Nosler Ballistic Tips
 

A few years ago I quit using NBT's in my rifles smaller than 7mm for game larger than pronghorns. I had a couple of .257" bullets simply go to pieces inside deer at impact velocities around 2,700 fps. One of the deer ran about 300 yards through the hardwoods and was not found for two days. The shot placement was good and no heavy bones were hit but the bullet fragmented at the near side rib cage.

I still use the bullet in my 280 Rem with good results but do not use the smaller diameter bullets for deer.

I understand that Nosler has made some changes in the recent Ballistic Tip Hunting bullet to keep it from fragmenting as quickly. Anyone here have any actual experience with the newer version in the smaller caliber cartridges for deer?

I know a few guys that quit using ballistic tips because of that problem. most have switched to spirel tips.

I quit my BTs and went to the Accubond. While I did get my deer. I was dismayed on the lack of exit wounds and or no blood track left.

JW

Nobody here uses the current (not the older model) Nosler Ballistic Tip Hunting bullet in .243" or .257" for deer?

.257 nbt
 

I used the 100 gr. NBT in a Remington 700 Classic SS I had for a few years. They tended to blow up/fragment terribly if the shot was under 100 yards. I was running them about 3100 fps. I switched to the 115 gr. NBT and they ran about 2925 fps and this corrected the issue. I sold the .257 Roberts a few years ago & replaced it with a custom barreled Howa 1500 in 25-06. I had at least (6) full boxes of the 100 gr. NBT's left and I loaded them to about 3350 fps & have taken several coyote's with them & the explosive effects are pretty impressive. I would in no way use them for deer as they often explode on coyote ribs at high velocity. I do know that Nosler thickened the jacket of some of the Ballistic tips several years back & I can attest to that for the 7MM 120 gr. NBT. I run those in a .280 Rem. at about 3200 fps and they will pass completely thru on broadside hits at whitetail. They may actually be a little too tough. I also load them for my cousin in his 7MM-08 & he shoulder shoots exclusively & puts them down on the spot. Often I've seen the bullets lodged under the hide on the offside with a good mushroom and no jacker/core separation on the bullets he's recovered.

I load and use nbt in 95gn for .243 load is middle of road and it devastates eastern whitetail,my son has taken over a dozen with this load in the past 4 years all shot in heart/lung area from point blank out to 150yds and none went more than 10 yds all had exit wounds and super internal damage.no worries with these

I've always used Sierra Game Kings for every caliber. I started loading for a 270 Win and found it likes 130 gr Accubonds better than the SGK. I just bought a box of NAB. I'm hearing that it's nearly interchangeable with the NAB for POI and group sizes. I'm yet to use them on game though. I have no complaints with the Sierras. They have always performed perfectly on game from 243 Win to 300 WSM.

I killed my then largest buck on opening day in 2012 with my 270 using a 130 grain Nosler Ballistic tip. He initially came within about 40 yards of my blind after a doe, but in my excitement I knocked my camera tripod over into the side of the blind. He heard and saw that, and consequently turned around to run away. I blew two grunts on my grunt tube, which caused him to stop at a little less than 100 yards, turn around to face me, and stomp at me. The only opportunity I had was a full frontal shot, so I took it. He turned tail again and ran about 75 yards, but he was dead by the time I got to him. I never found the bullet while field dressing him, but damage to the stomach suggested the BT ended up either there or somewhere in his intestines.

FWIW, I also shot a coyote with a BT back in the summer of 2014. That coyote made the mistake of running around our horse pasture. I grabbed my 270 the first time I saw it, and when it came out again I killed it at 245 yards. You couldn't really tell where the entry wound was, but there was a definite exit wound about two inches long on the far side.

I use, like and swear by BT's, I run 140's out of my 7 stw at 3550 fps and mostly get an exit. I do stay off the shoulder at less than 100 yards. I also shoot the 115 gr BT in my 25wssm at 3000 fps, it exactly duplicates the performance of the 110 accubond at 3075 fps.
Guys years ago the BT's were all just thin skinned varmint bullets, then nosler revamped them, they made them exactly the same as the nosler solid base boatails, except they retained the polymer tip in the weights for med. game, how do you know if they are varmint bullets or game bullets, look on the package, game bullets come 50 per box, varmint bullets are 100 or 250 per box. Back in the day when the 7mm 140's were packaged 100 per box I had a couple failures. Have had nothing but good results since the bullets were changed.
RR

Ballistic tips 100%!!!! I use both the Nosler and Hornady and love them!!!!! If I cant get them to group, not much else will with that powder. I have 10x more BT's than any other projectile on my shelves for loading.

