Ballistic Tips

Dr Ray · May 10, 2017

Shootist43 said:
Dr Ray, have you ever read any of Nathan Foster's books/writings? He is a Kiwi that IMHO forgot more about long range hunting, ammo and rifles than most of us know. He has an excellent treatise on bullet design beginning on page 46 of his book titled Long Range Hunting Cartridges. His website is: http://www.ballisticstudies.com/ I suggest that everyone interested in hunting, ammo or accurate rifles read his "Knowledge Base" which is free and available online. Then if you like what you read/saw you can pick up some or all of his books.

Thanks very much for that. I'm attending to it right now. Thanks - much appreciated.

BobT · May 11, 2017

I have used Nosler Ballistic tips for many years on deer and pronghorns in .270 Winchester, .25/06 Remington rifles and also in .243 Winchester, .30-30AI and .30 Herrett pistols. I have never had one fail to open. My average shots are probably in the 100 yard range but I did shoot a pronghorn doe with the 115 grain from a .25/06 at a lasered 436 yards standing broad side with good expansion and pass through.
This is the exit on a white tailed doe from a 130 yard heart shot with the 125 grain .30 caliber BT out of a 12" barreled pistol in .30-30AI.

Dr Ray · May 11, 2017

BobT said:
I have used Nosler Ballistic tips for many years on deer and pronghorns in .270 Winchester, .25/06 Remington rifles and also in .243 Winchester, .30-30AI and .30 Herrett pistols. I have never had one fail to open. My average shots are probably in the 100 yard range but I did shoot a pronghorn doe with the 115 grain from a .25/06 at a lasered 436 yards standing broad side with good expansion and pass through.
This is the exit on a white tailed doe from a 130 yard heart shot with the 125 grain .30 caliber BT out of a 12" barreled pistol in .30-30AI.

Very impressive I must say. My experience is from one extreme to the other.
Thank you for your time and experience.

BobT · May 11, 2017

Dr Ray said:
Very impressive I must say. My experience is from one extreme to the other.
Thank you for your time and experience.

This has been a very typical result for me with the Noslers, superb accuracy and a lot of trauma. The only one I have ever recovered was a 200 grain from a .338/06 that went diagonally through a white tail buck at about 170 yards and the core stopped under the hide on the offside ham, the jacket penetrated the chest cavity and stuck under the hide just behind the last rib. If memory serves the combined weight of the 2 pieces was around 170 grains.

Dr Ray · May 11, 2017

BobT said:
This has been a very typical result for me with the Noslers, superb accuracy and a lot of trauma. The only one I have ever recovered was a 200 grain from a .338/06 that went diagonally through a white tail buck at about 170 yards and the core stopped under the hide on the offside ham, the jacket penetrated the chest cavity and stuck under the hide just behind the last rib. If memory serves the combined weight of the 2 pieces was around 170 grains.

Wow I'm truly impressed

Jarrod Todd · May 11, 2017

Dr Ray said:
Thanks very much for that. I'm attending to it right now. Thanks - much appreciated.

I also agree. Nathan Foster's books are very informative! It have them all and highly recommend them.

Shootist43 · May 11, 2017

Jarrod Todd said:
I also agree. Nathan Foster's books are very informative! It have them all and highly recommend them.

Jarrod, I too have all of Nathan's books. My go to rifle for the past 20 years is a 6.5 x 55 Swedish Mauser. Since I knew it was used to take Moose I had "lofty" expectations for what I could use it on. After reading Nathan's Knowledge Base on the rifle and caliber I knew that he (Nathan) knew what he was talking about and revised my thinking accordingly. The books I keep at home, but the e-versions are on my IPad and travel with me. In Africa I had my PH reading the importance of removing copper fouling to maintain accuracy.

Shawn.54 · May 11, 2017

My only experience with Nosler BT then the accubond in 35 Whelen the 225gr is great in my rifle well under 1".
Shot many white tail deer between 25-250 yards never found a bullet in a deer so I can't report on that.
I know that the box says 35 Whelen on it so it is probably made to work in that speed range.
If you get bullets that are designed for 257 Weatherby and fire them from a 257 Roberts it very well may not open and reverse it and it becomes a grenade. There are so many different cartridges of same caliber it's hard to make a bullet that works perfectly over that large a speed spread. So until we make bullets for individual cartridges someone is not going to be happy.
Shawn

bdavis1960 · May 11, 2017

My experience has only been with whitetails and in high velocity calibers. The accuracy is exceptional. However, they tend to explode shortly after impact, and most often don't pass through, which leaves no true exit wound and blood trail. Many deer drop instantly and don't require tracking, but if they do you're in trouble. For that reason I stopped using them. Many people do and swear by them. My experience has been they are exploding bullets.

