I've got a Black buck hunt scheduled to start on the 16th and recently picked up a Sako 85 Hunter with a 1 in 8 twist barrel. I couldn't find much factory ammo, so I picked up a box of 140 Remington cor loss and 2 boxes of Federal Premium 120 Nosler BT. Used the Remington's to get the scope on at 100 and made final corrections with the BT's. The Federal shoots 3 shots right at 1/2".

Anybody have any experience with the 120 BT? How's the penetration?

Where should I aim on Black buck with the BT's

Really wish I had some 140 BT's, as penetration would be plenty cause of the .287 SD.

Any input/helpful info is appreciated!

Bladk Bucks are small, the 120gr BT will be fine for them. Shoot it through the lungs with that bullet and it will not go far. Blackbucks have a nice aiming point with their coloration, from broadside keep the shot in the white hair close to the shoulder and you have a good lung shot.

They make such a good looking mount using pedistal forms that I would use that and do not want to make a mess with a big hole in the shoulder or neck for the Taxi to have to fix.

I believe 603country on here has shot quite a bit of the 100 and 120 grain BT's and had good results with deer and hogs.

I would aim behind the shoulder like Kmon1 said.

Killed a 2.5 year old spike a few weeks ago with same a 120gr BT from a 6.5-284 that is very close to 3000fps. Shot was less than 20 yards, neck shot exit was about as wide as the neck, of course a lot of what exited was bone from the neck.

I've been using my 260 for several yrs now shooting 120 Barnes TTSX. They are brutal and super accurate. Trust me you'll hurt that black bucks feelings BAD with a 120gr BT. Good luck!

Like redchevy said, I have been using the 100 and 120 gr Nosler BT's in my 260's. Used mostly the 120's in the Ruger Compact that I sold. Switched to the 100's since I shoot a lot more pigs and coyotes than I do deer. The 100 grainers work fine on deer, but I am quite certain that the 120's are more effective. When I run out of 100's, which I may not live long enough to do, I plan to go back to the 120's. Since I'm in no rush to make the change, you can see that the 100's are Ok for me.

That nice buck I killed a couple of weeks ago didn't go far, even though my shot wasn't the greatest. I put it a bit too far back, but still caught the lungs, thank goodness. I was just downloading the pics of that deer and noticed that the exit from that BT wasn't very large. Now I have to figure out how to go fromPhotobucket to the forum.

Thanks fellas....looks like they should work well.

Anybody shoot 130 or 140 Bergers? Thoughts?

How about the 130 gr Swift Scirrocco?

Have shot a few critters with the bullets listed different round since I do not own a 260 but do own a few 6.5s.

Anybody shoot 130 or 140 Bergers? Thoughts? Good for long range but if shots are under 300 yards would look for something else. The 140s have been some of the most accurate bullets I have ever shot, performance on game well lets just say I like a tougher bullet in case a big hog steps out at closer range, if it does forget the shoulder and just shoot in the ribs for the heaviest thing it will hit.

How about the 130 gr Swift Scirrocco? That and the Accubond are my favorite 2 bullets for the .264 diameter bullets for hunting with the 140gr partition being very close to favorite. The Sirocco will retain more weight with less secondary projectiles from the shed weight of the lead core.

For deer sized game standard cup and core bullets work just fine, but for bigger critters IMO go with a tougher bullet like the the Sirocco, Accubond, Partition, or Barnes TTSX. U know penetration will not be an issue even on a big hogs shoulder and if needed elk are not out of the question with good shot placement.

The 6.5s got their stellar reputation for killing large game with 160gr and heavier cup and core bullets with round nose profile. No telling how many Moose have been killed in Europe with the 6.5X55 with such bullets and the 260 and 6.5X55 are ballistic twins. It was the heavy long solid bullets Bell killed lots of Elephants with from a less powerful 6.5X54MS.

This will be a deer/pig/exotics gun only. I have bigger stuff for bigger critters.

That's the problem I see....unless I shoot a Berger/Amax/Scirocco type bullet (which are either explosive or Bonded and not needed for the type of game this rifle will be used for), the 6.5 BC's are real similar to .277/.308/.257.

The new Nosler Accubond LR has a Litz tested BC of .553....anybody use these yet?