What a lot of people do not know about the Nosler ballistic tips is that from their inception they have changed over time. When they first came out many were too soft for deer size game. They just exploded on impact and deer ran off a good ways and left little to no blood trail. I started using them when they first came out and after having to crawl around in the swamps and jungle of east NC looking for deer I shot I went to other bullets. After a number of years I learned that Nosler had toughened up the HUNTING ballistic tips and I went back to give them a try. They got it right and they do a fine job when kept within their design which is, keep the impact velocity under 3100 fps. I have killed many hundred white tail deer doing crop damage control for 15 of the past 46 years of my deer hunting experience. I have killed them with about everything from a stick to a 45-70 Sharps shooting black powder and cast bullets. The 25-06 shooting most any 100 to 120 gr bullet is a killing machine. 99% of the time it is bang flop for me. The worst caliber I have ever used has been a 7mm Rem mag. I killed around 30 deer with one trying different bullet styles and weights one year and 90% would run off 100 yards or more after taking a perfect shot. I tell people that I could not carry enough flashlight batteries to hunt anymore with a 7 mm mag I had to search for deer so long in the dark. Most of my deer shooting was in the evening a little before dark. So different people have different experiences. By the way if you want a really great deer killing 25-06 bullet get you some Sierra 117 gr Pro Hunters.
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25-06 nosler bullet question
- Thread starter Jkling12
- Start date
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ShootnMathews
Well-Known Member
Ballistic tips are not for shoulder shots. Aim behind the shoulder for a double lung shot and you'll have much better results. I never shoot a deer in the shoulders. As they lay there flopping and kicking waiting to die the adrenaline gets flowing and makes the meat taste horrible. A double lung shot is more like a bee sting, they run a short ways out of reaction, not knowing what it was, then fall over dead and they bleed out nice. Which makes the meat taste better.
And to the OP, all deer are different. Some just have a determination to live. I shot a nice 9pt a few years ago with my 243 and 95 grn ballistic tips at 2900 fps. Perfect broadside, center double lung shot at 60 yards. The deer ran over 100 yards and then walked another 50 probably before falling dead. This baffled me and I questioned the bullets performance until I got to the deer. It had a 2" to 3" exit hole and the insides were completely destroyed. Over half of the lung capacity was turned into complete mush or gone totally. How that deer went that far is beyond me. The only explanation I have is the deer just wanted to live. The 2506 and 243 are both deer killers. Like some of the others said. Keep them under 3100 fps and they'll do great. The Nosler ballistic tip is my favorite go to hunting bullet. I've never lost a single animal with them across a wide variety of calibers and bullet weights. And I can't count the number of animals we've killed with them. But it's a lot.
