Why the “Ballistic Tip” hate?

ScLowCountry

Six Pointer
Ballistic tips got the bad wrap from early ballistic tip bullets . They used to be very fragile. New bts are not nearly as fragile and will pass through.. trust me I have bullets from the 90s and ones made last month they are different animals. They still hit the same poi, but have different performance on game. No matter what the end result is dead.
 

pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Funny....I cant remember how many deer I have shot with a ballistic tip and only 1 time did the bullet not exit.
I shot the deer facing me in the chest and the bullet came to rest in her left ham.
I have had a very high percentage drop stone dead too, but thats more about placement.

Either way I do find it wild how everyone has different experiences with bullets and sometimes even the same cartridge and bullet.

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I have had a lot of them fail to exit. Some come really close to exiting, but I can’t think of the last one that actually did.

As far as. Lack of drt, I most likely put it in too far back and a shade low. I try to slip it in that armpit area....I grew up shooting 3D archery. Bows and shoulder shots are not optimum. Lots of other people hit the should dead on...I just never have. I can decide I am going to shoot the shoulder and I will still forget about it when push comes to shove.
 

Downeast

Twelve Pointer
Let me clarify, for hunting I like Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets. I'm also a fan of heavy for caliber bullets. I could load a 110 grain Nosler Varmint bullet in my 30-06 but why would I? BC's would be terrible and I'm pretty sure accuracy would be mediocre compared to say a 25-06. If you shoot light polymer tip bullets (all brands) at high velocities the odds are good that the bullet will disintegrate on impact or if it hits a shallow bone, say like a shoulder blade. That is not the fault of the bullet or the caliber, but the nimrod behind them using the wrong tool for the job. From hanging around a lot of hunters it seems that the trend is to shy away from heavy bullets and heavy calibers. I'm not sure why, perhaps the AR craze (got to be "tacticool") or the fear of recoil or the "tenderness" of the average modern day american male? :LOL:

So, If you show up on my property with an AR in .223/5.56 to deer hunt (or a 30-06 loaded with 110 grain Varmageddon's for that matter) you will be politely asked to use something more applicable or find another place to hunt. We all know that these varmint rounds will kill a deer with proper shot placement (I've seen it done) but I've also seen deer hit with these light bullets run like a scalded dog with little or no blood trail. In my opinion there is no valid reason to use a light-for-caliber (especially polymer tipped bullets) on big game.
 

pattersonj11

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Just for clarification, the .243 bullets I have used are 95 grain factory hornady sst. Normally if the superformance label. 30-06 rounds have been factory loads of hornady custom and superformance with the 165grain sst.

I’ve had more pass through a with the .223 shooting the federal msr rounds than the sst bullets. I can’t remember losing a deer with any of thise
3, but blood trails have been minimal with the ballistic tips.
 

pcbuckhunter

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Let me clarify, for hunting I like Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets. I'm also a fan of heavy for caliber bullets. I could load a 110 grain Nosler Varmint bullet in my 30-06 but why would I? BC's would be terrible and I'm pretty sure accuracy would be mediocre compared to say a 25-06. If you shoot light polymer tip bullets (all brands) at high velocities the odds are good that the bullet will disintegrate on impact or if it hits a shallow bone, say like a shoulder blade. That is not the fault of the bullet or the caliber, but the nimrod behind them using the wrong tool for the job. From hanging around a lot of hunters it seems that the trend is to shy away from heavy bullets and heavy calibers. I'm not sure why, perhaps the AR craze (got to be "tacticool") or the fear of recoil or the "tenderness" of the average modern day american male? :LOL:

So, If you show up on my property with an AR in .223/5.56 to deer hunt (or a 30-06 loaded with 110 grain Varmageddon's for that matter) you will be politely asked to use something more applicable or find another place to hunt. We all know that these varmint rounds will kill a deer with proper shot placement (I've seen it done) but I've also seen deer hit with these light bullets run like a scalded dog with little or no blood trail. In my opinion there is no valid reason to use a light-for-caliber (especially polymer tipped bullets) on big game.

This is SPOT ON! I couldn’t agree more!

I know Nosler makes 2 different variations of their Ballistic Tips, the Varmint and the Hunting. In certain calibers, they make both in different weights. The .243 and .25 caps come to mind.
I haven’t a clue about Hornady and their SST. Although I do know that their jackets are thinner than those on a Nosler Ballistic Tip. As I stated previously, I prefer Nosler over Hornady when it comes to polymer tipped bullets.



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Downeast

Twelve Pointer
I have never lost a deer (mule and whitetail) while shooting 180 grain Ballistic Tips in my 30-06 and 300 Wby.
 

