I've also shot a number of deer and antelope with Nosler Ballistic Tips and they have always died promptly. I just have beef with how soft the NBT's are.
Why the beef? Ballistics Tips kill fast because they blow the front 30-50% of their weight. Kill deer sized game like lightning just as they were designed to do.
It's not that they don't get the job done..It's just how they do it that I think can be improved and already has been in the Accubond and even more so in the Scirocco II and the TTSX.
I no longer use NBT�s because they do just that; blow %50 of their weight. And 50% loss is optimistically on the low side. When they hit a shoulder they leave lots of ruined meat behind and if they make it through they leave even more to waste on the offside. When I see someone hunting with NBTs in a high velocity rifle I think to myself �So much for the front quarters�.
What advantage does the NBT have to any other hunting bullet out there? It�s a soft cup and core bullet with a pretty colored plastic tip. The tip keeps it pointy and helps the B.C. but there are other bullets w/o tips that have higher B.C.�s. From what I�ve seen there are other cheaper bullets (sierra game kings) that do better at holding together than the NBT and are just as accurate and kill just as quickly. If you were going on a hunt and knew that you were going to get a shot at an animal of a lifetime would you choose a NBT over a bonded, partitioned, or an expanding solid copper bullet?
It is bullet penetration into the vitals that ensures the animal dies. Bullet expansion expedites death to a point via increased tissue damage unless too much expansion results in the bullet not penetrating into the vitals. The transfer of force or energy has little or nothing to do with it regardless of what the bullet and ammunition companies imply in their advertisements.
There are no magic shock waves created by quick expanding bullets; just tissue damage. Physics tells us that we feel more force on our shoulders from recoil then the animal feels from the bullet. If you don�t believe me do the math or if you're the cruel sort shoot a deer in the bum (Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming, ect. heart shot) with a 6.5mm 120gr NBT at 3000fps and see what happens. The bullet may get to the vitals and it may not. None the less, do the same with a TSX and it will get the job done.
I can already hear people saying �Well, I shot my deer behind the shoulders with a NBT and it did a flipped, landed on its back, and die right there. Now that�s proof of energy transfer!� And I say �How would you react to being stung by a bee X 10,000?� You would do a back flip as well. Every animal reacts differently.
A bullet that�s a little too hard will still kill quickly with a well-placed shot. A bullet that�s a little too soft will not. A bullet that retains mass, while still expanding, will penetrate farther then a bullet that doesn�t retain its mass and will always be a more reliable killer on a larger variety of game with well-placed shots. With a solid bullet I know I could take any game animal on the planet with my 6.5x55 as long as I picked my shots (brain, spine, heart). I know I couldn�t do that with a NBT nor with any other expanding bullet.
There are other bullets that out penetrate and leave less lead (or no lead) in the animal (eating lead isn�t great for you) then the NBT while still inflicting plenty of tissue damage to result in a quick death. There are other bullets with higher B.C.�s which means at distance they will retain more velocity and therefore a flatter trajectory and more energy (for more penetration and tissue damage).
Now here is a case for the NBT. It�s a great game bullet for lower velocity rifles. If I was going to work up a load for say a 6.5 Grendel one of the first bullets I would reach for would be a 120gr NBT. I know that it will expand well at the lower impact velocities and because of the lower velocity it would retain a good amount of its weight and not make a mess of everything.
I know Nosler makes great versatile game bullets but they are Accubonds and Partitions. I�ve used them both and like them very much.
From my point of view and from what I've seen, whether you are putting meat on the table or trying to take a once in a life time head for the wall, there are better bullets for the job then the NBT. There is however no better cartridge for the job then the 6.5x55 and for that statement I have no long winded argument.
