I'll tell you of the 2 deer I killed with the 22-250 and 50gr ballistic-tips. First deer(small doe) was at 25yds, walking and quartering towards me. I shot it in the shoulder and it dropped in its tracks. The shoulder was destroyed of course. Fragments of bullet and bone managed to destroy the heart/lung area, the only part of the bullet found was the base, the base is much thicker than the jacket, it resembled a small rifle primer. The second was a small doe bedded at about 150yds. It was shot behind the shoulder, at the shot it got up and ran. There was no blood at all in the snow and I wondered if I hit a twig or branch before the bullet got to the deer. I found it about 200yds from where it was shot, I was thankful for the snow because I may have lost that deer in the thick under-brush. It was shot perfectly behind the shoulder and the lungs was all jelly and there was no exit. My experience with varmint bullets and deer are mixed with calibers ranging from 223 to 243. Sometimes they produce spectacular kills and other times they give reason for concern. Personally I like bullets that exit, and when using any caliber from 24 down, I buy premium bullets that I know will exit even when shoulders are hit. A barnes X in the 22-250 or 223wssm does a good job on deer, I imagine the 60 gr partition would be another good one too. A ballistic tip and 22-250 when shooting deer in the body will work(sometimes instantly) but are not as dependable as a premium bullet. I suppose if your stand hunting with a rest and able to pick your shots bt's will be fine but if you might be on the ground and stalking go with the best and toughest bullets out of a small caliber gun, it'll save you some cursing when that deer runs into a thicket and you have no blood to follow. JMO........ Dave
Excellant post & I concur. We have been looking at 2 different things here, the ballistic tip in general & the Varmit Bal. Tip in particular, partly my fault because I felt it necessary considering the distinction that Nosler themselves have made. I expressed my concern for the Varmit BT in my first post, not that it won't kill, but as you so well pointed out, finding them is just as important. We have discussed at length the ability of the 223 & bigger 22's on Deer
http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,190189.0.html and no need to do it again, but no doubt the 55& heavier soft points will work on Deer with a 223 under 150 yds consistantly with ribcage shots & a little more angle allowed with the premiums & I think as the vel. goes up (22-250), then the premiums are better, but I feel esp. at 22-250 speed the BT is far from optimum. Remember, it's a double whammy, you are far in excess of 3000fps impact vel. that is optimal for hunting BT's & using the Varmit bullet BT. I feel that at the edge of a clearcut for example, finding the Deer could be iffy.
Even in the Deer calibers, as drdougrx mentioned, I like the heavier or at the least med. wt. in a caliber, the higher vel, the heavier for caliber desired. But this is not just for BT's, I find it best with all cup & core bullets as well. Now that the BT has been refined over time and experience has shown, if you use them with common sense & the proper research, they are stellar performers.
