I went through a sleeve of the same bullets with a very similar experience. The first deer I shot with it was a management 9 pointer. He was big bodied and did a cabriolet kick on the shot before running into the brush full tilt. I didn't have any emotion when I fired and knew I had made a good squeeze, but when I got down to the place he was standing to look for blood I couldn't see any sign of a hit at all. No blood, no hair, no nothing. I looked in the direction he had run and started heading in that direction blindly. Nothing. I started to worry that I had missed him and wasn't quite sure how I was going to explain this to the guys. I felt a little gutshot, to be quite honest. I walked about fifty yards looking for blood or other sign but couldn't find squat, then just so happened to spot a flash of white in patch of prickly pear. He had run about 100 feet and dropped dead. Little entry wound a smidge behind the shoulder and a teeny, tiny exit wound smaller than the entry wound with a single drop of blood running out of it. It looked like a shard from the jacket or maybe just the polymer tip was all that exited. When I opened him up I couldn't really tell heart from lung from bone fragments. He was absolutely shredded. Pretty efficient fragmentation I guess.

I shot a doe in the neck later that year with no exit wound; same story, small hole outside, bloody mess inside. Another doe that I shot through the heart had a 0.308" hole on one side and a hole about the size of a dime on the other. The bullet clipped through a rib and never slowed down or deformed at all as far as I could tell.

I shot a pig in the neck who had a small entry wound, no exit wound, but his head literally fell off when I skinned him.

I guess that the performance is actually very good, but I just can't get comfortable with a 30 caliber bullet that doesn't pass through. I've gone back to the green and yellow box, but those silvertips did seem to group REALLY well.

FWIW, everything I've shot with one has died really fast, I just like having a blood trail to follow if I need it.

Thats a damn nice goat suxs you lost the cape. Same thing happend to me with a serria gameking...I pretty much exclusive now with ttsx or partition

Had sorta similar performance on a basket-rack buck several years ago. Shot him @ last light, heard the bullet slap, and he went down so fast that I though he ran, and I just lost sight of him. We went to look and found him laying on his side with a mouthful of wheat, and just looked like he was sleeping. We couldn't find a drop of blood on him, but when I started poking around behind his shoulder where I was aiming, it got really squishy. whn we loaded him in the truck, one drop of blood escaped and ran down the shoulder. When I opened him up, it looked like he'd swallowed a hand grenade-the heart was liquefied, as was the lower half of both lungs, but there was no exit.

Shot a doe with a 7-08 at 60 yards. Small entrance, half dollar sized exit. Lungs were liquid. She went 20 yards and fell over. Been using them in 223 for tires forever. I recommend them as a game getter.

I used to use 150 grain Winchester Ballistic Silvertips in my 300WSM. Went on a Red Stag hunt with it. Shot a stag at 90yds right on the shoulder. The bullet exploded on his shoulder and did not penetrate onto the body. Found him 3 days later. With that being said I still use them for white tails. I have never lost a deer to BST's. They were all DRT. However if I am going after anything bigger or tougher then I am using 180grn Accubonds.

+1. If you like shoulder shots on big animals, a Partition might even be a better pick here. But definately NOT a BST or BT for penetration through a stag's shoulder......

That's why i like the Accubonds so much I get the accuracy of the BT's with the penetration of the partition.

I quit using Ballistic Tip Projectiles because I don't like them
coming all apart, no penatration, and blowing holes out like crazy, because we eat what I shoot that's not a varmit or vermin.
I have a plastic baggie with several pcs. of jackets, ect from my
old 338's and 300 Wthrbys' ect from the BT bullets..They are easy
to reload for and shoot accurately..but wait until you are trailing a deer half the nite and the rattlers are out..I went to Barnes all copper several yrs back, cleaned the uh huh out of
my rifles, and worked up the loads..Avg.d about $150 a rifle not
counting my time..but I got every one of them w/same hole or touching hole groups..sometimes I get lucky and get them in the first batch..and you have to use their Reloading Manual..no exception, unless you are a multi millionaire and want to search for loads..DD

Yep. Bullets are about the cheapest part of hunting. Use a good one.

I have used them in my 270 and 7mm-08 for a long time and have had over 100 kills with them with massive holes, blew through shoulders at 200 yards with ease and DRT. I will continue to use them and dont want a bullett to blow straight through and not leave a noticable hit like we saw last week on a deer at about 140 yard by a 300 win with Noslers. I think the WBST are great bulletts and have not let me down yet.

Oh and I have taken a 5x5 bull elk with the 7-08 at 170 yards and dropped him where he stood with these bulletts. Its all about shot placement and how comfortable you are with your gun. The win BST are great game killers and have proven it time and time again for me.

I've never had issues from Ballistic Tips. Have used them out of more than 10 different calibers.

I've used them with good success on pigs.

I hunted Elk at extreme ranges in yrs. past, and whitetails w/both Nosler Ballistic Tips, and partitions, and Trophy Bonded Bear Claws, ect. I take issue with the Ballistic Tips in most except for Barnes, and I eat what I kill and don't wish to damage
a lot of meat, nor do I shoot shots that I even consider I may have to track any longer. Not as young as I once was. I did shoot a TTSX from my 308 yesterday squarely thru the shoulders of
a 8pt. in Tarpley..He ran about 30yds pushing his front end..had a lot of frothy blood like a lung shot..small hole both sides, insides and ribs very shocked, but no meat damage to speak of..Don

I have used the 168gr Silvertips in my 30-06 for years and never had an issue.

I have killed many a deer with BST in my 300 win mag

I would have to see it happen with my own eyes to believe that was an entrance wound that hadnt been cut around on with a knife. I in no way shape or form believe that someone shot that pronghorn, it fell over and when they got there to pick it up thas what it looked like on the entrance side.

Redchevy why would anyone intentionally ruin a cape on a Boone& Crockett goat by cutting the hole bigger?

I have had one blow up on a shoulder and had the jacket and core separate on a fallow doe shot in the shoulder at 75 yards with a .270 WSM. But, when they go behind the shoulder, they kill like lightning bolts...... At least my experience

The picture above makes my point..I quit using Silvertips, Balistic Tip Noslers, or AMax Hornadys because I kill this stuff
to eat and try to shoot head and neck shots as much as possible.
I had a doe w/a Hornady look just like the Pronghorn a few years
ago and she ran about 80 yds into the Whitebrush and Rattlers..I
didn't like the damage..I have used Barnes in my cull guns in everything from a 22-250 to a 338 Win Mag, and my hunting bud uses them in his 30-378 Wthrby/Sako..and they all mostly get DRT
and we have only recovered 1 projectile in about 15yrs..Don

Don, if you neck and head shoot then all the ones you listed would penetrate more than enough to suffice, it's when heavy bone is hit that problems arise. I'm curious as to why you waste the Barnes on neck and heads when they were built for penetration.