Winchester Ballistic Tips
 

I shoot the 168 gr out of my .308 and it is very accurate. Sunday was my first kill with these bullets and I was a little disappointed although I should have known better. I shot a hog about 100 yrds away and had no exit hole or blood anywhere. The hog ran away into the swamp which wasn't fun. The only nice part was the amount of damage done on the inside to the vitals. I'm just glad I didn't lose a buck to these bullets. I'm sure someone has a similar story but I want opinions on what will be as accurate as these but have better weight retention. Since I hunt a lot of thick florida swamps i need good blood trails if they don't drop on the spot. Any recommendations are appreciated. Thanks guys!

1st 168gr Barnes TTSX (never shot anything more acc. hand loads) 2nd 150 gr winchester power points 3rd 150 gr rem. core lokt. I choose those just out of personal exp. I normally shoot hogs in the head due to the fact that the wounds seal up so fast.

I'll get jumped for saying it but your experience and many similar ones with my friends and family are why I don't like ballistic tips of any type. They expand too much for my liking in the 0 to 120 yard range that most people shoot animals. And I'm like you. I hunt in and near some really nasty thick stuff here in Alabama. An animal that runs even a 100 yards without a blood trail can be a pain in the @$$ to find. Especially if you shoot it just before dark and have to track it through a thicket with a flashlight.

I like lead tipped Hornady Interlocks. One of the nice things about using a standard velocity cartridge like the .308 is that standard lead tip cup and core type bullets perform very well from them. The interlock bullet has always seemed about the right level of toughness for whitetails and hogs to me. I shoot them out of a 25-06 and despite them only weighing 117 grains in that caliber I rarely fail to get an exit hole. You can off course make an exit hole a virtual certainty with Barnes X-bullets but I have found them to be a little too tough for our southern deer. Anyway that's my 2 cents.

Nothing wrong with your bullet, sometimes hogs are notorious for not leaving good blood trails.

There is so much I would like to post on this subject but let's keep it simple. RR is right on the money as usual. Bullets that travel 8"-16" after impact inside the animal have done everything it can for energy displacement and tissue damage. Exit holes are for tracking purposes at this point. You can't be too hard or too soft when it comes to hunting bullets. It truly has to be a middle ground to preform at all levels consistently.

A ballistic tip is basically a hollow point with an aero dynamic plastic tip, so they do expand like all get out. The only gun I use them is in my 300WSM in 180 grain, which destroys the vitals and exits as well. I never liked them in 165 grain out of my 30-06, although I killed every deer I hit with them, they just destroyed the shoulder of the few I hit, which was on me.

Used them once in a 7mm Rem Mag on a quartering shot to me. It took the shoulder completely out, ruined a lot of meat. They were very accurate in the rifle I used, but they destroyed too much meat for me to use them on deer again.