MV from my 7mm Bullberry is 2651 fps. It entered and penetrated the onside shoulder, heavily damaged the lungs, sliced through the heavy shield and then exited. Between various 7-30 Waters barrels and my 7mm BB, I've taken dozens of hogs using the Nosler 7mm 120 grain BT and have never, ever been disappointed in terminal performance.

FWIW, if not mistaken, was it Chub Eastman who developed the 95 NBT, and shot Caribou and perhaps larger game.

I'd personally go to the Barnes 120 if you want to shoot game larger than deer and hogs. They are known Elk killers....and surely hold together on shots hitting heavy bone. Just my .02.

I'm sure on lung shots the 120 Noz would do fine on game larger than deer, but why limit yourself to 'perfect presentation?' Consider the SD is not great for a 7mm.....a 140 AB would be far better IMHO. It will overtake the 120 in speed after some distance due to B.C. and likely hold up much better being bonded, keeping more weight after impact, giving better penetration.

JB and others might have more answers to your question.

The few that I have recovered tend to look like this one. And yes, that's a 7mm/120 despite the blue tip. These were an overrun for an ammo manufacturer that were made available through Shooters Pro Shop.

So far this would be it, but I'd not feel uncomfortable shooting it at much bigger critters. Shoot was taken from the ridge you see to the right of me, maybe 170 yards downhill.
7MM-08 Tikka Superlite.

Bobby, your pictures look a lot like mine: deceased porkers everwhere. And I think I have a couple boxes of those "Blue Meanies" as well.

65BR,

It wasn't Chub who developed the 95-grain 6mm Ballistic Tip, but Gail Root, who was then Nosler's head of bullet development. In part he wanted an elk-capable bullet, and has taken a number of bulls with it,including big 6-points, and continues to after retiring a while back.

I've killed a few aoudad with 120's launched from a 7-08

How did they hold up on the aoudad? Get some exits?

I stopped fretting the 120 gr BT years ago
Just last week

Haven't used them myself, but here are the words of Steve Timm, alias "dogzapper", with some words of wisdom:

I push 120BTs at 3,370 out of my .280 Ackley. I've killed one Alberta moose, maybe a half-dozen big Alberta whitetails, about four antelope and about eight or ten mule deer with the load. Never seen any hint of a blowup.

The moose shot was at 91 yards. Bullwinkle was standing in a farm two-track, kinda angled. I shot him through the left carotid artery (cool..it spurts) and the bullet exited, leaving a two-inch hole and a totally missing cervical (neck) vertabrae. Moosie stood for about five seconds, long enough for me to rack in another round, and then he tipped over like a piece of plywood in a light wind.

When used in the .280 Ackley, the bullet seemingly always exits on deer and antelope, except for one antelope buck that I shot in the throat and found the bullet next to the bunghole, when I started to do the bad-nasty coring job with my filet knife. That bullet was expanded to about .75" and the core/jacket were one solid piece. The rest of the bullets, on both deer and antelope, totally penetrated and might still be in low-earth orbit, for all I know. Exit holes are not large, averaging about 1 1/2-inches to two inches, and bloodshooting is not bad. Yeah, I know the first few generations of BTs were "soft", but this bullet is much harder.

I've also used the 120BT in my 7SGLC at 3,250 fps MV. One shot I totally remember was hitting a major Montana mule deer buck in the face with the bullet at about ten yards. It was very early one morning and I was creeping up a hill, when I ran smack-dab into a large buck that was peeping at me through a juniper tree.. The horns were MAJOR.....up came the rifle and I shot it under the right eye. Didn't break the skull cap......just killed the living crap out of him.

It must be a guy thing, but I just love shooting critters squarely in the face, if I can. My friend, Roger Roberts, from Weeping Water, Nebraska, about had a hernia when I face-shot a caribou when we were hunting in Quebec...a face-shot at about fifteen feet is graphic and Roger ragged at me for the rest of the hunt about the shot. When I got home, I sent him a long video entitled "Face-Shot Things"; it was about a dozen short video clips melded together that would be great ammo for PETA Roger was SO insulted that he had to watch it fifteen or twenty times; then, he got his wife, Vicki, and the kids to watch it more. But I digress.

With the with the same load in my 7SGLC, I killed a 9 1/2 year old mule buck at 204 yards. Shot through the spine at dusk. Exit hole was maybe two inches, after removing a serious piece of spine. Biggest damned deer I've ever seen....anywhere. And in the gumbo. Karen and I WORKED to get that SOB out.

