Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Nosler Solid Base

I've been testing different factory loads in my new Remington 700 CDL .30-06. One of the more accurate loads was the Federal Premium 150 grain Nosler Solid Base. Has anyone ever used a 150 grain Nosler Solid Base on whitetail deer? If so, how did it perform and did it provide an exit wound? I will be using this load on mostly whitetail does with an average weight of 100 lbs or so and bucks that sometimes go up to 200 lbs.
I also got very good results with the Federal Premium 150 grain Sierra Gameking. If you have ever used this load, what kind of results did you get?
If you had to pick between these two loads, which load would you recommend? Thanks for your help.

IMHO either would work for shooting deer sized game. The solid bases of old were all cup & core just like the Gamekings and I suspect they are the "same bullet", although jacket may be a bit thicker nowadays.

I have used the Nosler Solid base bullet in several calibers and weights on deer and lots of hogs. Hogs are my bullet testing media their thick hide and that shoulder blade stops bullets.
The Nosler SB has a very thick jacket and most that I recovered had a little nub of lead. I think the jacket weighs more then the core after expansion begins.
I like them and do not think much of Sierra bullets for game. Nosler had solid base bullets on sale a few ago on their website and I stocked up on 150, 165 and 180 .30 cal.
I also got some 150 7mm,s. They did not have any 100 25,s or 162 7mm my favorites.
-Doc-

I used 1 Nosler Solid base 150 gr 30 cal in a 30-06 at 2900+fps MV on a small spike whitetail and one 140 gr 7MM Solid base in a 7-08 at 2600 fps MV on a whitetail doe. Both were one shot kills and no bullet was recovered. Range was ~50 yd in both cases, broad side lung shots, and the deer dropped where they were shot. I`d compare them to Inter Locts with the limited experiance I`ve had.

I've used the 140 gr 7mm bullets in a 280 on deer - good exit wounds were the norm back when I could get the bullets. I haven't used any since they've been reintroduced but will be hunting with them again this fall. If you go to the Nosler web site and do a search on the Solid Base they say that they are the same bullet and that they used the original tooling to make the bullets. I would definitely use the Solid Base over the Sierra for hunting.

I shot a 230 lb buck with a 150 grain Solid Base out of a 7STW at 200 yards last year. It was a broadside lung shot. The deer dropped where it stood without taking another step. 7mm hole in and about a 7/10" hole going out. The bullet hit a couple of ribs going through the deer. No meat damage at all. I use the solid base in the 7STW for deer and 160 grain Accubonds for elk. Both of these Federal loads have the same ballistics in the 7STW. I highly recommend it for a deer bullet.

I'm still workng my way through an old red box of .277" 130-grainers. To me, they appear to behave like the Hornady InterLock, for the most part...which isn't a bad thing, at all, as the IL is my favorite bullet.

scott

I used them a lot in .243 to .300 calibers before there were more choices avaiable. They worked fine for any deer sized animal. Bigger deer and animals are another story.

I also tried them in both magnums and standard cartridges but as soon as I reached the body weight of red deer, around 500 pounds of so. they demonstrated their limitations. I even tried them on wild horse culls and for precise head shots they were fine as anything would be, but the 150 grain 7mm's I was using were inadequate for chest and shoulder shots.

For the light animals you are hunting, they will work fine and be very accurate.

AGW

I just weighted about a dozen recovered solid base bullets in varoius calibers. This thread got my curiousity up.
The 6 130gr .270 bullets are beautiful mushrooms and weigh from 83 to 87grs. The solid base and thick jacket stop the expansion and keep the shank intact. They retain about the same percentage of weight as the partition but due to the larger frontal area do not penetrate as deep. I have a lot of 100gr 25 cal because that is what I used on the Channel Islands sheep and goats. Some are missing the lead core but still weigh 63grs. One thing for sure they do not blow up and turn into schrapnel like the Sierra is famous for.
-Doc-

At no time ever were the Solid-Base ever just a "cup&core" like GameKings!

They have always had the extra-thick "Solid-Base"!
From the old .243diameter 70grain HPBT up to those .30caliber Solid-Bases!
I use to hate it when I would hit a yote with my 243 with 70grain Solid-Base HPBT's and having the "Solid-Base" exit.
Mike

I use the Gameking 170gr in my 30-30 and 30-40 because they expand quick at low velocities on deer, don't like them for faster rounds though. The solid base is a great bullet,,,I have noticed that the 120 grain 7mm BT is the same darn thing with a plastic point. Solid base and a thicker jacket than other 7mm BTs and other 7mm bullets I've cut up.

Thanks guys. I plan to give these bullets a try this year. I tried several different brands of 150 grain bullets and I liked how the Nosler Solid base bullets grouped. I was able to get 3/4" at 100 yards with Federal Premium 150 grain Nosler Solid Base, a 1 inch group with Federal Premium 150 grain Sierra Gamekings, 1 1/4 inch group with Hornady Light Mag. 150 grain SP, and 1 1/4 inch group with Winchester 150 grain Power Points. I think all of these loads group good enough for deer hunting, but I wanted to give the Nosler Solid Base bullets a try first since they were the most accurate and because I've never used them before.

Shot lots of deer with them in 140 .280Rem. Good results.

I used the old ones a lot. Still mad that Nosler dropped them in favor of the BT's. IMO they were a great deer bullet and worked very well. I still miss the 6.5mm 120gr and the 100gr and 120gr 257's.

I agree with the others who said that their performance is very close to the Hornady Interlock.

I used to use the old solid base in 180 gr form in my .300 Win for hogs, and it always worked well - even on big, tough old boars.

I have shot tons of hogs with that bullet in a 30/06 and it sure did the job. Calif ranchers consider hogs a pest and a nuisance so to keep on good terms with them I shoot lots of hogs and the Nosler solid base was perfect for that purpose. Accurate, dependable and reasonably priced. I have not shot any Btips recently but they were supposed to have the same jacket. They were too soft and expansion was rather violent for my liking.
-Doc-
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