I used the 130 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips in my .270 Win for years pushed by 54 grains of IMR4350 powder and CCI primer. With it I killed 2 antelope and countless deer all DRT at distances form literally spitting distance to over 400 yards. I never had a single problem with them and they were remarkably accurate.

I just ordered another 500 .257" 100 grain Ballistic Tip Hunting bullets (ten boxes of 50). They do shoot great out of all of my .257" rifles. Usually these are only used for pronghorns but this season I will try them again on a whitetail to see if the newest version will hold together.

Thanks for the replies.

I'll be shooting the 95gr BT at some Nebraska whitetail in 8 days!

Clem, I always wanted a 257 Roberts. Someday when I have enough funny money that will be my next rifle.

I will not be posting often for the forseeable future. It was fun while it lasted but I feel a change in the wind. I will try to remember to post the results of my use of the BT on deer this year. Thanks again to everyone that responded.

Hate to see you leave us. You have a lot of knowledge and experience that we all could benefit from.

Ed - I believe you got me mixed up with BigUncle! Unless his name is Clem too?!?!

Goodness gracious what velocity are those bullets coming out at? I see melted tips downrange. You better start using Hornady ELDs.
I don't see any information on this round on the internet

Clem, you're right I did get you mixed up with Bob.

Sorry Bob aka BigUncle!

Only going 3450 right now, it's pretty mild but we're running out of time to "max" it out.

It's my own wildcat. It's a 6.5 Rem Mag necked to 6mm and then "improved" with a double radius shoulder.

adam, try running a berger 105 out of that beast

I run the 105 in my 243 Ack, awesome bullet!

I'll probably try out the new 110gr SMK in the Mag, or the 101gr Hammer Hunter since it's lead free and I'm in California.

i worked up a load for my 7mm/08 this summer using 140gn nbt.it was super accurate,shooting groups in the1/4 to 3/8s at ahundered yards.opening day i took a shot at a two point muley at just over 300 yards from a prone position.at the shot it dropped ,i walked up and it stood up at fifty yards so i shot it in the neck to kill it .the first shot blew a handfull of meat out of its neck.the second broke the neck, no exit.flash forward two weeks to elk season. my sil and grandson had spotted several small herds in some draws and saddles on the mountain. we drove as far as we could then got out and started hikeing.looking at the distance i opted for my 7mm/08 instead of my seven mag.being seventy I've become a wuss if i have to pack a twelve pound gun.after about a mile we walked in on sixty some head of elk from a hundered to a 150 yards totally asleep. I've never done that before with that many elk.i spotted a six point ,biggest bull in the herd with his horns tipped into the ground totally asleep.i told the sin and grandson to make sure their scopes were turned down and check that a shell was in the chamber. i told them i wouldd shoot the first cow that stood up.one stood at about 125 yards and i shot her,its amazeing how fast that many elk can blow out of an area when spooked.the bull ran within 75 yards of justin and he literaly blew the bulls heart to pieces. i looked back and the cow i shot was standing still, so i shot her again.upon dressing her ,the first shot exploded the liver no exit and a two inch hole on the entry side. second shot two inch entry hole lungs trashed no exit.probably won't use nbts again think ill stick to hornadys.i know i shouldn't have used the140s on elk but deer?

You probably want to use Accubonds on elk. They'll penetrate deeper. The BC's of the two bullets are nearly identical, and many people switch back and forth between them sometimes only having to move their point of impact, sometimes not. Both are just as accurate.

I've dropped a few Elk, several whitetail, and a boatload of hogs with the 139gr Hornady Interlock loaded up in my 7mm-08's. Outstanding penetration and I have yet to have bullet failure from one. Longest shot was 397 yards on a 350 pound Boar hog that dropped on the spot. Shortest was 2 yards on a 220 pound boar hog (dang near hit the thing in the head with the rifle butt but opted to shoot it instead) this one did have jacket separation (found the jacket in the off side shoulder) but the rest of the bullet passed through. The NBT does have a higher BC but I've found close in performance (terminal ballistics) to be sub par at best, absolutely horrendous at times.

how were your BT's packaged? I run the 140's at 3550 fps from a 7mm STW with no problems. you should not have any penetration problems on deer at 7mm/08 velocities, I run 120's from my 7mm/08 with excellent results.
RR

