125gr Noslers, Ought Six & Mulies?
- Thread starter dak47
- Start date
I have seen literally dozens of deer shot with the Nosler .308 125gr Ballistic Tip in the 30-06, this is all that my in-laws family shoots. If you put that bullet in the front end of a deer, it is going down fast. It will do a little more damage than a heavier or tougher bullet, but seriously how much meat do you expect to get off the front of a deer?
Somewhat as an aside, I have also shot dozens of animals with the Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets in various calibers and weights and never had an issue.
Somewhat as an aside, I have also shot dozens of animals with the Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets in various calibers and weights and never had an issue.
See, here is the thing. I have shot more big game animals with the nosler BT than all other bullets combined. And I have killed more with the 125 .308 than the rest of the BT's. They will come apart. I have seen it. More than once.
Chuck, is the comment that they will come apart a negative statement? You are correct, they will come apart. And they will absolutely FLATTEN a deer while doing it, albeit with a little more meat loss. Many tougher bullets will kill a deer just as dead and with less meat damage, but they may not drop it as quickly as the Ballistic Tip will.
I am mostly a bowhunter, but I have shot a dozen or so deer with the Nosler BT's, mostly with my No.1-A .30/30 and 150's, but two with the Roberts and 115's and two with the 7X57 and 150's and they were all fatal shots with good performance... three or four pass throughs with the .30/30, the one I would look to though, was a smallish 8 point buck, shot quartering away with the Roberts, the 115 grain enetered at the rear ribs and was found under the hide at the neck/shoulder junction on the offside, with a nice"ish" mushroom... that is pretty good performance for a light bullet. Others mileage clearly varies, but I would not feel handicapped in the least using BT's on deer (or SST's for that matter)... but again, I am a lung shooter, no shoulders or Texas heart shots for me... I should note that my arrows are always complete pass-throughs and retain 100% of their weight... 
I'm a bit surprised by that. We seem to get exits about 2/3s of the time; and that with rather soft bullets like 180 Interlocks and NBTs in .300 Win, 160 Accubonds and 154 Interlocks in the STW. My daughter perforated both sides with a 300 grain SST out of a muzzleloader.
FROM THE NOSLER RELOADING MANUAL: The 7mm STW is loaded with 75.5 gr. of IMR-7828. According to the manual, the velocity is 3,121, however on the crony it read 3,190, probably because of the 26" barrel. My newly acquired 7mm Rem Mag. is loaded with 63.0 gr. of IMR-4831 with the 150 gr. BT, which is a middle of the road powder charge from the manual. Yes we are "tight" behind the shoulder hunters, however we will take a "straight-on" frontal shot, such as these two whitetail bucks received. Stone dead they dropped.
http://imgur.com/TBoV1fM
http://imgur.com/riVNVwJ
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BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
I agree. I prefer describing an animal as "delicious" or "freezer-filling" than DRT. A hundred yards is usually academic, unless they throw themselves into some willow-choked hellhole. My bison was planning to do just that but follow-up shots altered the script.
My brother shot a 3.5 year old whitetail buck last year with a 130 grain TTSX from his 30-06 M77 at 300 yards, muzzle velocity was 3275 FPS. dropped in his tracks, broke a shoulder on the way in and exited the lungs. I think that will be my load for this year.
They don't go DRT either. Nor are you losing any appreciable meat either. I've seen two Moose collapse to follow up shots mere feet from deep water (creeks) One when it was minus 35. That would have been a wreck. We are not driving up to these Moose either. Some being several miles from any motorized vehicles.
Did it hit rib going in or out? I'm really curious to see the exit hole. Did you happen to get any pictures of that?
I don't get my panties in a knot if an animal runs after the shot regardless of where it happens to be standing and I have hunted in areas as remote as can be found in the lower seven... maybe because 40 years of bowhunting has conditioned me to anticipate bloodtrailing, as for the most part, they all run after the shot... creeks? -35? Lakes? Swamps? Portages? Meh, it's all part of the game... the rougher it is the more memorable it will be. My reasoning for making the center of the lungs on a broadside(ish) animal my target has nothing to do with meat loss, it has to do with lost and injured game... or rather "NOT" loosing or injuring game... it is quite simply the lowest risk shot available... and again, my arrows are always passthroughs, retaining 100% of their weight.
