Nosler Seconds

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

Partitions, accubonds, and B-Tips and never an issue with accuracy or on game performance. On a side note I have never seen a Partition fail 1st or 2nd.

I've had several, 2 95 gr out of a 6MM on the same blacktail buck at a range of 35 yards, both bullets swapped ends and lost the cores, a 120 gr out of a 257AI that bent on a African water buck at about 25yds, and still weighed 119.3 grains, a 140 gr out of a 280 rem on a cow elk bullet expanded perfectly but lost the rear core, bullet penetrated poorly requiring two follow up shoots after a long chase, and a 250 gr out of a 338 Win on another African water buck at about 90 yards, bullet failed to expand, recovered the bullet but don't recall the weight,

 

[Jluck]

I maybe the only one whos had issues with seconds but the first and only time I ever bought factory seconds a quarter of them had significantly deformed tips or no tip at all. This was from midway. They appeared to be 55 grain Sierra blitzkings so I ordered 400 and after sorting 100 of them had issues. I had been under the impression that blems were mainly cosmetic but perhaps it was a fluke experience. When your counting on performance the bullet is the last thing Id want to skimp on, will you really know exactly what you are getting with seconds? Even if the appearance is ideal, mechanically it could be flawed. I would pay the extra 10

We're talking Nosler here.

 

[Rugerman77]

I've shot the 180 etips out of my 300 win mag to 1/2moa accuracy in the 3 shots easy running pretty hot. The 140 accubonds out of my 264 win mag 5 shot groups you can cover with a nickel or less. You don't need these bullets that cost $1 or more a piece to shoot well if you are very particular and consistent in your loading. I've shot same hole 3 shot groups with my 300blk in 125 gr Nosler ballistic tips.

 

[redneckdan]

I'll 2nd the statement that nosler blems and midway blems are different.

I just got several hundred 117gr .257 bullets from midway. They are Sierra soft point boat tails. They are advertised as cosmetic blems.

About 5% are obviously defective, like short cores.

30% had donut rings of excess lead that formed flash when swaged. These donuts came off easily.

I weight sorted into defective/ <116.80gr / 116.80-116.88gr / 116.9-117.10gr / 117.12-117.2gr/>117.2 About 65% fit in the 116.9-117.1 bucket. The first bucket under and over caught about another 20%, pretty evenly spred. The remaining 10 percent were split between the lightest and heaviest bucket, heavily favoring the heavy bucket.

I did not measure oal or ogive yet. The defects and lightest bucket will be used for case fire forming. The middle 3 will probably be used for practice and maybe close range hunting. I think I will buy firsts for long range hunting.

 

[Draftmule]

Nosler seconds have always been golden for me on targets and hunting. Not sure how much sorting would pay for competition.

 

[300 magnum]

Iv never shoot at big game with them. but I have not see any problem with them on squirrels and yots.

 

[Jluck]

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Only issues are already stated.
Appearance, wt variations bullet to bullet (must wt sort), variations in ogive location
I use them for fire forming.

Given your findings, it would mean that Nosler "blems/2nds" are NOT blems/2nds as defined by Nosler. The variances that you describe would likely not be acceptable as first run bullets because they (apparently) don't meet Nosler's standards, not because they have blemishes.

 

[Bill Blatchford.com]

Why would one spend thousands of dollars on rifles, hunting optics, perhaps thousands on travel, guide services , etc and then try to save $10 buying seconds? After all your effort and time, that bullet is your connection to the game at the moment of truth

 

[Lee Goodwin]

I can't tell the difference between the 1st and 2nds. Maybe a little discoloration on the copper in one out of 20.? They all look like jewelry to me. Nosler knows what it takes to survive. It is a real good bet you won't regret.

 

[Raudy707]

I forgot to add I have been shooting the 168 ABLR 2nds the last few months out of my 280 AI out to 1008 yds and they are shooting very well. I've killed 2 animals a mule deer and cow elk and they both were pass thru shots. Deer was 250 and elk was 404. Massive damage through the lungs and golf ball size exit. No tracking. DOA.

 

[emp1953]

I weigh each bullet because I've found a few discrepancies, not many. Other than that, for the past 10 years that I've shot them they have performed flawlessly. Longest kill on deer, 605yds, Every shot on whitetail resulted either in the deer dropping in its tracks or it going maybe 25 yds. I shoot them in .243, .270, 30-06, all perform equally well. Even the cannelure ones except that the cannelure is not where I seat my bullets so the rounds look awkward, but even those perform well. I shoot partitions and accubond long range.

 

[bubbaonpc]

I weigh and check each one for caliber and OGIVE. As accurate as any bullet I shoot. Most of mine have been discolored tips and different size tips. ONLY issue I ever had was the Ballistic Tips were actually Accubonds...and 2900fps on a deer at 80 yards had me scratching my head as to what just happened...and why? Read the packaging and don't assume you got what you ordered. Never shot the bullets past 300 yards...the Long Range guys can tell ya more....

 

[Raudy707]

I weigh each bullet because I've found a few discrepancies, not many. Other than that, for the past 10 years that I've shot them they have performed flawlessly. Longest kill on deer, 605yds, Every shot on whitetail resulted either in the deer dropping in its tracks or it going maybe 25 yds. I shoot them in .243, .270, 30-06, all perform equally well. Even the cannelure ones except that the cannelure is not where I seat my bullets so the rounds look awkward, but even those perform well. I shoot partitions and accubond long range.

I do the exact same thing. Yeah the lots are funny how some have a cannelure and some don't. For a long time it was just the Partition's but now its all Accubond, e-tips and BT. I also notice some of these bullets are designed for Federal or Winchester and have different color tips or moly coating so even though they say 2nds, they are basically 1st but were not purchased by an ammo manufacturer so now they are extras and have a different appearance.