Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

I was reading on one of the forums here a while back, and a guy had shot a deer withNosler Ballistic Tips bullets at a close range. ( 50 yrds)He said the deer ran about 75 yards and he saw it fall.He went to where he shot the deer and followed the trail the deerran. Hesaid that there wasn't much of a blood trail.
One of my friends shot a deer the other day at close range and said there wasn't much blood. I was wondering if any of you guys might know something about this?

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

I have taken about three dozen head of big game with the nosler ballistic tip and not one has covered 50 yards after being hit.The vast majority of the bullets exited leaving a generous exit hole which would have provided a blood trail if the deer had actually travelled far enough to make one.These were taken with the 257wby,7mmstw,and 300ultramag so muzzle velocities were from around 3400fps to over 3500fps.In other words most of the bullet impact velocities were as high or higher than the muzzle velocities produced by the average cartridge.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

i've shot a number of critters with the Nosler BT's... 2 deer i shot with the BT from a 280 Rem were exceptions.. the rest have been anchored pretty well... without fanfare... so i was on the bubble with them... i detest ANY chance of wounding or losing an animal... i never have and i am not about to start...

one doe i took at 30 yds broadside, lungshot.. the 150 gr BT went striaght through... and i found it in a sapling along a trail 2 days later... it'd split the sappling and i managed to dig it out.. that doe ran well over 100 yds.. into a dense swamp... she was dead on her feet... but the bullet just passed through and made a hole... not expending it's energy... or really doing a whole lot of damage...

the 2nd doe i shot from the top of a ridge... so the shot was downward from an elevation of about 60 feet and a horizontal (gps'd) distance of 123 yds... she was quarting away... i took her in the left side behind the shoulder high on the ribs... figured it'd punch out the brisket... but the 150 BT hit a rib.. abruptly turned and followed the ribcage... it clipped EVERY rib to the interior of the shoulder.. and it filleted the lung wide open.... i never found much other than fragments of copper... bullet was probably in the lung... she ran 30 yds... but it was sure a mess and the performance was very disturbing...

i now shoot nosler partitions from the 280... no issues since... pick my shots to pretty much stop a deer in it's tracks... has worked well so far...

been loading my 35 Whelen AI with test loads... using 225 gr BT's cause they are "cheap" compared to the partitions... probably use them this year... cut one open and i cut a 7 mm open... the 35 is significantly "beefier"... i feel it'll perform pretty well since i am flinging them at the same speed as i'm flinging the 175 partitions from the 280... and all things told... they are friggin accurate with 59 gr's of IMR 4350...

we'll see how it goes with these... but for the 280 i've gone away from them unless i am loading light varmit loads... for coyote and such...

J

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

The 'last' generation of BT's could be driven too fast to be effective. I was pushing 140 grainers out of my 7mmMag pretty hot and during one particular doe season, shot several does and only recovered one. I contacted Nosler and was told that this was a noted problem and they were fixing it. I later received 200 'new generation' BT's in the mail from Nosler to try. They have proven to be very effective.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

Awhile back, this subject was tossed around quite a bit. It appears Nosler has made a number of changes to this bullet since its introduction back in the mid 1980's. I used the original ones in the green/red box, and thought they were pretty explosive. I understand the bullet has gone through maybe four "improvements" over the years with some of these Ballistic Tips. Unless you pay attention to the five digit number Nosler assigns to its bullets, you could wind up with "apples and oranges" without realizing it.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

Never had a problem with blood trails and BT, I've had a problem with too much blood from BT though. I have shot deer at 20 yards with the 308 and the blood was enormous, and so is the damage, even at 300 yards with my 300 win mag th damage is enormous. I'm tryng the Sciricco this year for this reason. I have seen a little difference between the every day BT and the ones from Combined Tech, seems the cap they place on the base causes the bullet to deform more rapidly but not fragment like the normal BT is known to do.
The matter of blood trails is very subjective, depending on where you hit you could have very little or tremendous blood, Hit high and fur could absorb alot of the blood, hit a little higher and it could hit the artery below the spine and could spray like a sprinkler. Hit in the middle it can pool up in the chest cavity, perferate the diaphram and it will pool in the lower abdomin. Not a very good measure of effectivness or bullet perfomance.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

