Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Ballistic tip failure?

My experiences have been with the newer versions I guess. I’ve never had a ballistic tip not shoot great or perform great on an animal. None of mine are real fast movers though.

243 win 95gr
260 Rem 120gr
7-30 waters 140grs
30-06 180gr


I’ve never recovered a ballistic tip, quartered to, away or broadside. I always catch one or both shoulders.


The only ballistic tips I’ve seen consistently not exit is the 130 from a 270 that a friend uses. He loads them hot and pushes them hard. Most of his deer are killed under 40yds. Another friend uses the 125gr from his .308 at warp speed with 40+ deer and a couple of 125-150lb hog kills. He has had 100% exits with little not no tracking from the 125’s.

I have shot a few with 100BT from a 250AI, 4 more this year for a total of maybe 15 deer with this combo and all but one were passthroughs, the other I found under the skin intact. At 250AI speeds (3000fps MV) it seems a good bullet. In fact I find the 100g BT a harder bullet than the 100g PT, which seems to make more of a mess of things.

I have shot a couple with 140 7mms at 7mm-08 and a couple with 120 6.5s from a 6.5 Creed and all worked well enough, but the sample size isn't large enough to say much.

I came to BT's some what late, around 10 years ago and word has it that in the early days they were a softer bullet. In fact I have hunted at one NC lodge where they are banned because of a few cases of poor penetration, but I always suspected it was because of a combination or poor shooting and perhaps older softer BTs in the early days.

I will say that in my hands they have been an easy bullet to get to shoot well.

I’ve used the 100gr Solid base from the pre Ballistic Tip days on deer out of a 257wby. Great bullet, shots through the front half result in liquified lungs and short if any blood trails. Also killed a bunch of stuff with the 85gr Ballistic Tip out of the 257wby.

The one thing the big 25 has taught me is that it really doesn’t matter what bullet, you’d best stay off the eating parts or you won’t be eating that part. It’s hard on bullets and in turn hard on meat. But shoot about anything through the chest with it and there isn’t generally much tracking going on at normal ranges.

I’d have no qualms shooting moose with mine given the opportunity. I might choose a mono for that but than again maybe not. The 100gr Hornady was great and I have quite a few.

They have evolved over the last thirty plus years. Over a span of nearly twenty years my camp mate and I have used them on deer and pigs with very satisfactory results.

Yes I think the Weatherby has enough velocity over the 25-06 to put the 100 grain BT over it's intended velocity threshold at least up close. The 115 BT may reduce velocity enough to work in the Bee. It is not really tougher than the 100 gr. BT but the thick part of the jacket extends farther up the bullet giving a longer shank to it. The 115 has one of the better BCs for 25 cal. hunting bullets so I will give them a try. I also stocked up on 120 grain gold dots and will load those old school with some AA8700 that I bought ages ago for I think $8 lb. If I can get them to 3,300+ fps I will be happy.

My question is how do you know the shot placement wasn’t the failure if you didn’t recover the animal.
I guess I have heard this for years and I’ve only had good results with them.
That’s why they make so many bullets, each to their own.

The original 100gr .257 bullets had thinner jackets. Nosler made them thicker years ago. Probably read that in Handloader or Rifle magazine at the time? That said, never any issues with the original ones in the 25-06..Most of the deer I killed with their original version, were over 300 yards out. Except for the one I hit in the shoulder at a closer range.

Been using that bullet for as long as they've been on the market. Superb accuracy, fair pile of dead deer since. No reason to change.

That "Garbage bullet from day one" comment reminds me of something from twenty years ago. Guy I know, loaded up 140gr Btips in his 7mm mag for an Idaho elk hunt. Myself and two others told him that wasn't an elk bullet, but he went with it anyway. Hit a nice bull three times, guide had to finish it off when they finally caught up to it. Turned him into a die hard Btip hater from then on.

Another feller gave me almost a full box of .308 165gr Btips back in the early 90s. Didn't like how they'd performed in his 300 Winchester, either on paper or on deer. I probably killed three or four deer with them using a 30-06, great performance. With IMR 4350, three shot clover leaf groups @ 100 yards and dead deer where they stood.

