Ballistic tips

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In my experience they work quite well if you go for the heart/lung area. They also can ruin a lot of meat if you make a poor shot, as they tend to expand more than most. But in the right spot they will turn the lungs to jelly, and I've found them to be very accurate as well.
 
Nosler Ballistic Tips are essentially a hollowpoint with a plastic tip to give a very sharp, aerodynamic bullet that maintains speed, trajectroy and energy at long range. Put one in a game animals vitals and they kill fast. They are not the best choice if you are planning on shooting game at bad angles where several feet of penetration are needed to reach the vitals.The Hornady SST and several other work the same way. As do the Berger Hunting bullets.

Don't confuse them with the plastic tipped solid copper bullets such as Barnes. These bullets look silmilar, but the solid copper will not break up like a hollowpoint lead bullet. The solid copper bullets are an EXCELLENT choice if you need very deep penetraion.
 
I've taken deer &/or hogs with 30-06 150 gr, 300 Win Mag 150 gr, 25-06 100 gr, 30-30 125 gr (from a 14" TC Contender), 308 with 150 gr, .35 Whelen 200 gr--all with Nosler BT's.

Each and every one has been VERY effective and the blood trail (if needed) was short when the bullet was placed well. Ranges varied from 3 steps to 175 yards for me.

I got into BT's because they shot very to VERY accurately in everything I tried them in.

I love the things.
 
Early production hunting type BT were "soft" and expanded quickly-maybe too quickly in my estimation. Later productions runs were were tougher and didn't have quite the explosive expansion while still opening up decisively. I've used the 140 BT extensively in hotloaded 7x57 and 7mm08 on deer with excellent results and the differnece in early vs later construction is quite apparent. The 90-95 grain .243 BT do well at 243 Win velocities but the jury is still out on the 115 grain .257 at 257 Wby velocities. Top of the line is the 165 grain(early production) .308 as loaded in some old stock Ultramax 30/06. This has accounted for a significant number of deer but is very destructive on the meat. The amount of expansion of this load was displayed by a couple of coyote kills with it that resulted in 1.5" exit wounds.
 
I load 165 BT's in -06 over a midrange load of 4895 with good results. I could get a lot more velocity out of it with a slower powder, but this load shoots good and gives good expansion and doesn't blow up at close range (most deer I've killed have been less than 100yds). 180's do a good job too, but don't shoot as well for the rifle I typically use.

If you want to have fun w/ a yote, groundhog, crow, ... load, try some 125 BT's. I have a load in .300wm that shoots around 3600 fps. I've killed one deer with that load and it was obvious to me that it would not be a good deer load (neck shot @ ~100 yds caused near decapitation). It will turn a yote inside-out. :)
 
I have had good results in 25-06 120gr for deer and 300 WM 180 and 338-378 210 for elk. No blow up or penetration issues, most pass through leaving some fragments along the way in the wound channel. Loaded some 7mag for a friend and he was pleased with the performance on antelope deer and elk.
 
Over the years I've killed maybe 60 deer with them. I take mostly broadside lung shots. I've never had a bullet fail to do it's job...but they do the job in a different manner than other bullet types. I use a Rem 7mm Mag loaded and most of my shots are between 80 and 120 yards, with the farthest shots being 300 yards. Bullet weights will generally be either 140 or 150 grains.

When they hit a deer broadside the bullet penetrates the chest cavity and then blows up in a bunch of fragments. Of the bullets I've recovered, they had roughly 30% weight retention. I don't get a lot of pass throughs with that bullet/shot placement.

That's not neccessarily a bad thing though because the damage done to the lungs/heart is devestating. Many times it looks as though the lungs have been through a blender. Picture a small grenade going off in a deers chest...when the bullet fragments that's the type of damage it does.

Becuase they dont' often achieve pass through's they dont' leave a great blood trail. If you use heart/lung shots and you want consistent pass throughs then you might want to use a different bullet.

I've never lost a deer from them. Never shot a deer with them that wasn't recovered quickly. Most fall withing 25 yards of the crime scene...the furthest managed to run 100 yards with his heart blown out. I shot him at a distance of roughly 7 yards...so the noise alone might have pushed him that far. :D
 
I have had exceptional performance from Ballistic Tips. I have never had one fail to pass through so I cannot comment on weight retention other then to say they always exited. The norm is a rather small entry wound, an aprox 6" shotgun like pattern of bullet fragments lodged in the offside rib cage and a 1.5-2" exit, terminal performance can only be described as devastating. I try BTs in every rifle I handload for, some like them some don't. For those that do I prefer BTs to most other bullets on the market for deer they are good for really quick kills though meat damage can be excessive if you hit the tasty bits.
I have hunted with 130gr in my 270 WSM (3300fps) and 120gr 6.5x55 (3000fps) I also load them in my 30 calibers but have yet to try them on deer.
 
