I have been loading the 165-grain BT in my .30-06 cases the year after they were introduced to handloaders. I have two -06's: a Winchester Model 70 and a Savage Model 110E. This bullet has produced sterling accuracy in both rifles, and of the 10+ deer I have killed with them, only one has made it past five yards from the site of the shot.

I have always acheived full penetration, from ranges of 35 to 150 yards, except for one instance. In 2000 I shot a buck straight down between the shoulders from 25' up in my treestand. The bullet centered the spine, completely pulverizing three vertabrae into white bone powder, and snapped off another three. When I field-dressed the buck, I noticed the lack of exit and no damage to the heart (I was aiming to drive the bullet through the bottom of the chest and through the heart). I also noticed the right lung was intact, but the left lung, well, there was no left lung. After the bullet smashed the spine it entered the left lung and detonated, turning it into raspberry puree.

Ballistic Tips get a lot of good/bad press. Most praise them for the their accuracy, some praise them for their expansion, and some damn them for a lack of penetration, especially through heavy bone. I will admit, they would not be my first choice for game as large and heavy as elk or moose (unless I loaded the 200-grain BT in my .338, since that BT is made with a heavier jacket, but I know I would simply stick with the 250-grain Hawk spitzers I load now). But for whitetails/muleys, antelope, caribou, black bear and similiar game, I think they are great bullets and I will cotinue to load them with confidence (I wish they made muzzleloader bullets!)

Brian