7SGLC also ended the careers of two 6X6 bull elk, not major bulls, but both were 300 B&C or so. One at about 375 yards and the other one was 400-ish. One was shot through the spine, between the shoulder blades, from above and the bullet penetrated to the brisket hide. The other was broadside...hit squarely in the center of the shoulder, broke both shoulders, but no mess, and penetrated to the off-shoulder hide. Both elk bullets expanded to about .80" and the cores were securely locked in the jackets.

I've killed oodles of big Alberta coyotes with the 120BT in the .280. Doesn't do much, except kill them, because the jacket is too heavy for predator use.

The 120BT, as we know it, came from shooting Silhouetta. Reportedly, the original version was too lightly built to get the reliably knock over the 500-meter steel ram. My buddy, Chub Eastman, was at the first big Silhouetta shoot where they were used and came back home to Bend, OR with the request to "build it heavier."line. Hey, it wasn't selling as a varmint bullet, so they apparently thought that they would build the bullet for their target market; the Silhouetta shooters. Sooooo, Nosler beefed up the jacket and, in doing so, they unknowingly created one Hell of a big game bullet.

Section one, I think you'll see what I mean. The bugger is built like the Ballistic Tip .338s-and-higher. Really heavy jacket.

I use .284"-120BTs on deer and antelope with no hesitation. And, when the opportunity avails itself to bonk a heavier head of big game, I have absolutely no worries with the 120BT.

================================================
More:

I've tried the 140 Sierras and found them too frangible for my use in the .280 Ackley. Dunno how they'd perform in my 7SGLC, but prolly better. Hey, the 120 Ballistics work perfectly in both of my 7s, so the search is over.

Actually, I've found the 120BTs to be very much tougher than the 140BTs.

Obviously, if I'm chasing elk or moosies exclusively, I will usually load up with 154 Hornady Interlockeds. Some Campfire folks might remember that I whacked an Asian water buffalo with my .280 Ackley and 154s......dead buff with a single shot to the carotid arteries.

In the water buffalo kill, the 154 Hornady penetrated two-inches of tough hide....shot clear through the buff's neck....penetrated the two-inch off-side hide and went in low-orbit of the earth. Impressive, very impressive.

Usually, however, I hunt a couple of species at the same time and my bullet choice is determined by the critter I'll most likely kill; namely deer. If an elk or moose shows up, the 120 Ballistic bonks it cleanly. Certainly no complaints from me.

About half the time I would get exits. This from a sample of about 20 sheep including ewes, young rams, and a few big ones.

All I can say is I have shot them into the shoulder of many 200- 250 lbs wild hogs and they flat put um down. The 140 NBT's do the same.

Thanks JB, I remember now, as you posted about it on a previous thread on the 95 BT. That bullet has been my go-to in any 6mm, BR's and 243s....really an outstanding performer, and I've shot 1/2" 3-shot groups at 200 yds using a former Dakota Predator I had in BR, 10 twist. Always penetrated well for me on WT deer.

Deer. 35 yard shot on a whitetail buck. Lost its core and found the jacket mushroomed nicely under the skin behind the far shoulder. Muly doe, 280 yards. Ricocheted off onside shoulder, up through the neck and exited the head on the off-side.

Ballistic Tips aren't short range bullets.
You obviously killed both animals.

I've used BTs in my .280 Remington with mixed results but I think the troubles I had with them were with earlier bullets. The last 10-15 years I've killed a number of deer and hogs with them with great results and penetration was much better. I just bought some 140 grain SGKs to work up a load for my Zastava Commercial 98 in 7x57. I'm thinking I'll order me some 120 BTs to see how they shoot in comparison.

Not a writer, but I’ve used the 120 gr. Ballistic Tip on two whitetail bucks out of my 7mm-08. One, my biggest ever, at 120 yds. and the second, a big bodied 10 pt., at 225 yds. Both exited.

The only Big Game animal that I took with the 120gr NBT was a Sitka Black Tail deer on Kodiak Island. I used a 7-30Waters pistol. It worked very well !!!!

I have a friend that I load for that just loves these bullets out of his 7RM, He has taken several Elk and Deer along with coyotes and rock chucks, I load him up 100 rounds every two years.

Yeah, I know a central Montana rancher who uses them in his 7mm Remington Magnum--which has a 26" custom barrel. Loads them fast, and has killed a bunch of elk, shooting behind the shoulder. Last I heard he'd never recovered any--and all the elk died quite suddenly.