Nosler Ballistic Tips

[Budweiser2]

Morning Gentlemen
I have nothing,but good things to say about the Nosler B-Tip.My son uses them on black bears and they don't like them.I have pulled bone chips out of the entrance wound,the size of a lemon.My son uses a 30/06 with the 180gr bullet.Just yesterday I talked to a friend,whom I hadn't seen in a while and he was telling me that he uses a 7MM Rem Mag with a 140gr Nosler B-Tip and has shot 3 Grizzlies with this bullet.He shoots them right behind the front shoulder and says this works great.along with them he has shot moose,goats,black bears,sheep,caribou.

Straight Shooting

Budweiser2

 

[Warren Barrett]

Fat Boy, between my brother-in-law and I, we have killed deer with the ballistic tips from 20yds. to 550yds. with muzzle velocities ranging from 2700- 3200fps out of 6.5,7mm,and 30 cal. You have to remember the further out that bullet gets the more it`ll hold together and not fragment as bad. They have worked well for us and they are very accurate as has been already mentioned.

 

[Steve Shelp]

Fatboy,
I have had no problems with using the BT bullets for deer or less. I've used them since they first came out in the early '80 in 22, 7mm, and 30 caliber. They have always turned in great accuracy in every rifle I've ever tried them in. In 22 caliber they are like a grenade on varmints.
As for BG hunting I will continue to load and use them for whitetails (PA and/or NC it doesn't matter). Have only ever had one come "apart" and not exit a deer. That was last year on a mature PA doe AFTER the bullet went through a 6-7" diameter green maple tree and hit the shoulder bone going in. Found the bullet and some small pieces lodged in the opposite shoulder. That was out of a 7mm Mag at approx 50-60yds with the 140gr bullet. Not bad with all things considered. Another torture test of BT's was when I used 165gr BTs out of my old 300 Winchester anywhere from 30yds to 250yds on deer and never had one come apart at any range either. One doe was approx 60yds angled toward me. The bullet entered the top of the facing shoulder down through the opposite shoulder (shooting from a high tree stand) and left an aweful exit hole. That's out of a 300 Winchester at 60yds through all bone.
All deer I've ever personally shot with a BT were anchored almost immediatly. 10-20yds at the most for any one deer to travel. Longest shot with one was 440yds out of my 30-06 with a 180 BT. It was a PA doe behind the front shoulders. When I shot, she went down on her front legs first and her butt jsut flopped over. End of that story. Again total tissue distruction inside the chest cavity and ripping and tearing upon exit.

BUT, when I was finally able to go out west in '99 for the first time ever for elk, I used Nosler Partitions. The BTs stayed at home because I felt the job was out of their league and Partitions are made for that heavy work. It was beach weather the whole time we hunted in Colorado that year. Never got a shot at an elk.

my experiences only,
Steve

 

[Mysticplayer]

Excellent bullet. Very accurate and should be a real game stopper for your smaller deer. Keep impact vel under 2500fps and over 1400fps and you will be very happy.

This is not a Texas heartshot bullet. Keep to broadside and slight quartering shots.

Tested a 165gr BT out of a 300 Wby (3150 to 3200fps) at 60 yds. Completely penetrated and vaporised 3 gallon milk jugs filled with water in a row. That is about 27" of water.

I would not hesitate to use this bullet in a 308 at any non dangerous game out to 500yds with proper presentation.

if you want a "tougher" bullet, try a Hornady SST in 150 or 165gr. Very accurate and redesigned to penetrate more then the previous interlocks (also an excellent bullet).

Good luck...

