Dead deer but without an exit wound.

[John R.]

I've shot just about every bullet on the market because I like to try new stuff. When I say massive I mean a quarter size hole through the off side front shoulder. That's through skin,bones,chest cavity, and out the other side. As long as I get complete penetration on those types of shots, I would say the bullet is working pretty good. Like I said I've never recovered one so they definitly aren't blowing up like the Bal. Tip is prone to do. The Accubonds have proven to be very accurate in all the rifles I load for. My buddy called last night and said he had shot his 7mm STW again and the groups were still 3/8ths @ 100 yds. (140 gr. Accubond at 3540 fps. This gun has a custom bbl. with a different twist rate than factory rifles) It's hard to believe they blew up on a coyote. When its all said and done, use what you have confidence in, and put the crosshairs in the right place and you'll be in good shape.

[NONYA]

they are infact the most accurate bullets i have ever loaded but out of a 7 mag they are NOT a hunting round.

[beemanbeme]

Dang Nonya, you've had more bullet failures in one year than I've had in 50+ years of hunting.

If you are shooting a light for calibre bullet at some sort of boyhowdylookwhatIcando velocity you may be impressing your non-shooting friends around the water cooler but you ain't doing your best hunting.  If your bullet is going over 3000fps, you need more bullet not more speed. 

[NONYA]

beeman i load my nosler bullets using the NOSLER book and thier loads,you cant excuse the bullets performance by over loading when you use the company specs.I shoot alot of game and I pay attention to what the bullets do despite how quickly they may kill,if you want to challenge my report load up some 160s in a 7 mag and shoot 8-10 deer 3-6 antelope,an elk and several varmits in one year with them,then maybe you can compare your results instead of an unfounded argument based on opinion.

[beemanbeme]

Gee Nonya, if I tell you I'm impressed with all the game you kill will you believe me??  I also shoot 160's --NP's and Grand Slams-- in my 7mags and I'll repeat my statement: You've had more bullet failures in one year than I've had in 50+ years of hunting.  How do you figure that's an opinion?? 

[John R.]

Those same 160 gr. Accubonds run 3250 fps out of my buddy's 7mm Ultra Mag and he hasn't had any problems with penetration on two deer and one coyote. My other buddy shoots the the 140 gr. out of his custom 7STW at 3540 fps and had complete penetration on a 150 class buck that weighed 240 lbs. Range was 265 yds. The only real bullet failures I've had over the past 25 years was with Bal. Tips pushed at 3000 fps. or better. If a bullet will stay together at 3540 fps. its doing a pretty good job,regardless of who makes it.

[Modoc ED]

The only rifles I own are in 22LR, 30-30 and 30.06.  I had a rifle in .223 but didn't like it.  Nothing wrong with the rifle or the round, I just didn't like them.  I also have 4 12GA pump shotguns.

Anyway, I have killed deer, antelope, elk, coyotes, and hogs with both the 30-30 and 30-06 rounds.  I use either factory loaded Remington Express Core-Lokt PSP or Winchester Super X Silver Tip or Power Point rounds.  I have nothing against anyother type of bullets -- it's just that I've always found the ones I use to be perfectly adequate for my purposes.  I would like to try the Barnes Copper X (?) bullets but just haven't gotten around to trying them.  I have heard that the various manufactures "Premium" lines of rounds are very good but for my taste they are a bit pricy and are not THAT much more accurate the the ones I use.  I use ONLY 170GR bullets in my 30-30s and use both 150GR and 180GR in my 30-06s. 

I've never had a deer, antelope or elk travel more than 100 yards after I've shot it and all have been good clean kills.  No bullet that I've used has ever exploded/fragmented in the animals I've shot.   The Core-Lokt PSP, Silver Tip and Power Points have performed and mushroomed beautifullly.

I can't speak to the magnums as I've never used one.  I've hunted with guys that used them and they have all had good luck with them.  Most of the guys I hunt with or have hunted with through the years use pretty much the same factory ammo that I use and noone has had a problem with their choice of ammor.

Maybe it's just my age (62) and experience but it seems to me that the calibers of old work pretty darn good and at least for me, I don't anticipate going to the more modern Ballistic Tips.  Not putting them down and it wouldn't be fair to do so since I haven't used them.   