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The norm is a rather small entry wound, an aprox 6" shotgun like pattern of bullet fragments lodged in the offside rib cage and a 1.5-2" exit
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I have observed the same exact thing. They are extremely effective on deer. I've killed several with them and never had to track one at all. They do come apart however, so make sure that shot lands behind the shoulder and not in it. If it hits shoulder, you aren't going to be eating much of them.

I also load them in my 30 calibers but have yet to try them on deer.
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No difference with the .30s. I've killed a few with 150 grainers in my .30-06 at about 2,900 fps (according to load data. I haven't chronographed them) with the same results. Huge wound channels.
 
Yeah I have the utmost of confidence that my 30-06 and 308 would drop any deer I ran across, but the smaller calibers with BTs are more then enough for any deer around here no sense in tearing them up any more with a 30 caliber.
 
+100 for ballistic tips. I confess to having used them on small game only, but the effects were devistating. Started loading them in 1992 and have not stopped.
 
I only break out the WSM if I am fully expecting shots in excess of 200yards. It has only taken two deer closer then that, one was a close range neck shot, and yes the damage was intense. BTs expand very quickly making them a great neck shot bullet should you be in a close range situation. BTs have a unique design with a very thin jacket up front and a VERY thick jacket at the base making them expand/fragment the front portion very quickly and the super tough base keeps enough mass to keep going, very good design.
 
I have been using Hornady 165 gr SST with 43.4 grains of IMR 4895 with excellent results. The expansion is impressive on light skinned game. I agree with previous comments that this is not a good choice if you are looking for some serious penetration.
 
ldlfh7 said:
I have been using Hornady 165 gr SST with 43.4 grains of IMR 4895 with excellent results. The expansion is impressive on light skinned game. I agree with previous comments that this is not a good choice if you are looking for some serious penetration.
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Exactly, BTs (and the SSTs) cause traumatic wounding through CXP2 class game, but the tradeoff is less then stellar penetration on larger game making them very much a deer/pronghorn bullet, but darn near perfect for that role assuming you want a very wide wound tract.
 
150 grain 7mm rem mag vs. 180 lb texas white tail. they tear up meat but good insurance. I never lost an animal to ballistic tips. I had a .308 ballistic tip disintegrate on the shoulder of an 80 lb doe, didnt even enter the rib cage but she bled out and dropped in 25 yards regardless.

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I used a 100 gr. .243 on a Whitetail doe. 125 yards hit one of her lungs she ran about 15 yards. Also they are very accurate bullets. Get some and use them you will not be disappointed.
 
If you have some H-4350 that is an excellent powder to go with those bullets using between 55 - 57 or so grains. Or if you have some IMR-4350 usually between 57 - 58.5grs has worked best, but work it up slow for your rifle.

If you also have access to a chronograph try to get them in the 28-2900fps range and you will be good to go.

The best over all lenght I have found is 3.250" with those powders, and it has shot quarter or smaller sized groups at 100yds or further, in every bolt action I have tried it in.
 
41 Mag are you talking 150, 165, 168 or 180gr? Please specify weight so we don't have a newbie kaboom anything. I am assuming you are talking about the 30-06.
 
I have H414 is all I could find I e mailed Nosler and they sent me some info on the load. Im not a newbie did reload some for a few yrs just now getting back into it.The trouble im finding more than anything,is I have 3 older loading manuals .and most of the bullets today have changed
 
With H414 max load should be around 58gr start 10% lower and work up. 414 is a good powder for 165gr 30-06 but my personal favorite is IMR 4350
 
kacock thats what I wanted but every place around me is out of it :( They just happened to get in some H414 and thought it would beat not having any. which 4350 your referring to H or IMR
 
IMR, I use both but I get very slightly better results with the IMR version, I use 57gr in my 30-06 with my 165gr Serria Game Kings which is another fantastic bullet, but as I have said before that is a very destructive combination at close range even more so then the Ballistic Tips I have used, had a 9"+ exit wound on the last deer, never seen anything like it.
 
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