140 nosler ballistic tips
 

the load i worked up was the 140 with 41.5 grains of imr 4064. this came out at 2850 from my ruger american. i had the gunsmith glass bed it an do a trigger job on it.this load was very accurate at a hundred yards. makes me mad that it shot so well but the nbt was a pos.like i said i usually use my 338 with a 225 at 3000 or my 7mag with 162s but packing twelve pound guns very far just don't work anymore.gonna try the 139 spire point and the new 150 eldx.kinda like working up loads.

how were your 140's packaged? 50 per box or 100?
RR

deepcreek, RR is asking how many came in the box of bullets. Reason being, one is the older style NBT's that were completely horrendous on terminal ballistics and blew up very easily. The newer ones are admitedly better at holding together but some, like me, just can't get the bitter taste of complete bullet failure out of our mouths.

also if they were the new style, and your experiencing this, perhaps there is some issue with the barrel compromising the jacket causing failure, if so it could very well happen with another cup/core type bullet.
In my 6.5 gibbs which is an 8 twist cut rifled barrel I have experienced the same with a berger 140 VLD hunting bullet, it shoots them incredibly well but will not penetrate 2" of soft tissue, switching to the 140 match vld with the thicker jacket and I get the same performance as the guys shooting the hunting bullets in a button rifled barrel.
RR

sorry they came in 50s .just bought them this summer. I'm shooting them out of a ruger american 7mm/08 1/9.5 twist.

I just have a hard time blaming the bullets, I shoot BT's in the following
6mm PPC
6mm Rem.
7mm/08 (120 &140 gr.)
270 win.
25 WSSM
7 mm stw
now I use 55 gr in the PPC on deer no less, its a varmint bullet but the low velocity lets it penetrate pretty well, sometimes I don't get an exit but that's expected, I almost always get an exit with the 270 unless I hit them really hard at close range.
the 25 wssm I have never been able to recover a 115 gr BT on a deer, I've taken every angle shot I can think of, except a tx heart shot and have always gotten an exit, even on double shoulder shots. and I'm guessing I've taken 30 deer with them, and a few with the same rifle and 110 gr accubonds, the terminal performance between the 2 are identicle.
even the 7stw at 3550 fps, I will most of the time get an exit if I stay off the shoulder till the bullet hits around 3250 fps. I once shot a bear on the shoulder at 100 yards with it and at least a piece of the bullet exited. these are just my experiences with my rifles.
RR

for me its the bullet.i will find something that works on deer and elk. I've killed a lot of critters with hornady interlocks in my other guns.and they come a hundred in a box.the nbt was just the most accurate,but i can live with one inch groups at a hundered.

I've had nothing but excellent results with Nosler Accubonds! I can totally personally recommend the Accubonds in the 7mm08!

Update:

I shot a couple of whitetails at about 100 yards with a 257 Roberts and a couple of pronghorns at about 300 yards with a 25-06 with the Ballistic Tip Hunting bullets this year. They did just fine. No bullets or pieces of bullets were recovered as they all passed through, and no tracking was necessary.

I have been curious about them for deer. I don't want to be a person that fights progress. Though I am concerned about pentration, on non lung/heart shots.

The failures, were they seem to be more 6 and 6.5mm. How are they on full size rifles?

I know someone who blem a massive hole through the heart with 30-06. But again, I wonder how they are other areas. I suspect if that was your only shot, they would be the way to go.

What is a "full size rifle"?

My smart ass way of saying 7mm and up. I have read some people saying they have had bad performance. Was it the bullet or the gun?

Not all guns are created equal.

This past year i put an antelope, and a deer in the freezer that were killed by 120 grain 6.5mm Ballistic Tip bullets. The bullet passed through both animal, and both dropped right there, right now. Both were high shoulder shots.

The rifle used was kinda full sized, but it was a little shorter, and a little lighter than it would have been had it been a bolt action. The barrel was a 'match' barrel, and heavier than most, but the over all weight of the rifle was less than most hunting rifles, because there was no bolt. The falling block action allowed using a very accurate heavy barrel, without making the rifle too heavy.

It seems to be a full sized rifle, length of pull is a tad too much when i wear warm clothing. Over all length is kinda short, even though the barrel is 24 inches long; still think it is a full sized rifle though.



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Okay I'll bite! I have a .243 Sako that will put everything in a dime all day long and I'll kill any deer or smaller animal with it every time because it will put a good bullet right where I want it. I don't use it much now other than for an occasional antelope, yotes, and now I'm into pdogs with it at ranges where my 22 Hornet can't get out to.