Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Ballistic tip failure?

Thanks for demonstrating the validity of my assertion. Have a good day.

I love bt’s. If the borders open next year I’ll be in Alberta to kill a moose with my 7 saum with 120 bts.

Not a deer but I have shot two antelope with .257 115gr Ballistic Tips at ~200 and 250 yards started at about 3050fps. Both exited with normal expansion. one caught a shoulder blade on one side but still punched through. The other just ribs so not much resistance. Several more antelope with .243 95gr BTs that also exited including one that went a bit high and hit vertebrae. In fact, I've never caught one and consider Ballistic Tips to be excellent hunting bullets when I want expansion and an exit. Surprisingly, one rifle bullet that didn't exit in an animal this size was a TSX but it hit a lot of bone and travelled a long ways so I'm not disappointed in that one either. I'm guessing most people would not look at that situation and call the TSX a poor performer. I've even caught a 44 Mag cast bullet at about 1350fps that hit a big whitetail buck at the high shoulder/neck junction at 25yds. Wish it had exited but it still did a lot of damage and resulted in a dead deer so I'm good.
The impact velocity of your shot and hitting that much bone would be a challenge to many good bullets so I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Same day as the BT buck I shot a coyote with a 130 Berger out of a 6.5x55 and the coyote did an airborne half gainer. no huge entrance or exit but one dead coyote. In general I like the tougher bullets the Mono and bonded bullets. I am hopping to get the Swift Sirocco IIs to shoot in the 257 Weatherby. I shot another buck in the neck (not my preferred shot) with the 257 Wby. and the Lehigh CC bullet and it exited easily, but this was a smaller buck and just beginning to get a swollen neck. I will use the 102gr. Lehigh to test out more as they look promising.

Aaah thanks again huntsnshoots! Remind me not to friend you on any of the social media pages. Have a great day!

RJ

The 165 and the .243 95 have done great for us.

A few cow elk have even fallen to the 95.

Nosler ballistic tips aren't the best bullets for taking shots that the bullet has a long way to go to reach the vitals. I had a failure using a 180 gr BT in a 300 win on a buck and Hornady SST aren't any better. The Hornady GMX or Nosler Accubond seem to work really well when you need 12"± of penetration.

This guy hated A 120 gr B T in 6.5X55 bullet. That's the exit side at 80-90 yds.
He was 1/4 away more than I thot. I guess it worked.



No complaints from me. Glad I have more of them.

Jerry

My hunting partner shot a buck in the ass from about 400 yds from a 300 mag and 200gr Partitions. The bullet "failed" to reach the vitals. 200gr Partitions must be crap for deer due to lack of penetration?

Strangely, that wasn't the lesson I took away from the experience.

I used to load 180 grain ballistic silver tips for a guy who'd let me hunt at his place every now and then. He killed two deer with one shot with one of those.

I agree with the statement earlier, maybe people will shy away from the nbt. I’m getting low on a few.
I used to hunt with a guy that hated bt. After he saw several die with them he decided to try some. That’s all he shoots now.

Been using 100 gr NBT in my 25-06's for years and years. Never lost a deer and usually recover the bullet on the off side hide if at all. I generally don't neck shoot though.

is the .257 cal 115 bt of tougher construction than the 100 grainer in same cal? i have my 257 bee sighted in with the 115 bt's. i haven't been fortunate to take a deer yet with said combo. i usually grab the teekers in 260 rem or 7mm-08 rem both shooting the 120 bt.
Big Ed

Have killed well over a dozen white tails with a pair of 25-06s and 100gr Btips over the years. Most were broad side, couple over 400 yards. All those exited, took much of the lungs with 'em on the way out.

Hit one high in the front shoulder, trotting along at maybe 80 yards, bullet fragmented, deer dead on the spot. Shot another buck in the back of the neck, sneaking uphill in the brush, only shot I had at it. Btip destroyed the neck tissue and crushed the vertebra, dropped him like a rock. Probably 70 yards or so?

Any deer that drops where it's shot, isn't a bullet faiiure in my book.

Weatherby 257 velocities at 90 yds should explode most slugs. I'd be amazed if one found anything above sand sized particles. I use a 30-378 with 180 Nosler Partitions on elk. The last 3 bulls nailed each had an entrance wound, and slugs never made to the off side body cavity wall. They did not complain though as lungs and hearts took a real beating. Ranges varied from 40 out to 350 yds.

I use 100 grain Noslers in a 257, and have never had an exit wound. It sure slam dunks deer and pronghorn.

Running 95 gains in a 240, but have not nailed anything with that one yet.

I used to hunt with Sierra Match Kings in a deadly accurate 7 Mag until folks said I should not do that. Again though, with mostly neck shots on deer and elk, there were no complaints.

The bullet didn't fail - critter is in the freezer
Neck shots are risky shots. of the 2 that I have taken both were not dead when I got up to them. The 308 165gr Interlock anchored the 3x2 muley, but it still required a knife thru the heart. The 5x4 white tail was hit with a 250gr Sierra 375 cal bullet from a JDJ Contender. It's back legs were kicking until I stepped on his antlers and cut the jugular.
A light for cal bullet at screaming vels is gonna due just what yours did. Anchor the animal while disintegrating. If you want to recover the slug, use a slow moving bullet, but if you go too heavy, you will still punch thru and have nothing to put on your trophy shelf.

Great quote from the late, great Warren page from years ago. You should have given him credit for it....

Sometimes bullets just dont behave the way we think they should.

1991 I shot a bull elk with a 30-40 at 50yds head on center mass in the neck/throat with a 220g Hornady. I found the almost complete jacket (no lead) stuck in a heart valve. Bull died though.

Cant remember the year but i shot a bull elk muzzleloading and found the complete rear end of a 7mm Partition against the hide; center chest. (that was a true Whisky Tango Foxtrot over)

Another year muzzleloading i found a BT bullet jacket (weighed 52g, cant tell the caliber) in a ball of gristle under the spine of a bull elk.

2018 i shot a bull elk with a 165g Hornady BTSP at 175 yds with a 308 Win. When we got to the tracks (lots of show) there were two single drops of blood 15 yards past where i shot it. 50 yards past that, the bull laid down and left a silver dollar sized spot of blood. Then, not one drop of blood in the 500 YARDS we followed that bull which my cousin finished at 30 yards. My bullet hit right at the back rib and angled up to between the 4th and 5th rib. Yes, a little far back but I hit the liver and the lung on the left side. I found a 23g piece of lead in the off side hide; no jacket. Had there not been snow i would have sworn for the rest of my life that i somehow missed that bull which, would have died.

Sometimes bullets just don't behave the we would like. The common thread in my experiences, all are bull elk. Yes, elk die easy...but they can make bullets work awfully hard and leave people talking.

I have a 257 Wby and called Nosler about using the 100 gr BT at over 3600 FPS, and they did not recommend it. I took them at their word and used a Barns 100 gr TTSX pushing right at 3700 FPS. It has worked great on every deer I have shot with it.
I used Nosler BT in most of my rifles that I am not running warp speed in and have not had any issues (the modern BT that is, the first ones that came out are a different story)

Garbage bullet from day one. They been junk from the start. Many friend have lost animals they should have killed due to horrible expansion.