b tip 06

This past deer season i started using 150 gr. Nosler ballistic tip bullets. They group very well in my Ruger 30-06 and they done their job nicely on a couple of whitetails.My only concern is that i have not hit heavy bone such as shoulder thus far and i have heard some bad things about this. Im not a fan of wounding animals so if any of you guys have any input on these bullets(be it Pro or Con)
i would appreciate it.
Also ihearand see great resultsfrom Hornady SST bullets but cant find an ounce of difference in it and the Ballistic Tip except for the fact the SSTwill not group in my gun for reasons i cant explain.Any info on the differences of the two would also be appreciated.

wis_rifle_hunter

my dad uses Winchester Ballistic Silvertips out of his .280 and it tears them apart. you can put a bad shot on them and they still dont run very far. i like them but they dont 100gr ballistic tips for a .243 that i can find.

RugerM77.270

The main differance is the b-tip is rated to 3000 fps and the SST is rated to 3200fps, but is they don't shoot well don't use them. You may want to look at using 165gr b-tips they will go a bit slower and be tougher if you do hit bone.

b tip 06

If u dont mind me asking what type and grain bullet do u shoot in ur .243 and with what kind of results?

thndrchiken

I shoot 180gr Ballistic Silvertips out of my 06. Haven't hit bone but the 180's are pretty tough quarter size entrance slightly larger on the exit on the broadside shot. Most of my guns like the SST's but I can see how some may not shoot them well with the ogive repositioned as it is.

rustynobles

I use Federal Vital Shocks (which I believe use Nosler tips)and Winchester Silver Tips (both 150 gr.) in my 7mmRemMag and have had excellent success when hitting hard bone. I shot a doe this year directly in the shoulder and let's just say it went down no problem. It turned the bone into splinters and exploded the heart and clipped one lung, and some pieces even busted open the guts (she was quartering toward) and finally stopped at the back leg. Aside from being a messy job of dressing, it did the job. So as far as wounding goes, it will pretty much be fatal if you put it in the right spot, and it will leave an excellent exit wound.

DennyF

"but they dont 100gr ballistic tips for a .243 that i can find".

But they do make 95gr Btips for the 243/6mm. Have seen what they do from a M7006mm Rem. Should work fine in your 243, if it will shoot them accurately.

If you don't reload, Winchester offers them in the Supreme Ballistic Silvertip line and Federal offers them intheir Premium line. Hornady ammoalso has the 95gr SST available, at a bit less money than the WW and Fed. loads.

srwshooter

trash the ballistic tips unless you are varmint hunting. i know a bunch of guys that have lost big deer due blowups on shoulderblades. i have a good friend that lost what he says was a booner easy last fall with a ballistictip. one of my best hutning buddies lost one a few years ago that we had all seen. it had 18-20pts ,he made the perfect shot ,so he said. we spent weeks looking for that deer. he was shooting a 140grn ballistic tipin his 270win. the deer was bleeding about every 6ft and not alot ,like it was hit on the shoulder instead of behind it. a 3 legged deer can go for miles. there are a lot of far better choices in bullets.

DennyF

Trash them? Nope. Have seen dozens of deer killed with Nosler Btips, including a dozen or so of my own, mostly with the 100gr out of a 25-06. Haven't lost one yet. Neither has anyone I know personally, that uses them. Most deernever went anywhere when hit,but straight down. And yes, they weren't all "boiler room" hits, although all but afew were.

Have also seen dozens of Btiphorror stories on the internet, but I wasn't there.

I know of one Btip "horror story", firsthand:A buddy once insisted on loading the 140gr in his 7mm Rem. mag for an elk hunt in Idaho many years ago, despite several of us advising against it. He killed a nice bull, but it took at least 3 or 4 shots. Ever since then he won't use a Btip for anything. Imagine that?

wolverine72

Absolutely nothing wrong with Nosler BT's for hunting, IMHO. I think they are great.

I have shot many deer with 165 gr. Nosler BT's loaded tospeeds around2,750 FPS. Never one problem, and I've hit bone. I've found that myRuger 77.30-06 shoots 165's much better than 150's.

How many deer have been shot with un-bonded Remington Core Lokt's or Winchester pointed soft points?Millions... You do not need a premium bullet to kill deer sized game.

Hunters usually run into problems with BT's when they use them at magnum velocities. I have a friend that used Nosler BT's out of a .257 Weatherby Magnum and had the bullets split apart -- too much velocity. It took him three shots to kill an antelope. Hehas since used thesame bullets, loaded at non magnum velocities, out of a .25-06 with no problems.

I've shot three antelope with the .30-06 load refered to above -- all one shot kills with baseball sized exit holes.