Ballistic tips for big game

[landscaper]

The .308 vs .270 thread got me to thinking about ballistic tip bullets for big game. I hear just as many naysayers as I do folks who wouldn't shoot anything else. I had never shot them till last year when I pulled out my grandfather's old 700BDL in .308. I found some ballistic tips that it absolutely loves. It will stack up as many as you want to shoot and I love that, but I'm not sure I like the performance on an animal. I shot 3 deer, 3 pigs, and 3 coyotes (one beautiful 80 yd head shot thank you) with it last year. I recovered all three yotes, two deer(one of which I would not have found had I not fallen over it after giving up searching), and none of the pigs. I'm confident they all expired pretty quickly, but the poor recovery rate is due entirely to NO, ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH, NADA blood trails. There wasn't a single drop of blood to be found from any of these animals and that bothers me. What are y'alls experiences with the ballistic tips?

[cwink]

I haven't used balistic tips, but I have used Hollow Points a good bit in the past.. The HP don't leave blood trails either, but they do transfer all the energy into the game. You don't usually need a blood trail as long as your shot placement is good..

[duramax]

If you want pass thru's, look at the Barnes TSX or triple shocks. Near 100% bullet weight retention and much less violent expansion. But I still love Ballistic tips out of my .270. Well placed shots have made pretty much all my deer DRT. The downside I've found is if you shoot one in the shoulder, forget about getting any meat off it, because it's destroyed. I've never had a deer go more that 10 yards from where I've shot them. So blood trails haven't been much of an issue. The 130 grain Nosler ballistic tip bullets I load for it are the same round my dad has used on pronghorn, and big mule deer and he had the same results.

[cbakerf81]

shot a Winchester ballistic tip in a .243. Makes nice exit wound ever time plenty of blood never had one go more than 20 yards.

[thcobb1]

I shoot precision plus nosler BT ammo. You usually don't need to track a deer more than a foot or so. I had to track an 8pt last year that was difficult only because there was blood everywhere!! I mean, it was spraying 2 -3 yards into the woods to the right all down the tree line. It looked like a paint sprayer for about 50 yards. That was from a 280 rem, I have had the same results from a 7-08. There is rarely an exit wound. The entrance produced the blood trail. you can put your fist into the wound.
The year prior I shot a doe at a steep angle down and away, it looked like someone put a knife in her just behind the ribcage and ripped her open for about 8 inches. There were two small holes on her other side where fragments came out.

I can't say anything about other BTs as I have only used these.
it is just my opinion if you are shooting a magnum BT seem break apart on just about any animal.

[Deltamud77]

Had complete bullet failure from Winchester ballistic silver tip last year (7mm Mag) at 125 yards. Found pieces of bullet throughout carcass. No blood and no exit. Well placed shot though that killed the deer. If it had been a 200 lb deer I would have had trouble.

[thcobb1]

Deltamud,

You helped my point. Not bashing the Winchester sliver tips, one guy in my camp lost 2 nice deer several years ago with the same setup at 200 yards. It seems like I hear the like results from the Win BTs and mores so with a mag. Not sure what it is about them, I think they just are more brittle than the Nosler, but I still think it has something to do with the speed of the bullet at impact.

BTW, Guy at camp changed to a 280rem, and from his 7mm mag shoots an accubond. He has not lost once since.

[msbigdawg1234]

Fed 130 nossler BT in the shoulder means deer dead there or 20 yds of plowing ground.. No need for blood trail.. Been shooting these since 94 and ain't lost an animal of any size and I put a bunch of 200-250 lb deer down.. Yes yay not gona eat the shoulders but ya not gona lose ya deer... Ain't nothing but burger or stew meat anyway

[digger]

I'v shot handloads with Nosler bt in 300Win mag for yrs and never had a problem but once and hit front shoulder knocked him down but had to put a follow up on him.In my opioin which aint much shot placement is the key.Don't shoot in shoulder (to break down) but behind shoulder everything I skin it look's like pink jello running out when you open them up,all energy spent inside instead of blowing big exit wound.I'v shot deer from 10yds to 400yds with no exit wound.

[deltadukman]

I dont shoot them, but on several occasions, I have had friends shoot a deer in tall grass, nothing super firm just grown up hay field type grass and have seen the ballistic tips "blow up" or fragment before hitting the deer. I have seen it in person, not hear say, and it looks like you shot the deer with bird shot. I didnt think a bullet could do that. I dont know if its indicative of ballastic tips or not.

[cwink]

Also, keep in mind just because it is a ballistic tip has nothing to do with what is behind the ballistic tip.. Some are target rounds that will fragment, some are hunting round that are solid. . For example Barnes makes a ballistic tip that sits on top of it's standard X bullet.. It really doesn't matter what type of tip it has, it is what the bullet behind the tip is designed to do..

[Curtdawg88]

I stopped using the Winchester Silver Tip bullets because of a lack of blood trails. My dad and I both shot them out of our 270s and if we found the deer it was because we stumbled on them. I switched to the 150 grain Remington Core Lokts several years ago and every deer I have shot since sprays blood if they run off. This ammo is cheap too. About $20 per box.

[Blackduck]

Nosler makes a bullet called Ballistic Tip. They also make a Black Lubalox coated version. Same bullet I believe. Winchester uses the black ones for their ammo. The nosler bullet has a reputation of being a very frangible bullet.

Now bullets, not ammunition, come in a spectrum. Easily fragment -------->Solids that don't fragment. That spectrum also can generaly be read as Dumps all the energy in the target--------->Dumps some energy in the target. And yet another way to read it is Explode in the deer------> Complete pass through. Now the last way to interpret it is Minimal Blood Trail------>Large Blood trail.

If you want the best blood trail possible shoot the deer low in the chest so the blood easily pours out and doesn't have to fill up the chest before it starts coming out. Any bow hunter can tell you that.

Back to bullets. The Ballistic tip is probably the most frangible bullet out there. Barnes solids are on the other end. Not just their TTSX but their solids. There are all manner of monolithic bullets and they are made to penetrate. Barnes, Nosler E tip, Hornady GMX. Just behind this are the bonded bullets where the lead is chemically bonded to the copper jacket. Accubond, Innebond, Swift Sirocco. Next comes bullets that I personally like that give good penetration and fragmentation Berger Hunting VLD, Sierra GameKing (most under rated bullet out there because it doesn't come in a sexy box or have a polymer tip), and SST, maybe interlock as well. Last is ballistic tips. SST from hornady might fit in here as well but I don't know.

Bigger the animal = more penetration. Will all these bullets work on animals - sure. Everyone has some type of anecdotal story about all the stuff they have killed. No one bullet will drop all game every time.

[TK]

This is just my personal experience. I have used the Winchester 300 wsm 150 grain ballistic tips for the last 6 years in Colorado. I have killed 9 elk with them and not one has ran more than 25 yards. Also of those nine, five never took another step. They are devastating in my opinion.

[landscaper]

Sounds like I need to experiment with different rounds then. Sadly I can't remember right now what I'm shooting but they pass through with little to no expansion. Exit wounds about the size of my pinky finger.