use too....found sst's hold together a tad better but i'd still use'em .dang accurate bullet but the 130 gr .270's didn't always give a pass thru like i liked but talk about utter destruction if you nailed a shoulder. just think in some areas where a deer could duck into a thicket quick i'd rather have a second hole for surer trailing.but then i only had a couple to my recollection that ever really ran unless it was a heart shot and then 50 yds max and drt. but in a swap that could cause problems
if i went back to'em i'd prolly go heavier than normal for a given calibre.....say 140's for .270, 165 for '06 or 300 mag. and keep velocities reasonable they don't like rum velocities at all(i'm talkin terminal )
139 GMX I have reserved for the no-lead areas, should I get to hunt there here in Cal. Since they are 2x the cost of Core-Lokt I don't use them for general range work or practice. They are however more accurate than the 140 Core-Lokt that I use elsewhere. I would have no reservations using them on our mule deer.
I've used the SST (.30-06) for deer - both the 165 grain and the 180 grain. Both were bang-flops and neither deer had excessive damage to the meat. I've heard the BT frags a bit more, but I haven't heard anyone define a "bit."
I use a .270 WSM in 130 gr. Winchester Ballistic Tips. IMO one of the best all around cartridges out there. Only hunted whitetails here in the east and never had a bullet not pass thru any of them. I'd guess u would get more penetration before mushrooming when using PSP (Pointed soft Point) ammo. The ballistic tips act more like a hollow point but fly with great accuracy and speed with the ballistic tip. Remember: SHOT PLACEMENT! Dead is Dead!
I use plain ole Winchester PowerPoints... always get a clean pass-through, drops 'em where they stand.
I would bet that more deer have been cleanly taken with Power points and Remington Core Lokt than all others newfangled bullets combined....by far.
While I use the Nosler Ball tip and bonded, I wouldn't think a thing about going afield with either of the old "tried and true".
I have loaded Nosler 168 gr. BTs in ammo for my M1As for four years and have had very good results. As some have mentioned, a couple of those shot had no pass through, but did'nt take a step. I probably would not use them for anything bigger than whitetail. My loads for the .308 bolt gun are Sierra SBT 165 gr. and they are excellent, then again, I have not used them on anything other than whitetail.
The only deer I shot with one was a med. sized buck that went down so fast I thought I'd vaporized him (actually, I thought he'd gone through the fence onto the neighbors place). When we got to him in the cotton field, there wasn't a single spot of blood anywhere. I started poking around where I was aiming and one tiny drop appeared right behind the left shoulder. When I opened him up, meat damage was minimal, but he appeared to have swallowed a hand grenade-hear and lungs were pretty well liquefied. This was a 130 gr. Nosler B.T. out of my .270 @ just over 3000 f.p.s.
I use the 165 gr BT's exclusively for sitka blacktails and caribou; of the dozens taken, they all appeared to have been struck by lightning and I've experienced little if any damage to the meat. 300 wby, 78.5 grains of Reloader 22 with a fed 215 as the spark-plug (2950 fps)
__________________ It take 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile...but only 3 for proper trigger squeeze.
Nosler ballistic tips have done well in my 25-06 and 243, both left great wound cavities and even in the 243 a direct shoulder hit would leave 5 or more holes in the other side for tracking. But a good soft point bullet will put down a deer in about the same time, just pick which ever bullet shoots best for you.
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