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

RM

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.

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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.

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 !!!

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

RM

TX Photo what scope broke brand and model pls.

Not a writer, but here is a really bad video of my daughter tagging her first bull elk in CO at 330ish yards.

7-08, 44 grn Varget, 120 grn bt's.

She'd tagged two cows in previous years, along with a few deer.

Nothing but stellar performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0hlROYmo3w

Please pardon the poor video, coaching, etc. We were all really full of adrenaline.

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

RM

I run the 120NBT in my .280AI @ 3325 fps (Dogzapper's suggested load)
I never want to be without this bullet.