Are or have any of you 6.5 Swede drivers used 100 grain Nosler BTs on whitetail deer? I was out playing with my 6.5 Swede today using 100 grain Nosler BTs and came up with some nice groups and was wondering how effective they were on whitetail deer.

I'm sure on a broadside shot where you could drop it in the heart lung area, they would be deadly. I use the 120 TSX in my 6.5s as it will shoot under 1" and get full penetration even on quartering or facing shots. Two Antelope and 3 Deer were dropped with one shot from 60 to 325 yards, only one was a classic broadside shot. "Over" LOL, penetration in all cases, no bullets recovered.
Have shot a few Yotes with the 100 6.5 NBT and it really wrecks them but does come apart with great violence.

Hopefully someone can give you direct answer. I have never used them on whitetails, but did work up a load for roe deer in 2006. Of course these are much smaller deer, but the load worked very well on three roebucks. With 47gr of H4350 in Lapua brass, I got about 2950fps and really fine accuracy. This was in a Winchester Model 70 Classic Featherweight. I recently bought some 120gr Ballistic Tips with the thought that I might try them on southern whitetails.

Wow! Five animals with one shot! How long did you have to wait for them to line up?

They work just fine on whitetails within certain limitations. My best one with that bullet was a nice 140 class 8 pointer that fell to one shot (quartering on, shoulder shot)....he dressed out at 242 pounds. I can't tell you what one would do on one that dressed at 243 pounds though.

Great bullet and you should have fantastic results with it. As always, choose your shots carefully and remember to post a hero pic this fall with your kills.

I used nothing but 120 NBTs on blacktail, antelope and the occasional coyote with great success. Never needed to look further. I used H4350 and RL19.

Ya beat me to it!

I can't say on the 100s, but I do know the 120s work splendidly on caribou. It's the single bullet I've used more than any other on them and it works just fine. Of course these are some of the ones made ten years ago or so, so they may be a bit less sturdy, but that never became an issue. They work fine and I've yet to have one "blow up". They are also very accurate in my M70 with either RL 19 or 7828. Another sleeper is the 129 Interlock, if your rifle likes them.

grasshopper, I'm glad you guys said that, I was wondering myself. Guess there are a few more smartazzes on here besides me.

So live weight was over 300 pounds?
That's a big deer.

P

Have killed 4 down here that big.....our part of the state was restocked with deer about 45-50 years ago. It was restocked with pure Wisconsin stock whitetails. They have over 100,000 acres planted to crops in my county (I work for USDA), about 35,000 acres of that is peanuts, 20,000 corn, etc...WS genetics + all those vittles + long growing season....the deer have a pretty good deal going on down here!

Not a big deal on the bucks down here that run in the 250-275# range....the bigger ones do get some attention though.

Here's another thought: 100 grain bullets are routinely used in cartridges like the 257 Roberts to take deer-sized animals. Why not a .264 rather than .257 bullet? Believe I'll still think 120 grain though, just because.

For several years a 6.5x06 was my go to deer rifle, because it shot the Nosler 125gr Partition and the 129gr Hornady well I use both a lot. I know the 6.5x06 gets a little more velocity than the Swede, but field performance is not all that different. Both bullets kill the snot out of deer. Actually you'll be hard pressed to find a truly bad deer bullet out of the 6.5x55.

Godogs,

Please tell me this entire post is tongue-in-cheek. First of all, a quartering-to shoulder shot with a 100 grain cup-n-core bullet? Come on! That goes against every experience I ever had in the deer woods, which is not insignificant. Then there's the matter of a deer from Georgia that dressed at 242 lbs. Now, you didn't say you were hunting in GA, but I doubt there's a live deer in the state that weighs that much. In MI, yes. But GA?

When I read his post, the first thing I thought was "peanuts." They get the same size in Virginia around the peanut and corn fields.