Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Nosler 225gr. BT to tough ?

I've read comments by J.B. and others that the + .30 caliber ballistic tips were much tougher than the smaller caliber.

I'm a fan of the Whelen and have a stash of the Nosler 35 Whelen 225gr. BT. Right now I'm using the Whelen mostly for our primitive weapon seasons in Mississippi. My question to anyone who has used this bullet is simply this. Is it to tough a bullet for smaller bodied big game, especially at extended range?

I'm curious as well as I have my 35 WHelen on order and was able to get a couple hundred of the 225gr BT's as well. I shot one deer with this bullet out of a 350RemMag and it was a bang - flop kill.

No, it's not too tough, but if you don't believe me, I'd be glad to take those BTs off your hands as a kindly service.

I mean yes, they're waaay to tough! They're so tough it is against the law to shoot them. Best send them to me for proper disposal.

Big Redhead, I'm at times overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of the Camp Fire members.

aboltfan,

The heavy-jacket Ballistic Tips still open easily, they just retain more weight than the others.

If the deal falls through with Big Redhead, I would like to be second in line!

Seriously...these bullets work great on moose and bears (black and griz) when shot from a .350 Rem. Mag. I've never shot a whitetail with one so I can't speak for their performance on deer. I suspect that at longer ranges (lower velocity) they might not expand properly on lighter bodied ungulates. YMMV

Thanks for the advice but I would hate to have you get rid of them so I just dumped all mine in the river.

I've only used the 225gr Ballistic tip once on a whitetail. Hit behind the shoulder, the bullet didn't expand. That deer took a long time to die.

I'll not be using them on deer but then again I don't have much of a reason to use a Whelen on anything small.

How do you know the bullet didn't expand? I can't imagine the bullet stopped in a deer with a behind the shoulder shot.

Hole in, a hole about the size of a pencil through both lungs and out the offside. I held each lung in my hand, and with the exception of a small hole through each, there was no damage inside. Deer ran 150 yards or saw and stood for 5 minutes, whilst I watched a small trickle of blood coming out the hole on the offside before the deer decided it was time to lay down and finally die.

There was no damage inside as I said, sans a neat, little hole through both lungs.

I guess I can't see the need (which is neither here nor there) to chase deer with a Whelen. I do know that the 225 gr TSX just works on elk and moose. If I were chasing deer, though likely overkill, I would use the 200 gr TTSX that worked beautifully in Africa last June to include the smaller plains game to kudu, gemsbuck and wildebeest.

I used the 225 gr Ballistic Tip in a 35 Whelen on animals as small as a blacktail doe and a Stone sheep and as big as moose with no problems. I wish they still made it.

Ed,
My friends and I have been using the Whelen for long time now on moose and black bear. For that purpose I use the 225gr. TSX as well, love that bullet.

So far as need, .35 caliber is the smallest we can use in Mississippi for the primitive weapon season which in total time is about a month long. Right now I'm using 200gr. Hornady SP bullets with great satisfaction for that purpose. Having the Noslers I would like to use them hence my question about expansion on lighter weight big game.

The one I shot into a fox (and a vole) must have been a fluke. It cut the vole (mouse) in two, launching him out of both side of the fox's mouth. The bullet continued out over the ribs, alongside the spine, opening the chest cavity and exposing the still beating heart. The jacket of the bullet in the pic was among the thousands of bits of fox and voles strewn across the snow in a wide arc . Yeah, they- some of them anyway- expand quite easily in the 35 version. But perhaps I was shooting them too slow. I used a 358 Winchester which couldn't muster much speed with those long 225s.

I've used the 225 BT on a few deer here in MS and have a couple of boxes squirreled away. They work very well and shoot pretty flat.

Two examples:
1-230 lb buck facing me and bullet went through a 1 1/2" limb that I didn't see in the heat of the moment. 1+" hole going in about 1/2 way up the brisket, took out four vertebrae and came to a stop in the backstrap (damn). Needless to say he was DRT.

2-220 lb buck broadside about 75 yards away. Ran about 25 yds. About a 1" exit.

I've also used the 200 Hornady SP with good results from a .350 Mag loaded to just over 2600 fps.

The 225 Partition at 2600 has literally pulled the ground out from underneath every deer I've shot with it.

The 225 Sierra at 2600 has worked well too.

Take your pick, they all hammer Mississippi deer pretty hard.