 

[NONYA]

Modoc,if you try the triple x,s you will never switch again,nothing better than an expanding bullet that retains 99.9% of its weight and penetrates better than any hunting bullet I have ever used.They are formed from one SOLID piece of copper,no bonding,no core,no jacket,great design.I weighed one that transversed a wt from shoulder to opposite hip and it was 100% original weight.The Nosler rep admitted to me they had problems with thier bonding process,i saw them fail several times in the field,I have herd MANy reports of the same failure in several calibers,how much more info do i need to decide that they are junk?NONE

[Modoc ED]

NONYA -  Yes, I've heard quite a bit about them and I think I will pick some ammo up with them this Spring and give them a try.  I'm pretty much set in my ways and not much into experimenting with ammo choices but because I've heard so much positive things about the Barnes X, etc., I think they are worth trying. 

[NONYA]

Agreed,I was a life long die hard Nosler man until they failed me time and time again,Im glad they did these barnes are a far superior hunting bullet.

[LEO]

I don't use Nosler BT, not because of any negative experiences with them, I just don't use them.  My point here is that if you have consistent bullet failure, there is a problem.  I have shot a lot of  whitetail deer and hogs and have had bullets actually fail twice.  The first was a Remington 165 grain Core-Lokt out of a 308 Winchester, the jacket slipped the core and the core fragmented.  The bullet didn't hit any bone heavier than a rib bone, and it was an average sized doe.  The deer never moved from where it was shot so not a problem.  The second failure was this year with a 140 grain Sierra GameKing SBT out of a 7mm Rem Mag at about 3100 fps.  This shot was at about 50 yards the bullet entered just behind the near shoulder and hit the off side shoulder blade and exploded.  This deer also dropped in its tracks.  Will I stop using Core-Lokts or Gamekings, no because I have many, many stories where the bullets performed without a flaw.  I too prefer an exit wound but if the deer drops where you shoot it and never moves it is kind of a moot point.  I attribute the Core-lokt failure to simply a flawed bullet the failure this year was a high speed bullet hitting heavy bone, would a 160 grain Partition puched through, most likely as I have never had one fail to penetrate but it didn't matter because the bullet failed but the damage was catastrophic the whole chest cavity organs were jelly.

[John R.]

I shot a doe last week with a 140 gr. Accubond @ 50 yds. I shot it through both front shoulders just to see if I could get it to explode. (7mm/08) The deer was DRT and the bullet had complete penetration.

[ccoker]

I have shot numerous deer with no exit wound.
as long as they drop (never had a deer run more than 30 yards) I don't really care
I grew up in South Texas and 200 + yard shots were the norm, my dad and uncles shot light and fast guns, either neck or heart/lung shots, I don't ever remember having to track a deer they shot
I do remember having to do so on guests who shot bigger calibers and or heavy bullets that pucnhed a hole with no expansion...

So, I kind of opt for light and fast and shot placement being king

dead is dead and if it didn't go anywhere, it's a moot point.

[tennbuck]

i've killed 21 whitetail with Winchester Ballistic Tips. i've seen them all fall. 130 grain .270. most were hit right behind the shoulder. heart and lung were jello. several had no exit hole. i've recently purchased a Tikka .308. i'll be feeding it WBT!

JMHO!

[SingleShotShorty]

Ballistic tips are JUNK,killed several deer,antelope and a cow elk with them last year,they all killed the animal but came apart on impact,Accubonds perform the same way despite what they claim,if your going to shoot Noslers at game stick with the partitions.

I have shot NBT's and Accubonds for sometime now and I don't see why you would say they are junk, If they did the job and the animal is just as dead what is the problem. I have found good weight retention in the Accubons and the BT's made mush out of the heart and lungs.

[backstrap]

tennbuck the winchester ballistic silver tips is not made by nosler , i shot a doe 2 years ago useing fedruel ammo with nosler ballistic tip 165gr 30-06  hit her right behind the front leg every thing fell out of her and she took off runing never to be found the bulllet blew up on impact after seeing that with my own eyes i swiched the next year to rem core locks  and havent had any trouble sence then, but that was the only bad expereance i had with the nosler ballistic tip i shot them for years before the doe thing with not problem tell that 1 day and thats all it took for me maybe it was a bad bullet but i dont know and i will never use them again ,but I would use the Winchester ballistic sillver tip

[*ROCK-MAN*]

I've taken over 500 deer with the nosler ballistic tip bullet and have never had one fragment yet?
Ohh yeah.
I shoot them in one eye and out the other.
hehehehe
Man yall need ta lighten up.
Rock