Loading up the .243 with 95 grain Ballistic Tips at 3050 for whitetail season. Said bullet seems to have a great reputation on this site. For those experienced with it, any shots under 200 yards you would feel at all iffy about? Quartering hard, frontal, shoulders?

For whitetails...nothing iffy about it.

Yep. I’ve killed truck loads of TX whitetails and hogs with them here at the Ranch.
And more than a few antelopes in TX & NM.

I've worked well for sure when I used them.

Great deer bullet in my opinion.

I've never heard a negative report on that bullet when it comes to killing deer.

IMO that scares me I know a lot of folks sing praise on the BT but I have not had suck luck with killing with them I will say the shoot lights out groups but I have had 3 of them blow up and not penetrate on coyotes closest one was the first one at 103 yards and it was a head shot hit him right between the eyes and he flipped backwards only to get back up a minute or so latter after the second shot hit front shoulder at 117 yards he went into a ditch where he had to be finished with my side arm. 3 one was also hit forward and in the shoulder at 241 yards it also just splattered so that is my limited knowledge and experience with that bullet in the 243. If I could figure out how to post pics I would share them

Landowner's son had no problem dropping this really nice buck with the 95gr BT.

What year was that, 1984?

Musta been some big azz coyotes.

The original 95 grain B Tips in the green and red box seemed quite fragile. I shot a bedded antelope from behind and centered the spine, oh the carnage.
When I butchered it I never found a bullet fragment much larger than sand. Ruined a lot of meat. That was 25+ years ago. Today’s Ballistic Tips are much better and wouldn’t hesitate to use them on deer.
Really like the 120 grain in 7/08.

x2

Never had anything iffy with the 95gr BT on whitetails.


Great bullet

This 95 grain Bal Tip?

Sounds like apart from armored coyotes I shouldn't have anything to worry about.

The first BT’s produced did blow up on contact. Not just in the 243 but in many calibers. They have been improved. I don’t know how but now everyone swears by them. Hasbeen

I shot them somewhere around 1992, when they first came out. Very accurate and deadly on deer, but I didn't get exits fairly regularly. It sounds like they are tougher these days, but I generally stick with a controlled expansion bullet for dedicated hunting in the .24-.25cal offerings. In my opinion, the cup/core stuff is fine for general knock-around use, especially when varmints and other targets of opportunity are on the menu.

Nope was winter of 17-18 when it happened to me. I know a lot of folks have great luck with them was just my experience is all

The varmit weight ballistic tips are made to be soft. The 95 grain is not a varmit bullet. It's hard to imagine one hitting a coyote in the head and failing to provide enough penetration.

I like the 90 grain Nosler Accubond a whole lot better than the Ballistic tip. A little more money but a lot better hunting bullet IMO. I use Barnes TTSX and Hornady GMX in 6mm for game bigger than deer.

Dropped a whitetail doe(2009) at about 70 yards and an antelope(2016) at 355 and stuff in between with my 6 Rem and 95 NBT's, they leave the muzzle of mine around 3215. Never had one blow up or fail to pass thru.

Nothing iffy about it – it'll flat-out work.
The only IF is whether you're big on saving meat and would rather not work through strawberry jello when processing.

90gr Accubond and 95 LRX is what I've gone to in the .243(s) for deer – due to the above.

I agree. I stopped using BT's in anything over 2700 fps due to the shock damage from the higher velocities. They will definitely do the job but my main interest is in saving as much meat as possible and the the damage caused can easily be prevented by using a different bullet. Accubonds or mono bullets are all I use for big game hunting now. I find POI almost identical for accubonds and ballistic tips so use the BT's for target shooting and sighting in and the accubonds for doing the killing.

I've seen that Jello mix a few times. The bullet does a great job killing critters.

Skane,

Are you using the 95 LRX in the 243 Winchester? If so, what twist does your rifle have? I'm curious if that bullet will stabilize at 3000+ fps in the 1:10 twist barrels.

Cookie has used 85 grain slugs in her 6 mm for deer and pronghorn. Longest was a small buck at around 400 yds. No complaints from the animals at all. Should be fine with a 95.

There were lots of complaints initially of ballistic tips blowing up on game in all calibers, but they were designed tougher as a result, some supposedly extremely tough.

From what I understand, and John Barsness and Steve Timm would know better and can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's been said that Gail Root, former ballistician at Nosler was given a free hand to design the 95 grain Ballistic Tip bullet in .243 caliber, the 243 Winchester being his favorite cartridge and that he designed it tough enough to work on big game up to and including elk.

Steve Timm has also remarked here at the Campfire that the 120 grain Ballistic Tip in .284 caliber is an extremely tough bullet despite being a lighter option in that caliber.

I have yet to recover one from somewhere around 18 deer so far. No complaints from me. I stocked up on these and partitions and so far have never felt the need for the partitions. I will have to shoot some to compare. One place has a hog on it that is well over 300 lbs. that would be a good use of the partitions.

This hog has knocked over feeders that had three "T" posts holding them down, he bends the legs and the "T" posts then eats the entire barrel of corn sometimes pushing it over 100 yards away. His tracks are almost the size of a steers.