While the CT partition does had a steel insert, the ballistic silvertip from CT does not.See for yourself.
http://www.nosler.com/ballsilvertip.html

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

Just curious. You shot several doe and only recoved one shot bullet? Or only recovered one doe? I mean I have shot some crappy ammo in my time, and never lost too many animals with a gun. From Coreloks to even Full metal jackets. Even though the Full metals went thru without much damage, they still dropped when hit in low and thru the lungs or heart. And never lost but one or two.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

Recovered one deer. Lots of blood, but no penetration. Bullets were exploding. Tracked the wounded deer for hours, with assistance. Ran into several hunters that day who reported seeing the deer with large blood spots on them. Talked to Mr. Nosler himself regarding what I had experienced and he concured that it was happening other places as well.
I never used FMJ for hunting (illegal most places I've hunted), but they were pretty effective in the M14 and M16. Live and learn I guess. You're right, it did turn out to be pretty crappy ammo.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

To each his own, but I would have stopped after losing the 2nd one. There is not too much to a deer broadsided and lungs are basically air filled little balloons.

Hey too bad you lost em.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

There's NO mystery here to me, "if" the bullet doesn't exit the animial 99.9% of the time there's very little or NO blood trail. That's aparently what happen in those two cases, and i've seen it happen many times with bullets that are on the "soft" side includeing with some BT's.

Drilling Man

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

today i shot buck with Nosler ballistic tip 140gr useing a T/C encore pistol 7-30 waters at 91yd that buck went down like a ton of brickes hit him ,my self i like them ,that would make it number 4 and counting,the other 3 were shot at 106 &110yds only 1 ran about 20yds and all shots were passthrou with smalish exet holes about 1 in. in size.so it must have something to do with speed

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

You are exactly right!!! The same bullet pushed faster will expand faster, and pushed faster yet will explode without going deep enough to do the job properly.

You HAVE to keep the bullet in the velocity range it was built for, and also match it to the game it will be used on.

Drilling Man

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

I've taken about 25-30 whitetails with Bt's out of my .280 Rem. with a handloaded velocity averaging about 2940 fps. The results have all been about the same: put the bullet in the ribs, you'll find the deer. That's from ranges of 30 yds. all the way to mylongest kill of 425. I did learn one thing however: if you're trying to knock a deer down with a BT bullet with a solid shoulder shot, you may have issues.. I haven't personally, but I've seen it happen to hunting buddies.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

I’ve used BTs since the late 90s loaded in a 30-06. Used weights 125, 150 and 165 on whitetails and coyotes. Never lost a animal and never had one go more than 20 or 30 yards. I don’t load them too hot, but even so a shoulder hit at close range will have A LOT of meat damage. As far as penetration, I once took a doe with the 150s at about 60 yards quartering away from me with her head held horizontal to her body. The bullet entered at her last rib and traveled through her chest cavity hitting most vitals, than continued to travel through her neck and exited with a quarter size whole about 6 inches from her head. They’ve worked for me.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

If I could sound off o this topic, I would just mention that I just got done with a deer hunt in oklahoma and used a nosler ballistic tip. I took a 7 point buck with it, the bullet is in no way bonded and fragmented in the animal retaining little weight. Destroyed a bunch of meat in the shoulder but did effectively stop the animal. This was with 165 grain in 30-06. I then reverted to my .243 for he doe with a 100 grain hornady interlock boat-tail. It worked much better. It held together and destroyed much less meat. So, nosler ballistic tips will certainly kill if you put them in the boiler maker, but I reccomend a bonded or locked bullet. EJ

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

If your situation dictates 150 yards shot being long their is simply no need for a polymer tipped/boattail design bullet. While i have taken many animals from 30 out with the NBT with no issues, I do expect damage and fragments may result when striking the target at such high velocity. As such I always aim behind the shoulder and plant it in the lungs first. When achieving this goal I have yet to see a lack of blood or an animal make it 100 yards. Simply put match the bullet to your uses and understand the design/purpose of that bullet...this way bad results don't happen.

