Two of the damndest elk races I've ever been on was the result of those Plastic Tipped Potato Chips.
In all fairness, they were very accurate, and once the bullet slowed down quite a bit they worked......ok.
Yep, many of the early BTs were very tender--partly because they were designed as "deer bullet," which is what Nosler intended them to be--since they already made a fine elk bullet. Yet a lot of hunters insisted on using them on elk, due to their accuracy (which didn't make any difference at typical elk ranges), and higher BC (same comment). In fact, one of my fellow hunting writers back then used the 165-grain .30 in his .30-06 on a few elk with no problem. But I told him if he kept doing that, he would eventually end up chasing a 3-legged elk around the mountain. Turned out the next fall he shot a big cow in the shoulder, and had to do exactly that.
Which is why Nosler eventually toughened up the B-Tips that needed it. I have a local friend shot a big cow elk with the 165 with a .300 Weatherby. It was a frontal shot at around 150 yards, and the elk collapsed at the shot. He found the expanded bullet under the hide of the rump.
