Nosler competition bullets

[elkaholic]

Has anyone tried the nosler competition bullets for hunting. I don't know much about them as far as jacket thickness etc. but they appear to be similar to the Bergers.....Rich

 

[Kiwi Nate]

Yep, I have taken about 200 animals with them- culling, 155 grain .308 MV 2820fps. They aren't like the Berger, closer to the SMK as far as the Jacket goes. Best to try and hit bone with the Nosler and in such cases, performance is more uniform than the SMK which will open up 90% of the time but occasionally won't at all.

At 450 yards, kills have been very slow with the Nosler, small wound (just goats though). I also had one blow up on a pig but thats not unheard of anyway, I had a 155 grain VLD blow up on a Boar's head the other day (temple) and the poor old bugger ran off with a headache but no blood trail. I saw the mud fly off its temple before it took off. Realistically though, SD has been my enemy, A client borrwed the .308 last year and had a richochet off the skull of a young Boar using the 150 grain Accubond. The Boar died of concussion which gave us an opportunity to autopsy the skull. The Client was a doctor/surgeon, I guess what you would call a reliable witness.

This kind of thing never happens when I use 168 to 190 grain bullets, just a pity about the loss in PBR.

Here are some more comments to confuse you, I have had better results with the 155 grain Nosler on Goats/pigs than the 155 grain VLD. But- I have had better results with the heavy Amax and VLD bullets than either of the 155 grain bullets. With the 155 grain VLD, I've had too many bullet blow ups on impact coupled with narrow chest wounds if/when the VLD did make it through the shoulder. Keep thinking, heck, I missed the animal altogether- the results have been that bad.

I've got plenty of autopsy pics if you want me to clarify any of the above comments.

Nathan.

 

[elkaholic]

Yep, I have taken about 200 animals with them- culling, 155 grain .308 MV 2820fps. They aren't like the Berger, closer to the SMK as far as the Jacket goes. Best to try and hit bone with the Nosler and in such cases, performance is more uniform than the SMK which will open up 90% of the time but occasionally won't at all.

At 450 yards, kills have been very slow with the Nosler, small wound (just goats though). I also had one blow up on a pig but thats not unheard of anyway, I had a 155 grain VLD blow up on a Boar's head the other day (temple) and the poor old bugger ran off with a headache but no blood trail. I saw the mud fly off its temple before it took off. Realistically though, SD has been my enemy, A client borrwed the .308 last year and had a richochet off the skull of a young Boar using the 150 grain Accubond. The Boar died of concussion which gave us an opportunity to autopsy the skull. The Client was a doctor/surgeon, I guess what you would call a reliable witness.

This kind of thing never happens when I use 168 to 190 grain bullets, just a pity about the loss in PBR.

Here are some more comments to confuse you, I have had better results with the 155 grain Nosler on Goats/pigs than the 155 grain VLD. But- I have had better results with the heavy Amax and VLD bullets than either of the 155 grain bullets. With the 155 grain VLD, I've had too many bullet blow ups on impact coupled with narrow chest wounds if/when the VLD did make it through the shoulder. Keep thinking, heck, I missed the animal altogether- the results have been that bad.

I've got plenty of autopsy pics if you want me to clarify any of the above comments.

Nathan.

Nate.....Sounds like the bottom line is, it takes more to OPEN the noslers! Thank you very much for your response. It was very informative. I will have to pick some up and disect the bullet to check out the construction. I make my own bullets in .308 so I get a little weird about this stuf.....Rich

 

[Kiwi Nate]

This is the lung wounding from a large billy goat shot with the 155gr Nosler. No bone was hit. Its a pretty poor wound channel. Range was 300 yards.

A difference between this and the SMK is that the Nosler produces quite wide exit wounds, indicating that while expansion may be slow, it continues throughout penetration till nothing is left but the base (like the VLD). As I said before, the Nosler is pretty fierce if bone is hit. My problem is the high winds we have here. I find exact shot placement very difficult with this .308 culling rifle past 300 yards, immensely difficult out at 400 and beyond. For this reason, I like something that will open up on rear lung shots.

I have gained a lot of respect for the military snipers due to my own inabilities- usually switching to a 7mm Magnum if I am to be sure of a long range, fast, emphatic kill.

 

[elkaholic]

Thanks Nate! That does look like pretty slow expansion. Might make a pretty good heavy game round??........Rich

 

[Kiwi Nate]

Yes, that makes sense, more so for hunters on a limited budget. A Long VLD would be a little more flexible but the Nosler is has been very cheap and available in bulk packs. Good game weights would be species weighing between 90kg and 150kg (200-330lb).

In a similar fashion, I have been using the 175 grain 7mm SMK on solidly built pigs, it works very well/ very reliable. This SMK is not so good on lean game, about 1 pin hole wound channel per 50 shots.