Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 80 grain Ballistic tip , 243 on deer, antelope

Has anyone used the 80 grain Ballistic Tip on deer or antelope sized game? I did some testing in dry newspaper yesterday and that bullet digs a lot deeper than one would suspect.
Thanks

Royce

Trouble finding deer and pronghorn wrapped in newspaper though.
All past experience have led me to beleive the 100 gr or 105 in a .243 serves the purpose much better

Funny... I have a freezer full of deer and antelope wrapped in paper...

Actually, I suspect that the 100 grain bullet is superior to any 80 grain bullet- However, I am using a Tikka 243 for a truck gun and it's wickedly accurate and flat shooting with the 80 grain Ballistic Tip. There is a chance I could see a doe antelope while carrying it, so I was curious if anyone had some real life experience with it. I am not likely to shoot a deer with it, but asked for experiences with people shooting deer with it, because if it worked on deer it would likely work on a doe antelope.
I don't know of any way to evaluate whateher a bullet warants a trial on deer/antelope other than to shoot some praire dogs with it, shoot some dry paper with it, and compare it's performance to other bullets in the same medium that I havve killed deer with, and to ask for the experiences of others. Of anyone has a better way of working into using a bullet on game, I'd be all ears.
Royce

I would prefer a heavier ballistic tip i.e the 100gr or a more heavily contructed bullet. Especially if you like to shoot on the shoulder as opposed to just behind it. Call my preference "insurance"

Try it and repot back to us. I suspect the bullet properly placed broadside would even exit your average doe antelope.

The only shot I'd take with the 80 grains would be a broadside shot behind the shoulder on a standing animal- If I couldn't get that, I'd pass

Seems like I've seen forum member Seafire indicate he likes both the 80 & 90 grain BTs for deer. Maybe he'll be along later.

Years ago I ran a 243 with a one bullet for everything load. It was the Hornady 87 grain soft point. Used it for prairie dog, coyote, antelope and deer, use the rifle year around without having to re-sight it in during big game seasons. Worked ok until I jumped a deer very close and my reaction shot hit it high in the hindquarter. The deer went down with a busted hip and lost the whole hindquarter to bloodshot and bone fragmented meat. Since then in my 243's for big game I'll run any of the 95 or 100 grn bullets, Partition, Ballistic Tip etc. The key once again, as always is placement.

90 grain ballistic tips are listed as a big game bullet, and the 80s are listed by Nosler as Varmint bullets..

I loaded up the 90s for a buddy's daughter who lives in Billings.. both he and his daughter took a deer and an antelope that season... he stated both times those were the most impressive 'bang flops' he had ever seen... he loads them now and uses his 243 for deer and antelope, and now just uses his 7 Mag for Elk hunting....

80 grain Ballistic Tips work fine on Oregon Blacktail and most of those are antelope size.... an article by Wayne van Zwoll on the 22 BR as a hunting round, spoke of using the 80 grain Ballistic tip on antelope and it working quite well...

I can vouch for ability and lethality of the Hornady 75 grain HP also as an effective blacktail bullet...

as Ruffcutt states, it is shot placement as the key....but then the wise hunter knows that is gospel with any round, regardless of caliber...

243s with 75 to 90 grain bullets make it much easier for a lot of folks to be able to do that..

it surprises me the folks that will tell you that an 85 grain Sierra HP is a darn good antelope bullet, then will scoff at someone using an 80 or 90 grain ballistic tip.....

a rancher we were allowed to shoot prairie dogs on his property, I witnessed him shoot two antelope with 40 grain ballistic tips out of an AR.. both ran about 20 yds and dropped into the dust, stone dead...

the 80 grain out of a 243 is a lot more punch than the other combo..

I am not recommending a 40 grain ballistic tip out of a 223 as an effect hunting round for antelope...but after seeing it work, well, I wouldn't hesitate to carry a 243 with the ballistic tip in 80 grains...

