Nosler ballistic tips

powdergun

powdergun

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Had a bit of a bad experience. I made a solid hit on a doe at a fair bit of a distance but well within my range with a .308. ( 300ish yrds and zero wind ). I was shooting prone on my pack and my partner spotted through the binos and the hit was solid in the chest. The dam thing took off into a very big slough with grass taller than me and thick as hair and we lost her in there. She never exited as the slough was sorrounded by a wide open stubble field and we would of seen her. We finally ran out of light and had to give up. My partner is heading back there at first light but the yotes will probably be finished their midnight snack by then.

I was shooting with the ballistic tips. Has anyone experience similar with these bullets. I've used them before but typically under 150 yrds. Always found the deer but they did go for a bit. We even had to use a dog once to find a small buck as well. The bullets shoot very well out of my gun and thats why I use them but after yesterday I'm wondering.:confused::confused:

Another question: Would you cut your tag on this even though you didn't retrieve the deer ? We made every possible effort possible to find her but ...
 
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If you hit a doe "solid in the chest" with a BT at 300 yards I will guarantee it is laying dead within 100 yards of where you shot it. If the shot was broadside it should have left a blood trail a blind man could follow.
 
I'm with 'Boo, NBT out of a 308 @ 300y should be a good performer

as to cutting your tag or not, that is up to you and how you feel
 
Blood won't show up very well on dry dirt and stubble and she got into the slough grass very fast. If you've ever been in one of these you'll know why. The grass/vegetation is over 6 ft, you can't see past the end of your nose, and and there is a couple inches of water to boot. Also, the grass springs back and doesn't show a path very well. You couldn't even see where I was walking What chokes me is that a solid hit should do better from a good bullet. I've recovered four hit animals until this one hit with the ballistic tips and each one went from 30 to 100yrds. All of them were hit in the boiler room. Its pretty hard to recover the ones I didn't hit:D

If it wasn't for the slough I'd of found her I just wanted to know if anyone else has had some experience with the ballistic tips. I may not be the greatest hunter but I have been eating my own venison for 35 years. The longer you hunt the greater the likely hood of one of these things happening. It drives you nuts but I like to try and learn from situation. Two things here

i)avoid deer near these big grass sloughs ( prairie people know what they are like )

ii) Was it the bullet type ? Should use partitions or something else ?
 
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I have taken over 40 head of big game with ballistic tips in three different calibers with out a single problem.I would wait until the deer is recovered before doubting the bullet.Many bullets have taken the blame when the real culprit was shot placement.
 
I shot 2 bucks last year with 90gr 6mm ballistic tip...

The mistake I made was handloading them too hot...

My muzzle velocity was around 3275 fps...this would be OK if the Deer had been around 300 yards away but both Deer were under 100 yards.

One deer was shot in heart...and fragged BAD and had NO exit hole. Deer only went about 50 yards.

Second deer shot in lungs. Once again fragged BAD and NO exit hole. Deer only went about 40 yards.

Moral of the story...Nosler Ballistic tips work...but I think there are better choices this year it is Nosler Partitions for me.
 
I have had problems with 150 gn BT's with my 7 mag. All shots were in and around 100 yds. Clean entrance hole,clean exit hole. The bullet did not expand for whatever reason. One whitetail walked away as if nothing happened and i questioned my shot. I found the deer 100 yds away. Exploded heart,clean entrance hole,clean exit hole. Same story for the muley i shot a few years ago. Never recovered the bullet with clean hole through and through.
Now the coyote i shot last week,clean entrance hole and a big ass hole on the opposite side. This was a close shot like about 25 feet but still. I dunno. Maybe my old BT's were flawed in some way? No idea.
 
The bullet did not expand for whatever reason. One whitetail walked away as if nothing happened and i questioned my shot. I found the deer 100 yds away. Exploded heart,clean entrance hole,clean exit hole. Same story for the muley i shot a few years ago. Never recovered the bullet with clean hole through and through.
Click to expand...

