.257 cal - Nosler BT

Below we have a young hunter with his first wild hog.  Our young hunter took his 85 lb boar with a Sako .25-06 with 115gr Combined Technologies Ballistic Silvertip (Nosler Ballistic tip) at 80 yards.  The shot was a well placed shoulder hit.



Due to what appears to be bullet blow up the bullet exited on the same side of the animal that it struck, creating a massive exit wound.  This reminds us that the  BT is a frangible bullet, it has no means of controlling expansion.
Below you can see the entry point and the large exit wound. 




Also due to bullet fragmentation a large piece of projectile exited between the boars eyes.  In my research, I have found that the heavier the frangible bullet, the more likely it is for the fragment cluster (as I call it) to penetrate in a generally straight line. But quite often, the cluster will deviate in an arc depending on the path of the remaining bullet. Things tend to settle once you get up to about 160 grains- but as I have suggested, there are no absolute guarantees.

One of the reasons that frangible bullets arc, is because the ogive often folds and then collapses before fragmenting- rather than mushrooming. The tougher the ogive, the more it has to fold and collapse before it fully yields. A stout and round shoulder bone can cause this folding to occur dramatically with a resulting deviation in the path of the bullet. The BT is quite a tough bullet in this regard. By the same token, at extended ranges, performance wanes very quickly due to its tough nature.

Your results were dramatic. You may possibly never see such a dramatic deviation ever again. To this end, you may wish to continue hunting with the BT. I think half the battle is in developing realistic expectations of what a bullet can and cannot do, its strengths and limitations. If however you wish to utilize a more stable, partially frangible bullet, perhaps consider the SST.



All in all this was a nice shot and despite bullet performance, a good clean kill.  Well done on your first wild hog!