Ballistic Tip bullets work great when you shoot deer BEHIND the shoulder. They rapidly expand in medium dense tissue and are devastating on whitetails. They would also work fine on a quarting away shot, as you mentioned.
A close quarter bone smasher, they are not. If you want a Ballsitic Tip that goes in one side and out the other, buy the newer Accubonds. They are very accurate, maintain a high BC and penetrate well.
If you want end-to-end penetration, no matter what, I'd use a bigger cartridge and a Barnes X bullet, Win Failsafe or similar bullet that maintains virtually 100% of its weight. Its a bit of overkill for a whitetail but they will have 2 holes in them.
[ 10-28-2004: Message edited by: Varmint Hunter ]
+1
I use all of the nosler bullets and find them very dependable and predictable if used the way
they were designed to be used.
For very long shots where the velocity will be down (1800 to 2200 ft/sec ) at the POI I use the
ballistic tips. On the close high velocity shots I use the Partitions or the Accubonds.
To get maximum performance out of any bullet you have to know it's design intent and
velocity limits and then place the shot in the appropriate place.
It is very hard if not impossible to design a bullet that will do it all, so bullet choice is very
important and knowing it's use is a must.
For all round performance the Accubond is my first choice because of shot to shot performance.
But I still use other bullets for special needs.
With all the emphasis on minimizing meet damage the ballistic tip is a good design if placed
in soft tissue where little or no meat lose is desirable and maximum bleeding out is also
desirable for taste.
There was nothing surprising about the performance of the Ballistic tip with the shot placement,
Just like if you use a partition and hit the deer in the belly you would get little if any expansion
and the exit hole would be about the size of the entrance hole.
If a bullet is used as intended it will perform well if not, the results will normally be
disappointing.
I hope this helped to understand why his wound channel was not what you expected.
J E CUSTOM