MtnHtr,
The 140 7mm was also good to go from the beginning, according to the late Chub Eastman, who for years was the contact for writers at Nosler. I started using them in the late 1980s, and never recovered one.
But he also told me that Nosler did tweak some of the early "hunting" Ballistic Tips after they were introduced, mostly by using a harder core alloy.
The "heavy jacket" Ballistic Tips I mentioned earlier did start with the 200-grain .338, which I believe was introduced in 1992 or 1993. Do know for sure they were around in 1993 because that's when first I field-tested some sent to me by Nosler for that purpose. The jacket was MUCH thicker through the base area than previous Ballistic Tips.
In general the really heavy-jacket BTs have a jacket weighing around 2/3 to 3/4 of the entire weight of the bullet, while in the typical hunting BTs it's around half the bullet's weight. Some of the other hunting BTs have been converted to the heavier jacket over the years, and others introduced. If I recall correctly, all the hunting Ballistic Tips from the 165-grain .30 caliber up now have the heavy jacket. One of my local friends shot a cow elk 2-3 years ago with the 165 from his .300 Weatherby. The cow stood facing him at 100-150 yards, and the bullet was recovered from the hide over the rump.