If the heart was exploded the bullet obviously expanded.You can't judge whether a bullet expanded by the size of the exit hole.The bullet can expand and tear up the internals,then shed some weight and slow down and only leave a small exit hole.This is quite normal with partitions and some other controlled expansion bullets.
 
i used balistic tips in a .270 and a .338 worked o.k. but the .338 is the only one that had a exit hole, a very large exit hole to be exact, i wont use them in it again, to much damage,, tough on the loss i have had that experience not fun, wade
 
:confused:I shot a deer 2 days ago with the 90gr B-tip out of a 6mm. 346 yards on the laser and it was over, the deer didn't swallow the last mouthful of grain. I hunt and live on the prairies and tracking game can be difficult at times in certain areas but I have yet to loose a deer that was hit "solidly" in the chest. I think you missed the vitals, BT's are dependable hunting bullets.
 
That deer has probably used that slough as an escape route before, and what you thought may have been a "solid hit" may not have actually been as solid as you both thought.

Troubling to say the least, but a better analysis may be possible AFTER you find the deer. Sounds like it's still in that slough somewhere.
 
I just shot a good size deer tuesday with 168gr ballistic silver tip in 30-06 at 264 yards.

I hit it about a half an inch higher than I wanted but just about a perfect broadside hit, right behind the shoulder in the engine room.It flipped over like it got hit with a cannon then got up for a little jog and I found it 35 yards away.

No blood trail, no exit wound. On the way in the bullet hit a rib and made a nice entrance hole, I found bits of the bullet inside. It was some mess inside, looked like a stew, everything was in pieces. They have historically done the job for me, but I would have like to see somewhat of a blood trail, along with an exit wound.
 
A couple years ago I hit a smaller WT buck in the lungs with a NBT. The animal kept moving like nothing happened. Fast forward 4 hours later, we were finally dragging the deer 1/2 mile out of the bush using lanterns for light. After gutting it and inspecting the damage, it appeared as though the bullet did not expand.

To be fair, I'm not sure how much of the blame falls on the Nosler Ballistic Tip, but I thought, "there are hundreds of other choices out there, why not give something different a try?" Even since then, I've been shooting Partitions and have loved the performance.

Again, to be fair, I'm not sure a Partition vs. Ballistic Tip is a fair comparison (just look at the price difference). I also use Hornady SST's with good results.
 
todbartell said:
if you want Ballistic Tip accuracy but with Partition penetration, try an Accubond
Click to expand...

I agree and will add and Interbond to that.

I shot some deer with a ballistic tip a few years ago and they went down but with massive meat damage. I know, I know poorly placed shots I suppose, but with an Interbond, Accubond, Partition, TSX etc..... the bullets do not explode like a BT and result in less meat damage.

I'll not shoot BT's anymore unless I'm shooting yotes and the like.

That's the ####s you lost a deer. You can only look as long as you have time and sign.

No hunter ever plans on losing an animal, it is just part of hunting. Don't cut your tag. I'd consider your guilty conscience enough and move onto the next hunt. Only you know how ethical you are. If you did all you could, then leave it at that.
 
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All the input is much appreciated. The thing that bothers me the most is knowing exactly were the deer was but not being able to find it. The slough covered about an acre or so and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. We ##### crossed it up to are arses in mud dozens of times but no luck and when dark hit we had to call it quits. I've had deer hole up under willows and hide so dam well you had to step on it to see them but never like this. I used to use a 7mm mag with 175 gr speer mag tips. They did not have the long range accuracy of the BT's in the 308 but every animal was bang flop. The 7mm took 4 bears and about a dozen deer all bang flops. Why did I sell that gun:(

I think the BT's will be my yote loads for now. I just might finish the season with my savage muzzle loader. That gave me a bang flop earlier this year and I'll just have to rattle them in close. The rut starts in earnest here in a couple of days so its back at it. If it was always easy to get meat they'd call it shopping not hunting.

Best of luck to everyone for the rest of the season
 
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