115g B'Tip vs 117g I'lock vs 87g Hornady SP - WET NEWSPAPER

Got my hands on some 115g Ballistic Tips and they shoot great in the little 250 Savage AI. 0.8moa at 2980fps was very pleasing! So it was time to test them in the wet newspaper.

I used an 18" stack of soaked newspapers and this time I pitted the 115g NBT against the 117g Interlock BTSP (which you might have seen I've tested a couple of times already) and some recently acquired 87g Hornady SPs.

I was keen to see how the 87 grainers stacked up because I can see my sons using this rifle on pigs and deer in a few years and the 87 is a soft, sweet shooting load. With 41g of H4895 I am getting 3300fps and one inch groups at 125y...

I fired two each of the NBT and the Interlock BTSP, one each at 2850 fps and 2500fps, to simulate impacts in the field at around 50 and 200y respectively.

With the 87g SP, I actually fired three of those into the stack, at speeds of 3100, 2700 and 2300fps to simulate impacts at 50, 185 and 320y respectively or thereabouts at a launch speed of 3300fps. I also figured this would point me towards the likely performance if I opt to load these in reduced loads for the kids.

So the results...

115g Nosler BT

2850fps penetrated 11.00 inches retained weight 59g expanded diameter 0.49"
2500fps 12.75 inches 79g 0.47"

Here are the recovered NBTs. In all photos the faster bullet is on the left and slower to the right...


The NBT on initial showings seems a little more accurate than the Interlock in this rifle. The first two groups with the first load attempted averaged 0.82 moa in a 20kph breeze!

117g Hornady Interlock BTSP

2850fps penetrated 11.25 inches retained weight 60g expanded diameter 0.55"
2500fps 11.00 inches 98g 0.62"



The Interlock and the NBT performed roughly the same at the faster impact speed, but at the lower speed, the BT out penetrated the I'lock by a good margin.

The slower Interlock actually didn't penetrate quite as far as the fast one, but it did retain more weight and expanded the most.

87g Hornady SP

3100fps penetrated 9.25 inches retained weight 49g expanded diameter 0.55"
2700fps penetrated 9.50 inches retained weight 59g expanded diameter 0.57"
2300fps penetrated 11.0 inches retained weight 86g expanded diameter 0.50"



Wow the little 87 SP really surprised me. At 3100fps I expected it to blow apart but it actually retained 56% of it's weight, and they all penetrated further than I thought they would. At 2300fps it penetrated as far as the bigger bullets and retained 99% of it's original weight!

No wonder the 250-3000 / 99 Savage achieved a good rep as a deer slayer.... And this bullet is such a pussycat to shoot even at 3300+ fps.

Anyway another fun field-based forensic examination of some good bullets.

You are correct, that 87 grain Hornady SP is a bit of a shocker. It performed quite well. The penetration at lower velocities for the heavier bullets is quite interesting. There must be some fascinating physics taking place as the bullet expands and pushed through the material. Good, thought-provoking test.

Great test Bob. That 115 BT is a great bullet. Seems like the 87 grain Hornady would be very good with your soft loads with hogs and deer sized game. Great test. I'd love to see the same in water jugs.

Yeah the jugs would be interesting.

I've had another look at the recovered bullets this morning. Those little 87 grainers still surprise me, even the 3100fps one didn't blow up; the whole jacket is pretty much intact, if folded right back, and though much of the core has "wiped off" it is still something resembling a real bullet.

The 115g BT is clearly a true big game bullet and I'll see if I can get one into a fallow deer and a hog at some stage.

That would be excellent. Love to see how it works for you on deer


Betting it would be nice though. That's a pretty danged good bullet. Much tougher than folks give it credit for.

That 87 does seem pretty wicked.

I've never tried the 87's, but the 115's have worked superbly for me on mule deer as well as on a couple of pronghorn. The mule deer were 200+ pounds each, and the pronghorn were typical pronghorn sized critters, not large. Just tasty...