Experience with 125-grain Nosler BT in .308 for deer?

Plan to blow apart precious venison when shooting deer with this light bullet. In my opinion, this weight of bullet when fired in the .308 should be loaded down to about 2300 fps to conserve meat.

TR

1st post here but i've been a lerker for quite awhile.

I load 125 Accubond's for my 308 AR, getting 2,850 FPS from a 16" barrel. Hardly any recoil, similar to a .223. I chose the Accubonds because they'll stay together and retain their weight, negates any concern of the BT's grenadeing at high velocity's.

Newtosavage said:

I think that's what I'll do for my .308 as well. Thankfully, the 125 Accubonds are on sale ATM too. After my initial run of handloads, if they are as accurate as the BT's (and I expect them to be) I will stock up.

Click to expand...

Mine shoots one hole, i'm using H322 which has a 99.08% burn rate in my 16" barrel.

To me it just makes sense, super stout bullet at high speeds to ensure proper expansion and you know your getting the weight retention. For deer it should be perfect and we've got some 200lb'ers in my area. Highly doubt it will have insufficient penetration or expansion. I'd be more skeptical of using an Accubond in higher weights/slower speeds in a 308, higher weight/slower speed i'd probably choose the standard ballistic tips.

I shoot 150 Nosler BTs in my .308, 3/4 MOA and it ain't broke. I don't see any excessive meat damage and penetration is great, so if it ain't broke, I won't fix it. I'd just save the 125s for the 7.62x39. I've had decent groups (3 MOA) from some .308" bullets in my SKS. But, I kinda prefer a 150 in the gun as the only thing I use it on is hogs at night.

Sorry, but I have no experience with the 125 grain bullet at 2800 fps. My .308 (20" barrel) shoots near 2800 fps with the 150 grain bullet. If it's accurate, try it if ya want. I just like a little more lead in my .308 bullet, just a personal bias.

Ive shot the 125nbts from a 30-06 and a 300win. Pre chronograph days so i dont know what the actual velocity was, but north of 3000 for sure. I shot a number of axis deer with the 06, and i dont remember losing any or seeing unusually large amounts of damage on behind the shoulder hits. Broken shoulders would usually grenade the other side, but that was expected from any bullet i shot at the time.

The .300 was only used on goats, so 40-60lbs about 8" across at the chest. Small critters, but unusually tough.

Thru and thru penetration with 3-6" exit wounds depends on what bones were hit. I did lose one goat that i shot too far back on a quartering away shot, got guts and stomach. I didnt find the animal so.cant say for sure, but without hitting something solid, i dont think the exit wound was very large, certainly not the kind of damage a "varmint" bullet would cause.

Now from what ive read the 120 7mm and 125 .308 bullets are unusually tough for the balistic tip line up. My experience with both seems to bare this out, but ive never contacted nosler to actually ask them.

While i think the accubonds might actually be the better bullet, and worth the extra cost, i dont think youll have any problems with the 125s for deer.
Ive used much squishier bullets at much faster speeds and hand no issues besides making alot more deer jelly than necessary.

yeah, its ordering from like subway....would you like it toasted?

Just shoot the 125 NBT's for practice and load development then swap to the Accubonds for hunting. That applies to the .308 and .30-06, I don't think the NBT's will give you any problems in the X39

I've done a fair amount of research and they are recommended for 300 blk velocities. I plan to use them next year on white tail. Good luck. From What I have been able to learn they should be in the zone for 7.62x39. Happy hunting and let us know the results if you get to try your combo on game.

I have experience with them in .308 Win loaded down with Hodgdon's reduced load data. So it really doesn't help you, since we were loading to velocities of about 2300 or so.
It was a very accurate load.
My dad shot a 6 point at about 75 yds with this load a few years ago and it only ran about 20 yds before piling up dead.

I'm using my 30 Remington AR exclusively this year for deer and I'm shooting the 125 Accubond at 2775. I developed load and practiced with the 125 Ballistic Tip. The POI at 100 yards was so close it's basically impossible to tell the difference.

Newtosavage said:

Thanks AP. My 125 BT's will be going about 2400 out of my 7.62x39, and I currently have them at 2800 out of my .308 for an easy shooting load, but I could easily get them to 3000 fps if I want to.

My Accubonds arrived yesterday, so I'll load some up just to be sure they shoot to the same POI as my BT's, then that's what I'll use for hunting from the .308 this year, and maybe even the '06.

Click to expand...

What barrel length on the 308? Bolt Gun? Just for reference.

Glad to see we have a few guys on board using this round (bullet weight) this year so we'll have some good field results. One of my hunting buddies who's a big -06 guy and shoots heavy bullets thinks my 125's are going to "bounce off" deer, he's not serious but likes to bust my balls. Reality is that i'd put 3-5 rounds on target for his one, and being that it's an accubond it'l probably blow through one side and out the other.

Bullet selection for this one is key, if you're getting near 100% retention that's alot better than some older projectiles where a 150gr would loose 30% of its weight on impact.

For what it's worth, i'm thinking if you had a 270win 130gr in a 16" barrel (not that you would but hypothetically), I think my 125gr 308 out of the short barrel would surpass the 270 in energy and velocity.

Haven't shot the 125gr NBT in a 30 cal, but I did shoot the 125 NBT in a 7mm TCU. The Contender pistol spit them out at around 2300 fps. Took two whitetails with it at ranges of about 40 or 50 yards. The first one was a quartering on shot that hit on the near shoulder. The insides was absolutely nasty. I swore that the next would be broadside. It was and the lungs looked like jello. If I had a re-do I would use the Accubond. I can't imagine what the Ballistic Tip would do if it was cranking over 2500 fps. Sounds like a mess and a recipe for a lot of meat damage. Might as well use a grenade.

My experience with the 7mm 120 Ballistic Tip has been IMPRESSIVE it is hands down the fastest deer killer I've ever seen used. Myself and 3 friends use the 7mm 120's at 2600-2800 fps and from 28 deer the longest distance after the shot has been 20 yards. There have been 6 "bang flops"

Myself and my friends won't use any other 7mm bullet. It just flat works

Folks the 7mm 120 gr has the s.d. of 2.13, the 308 125gr is coming in at .188. Are they similar? Kinda, but there is no direct comparison between results given in the 120 and what's expected of the 125 as the 120 will have more penetration at similar distances. A .243 with a 75-80gr bullet compares closer to the 125 (except for velocity) than the previously mentioned 120 7mm offerings.

The reason the 7mm 120 was brought up and I think it's relevant is because them and the .308 125 are both "tough" bullets that perform and penetrate above their weight class.

I have zero experience with the .308 125's but a friend of mine uses them in his daughters .308 and she hasn't had any deer lost and always gets exits. He loads them to 2700fps.

OP if their is any doubt about them switch to the Accubond and not worry. I just wish Nosler would make the 7mm 120 Accubond but instead it's 140 and heavier only.

horsey300 said:

Folks the 7mm 120 gr has the s.d. of 2.13, the 308 125gr is coming in at .188. Are they similar? Kinda, but there is no direct comparison between results given in the 120 and what's expected of the 125 as the 120 will have more penetration at similar distances. A .243 with a 75-80gr bullet compares closer to the 125 (except for velocity) than the previously mentioned 120 7mm offerings.

Click to expand...

Real question about sectional density because I’m not that well versed.

Assuming 100% weight retention of both bullets (the 120 7mm & 125 308), other than penetration what effect does the SD have on the killing power?

Given these modern bullets that retain their weight if you're not shooting long range what's the advantage to a higher sectional density? I don't think either would be lacking any penetration at hunting distances.