Nosler Ballistic Tips For Whitetail Deer ?

[Fred McIntire]

I have a Thompson/Center Encore with a 15" barrel in 7mm-08 caliber. It will be used almost exclusively for Whitetail deer in Indiana. I purchased a box of Nosler 140 grain Ballistic Tips to handload for this pistol; however, after reading some postings here and on other sites, I am beginning to have some concerns about using the ballistic tips.

I was planning on going with 46 grains of IMR 4350.

My questions are as follows:
What primer should I use for this load?
Can someone calculate the ballistic data for me on this cartridge?
Is this bullet really going to do the job on Whitetail Deer?

Thanks,
Fred

[Steelbanger]

My best friend, my son & myself all use ballistic tip bullets on deer. They're always effective if placed in the right spot. My son uses the 140 gr. in his 7mm Rem Mag. and one shot always does it. I've seen many one shot ballistic tip kills with the 95 gr - 243, 100 gr - 25 cal, 140 & 150 - 7mm and my personal favorite, the 150 gr - 30 cal.

Your load of 64 gr. of IMR 4350 sounds wrong. I haven't checked the manuals but seems to me you couldn't get that much 4350 in a 7-08 case. Better double check your references before loading.

Be careful & good luck.

[Fred McIntire]

You are correct ! I need to double check that web site. I think they may have posted that data in reverse.

The Hornaday book calls for a maximum of 46.5 grains of IMR 4350 with a 139 grain bullet.

Thanks,
Fred

[Rog]

I have used the 168 grain C-T Ballistic Silver Tip in my 30-06 JDJ pushed to 2700 fps on a small Whitetail doe.  Shot was ~65-70 yards.

Complete pass thru, just missing the shoulder, but clipping the top portion of the heart.

Bullet was not recovered, but apparently did expand to good size since the exit hole was half dollar to silver dollar size.  

My brother-in-law used my 7 Mag rifle to kill a good size 8 pt. that was shot with a 150 Ballistic Tip pushed to just over 3000 fps.  Complete pass thru with a similar size exit hole.

I personally don't have any reservations about hunting with Ballistic Tip bullets.  In fact, I rather prefer them.

Regards,

Rog

[Redhawk1]

Use them and don't think about it. I never had any problems with Ballistic Tips on deer. I have used the 150 gr. in my 30-06 Encore pistol barrel and had great results. I know a lot of people using them on deer without any problems.  I also use the 120 gr. Ballistic Tips in my 7mmBR and they work just fine.

[STLContender]

Nosler Ballistic tips are great deer bullets.....ive used them in  .277..130 gr and 225's in .358...both worked very well..all one shot kills and the bullet penetrated all the way through.

[Rog]

I forgot to mention:

If it were me, I'd use the F210 or the F210 Gold Medal Match primer.  I've had extremely good results using these primers in a 308, as well as 7-30 Waters, 30-30 AI, and my current 30-06 JDJ.  However, in the 30-06 JDJ I tend to use the F215 or the F215 GMM version.

Regards,

Rog

[flatlander]

I use 120 grn BT's in my 7-30 hunter barrel, and I have had nothing but excellent performance out of them. I'm getting approx 2400 fps at the muzzle, and have had complete penetration on every whitetail and mule deer that I've taken with it. Last year was a nice muley doe at a smudge over 100 yards, and it blasted right through and dropped her in her tracks. I wouldn't be afraid to use them for whitetails out of a 7-08 at all.

[22KHornet]

They work great.  Anyone who tells you they will not work on deer does not know what they are talking about.  My dad got his first elk with a 140 grn silvertip out of his xp100 in 7mm br.

[JC]

shot 120's out of my 7x30 but my gun didn't like them. I now shoot the same 7/08 Encore. It should do great. I loaded my dad some 140 btips for his A-bolt. The deer shot over a weekend " cull " where all one shot stops. The deer hit at 50 and 250 were all the same a silver dollar hole on the far side. He has an 20 inch barrel though.