7mm 120gr. Ballistic Tips - anyone with on game experience?

The Baron

The Baron

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I just picked up a 7mm-08 and have been researching starting bullets for a mild practice/hunting load. I found some very positive reviews for 120gr Nosler Ballistic tips on deer, saying they mushroom well and hold together, often exiting. This surprised me a bit as I usually consider most plastic tipped bullets (Accubonds and TTSX's exuded, of course) a bit frangible for deer. My plan is to start with H4895 reduced loads and slowly work my son up to be comfortable with something in the 2700-2800 fps range, so on the lower end of mild. Hunting will be whitetails, with shots under 100m.

Does anyone here have experience with the 120gr. Ballistic Tips on game?
 
Heard they were an amazing bullet for deer. Loaded them up for my savage 7mm-08 and it would group dinner plate at 100m. The gun simply doesn't shoot them..

North
 
My Howa alpine shoots them sub moa. Son put a couple through a mature mule deer at about 200 yards. Lung shot was a pass through and a finisher in the neck hung up in pieces on the off side. Lots of meat on a November mule deers neck though. We’ ll keep using them.
 
Do you guys happen to know the twist rate in your rifles? Our Ruger American Compact is 1:8.5", which research shows is fast for the 7-08. I'm not sure if you can over stabilize a bullet, but I guess I'll find out soon enough.
 
I’m a big fan of the ballistic tips, but my experience is only in 30 cal 180grn. Have taken lots of game from 25-430 yards. Excellent performance.
 
hey not the ballistic tip but i shot a few deer with 120 sierra pro hunters and they were good for the normal deers but i felt lacked a little on the bigger deers like sambar an elk.
not sure id use 120 BT on anytin bigger than a whitey
 
nowarningshot said:
Seems some have great performance, others they grenade or pencil. I know there are several generations, as they beta tested lead hardness and jacket thickness.

Of course the latest generations are called accubond.

I use ballistic tips in 270 and 264.
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nah didnt the bt go thru some changes, or in 7mm maybe 308 cal the jackets were the same for different gr an one worked better than others etc...
think its all been corrected now but i still arnt that keen on em :D

id go cup n core over Ballistic tip, just the name puts me off em unless varmints
 
WhelanLad said:
nah didnt the bt go thru some changes, or in 7mm maybe 308 cal the jackets were the same for different gr an one worked better than others etc...
think its all been corrected now but i still arnt that keen on em :D

id go cup n core over Ballistic tip, just the name puts me off em unless varmints
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The Ballistic Tip is a cup and core bullet. The 120gr 7mm Ballistic Tip is actually tougher than the 140gr version, because the jacket is not as thin at the tip, the 120gr bullet was built tougher for silhouette shooters. I have killed a few deer with the 120gr Ballistic Tip, and it performed very well.
 
I usedto own a 7mm Rem Mag, and loaded up some of them 120gr ballistic tips just to see how they would shoot, got 3/4" groups, so I went after some coyotes.
Took one at 300 yards and it literally cut that damn dog in half. Explosive is a total understatement.
 
nowarningshot said:
...Of course the latest generations are called accubond...
Click to expand...

It's possible that the Accubond was developed from the Ballistic Tip design, but the Accubond had a bonded core so it's a fundamentally different bullet than the BT (which is a traditional, non-bonded core). BT's and Accubonds are not the same bullet.


stubblejumper said:
... The 120gr 7mm Ballistic Tip is actually tougher than the 140gr version, because the jacket is not as thin at the tip, the 120gr bullet was built tougher for silhouette shooters...
Click to expand...

Very interesting info!
 
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It's amazing what you can find when you poke around the internet for an entire, large mug of coffee.

stubblejumper... adding your search word "silhouette" led me to this little gem of a photo. It appears the 120gr. BT was created simply by shortening the jacket on the 140gr. from the front end, which means the thinner part of the jacket was trimmed. As a result, the 120gr jacket is thicker thus making it a tougher bullet than the 140's. This defies most peoples' logic, in that some fellas have driven the 140's pretty fast and experienced blow-ups on bone, which would make anyone think heavier is better and the lighter 120gr must be worse/meant as a varmint bullet. When in fact, field results show the reverse is true. Anyway... a pic is worth 1,000 words. 140gr. BT on the left and the 120gr. on the right.

 
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I'll echo stubblejumper. From John Barsness writings - the 7mm 120 Ballistic Tip was "toughened up" because it was so popular with silhouette shooters, so earlier ones will have much lighter jackets, than later ones. Unfortunately I can not find the "cut off" date when the switch over occurred in Nosler production, nor do I know if the part number was changed. I have a few of the older "red boxes", which were called "Nosler Solid Base" P/N 30343 (probably a predecessor of the Ballistic Tip), and some Nosler Ballistic Tip Hunting P/N 28120. No clue if these BT Hunting are the "tough" ones or not? I have shot at least a dozen deer with 7x57, but was using 150 grain Partitions. They worked. Was thinking to use the 120's on paper targets or coyote sized game.
 
excuse my wording of a Cup and core projectile V a "ballisic tip" one, technically may be both a cup an core but ones guna open up alot faster then the other..

i would still prefer a decent CC in good weight over Any ballistic tip- this is just my personal.


Accubond and BT should be same profile though, correct..!?
 
WhelanLad said:
excuse my wording of a Cup and core projectile V a "ballisic tip" one, technically may be both a cup an core but ones guna open up alot faster then the other..

i would still prefer a decent CC in good weight over Any ballistic tip- this is just my personal.


Accubond and BT should be same profile though, correct..!?
Click to expand...

there are some pretty darn soft explosive sp bullets out there
 
I shot the 120 NBT for several years out of a 7-08, the bullet performed perfectly on deer and also on several coyotes... three or four of the coyotes were close to 300 yards, small hole in and small hole out. On deer the 120 expanded well to leave a twonie sized exit hole, but never recovered a bullet. I have also found the .257 115 NBT from a Roberts to be an excellent hunting bullet as well as the 140 NBT from a 6.5 Swede... for the hotter cartridges in .25 cal, 6.5mm and 7mm, I step up to the Accubond.
 
It’s an exceptional combination. I’ve used it a bunch with good success and now my son has taken several head of game with that pair. I don’t think anything has stopped one.
 
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