RE: 7mm-08 120gr. Nosler BT for whitetails
I personally do not care for ballistic tips although I fully realize that some people love them. I don't like the excessive meat damage and the often poor penetration. Most of the wounded and lost deer I have had first hand knowledge of over the past 4 years involved ballistic tips. I am particularly leary of them in lighter grain weight bullets. Ballistic tips expand, fragment and shed weight faster than other bullets. So obviously the lighter the bullet to begin with the greater the chance (IMHO) of poor penetration, overexpansionand no exit hole. Ironically the very reason I dislike them (IE their tendency towardsexplosive fragmentation) is precisely why some people love them.
In the hands of an experienced hunter/marksman able to keep his shots behind the shoulder and with the patienceto wait for a good shot angle the combination you mention may never be a problem. It would not be my choice for a kid on his first hunt however.
I have a 7mm-08 as one of my deer rifles and even with 140 grain bullets recoil is still pretty mild.