Guybo

Eight Pointer
gavsler
My first experience with Ballistic tips was early on when they were first introduced and it was a 150gr in 30.06 and the results were same as posted, very quick explosive expansion. The only 2 deer I shot took off like a scalded dog and fell about 150-200yds away but I did recover both deer. There was no exit and a big patch of blood on the entry and the insides were destroyed and pieces of bullet everywhere.


I've read several articles that Nosler supposedly redesigned the ballistic tip some where around 2007 to make the jacket a little thicker but i don't know this to be true. There's no doubt that ballistic tips work and work well and if they didn't so many people wouldn't be using them i'm just not one of those people.

I guess I'm just getting old because I still believe that it's hard to beat a plain ole cup and core soft point for deer. As for bullet weight my opinion differs from some because
I personally like shooting the light for caliber bullets and have been doing this for over 30yrs with excellent results on deer. I would never ever shoot a deer with a varmit bullet but i'll smoke ones butt with a light weight hunting bullet.
They have been very effective and have killed extremely well for me. If I hunted bigger game i'd definitely use a heavier bullet but for deer around here I just don't need it or a magnum caliber and never have. Of course all this is just my opinion and you know what they say about opinions, everybody has one. :)

has changed the thickness of the cups on the

Ballistic



Tips


used for big game hunting. They

did

it at the request of elk hunters who like to use them. By toughening them up they have greatly im
 

PPosey

Twelve Pointer
120 grain bt going 3050-3100fps in a 7mm-08 is a deer killing ace. Varget gets it rhere with ease. 139 grain SST was to fragile and came apart. The 120 7mm bt is a tough little bullet.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I don't remember when they first came out but I stumbled on a combination by accident. We used to go to SC and man drive the big clear cuts that were a year or two years old if it was cold on doe days. We would stack deer up like cord wood.

I had a BAR that a horse had fallen on out west and scratched it all up and bent the barrel so the guy cut the barrel back. It wouldn't cycle reliably so he sold it to me and I fixed it. That was my carry gun for drives. I had bunch of 125 gr 06 BTs loaded for antelope hunting and they were left over so I sighted in that BAR and tried them on deer. They were lethal. And the great thing in that rifle there was little to no recoil so shooting at running deer you could stay right on them for follow up shots.
 

JBGrizzley

Eight Pointer
I know its slightly different from a ballistic tip, but ive used Nosler Accubonds in a 7mm Rem Mag for several years now and have only had one walk, he only went 30 yards and left a hellofa blood trail. Everything else stayed right there, even out to 500 yards. I believe ill get equal performance out of a 270 WSM with 130gr Accubonds
 

PPosey

Twelve Pointer
Yep accubonds for magnums or even a 30-06 up close and bts for slower and farther. 180 grain ballistic tip out of a 300 Weatherby Magnum is a great bullet for deer at 200-plus yards just like it is for a 308 at any distance and 125 and 150 grain ballistic tip out of my old 30-40 krag is a great dear Bullet at any distance but you load the same bullet in a Super Wizum magnum and it's going to go Splat at close range it's all about matching the bullet to the speed it's going to be going when it hits the game.
 

TravisLH

Old Mossy Horns
For 2700-3200 FPS the fed trophy copper BTs are phenomenal. Recovered a few bullets and deformation was about perfect and the weight retention was as advertised. Just wished they made a 6.5 Grendel loading with them.


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darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
I’ve shot them in the past and they performed good. No real issues. But my 25-06 and 6mm Rem love the Sierra gameking. My 25 shoots a 117gr gameking with rimfire like accuracy.
 

SamCo89

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Yep accubonds for magnums or even a 30-06 up close and bts for slower and farther. 180 grain ballistic tip out of a 300 Weatherby Magnum is a great bullet for deer at 200-plus yards just like it is for a 308 at any distance and 125 and 150 grain ballistic tip out of my old 30-40 krag is a great dear Bullet at any distance but you load the same bullet in a Super Wizum magnum and it's going to go Splat at close range it's all about matching the bullet to the speed it's going to be going when it hits the game.

I miss the Hornady 150gr Interbond In 300 Wby. Shot deer from 30-300 yards & never had an issue with fragmentation.


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DRS

Old Mossy Horns
When I tried them years ago, they killed but left no exit wound. I am one that likes an exit, just in case the game is not DRT. Nice to have a good blood trail if that happens. I figured there was no reason to change from what always worked, after those experiences. Good ole cup and core , soft points work just fine for me. I will say there seems to be a difference in how different calibers preform with ballistic tips. I have always wondered, if sectional density played a role in that.
 
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