npaden

Of the 3 animals I shot this year, 2 were shot with the relatively cheap Federal Power-Shok bullets. On those 2, both bullets were placed right behind the front shoulder on a broadside and a quartering away shot. Both bullets were basically clean pass throughs with what appeared to be good expansion and the bullets appeared to stay together very well. I didn't do any inspection of the internal organs as I quartered out both animals without field dressing them. Both animals ran about 40 yards with double lung penetration before falling dead.

I used a winchester ballistic silvertips on one animal and it was an antelope at 200 yards. I made a poor shot and hit it in the lower neck and the bullet performed as well as expected with pretty much a complete fragmentation however there was a significant exit wound and the animal dropped in it's tracks. The exit wound was larger than my fist. Not sure how much of that was caused by bullet fragments and how much was bone fragments because the spine was completely severed.

Would that bullet have been a failure if I hit the animal in the front shoulder? Probably not. There may not have been an exit wound but I doubtthe animalwould have gone very far.

I'm of the opinion that most bullets are going to be effective on medium sized game if you are shooting a decent caliber.

Would I use a ballistic tip on an Elk? No. There are several better choices out there in my opinion.

Will I be buying any more ballistic tip bullets? Possibly. I think they are a very good choice for antelope with the high potential for long range shots. I don't think they are worth the extra $ over the cheaper ammo like the federal power-shoks or winchester's power points for deer though.

That's my 2 cents.

skeeter 7MM

Shato nor was i directing my comments at you, generalized to the discussion. I too have come to respect your opinion and experience. Even if they differ from mine!

When it comes to this bullet always 2 groups and both are equally passionate...more so then any other projectile.

Ideaman

My dad has a wall full of trophy Texas deer killed at moderately long ranges all killed with nosler ballistic tips in 7mm. They were all killed in areas that were open, and accuracy was the need.

I hunt in Florida, you can loose a deer in a swamp or thicket that has traveled 100 YRDS without a blood trail. I choose to shoot bonded or heavy constructed bullets I must have an exit wound.

BT will shoot well in most guns, but a pass through is not as common as I would like.

Heavy constructed bullets are harder to shoot accurately but will give good blood as a rule.

James B

Two things are for sure here. 1. No bullet that I have ever heard of stirs up as much debate as the Ballistic tip. 2. There seems to be no middle ground on this subject. People either love the BT or really hate it. It has always worked very well for me. In fact no bullet except for the Partition has ever been as down right dependable for me.. Well Maybe the old X bullets. Have not used the TSX enough to form an opinion.

deerslayer223

Ballistic tips work great for me. I've harvested 10 deer with them as well as numerous other deer with different bullets. That being said all i put in my guns now are Bt's. They get the job done great for me. Since theres all this discussion about entry and exit holes and what not i figured i'd post this pic. Shot this doe october of this year at 40yards with a 130gr BT in my 270 win. The exit was about the size of a quarter and you can see substancial blood loss occoured. She ran about 50yards. Entry hole was about the size of a nickel.

Slow Burn

I have enjoyed reading the comments in this debate; however, this has been an age old debate. There are no perfect bullets or perfect caliber. Not all animals are impressed with the type of bullet or caliberthere of. All bullets are designed to work at a specific velocity and/or range. It is up to each one of us to pick the bullet that we think works the best for our given situation. There are way to many variables to enter into this debate. Enjoy your hunting and shooting and make the right choice.

Freedom is not free, its paid for by the blood of the American Soldier

leben_sie_gut

I've noticed something along these lines myself....had a Rem 700 in .300WM that I was shooting the Win. Ballistic Silvertips through.....gun shot them well,but the first shot I took on a whitetail...range of about 220 yards.....resulted in a huge exit wound, complete with metal fragments...wound was probably close to being 5" across.

I've shot some Black Hills Gold ammo through my .243 that performed great on whitetails however, one shot kills...believe they were loaded with 95gr. Nosler BT's.

Doe Dumper

As hard as RR and Stubble drive them...if they hold together for them I have no doubts they'd do well inmy puny calibers now

TerryM

Geez, that old ballistic tip bullet debate still raging? If ya like em use em, if not don't LoL..................

leben_sie_gut

That's about it.

You guys remember the old bronze tipped bullets Remington had? Whatever happened to those, are they still around? Haven't been able to find any....used to have good luck with them.