The old 100 count box "soft" 165 was great on deer out of a 308.

Probably the 165s that I got, still have a few left. Label says Solid Base Boat Tail Ballistic Tips. 100 count box, old red/green label.

Picked up several boxes of 257 100gr Btips years ago, at a good price, 50 count boxes. If anyone ever dealt with Mertz's Gun Shop near Northumberland, we stopped there on the way to camp. Some of the 100gr Btips had one price, next two were $4 more. Clerk asked Neil Mertz which price was correct. He told him to sell them all at the higher price and walked away. I was not amused, neither was the clerk. Sold me four boxes at the lower price. Last time we ever stopped.




Last ones I got a few years ago, are in black/gold labels.

NBTs are 115gr. That's a substantial bone at extreme velocity. It worked just fine. I've had the same happen from 25 WSSM. I've also blown through both shoulder blades and spine on a 120# doe at similar range. I've seen 150gr from 270 WSM not make it out on a shot like that.

These soft deer bullets are doing what they are supposed to do. They're tough enough to get through heavy bone enough to do CNS shots and also soft enough to do good work for blood trails and exits on boiler rooms shots.

My experience with ballistic tips were in the mid 80’s when Nosler first had them to offer. Shooting out of a 7mm08 140 gr. I previously had been loading partitions 140 gr. Shot two mule deer that year and both were left shoulder hits at about 150 yds Both deer dead in their tracks but in my opinion the bullet failed because of lack of penetration. Both bullets blew up on impact and totally devastated the whole left shoulder and rib cage. After that I went back to the 7mm 140 partition and never looked back. Have taken many deer, bear, many elk, 4 antelope and coyotes with them and always a good combination of expansion+penetration.

My two largest Whitetail bucks have fallen to the 120 gr. Ballistic Tip out of my 7mm-08. One at about 120 yds and one at a lasered 306 yds. Both were behind the shoulder hits and both exited. I have also killed three does with the 120 gr Ballistic Tip out of my 6.5 Creedmoor. Ballistic Tips just work. I’ve not had a failure.

I started using the 120 gr. BT in my 7mm-08 many years ago based on recommendations I got here from Dogzapper and others. After truckloads of animals I have allot of confidence in this bullet. I made a bulk purchase from Shooters Pro Shop when they had a deal on some that had the wrong color tips on them. They sure work for me.

Ive loaded many different calibers and weights of the BT for my family, with dozens of whitetails being taken. It seems the best results are with the bullet leaving the muzzle at less than 3100 fps.

One of the benefits of being able to shoot a lot of deer during the summer, and not having to worry about ultimately trivial things like "meat damage" I can say this.. I've shot a [bleep] load of deer with NBTs from things like the 7-08, 270 and 30-06. From distances of really close up to just shy of 400 yards. Not one time have I failed to find a deer that was hit. Not once did I recover a bullet. Even a frontal from 270 yards( that bullet traversed from breast bow to stern and exited just in front of the hip. In fact. I haven't noticed much difference between NBT hunting bullets and accubonds from my 7 mag.

That "meat damage" bit makes me chuckle.

If most guys actually knew how little meat you get from the front shoulders of a deer they would be surprised. Most of that schitt has tons of silver skin, conective tissue and whatever else you want to call it in it and doesn't make it in to my grind pile.

The dogs and chickens eat good.

You need a canner. That and the jerky slicer is where a bunch of the front quarters go around here. Canner breaks down all that tough crap and it doesn’t seem to make any difference in flavor with jerky.

I am sure it doesnt make a difference w jerky. I could even grind it, just a personal preference.

My bud saved the front ends off of 2 of my deer this year. I guess that's my payment for using 2 of his gambrels and using his grinder for my buck.

I don’t grind anything that isn’t clean meat. No fat, tendons, silver skin, all that stuff tastes gamey. I’m with you there.

I got a buddy up the road who’s a jerky freak. I’d we have plenty of meat in the freezer I give him the fronts and he’ll have them cut into jerky about by the time I’m pulling out the driveway.

My kind of whitetail bullet.I love the NBT. You should see the shoulder damage with a 100 grain NBT from a 25-06.