Predator Call

To my recollection, there has not been a development in bullet technology that has had the impact on predator calling that the ballistic tip has.  My introduction to the ballistic bullet was the first year that Winchester Olin produced the Ballistic Silver-tip ammo through a joint venture with Nosler.  I am not sure of the year, but would guess that it was in the late 90’s. 

Until this time, I had become a fan of the 52 grain hollow point that Winchester was loading and was hording all that I could get my hands on for Kevin Howard had told me that this particular ammo was going to be discontinued.  After hearing the bad news, it was the next year that Kevin showed up at our annual South Texas predator hunt with the 50 grain Ballistic Silver-tip ammo.

The silver cases with the black, silver tipped bullets were the sexiest looking ammo I had ever seen and continue to be to this day.  I joked that shooting this ammo would make me feel like the Lone Ranger.  After carrying it to the range, I was not joking about the ammo anymore as it produced less than a half inch group in my .223.  Sure it was accurate but the true test would be to see how it would perform on coyotes and bobcats.

If memory serves me correctly, we killed 42 coyotes and three bobcats in two days.  In most every situation, the bullet stayed in the coyote, the same was true on one of the cats.  Having the bullet expend all of it’s energy in the critter makes for clean kills and minimal pelt damage.  Several companies are loading the ballistic tip bullets in several different weights including 40’s and 55’s but my experience proves that nothing performs quite like the 50 grain’s. 

Good luck and happy hunting.