James Cook · May 11, 2017

Dr Ray said:
I actually shot behind shoulder on near side .
I only shoulder shoot critters I don't want for meat.
I thank you for your knowledge and experience though
Many thanks

wow, that was an explosion on the opposite shoulder then. are you sure it wasn't an exploding grenade point?

BobT · May 11, 2017

bdavis1960 said:
My experience has only been with whitetails and in high velocity calibers. The accuracy is exceptional. However, they tend to explode shortly after impact, and most often don't pass through, which leaves no true exit wound and blood trail. Many deer drop instantly and don't require tracking, but if they do you're in trouble. For that reason I stopped using them. Many people do and swear by them. My experience has been they are exploding bullets.

This picture is what's left of a Hornady 140 grain SST factory load (superformance) from a .270 Winchester. The deer dropped and did not require tracking but did require another shot to finish the job. I didn't shoot the deer but was there when it was shot and I did the butchering. These fragments were recovered from a whitetail buck that was shot (initially) between 30 and 40 yards, the deer was shot broad side, way too far back, no bone was touched, the largest piece was on the entrance side and is mostly jacket material and the rest were sticking in the muscle tissue inside the cavity. There was no exit wound of any kind.

I personally consider this unacceptable performance, but I have never experienced anything even remotely similar from a Nosler, not all plastic tipped bullets are created equal!

PARA45 · May 11, 2017

I've used BT on deer, using 30-06, 270, 25-06 and have no problems with them. However, I never shoot a deer through the shoulder either, always behind the shoulder, and the BT have expanded and gone through the animals with no exceptions. Not much tracking necessary. However, I once used BT on a 7mm STW on a deer, and it was like if a grenade exploded inside the animal, and no exit hole. I assume the bullet disintegrated upon entering the deer. So, not a good bullet to use on any magnum caliber and at close distance.

Porker · Nov 15, 2017

Shootist 43 is spot on Doc, Nathan’s “on game” experience is as good as it gets. I was also considering the BT for my Swede but concerned:
If a quick expanding pill hits bone at longer range you could have trouble with decent penetration. From field shooting positions, aiming to slip one past the shoulder into vitals at distance leaves little room for error.
If you get a pass through with no expansion, your speed at impact could have been lower than Noslers minimum recommended 1800 fps

JMM · Nov 15, 2017

I have been culling deer lately with the Combined Technology Ballistic Tip from Nosler. The 168 grain .308 bullet is used in my .30-06. I have had all pass thrus with great terminal shock. I have shot quite a few at all different ranges and am impressed with the structural integrity of the bullet. In my backstop at home, the remaining shank is impressive. It is the same bullet as the Accubond without the bonding. You can have a problem with the BT with too much speed. Over 3200 is asking for fragmenting and limited penetration. Driven at sane velocities, they work great.

Art Lambart II · Nov 15, 2017

Dr. Ray,

Are you asking about the Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet or bullets with polymer tips in general?

Lee M · Nov 15, 2017

Good performance for me using 7mm-08 140 grains on antelope. Shot at 215 yds

Bullthrower338 · Nov 15, 2017

I used Nosler BT in the 7mm RM for years on deer and antelope with good results as long as there wasn't heavy bone impact, it always resulted in the grenade effect ruining a bunch of meat and dad pissed off at me. I was hunting with a buddy that was using I believe a 140 gr BT in his browning safari 270 when he shot a buck in the ribs and the bullet blew up on impact. A 6" chunk of hide and meat was blown off the deer and he ran off. We looked for him for two days and never found him. I'm sure it was a one off thing but it was a dramatic bullet failure that I will always remember. I switched to the Speer grandslam after that and reserved the BT's for coyotes and paper. They are certainly an accurate bullet but they are just to frangible for my tastes and there are so many great bonded bullets out there now why risk a lost animal over a few dollars. I just had a bad experience with the new hornady ELD-X also. As far as tipped bullets go I only trust accubonds, scirrocco's and TTSX bullets. I have had some friends give some good reports on the hornady GMX but haven't had personal experience with them.
Cheers,
Cody

PHOENIX PHIL · Nov 15, 2017

Accubonds, a very good blend of the BT and Partition

Dr Ray · Nov 16, 2017

Art Lambart II said:
Dr. Ray,

Are you asking about the Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet or bullets with polymer tips in general?

Both actually. I have used mainly Nosler b t and have used Nosler bullets extensively.
I don’t use the ballistic tips anymore as I’m a meat hunter.

Ridgewalker · Nov 16, 2017

Never used BTs, but I thought I read due to them coming apart so easily that they increased the copper thickness. Has anyone else read this or know of it? Hmm...maybe it was another of my white hair dreams?

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