who hunts with ballistic tip ammo?

[AZ RANGER]

what are the opinions of those who shoot ballistic tips

 

I recently shot a box of federal nosler ballistic tips through my 270 win they really shoot good in my rifle.

 

From what I have researched some say they lack penetration becuase they expand to quickly. does anybody have any first hand knowledge

 

thanks

[25-06]

All I shoot is federal ballistic tip. The deer I shot last year had a exit hole about the size of a silver dollar, but the deer before last years deer was missing one of his hind quarters (bad shot).

[JACK]

Thats all I have shot for ten years+. I shot them out of my 7MM and now I shoot them out of my 300 R.U.M.

I have never lost or had to trail anything and have been pleased with their performance. They are very devestating. I just started shooting the accubond this year and they seem to shoot the same. They are supposed to be stronger and retain more weight. I don't know how much weight the regular ballistic tips retain because I never got to recover one, everthing I shot always had one little and one big hole in it! Thats ok with me though I want blood to leak out of both sides.

 

Here is a picture of the bucks heart I shot in '05 it was completely severed and floating around in the chest cavity. I don't know why he didn't make it?

[firstcoueswas80]

Jack, good shot.

 

 

Ballistic tips are not very 'strong' bullets. they are made to expand quickly, and not necesarily controlled. the bonded bullets ( accubond, interbond etc.) are made to expand at a controlled rate. i think that ballistic tips are fine for game around the size of our coues. stay away from shoulder shots as this will cause the bullet to 'explode' (trust me, shot my first dee rin the shoulder with a 125 BT from my 30-06 at 400+ yards and it blew it to heck) if you can manage to get the bullet behind the shoulder, chances are the deer is not going far at all. stay away from bone and i would NEVER use them for elk.

[billrquimby]

Jack, good shot.

 

 

Ballistic tips are not very 'strong' bullets. they are made to expand quickly, and not necesarily controlled. the bonded bullets ( accubond, interbond etc.) are made to expand at a controlled rate. i think that ballistic tips are fine for game around the size of our coues. stay away from shoulder shots as this will cause the bullet to 'explode' (trust me, shot my first dee rin the shoulder with a 125 BT from my 30-06 at 400+ yards and it blew it to heck) if you can manage to get the bullet behind the shoulder, chances are the deer is not going far at all. stay away from bone and i would NEVER use them for elk.

 

 

I agree. I used ballistic tips on a desert bighorn ram, a kudu bull, several impala, a reedbuck, and a couple of mule deer. All were dead on their feet instantly when hit, but all were lung shots. I have been told they are too fragile for shoulder shots on large game. My 7mm Rem Mag loves them, but I feel more comfortable with Nosler's partition bullets.

 

Bill

[hunterdude]

I shot a deer 2 years ago at 206yrds. and the deer only moved downward. I think for deer, and goats this is a good bullet, but for elk I would use a Partition.

[scout4u]

i used a ballistic tip for my 7mm and killed my deer at 250yrds he did a back flip and thats all she wrote. The damage was bad i lost almost the whole right quarter due to bullet and bone frags it wasnt pretty (but made field dressing a snap )

[DEERSLAM]

They shoot very well out of my .270. If you don't care about loosing some meat shoot em. I'm done with them though, tired of cleaning up all the bloodshot.

[AZ RANGER]

Thanks for the replies. I think I will use them this year and see what I think.

[hunterdude]

I tried 130gr. and they grouped about a 1" and tried 150gr. and they grouped about 3/4". It all depends on the rifle some shoot everything others don't.

[shortpants]

Good for deer. NEVER USE THEM ON ELK!

[More D]

I saw first hand what a 150gr from a '06 at 208 yards did to a 1 1/2 year old fork mulie.

 

WOW the first shot was tooooooo far back (gut shot) and the poor little guys half of his liver, all his stomach an all his intestines were on the ground. He wasn't far behind.

 

On the filp side I also saw first hand when a hog of a WT with antlers that were wider than his ears and heavy, it still hurts just to even talk about it, with a 125grn from a '06 did at 105 yards. I was looking thru the binos the whole time, I even help verify that it was a WT because we were in mixed country and at first look he looked like a mule deer with the BIG body. The deer was standing broad side and the shooter had time and I even saw the hit on the sholder but he ran hard for 40 yards and we lost sight of him. I took us about 15-20 min to get to where he was standing and we did see some blood but not much. Whe found where he bedded when we lost sight of him and found bright red blood and bone fragments, long pieces. We guessed sholder. We backed off and gave him an hour and ........we never found him. The three of us tracked the that day for 5 hours. 5 of us looked for 6 hours the next day, we even came back after a few days to to look for the vultures. Nothing. I think it hit the point of the sholder and expanded right there never going into the chest cavity.

 

Those 125's are now for coyotes.

 

 

 

[Coach]

I agree with the others here - they are fantastic bullets for deer-sized game, but not strong enough for elk. I shoot CT ballistic tips in both my .300 Wby and 25-06.

[fatfootdoc]

I use them in my 300 wsm and will use them in my new 257 weatherby, they are accurate as can be, but I would not use them on elk, that would be strictly nosler partitions. AG

[Red Rabbit]

The Nosler Ballistic tips have taken 8 coues from my 270, 280 and 7RM. All were lung shots. Penetration was compltely through, so no bullets were recovered. I did strangely get some bloodshot jelly in the near shoulder when the 270's 140 BT hit 2" behind the shoulder from 250 yards. I usually expect some bloodshot on the offside.

 

The last three hunts I have carried TSX's in a 300 WSM, but have not unleashed the beast.

 

If you are looking for a less explosive bullet than the Ballistic Tip, the TSX or Accubond should be worthy of good accuracy, high ballistic coefficient and more controlled expansion.

 

RR