I am with frizzellr, the NBT is my choice for a deer/antelope load it has always produced excellent results as rib shooter, small in, vitals mush and good sized exit hole! I have taken a number of quartering as well and while it will leave some damage to the opposite shoulder, it gets the job done on our larger framed whitetail bucks.

I,m with you guys also,great on deer and I took an Antelope at about 125 yards results where GREAT! Never had a problem with bullet break up and have not recover one yet as all passed through.I shoot 140 gr.BT from a 7mm08.

I'd go with penetration. I'm confident enough with my placement that I'd rather have the bullet/slug go right thru. That way , if I have to trail the deer , there will be a nice blood trail with a pass through.

Tex, A bullet is designed to kill with shock, not how big a hole it makes in the game. A perfect match is the combination of the right caliber and correct bullet choice for a particular hunting situation. In a perfect scenario, the bullet expands on contact with the animal. Upon impact, the energy or shock of the impact causes massive shock to the animal causing an extreme accelleration of blood to the heart and brain. This renders the game instantly unconscious. If the correct type bullet was selected the bullet should be found just under the skin on the opposite side of the impact. All the bullets energy was expended on the target. Maximum shock and energy expended on the target. The damage caused by the bullet itself is to inflict damage to the internal parts to assure that the game will not regain consciousness. This is a perfect scenario. Distance, obstructions in the path of the bullet, wind, and most important is the skill of the shooter make an accurate shot that is critical for a quick, humane kill.
Good Hunting...

Hmmm, six of one/half a dozen of the other, perhaps?

Epansion and penetration makes me most confident which is why I choose the Nosler Partition. It's not as "devastating" as a BT after going through the ribs nor does it penetrate as narrowly as a Barnes X but it offers the best of both worlds, IMO.

This was my first year hunting with a Hornady Interbond which is very similar to a BT and it performed just as I expected; explosively. I was forced to make a shoulder shot (quartering towards). It destroyed the shoulder while fragmenting into many pieces, left a bassball size hole in the ribs, turned the vitals into muck and a few peices lodged into the opposite side under the hide. Bottom line, it did a wonderfully explosive job. Ruined a good amount of meat in the process though. The same shot with a Partition would have been much cleaner. The deer is still dead as dead can be but I would have been more confident going out hunting with Partitions (and I think that's justified in this case because it would have been a cleaner kill with no fear of disintegration on the shoulder). I can totally appreciate why people prefer the explosive terminal behavior of BT's but a lot of it has to do with what you feel most confident with.

I'd go with penetration first, then expansion. You want the bullet to have a long would channel to maximize damage and bleeding. Not all deer drop in their tracks due to shock. If they don't, it's blood loss that will kill it. I think a Trophy Bonded Bear Claw combines the best of both worlds. I've also shot a lot of deer with the Barnes X bullet and none of them went anywhere but straight down.

mistahmojoryan, clarifaction please - are you referring to the SST or the Interbond (IB) bullet? The SST is designed and acts much like a NBT, correct. However the "Interbond" while polymer tipped and tapered heel is suppose to be bonded and retain high amounts of weight. The interbond should not frag and be explosive, yes it expands very well but also is design to retain weight like a NP for penetration (the best of both worlds plus better BC for accuracy). The Interbond is to be compared to the likes of the Nosler Accubond or Swift Scirrico's.

Oops! Thanks Skeeter; you caught my mistake. I was referring to the SST NOT the Interbond.

The Interbond performs similar to an Accubond; an SST performs similar to a BT.