Jerry

 

[Kevin]

Fatboy,
I had a lung shot at a deer with 95gr 6mm BT at 250 yards, the bullet performed great. I also shot a cow elk at 300 yards with 140gr BT out of a 7mm, MV of 3340fps and the bullet worked great, killed fast and clean. But also with the same cartridge I shot a large bull elk at 50 yards. He was down instantly, but the inside of the chest cavity looked like it had gone through a blender, and the meat was all bloodshot. I found the bullet in a rib on the opposite side, only retained 52%. So my advise is that if you keep the impact velocities down then they would be a great deer bullet for you. Don't go to something like the Nosler Partrition. It will react like a FMJ at long range, especially on deer.

 

[Totoro]

Fatboy,

I will agree with the posters that the BT is definitely a "deer sized" bullet. So keeping with the whitetail parameter in your comment I would suggest using the 165gr BT. I have a rifle that is tuned and dedicated to shooting the 165gr and it is definitely a solid choice. You also can't go wrong with either SST or Scirocco. The BT will reliably expand at all practical velocities and you don't really have to worry to much on angling shots except the "Texas Heart Shot" which I do not recommend or condone.

Earlier BT had a notorious habit of grenading at shoulder shots even on deer but new manufacturing process has allowed for a thicker jacket and holds up quite well on quartering shots.

Good Luck

Verrocchio

 

[RLB2]

On the Nosler BT's I have never chased so, many,deer in my entire life!Using BT"S in 6mm,6.5,7mmag,270 and 30cal. I have 11 unopened factory sealed boxes in these caibers for sale if anyone is interested.I reall would not use them again.I never had this problem with the Rem.,win.fed.P.P.,S.P. etc.All shots were placed behind the shoulder.I killed a6pt. with the 7mag.first shot right behind the shoulder.He ran in front of me and stumbled in a fire lane and I shot him in the neck,I even seen the hair fly when the bullet hit.I still chased that deer another 100YRDS. Good luck,but as some have already said there are better bullets for deer.That's first hand experience.RLB2,in N.C.

 

[RLB2]

On the Nosler BT's I have never chased so, many,deer in my entire life!Using BT"S in 6mm,6.5,7mmag,270 and 30cal. I have 11 unopened factory sealed boxes in these caibers for sale if anyone is interested.I reall would not use them again.I never had this problem with the Rem.,win.fed.P.P.,S.P. etc.All shots were placed behind the shoulder.I killed a6pt. with the 7mag.first shot right behind the shoulder.He ran in front of me and stumbled in a fire lane and I shot him in the neck,I even seen the hair fly when the bullet hit.I still chased that deer another 100YRDS. Good luck,but as some have already said there are better bullets for deer.That's first hand experience.RLB2,in N.C. These deer were less than 100 yard shots.This bullet travels too fast for GOOD terminal performance.

 

[Guest]

FatBoy,

Based on my own killing of whitetail deer here in PA this is what I have determined.

I use a 300 win mag and a 180gr Ballistic tip.

In the past 4 years (using that combo) I have killed 3 deer at 420 yards, 1 at 400 yards, 1 at 380 yards, 1 at 320 yards, 1 at 250 yards and 1 at 75 yards. None of the deer went further then 30 yards.

One doe that I shot at 420 yards was quartering away, shot just ahead of the left rump. The bullet went all the way thru the deer (diagonally) and exited just to the left of the right leg, breaking the leg as it exited. That deer somehow belly crawled 30 yards. Another I killed (broadside) at 420 yards was a spine shot and the exit hole was about 3" in diameter. The only deer shot (listed here) where the bullet did not go all the way thru was killed at 75 yards. That deer was airborne when I shot, the bullet entered just behind the right leg and it was slightly going away from me. The bullet went thru both lungs and broke the left shoulder/leg area from the inside but the bullet did not go thru the deer. That deer never went another step. In fact it fell over sideways never to go anywhere.

These are "MY" actual results - others may vary.

As far as using this combo on elk,,,, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute.
I would "place" my shot though - or I wouldn't squeeze the trigger.

Don

 

[FatBoy...]