Seafire
Thanks for your well written and informative post- After seeing what the 80 grain Ballistic tip does to a praire dog and how some other results, I don't see how it could be anything but devastating on a braodside shot- This is after shooting a few deer with 223s and 222s. One assest of this particular combo is that out to 300 yards or so, I can pretty much place the bullet within an inch of where I want it.
Royce

My buddy hunts with a lighter bullet with his 243. He uses the Core lokt bullet (don't know the weight) and he has killed a lot of coues with it.
I was using 100 grain partition out of my 243 and it was a killer.
I kinda wonder if the TSX bullets would do good in the 85 grain offering they have?
The ballistic tip I have not tried, but I suspect as long as you don't wack that front shoulder you should be good to go.

FWIW,
I had a 14 year old girl take her first deer at 400 yards with a 243 shooting some 80 grain soft point. Did the trick at that range.

Kique

As long as I could poke one through the slats with an 80 grain BT out of a .243, I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep a sharp knife handy.

Fred,

Another thing to throw into the mix: We can't judge how a bullet (whether designated "varmint" or "big game") will work on a pronghorn by what it does to a prairie dog or rochchuck or other small varmint. I have shot such varmints with 60-grain .224 Nosler Partitions at 3100fps , 60-grain .224 Nosler Solid Bases at 3650, 100-grain .25 Hornady Interlocks at 3300, 120-grain Nosler Bal1istic Tips at 3000, and 220-grain .375 Hornadys at 2000. All spread the unfortunate little rodents all over the landscape--and all are considered pretty good big game bullets.

Yes, even the discontinued 60-grain Solid Base. Both I and Mark Dobrenski used it with success on pronghorn and deer in the bigger .22 centerfires--me in the Swift--long before the 60-grain Partition was ever dreamed of. It acted about like a standard 100-grain cup-and-core from the .243.

In fact all expanding bullets (except the Berger VLD) start to expand as soon as they hit something. I even once shot a prairie dog at 200+ yards with a 180-grain Ballistic Tip from a .30-40 Krag, muzzle velocity 2400 fps. It didn't exactly explode the PD, but did leave about a 1" exit hole.

So we cannot extrapolate about big game bullets by what they do on small varmints.

Here's how I used the observations on varmits- And I have shot varmits with rifles from 22 short, 22 WRF, 25 Stevens up to 30/06 and some handgun rounds-
If the bullet in question does enough tissue damage to quickly kill an antelope, and penetrates enough to do that tissue damage inside the chest cavity, it has possibilities- A light ballistic Tip in a 223 causes a lot of tissue damage, but I don't suspect that it would penetrate enough for me to want to use it on antelope- A 130 grain Ballistic Tip does a tremendous amount of damage to a praire dog, and does penetrate enough for big game-
It's just another bit of info- I wasn't implying that if around violently exploded a praire dog that would preclude it's use on deer antelope.
Fred

Royce,

I've not used the 80 NBT, heck I've never even fired on or bought any.

However, I have seen quite a bit of game taken with the 55, 70 and the 95 NBT out of 6/06's.

I'll say that tween a couple buds of mine and myself we've taken somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 head of game with the 70 NBT. To date, I've never had one stay inside a deer/lope and to date most all have been 4 feet in the air toot sweeet!

I'd load your 243 with the 80 and worry not one bit! if anything it might even do better with the slower speed of the 243..?

Dober

In addition to what Mark just posted, I have seen the .223 do well on pronghorn with the 55 BT.

Wasn't the least worried, from the onset- Just was interested in some other's experiences.
I had never experimented with a 243 class rifle much before, with the short brief exception of a #1 in 6mm. I have been much impressed with the accuracy and destuction in this little package. The fact that it's in a very accurate Tikka that shoots all bullets tried so far to the same point of impact at 100 yards makes it more fun.

royce

Barnes makes an 80 grain TTSX in .243. At 3300 it'll go through any deer from just about any angle. It will also make a mess of the parts it passes through.

I have used .223 45 grain TSX bullets.
Done on meat whitetails with head and neck shots only within 120 yards. Predictable results of course bang/flop.