Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Not Sold on the 120 NBT

Having read numerous accounts about the "toughened" Nosler 120 grain NBT, I worked-up a load that shot excellent groups in my 7-08. At just a tick over 3,000 fps, they did this:







I've seen cutaway pictures of these bullets, showing the thickened jacket, and I've read the account of how they've held together extremely well, even at magnum velocities. I was accordingly surprised when I saw what they did to the first hog I shot with them.







This was a year and a half ago, and I chalked it up to being a 10 yard shot and crunching bone. However, I had this happen Saturday:








About 80 yards, quartering toward me. There was no exit. I also shot a sow at the same distance immediately afterward, and there was a massive exit wound and extreme tissue damage. While trimming the quartered pieces just now, I found an explosion of jagged bullet fragments that had been blasted through the shoulder and neck meat.

Am I the only one who's seen this happen with recent production runs of this bullet?

FC

Yeah, that's a bit much...

DF

What's the problem here?

Quartering toward you, and it's hit behind the leg? Am I seeing it right?

If 'twere a cull, there'd be none. I wanna eat those shoulders 'n' ribs, though.

FC

If you don't want meat damage, don't shoot animals in the meat.

Now that you mention it, I waited for him to turn more before I pressed the go button. Good catch.

FC

The hole looks sort of oval. Was the angle the bullet came in on still a good bit shy of perpendicular?

I shoot meat deer in the lungs, as I don't eat much ribs. They usually run, but that's generally not a problem. I shoot a pig any which way I can. Gave one a TTSX up the poopchute a few years back. He was a big, stinky boar, but I bet the Barnes magic would have let me eat "right up to the hole" if I'd wanted to..... (grin)

That is uglier by far than any that we've seen in 7-08 or 280 on antelope,mule deer or elk.

They look dead to me.

Prolly just pulled the trigger too hard.

THIS^

The proper place to shoot a hog is just under the ear. kill em dead. Ruins nothing that you want to eat.

Maybe slow em down some?

This was last Friday, .30-06 and 150g BT circa 2975fps, under 100 yards, probably closer to 75. Didn't laser it and it might have been a little less than that.

Broadside shot, exit shown.

On a hog just in front of the shoulder drops em with very little meat damage too. I'm not a good enough shot to bother with the ear hole shots

This. Guarantees DRT, no muss no fuss. Either that or any CNS placement. They're not going anywhere and nothing messed up that you want to eat.

I'm not disputing placement, at all. 90+% of the hogs I've taken have been with head shots. As distances grow, or when foliage precludes a head shot, I aim for vitals.

My beef is with the explosiveness of a purportedly, "tough" bullet. I've not seen this type of fragmentation with TSX's, CoreLokts, Interlocks, or even soft point bullets. It's not what I was expecting.

FC

This thread reminds me why I won't use BT's on BG animals.

Love them at the range and on varmints though.

I guess results would be better at distance after velocity falls off a bit.