I can't thank you all enough for taking the time to share your expierence with me. The BT's seem to be a fine bullet for smallish type whitetail. The one deer I took last year was almost certainly dead before she hit the ground. (25' away, neck shot just below the head,, not even a twitch w/ 90gr BT in a 243win)

I'm considering using the 142SMK in the 6.5x284 to hunt a bean field I may have access to this year. Looks like we'll have 75 acres across. That should provide a pretty decent long range shot. I haven't tried anything but the SMK's in the 6.5x284, but on paper they would seem to have plenty of *** left at 500 yards, which is about as far as I feel comfortable with off the range. (with rangefinder).

The 165 BT will be used in 308 this year, as well as the 90gr's previously mensioned for hunting in the thick under 150 yards. It's nice to be able to use a 6 lbs rifle to pick your spot and know you can hold offand as long as you need to. NOT possible with a 15lb rifle w/o sticks IMHO. (I may just be weak)

Thanks again for all the help,

FatBoy...

 

[NorthernWhitetails]

This is an interesting old thread, if any of you guys could have imagined the cost of Nosler BT in todays 2016 prices, I bet you would have really stocked up? At nearly $45 per 100 bullets they are about the same cost as Bergers! I am thinking Nosler is getting a bit carryed away with current pricing of these bullets, and quit buying them and now use Hornadys SST with spectacular results for around half the price!

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

I've shot or seen shot a rsilroad car full of deer in the 50+ years I've been chasing them, with every cartridge/bullet combination you'd could imagine. This ballistic tip is extremely accurate BUT at high velocity causes more damage than any bullet I've ever seen ! A shoulder shot at under 50 yards causes half the deer to be wasted. The worst I've ever seen was a 95 grain .243 at 20 yards, it looked like a grenade hit the animal, what a waste! They might be alright from 150 yards out but never up close and personal..

 

[RT2506]

If you will go to the Nosler web site and read about the Ballistic Tip bullets you will see that the GAME HUNTING bullets are designed for thin skin game and the impact velocity should be kept below 3100 or 3200 FPS and above I think it is 1400 FPS.
In my experience of shooting a whole bunch of white tail deer and seeing a lot of white tail deer that have been shot with BTs I want my impact velocity to be under 3000 fps and above 1800 fps. Nosler has change the BT about three times since it came out. It was WAY too fragile when it first came out and it got a really bad long lasting reputation as a supper explosive bullet and game really ran off and a lot got lost because of very little blood trail left. They finally got it right in my experience. I have not killed any deer over 600 yards with a BT but keeping within the impact velocity listed THEY WORK really well. My favorite 30 cal. BT for 200 lb and under deer is the 125 BT. Keeping impact under 3000 fps out of my 308 Win it just BANG FLOPS deer out to a touch over 300 yards so far. I shoot it in my 30x47 at 2850 fps and in my Contender pistol 30-30AI 14" barrel at 2670 fps. It kills awesomely. I use the 120 BT in my 6.5x55 at 3000 fps and it works fine. In my limited use with the Accubond limited to the 130 gr .264 at 3350 fps from my 264 Win mag on about 15 deer is it is the best of both worlds. Flies like the BT starts to open up like the BT but holds together like the Partition from 30 to a touch over 500 yards so far. Everything I have shot with it was DRT. Might give that a run in the 6.5-284 instead of the MK which in my experience using it on deer is a flip of the coin if it expands or not. My experience of killing deer has been 40 years and doing crop damage control for 15 years where 100 deer a year had to be taken off a big NC farm. Learned a few things along the way.

 

[tbrice23]

I have a 'problem child' 7mag Sendero that just doesn't work well with 168 VLDs. I've tried many, many seating depths and about 5 different powders.
I've been thinking about trying 150gr NBT.

The 3200fps rule still applies of course, but with a 26" barrel I could run a 150 gr NBT to about 3300fps MV and be at about 3200fps at under 200 yards.

Anyone have any pet loads for this combo? It's a 9.25 twist.