Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 6MM 70 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips feral hogs

More testing shows the 70 gr. Ballistic Tip has measurably more penetration however I don't think the fragments exiting will hurt much.

I was out fooling around on a farm near West, Tx and spotted some hogs in a trail between a treeline and a corn field so I got my 243 out of the tool box and got ready for a shot. They were moving slowly knocking down corn and were coming my way. One stopped just long enough for me to get a shot at her ear and I made the shot, it hit a bit b elow the ear and angled back right into the spine. A few small exit holes in the far side could have been bone or bullet fragments but the hog was dead right there. Not a big one around 200 pounds. This was one of the few hogs I have killed in the daytime. The 70 gr. NBT will get more of a workout after deer season.

Thanks for the update. I'm thinking these would be perfect deer medicine for a loaded down .243 for my wife/daughters in the future.

I'm beginning to think it may be good enough at 3300fps on deer. There was damage all the way back to where I cut the hogs head off and shattered bone all in the neck.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear you are right. Steelhead has put his stamp of recommendation on that bullet several times. I don't have any in the NBT category, but I do have quite a few Sierra Blitzkings in the 70 grain denomination.

Now that I have a little more time on my hands, I may have to piddle around with them a bit.

Mark D recommended them and I ran them. I like the bullet in the 6x45.

I can't speak to actual hunting experience but the accuracy of this bullet is beginning to impress me. IMR4350 and the 70 grain Ballistic Tip resulted in a .101 3 shot group from my 243 yesterday. At first I though I had missed the paper with 2 shots until I looked at the back of the cardboard. Thinking it was a fluke I tried another group and the first two did almost the same thing before I got excited and pulled the third one.
Not bad for a 'blemished' bullet-glad I bought several bags.

Just an FYI,

I shot a hog in the head with a 7-08 140 gr. BT and it didn't penetrate. It flattened his ass, but when I finally got to the spot where he fell, he was gone. LOL

Located him a little ways away and shot him again.

I guess the impact angle was weird and it just dug a groove in his head and cracked his skull before going elsewhere.

I was on a bluff and the pig was about 250 yds away below me.

From my experience, I would use something that was a little tougher than a 70 grain BT.

I've shot hundreds of them and head/neck shots using a light at night ain't always possible.

You realize that not all NBTs are created equal right?

Laffin.

They used the 22 short,long and long rifle for head shots on the farm for many a year. Can't see where a BT at twice the speed and weight wouldn't work.

A lot of people go on about the BT's lack of penetration. I have found them generally tougher than the Hornady spire points,especially in the heavier weights. In fact all this sniveling has cause Nosler to make it's BT's tougher than needed to satisfy all the hard bullet types. Compared to the Hornady 75 gr. HP the 70 gr. BT is by far the tougher bullet. In my 7x57 the seconds I have in 140 gr. with the gray tips penetrate very well on both hogs and deer pushed to 2700 fps. I think they have thickened the jackets a bit.

I've shot enough hogs at night to sink the Queen Mary.

The point I was making - and I even said as much - was that head shots aren't always doable at night with a light.

Once you've started smoking hogs, they wise up real quick. You'll be in for running shots and if you have any experience in shooting animals at night running, you'll know what I say is true.

Far better to use something that will reliably kill if you have to take broad side or quartering shot.

That's just a fact. The punishment those animals can absorb is sometimes surprising.

I usually try to hunt on nights with a lot of moon and often don't even turn a light on when I shoot. Typically though I will turn the light on just as I squeeze the trigger. The hogs in our lease area are very spooky and rarely seen in the daytime. I usually walk down sandy roads sneaking up on piles of corn or the feeders with the wind in my face. If they run they are in the brush so no shot anyway. If all I get is a broadside or quartering shot I just go for the spine. In the thorn brush on the lease if they go 50 yards you might never find them.

Recent testing of this bullet. Two large hogs were taken ove the holidays with this bullet pushed to around 3400 fps. One shot in the head between the eye and the base of the ear dropped so hard he bounced. Range 40 yards. The other hog had his head in a bait hole so I shot him in the neck a bit from the side and 3 inches from the base of the skull. This hog dropped also but was still alive needing a finisher from my 45 colt. Range 60 yards. I think if I had a tougher bullet there would have been no need for a finisher. Now a friend who uses this bullet a lot on coyotes used it on two deer. Both shot at around 50 yards. His load was the Federal factory 70 gr. BT called the Vshok. The doe hit in the ribs had a big hole where it was hit and ran maybe 200 yards. The buck, a large 10 point was hit twice broadside in the ribs, took off and was not recovered. I don't know if the Vshok is a softer variant of the Ballistic Tip or not. I switched to the 95 gr. Ballistic Tip.