G'Day
I have joined this forum specifically to ask this question, so please go easy on me!
I have experienced very mixed results from two shots for two deer, with the 7mm 120gr Ballistic Tip shot with a 7mm08 at 2990fps. This bullet was loaded by a relative who ordinarily I trust implicitly but I suspect there is a mistake... so does he.
On a ~2 year old red deer (equivalent to a reasonable sized young mule deer buck), shot into the top of the heart from 175m, the bullet has over-penetrated and under-expanded, producing a very narrow wound channel, a slow bleed, and a long runner, with a calibre sized entry wound and an exit wound of less than 1/2". The animal was recovered after a fast run of over 200m, requiring a 2nd shot after he finally lay down. In the over 35 years of hunting I have never seen a deer run that far and take so long to go down, when shot through the top of the heart, where the main aorta and pulmonary arteries join the organ, plus such limited peripheral wounding of the lungs.
On a second deer of the same size, shot in the identical body position a few seconds after the first deer, the bullet has over-expanded, totally fragmented and not exited. It obliterated the top of the heart and pulped the lungs. Several mug fulls of thick red goop in the ribcage. We found lots of very small fragments of jacket and lead, but did not find the bullet base. The deer expired after taking 2-3 steps, 5 seconds tops.
No major bone was involved in either impact, both bullets took out a rib on the way in. When we inspected the chest cavity both points of impact were as close to the exact same position as it is possible to be, same rib, same height above the brisket.
When I questioned this performance with my relative he confessed that he may have mixed up "new" design 120gr BTs with "old" design 120gr BTs. Now obviously that is a bit of a disaster when it comes to reloading practice, so let's move on from that, and concentrate on what changes there were to the bullet design that could possibly create such a massive difference in performance. They are all in a box labelled Ballistic Tip Hunting, #28120. However some of the bullets are plainly a lot older (tarnished copper).
I have spent a couple of hours googling this and have some information that suggests the more modern ballistic tip design is a much tougher bullet then the old design. I have read on another forum, that somewhere on this forum, there have been cutaway photos posted to show the exact differences in the two designs, but I can't find them.
For my own interest and as a way to explain what I have experienced with these bullets, can anyone point me towards a resource that can show me precisely what the differences are? I am expecting differences in jacket thickness and base design, but nothing beats a direct photographic comparison. Not looking for a debate on which design is better, I have a very clear preferred bullet construction for shooting deer in our kind of environment, and that's never going to change.
Here's hoping one of you wise fellas has got something that can point us in the right direction.
Thanks in advance.
PS if I don't reply soon its because I am about to go off on a two week hunt in an area with no signal, I will be following up on this for sure.
I have joined this forum specifically to ask this question, so please go easy on me!
I have experienced very mixed results from two shots for two deer, with the 7mm 120gr Ballistic Tip shot with a 7mm08 at 2990fps. This bullet was loaded by a relative who ordinarily I trust implicitly but I suspect there is a mistake... so does he.
On a ~2 year old red deer (equivalent to a reasonable sized young mule deer buck), shot into the top of the heart from 175m, the bullet has over-penetrated and under-expanded, producing a very narrow wound channel, a slow bleed, and a long runner, with a calibre sized entry wound and an exit wound of less than 1/2". The animal was recovered after a fast run of over 200m, requiring a 2nd shot after he finally lay down. In the over 35 years of hunting I have never seen a deer run that far and take so long to go down, when shot through the top of the heart, where the main aorta and pulmonary arteries join the organ, plus such limited peripheral wounding of the lungs.
On a second deer of the same size, shot in the identical body position a few seconds after the first deer, the bullet has over-expanded, totally fragmented and not exited. It obliterated the top of the heart and pulped the lungs. Several mug fulls of thick red goop in the ribcage. We found lots of very small fragments of jacket and lead, but did not find the bullet base. The deer expired after taking 2-3 steps, 5 seconds tops.
No major bone was involved in either impact, both bullets took out a rib on the way in. When we inspected the chest cavity both points of impact were as close to the exact same position as it is possible to be, same rib, same height above the brisket.
When I questioned this performance with my relative he confessed that he may have mixed up "new" design 120gr BTs with "old" design 120gr BTs. Now obviously that is a bit of a disaster when it comes to reloading practice, so let's move on from that, and concentrate on what changes there were to the bullet design that could possibly create such a massive difference in performance. They are all in a box labelled Ballistic Tip Hunting, #28120. However some of the bullets are plainly a lot older (tarnished copper).
I have spent a couple of hours googling this and have some information that suggests the more modern ballistic tip design is a much tougher bullet then the old design. I have read on another forum, that somewhere on this forum, there have been cutaway photos posted to show the exact differences in the two designs, but I can't find them.
For my own interest and as a way to explain what I have experienced with these bullets, can anyone point me towards a resource that can show me precisely what the differences are? I am expecting differences in jacket thickness and base design, but nothing beats a direct photographic comparison. Not looking for a debate on which design is better, I have a very clear preferred bullet construction for shooting deer in our kind of environment, and that's never going to change.
Here's hoping one of you wise fellas has got something that can point us in the right direction.
Thanks in advance.
PS if I don't reply soon its because I am about to go off on a two week hunt in an area with no signal, I will be following up on this for sure.