BTW this season with my 7mm rem mag I shota mulie doe with 140 gr TSXapprox 150yards she left a meager trail and actually ran +100 yards. Ithen switched to my pet 150gr NBT for whitetail hunting and took a wtbuck at 100 yards which he literally folded in his track. Both shots were identical double lungs. I'll stick with my NBTs for deer and use Barnes forgame that requires such bullet construction (elk and moose).

If your looking for a comprimise maybe try the Accubond or Nosler Partition, both make a good wound channels but designed to retain more weight than the likes of NBT.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

Dont get me wrong on the NBT's, they work! I wouldnt have used them 2 years in a row if they didnt. I am just to the point that I wouldnt mind a bullet that holds together a little more. EJ

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

Today's NBTs seem to perform better than the earlier ones. They were always accurate in my 270 but the earlier ones did seem to fragment more anddid a lot of damage possibly because of the jacket design or whatever. The 'newer' ones tend to hold together a little better. I've taken a good bunch of deer with this bullet and only once did I have trouble (bullet seemed to disentegrate on impact). But this could have been a faulty one that slipped through.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

I shoot the 140 BT's in my 7mm. Took2 deer this year with them, one at 200 yards the other at 325 yards. The impact velocities were approx. 2950 and 2700 respectively. Both shots hit bone including part of the spine, both shots exited with a .75" to 1" hole. No need to track, both were DRT. I have no complaints about their performance.

My brother also uses the BT's in his 270 (150gr version). He shot a buck at 200 yardsat the same time I shot mine at 200 (both were standing together), his bullet did not exit and was just under the hide of the off shoulder and somewhat fragmented. The deer dropped immediately. His MV is only about 2700 to 2800 fps. He likes the BT's and has taken dozens of deer with the over them years.

A friend uses basically the same load I use in his 7mm and a few years ago he harvested a cow elk at 200 yards with it. It was a complete passthru just behind the shoulder, it dropped and only kicked once, again, no complaints.

With all that said, I'm in the process of working up a load using the 160 accubonds. I think the 160 is just about the perfect weight bullet for the 7mm and will work well for most anything I will ever hunt with it. Having one all around load will make reloading much simpler and efficient.

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

I have shot 3 bucks with 300 RUM using 180 gr BT passed threw on two of them and never made a exit hole bigger then the entrance. One bullet went in about the size of your index finger and exited with severe damage.To the shoulder area and itis a mystery to me

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

Its pretty likely the shot to the shoulder hit some bone; and the bone chips became secondary missles that followed the bullet's path - creating a lot of destruction. It's kind of like a boat making a wake through the water - but in this case the wake is blood and other fluids that pull a vortex of bone chips and bullet fragments along with it. Geez I would hate to be shot :(

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

I have successfully used them in 308 and 30-06 based cartridges. If you over drive a Nosler BT, they are quit explosive.In some of the magnums, the post mortum examines have the appearances of an Al Queda RPG attack.

Don

RE: Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

I have used both the 140 G NoslerBT,s and the 140 G Nosler Accubonds in My 7 Mil Mag at about the same velocities and they both do a lot of damage. I have taken 5 deerthis year with these two combinations just to see the differance. Not to mention I love deer meat!! The first two with the BT,s 2 inch exit woulnds, no tracking needed. The last three with the Accubonds, sholder shots. The accubonds only leave an exit woulnd about one inch but completely destroyed both sholders on two of the deer. I mean ground meat full of bone fragments!Next Year I am going to go with the partitions that I have worked up. Al though dead is dead We will see what hapens with the partitions.I am hoping to grind the meat with the meat grinder next year !!