Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 25-06 load for Mule Deer and Whitetails

I can only say that Nosler must have made significant changes in the BT's since I tried the originals years ago. After my first experience with them (l00 grain in a .257R) I have never used them since unless someone gave me some, then they were shot up on paper.
I know, you shouldn't make judgments on the basis of one experience. I simplified my life and use partitions in every caliber I hunt with and have never been disappointed in their performance.
How many threads have been written about various "new" bullets which the manufacturer continues to modify. For those having unlimited budgets and unlimited animals to try them on maybe this is okay. I guess I'm just old fashioned. When I find something that works I stay with it.

Mule Deer;

Just to make sure I understand correctly;

At what velocity range would the 25 in either the Nosler Partition or Barnes Tripple Shock work reliably on deer size game, I guess that makes more sense than asking at what range, e.g.: 2,000 fps - 3,600 fps ?

Thanks
Keez

The Nosler Partition, in any weight and in any caliber, is NEVER a mistake. Absolutely trustworthy under any conditions.

Steve

I concur and I've give more than one critter what I call the "Nozler Nap" over the years.

Be it via a PT or a BT both will do the work just fine.

Mark D

Can anyone tell me what Nosler has done to make the BT reliable in a l00 gr. .25 caliber bullet? Or in other light calibers for that matter. From what I saw of them they were nothing but an expensive varmint bullet.

BR where can I fine the 180gr. 30 cal. bullet report. When I was growing up that was a very popular bullet for everything.

Never shot the BT 100gr but have shot a few deer with 100gr partitions. Worked great, never recovered one of them.

Shot 150gr BT in my 7mag for many years, never recovered one of them either. Had nothing but perfect performance. I don't make a habit of shoulder shots however. Save them for the BBQ pit .

Jim,

Nosler has made minor adjustments to the jackets of Ballistic Tips over the years. I have no idea what the adjustments are called in the Nosler Plant, but among gun writers, it's called "Generations."

The .257" 100-grain Ballistic is either Fourth Generation or Fifth Generation, depending on the source. It is a remarkably tougher bullet now than it was just a few years ago.

My wife has used the 100 Ballistic in her .250 Ackley for many many years. While it always worked well, it was interesting watching the bullet work better and better, penetrating further and further with each couple of years. She commonly killed about ten big game animal per year with the rifle, so we had an excellent sampling and lots of dead animals to autopsy.

Today, the .257" 100-grain Ballistic is a heck of a fine bullet.

Those remembering the Ballistic Tip BOMBS of the past will never believe, and that's all right with me. They'll eventually die off and a new generation of hunters will eventually appreciate the BT for what it is.

Waaaaay back before the Ballistic Tip was in the hands of the public, I was a member of the test team for the original bullets. They were .30 caliber 150-grain and had a black polymer tip. They really looked cool, but they would darnednear cut a deer in half. In fact I shot one four-point mulie in the center of the neck and was amazed to see the head fly off.

The Ballistic Tip went through about three years of testing before it was released and each individual bullet has gone through much "tweaking" since.

My 2006 Duramax is totally different than my old (and beloved) 1978 Silverado; I would venture to say that the Duramax is better . The Ballistic Tip bullets are the same; Nosler is quite actively working on them, making them better, and better, and better.

Steve

I have a few deer that died to 90gr barnes x and the 100gr tsx. the 100 gr tsx is safe to 400+ in my opinion. I took a whitey a couple years ago at 370yds with a 90gr x bullet.....pass through. Many 25's will not shoot heavier then 100gr bullets well, at least in my expierience.

This guy was taken with a 165gr. Nosler BT out of a 30-06 at 75 yards. If you look close, you'll see the bullet hole just below right between the eyes where I was aiming. I doubt I'll duplicat this again so I snapped a pic because well, nobody'd believe it otherwise. I know this topic is about the 25-06 and 100gr BTs but this should help some folks feel better. I don't care how big the deer is, a noggin is a noggin and this guy took it like a champ. Exit was under the chin just left of center and about quarter size (12-14ft up a treestand). Since Dogzapper's already un-PC'd head/neck shots, I feel somewhat safe in posting.

Just an update, I loaded some 100g tsx and was able to shoot yesterday at the range. My load consisted of 52, 53, and 54 g of IMR 4350. I loaded the 54g just for fun because I thought it may be alittle hot. After shooting the 52g then the 53g without any signs of excessive pressure and improving accuracy- I decided to shoot the 54g loads. Man am I glad I did. My average chronographed velocity was exactly 3500fps from a 24in Ruger M77 .25-06. I shot two groups measuring 0.436 and 0.338 inches. I had no signs of pressure when shooting as well.

I also shot the tsx into dry magazines and found the bullet and 1 petal laying beside it. The bullet itself weighed 86.2 grains and the bullet plus petal weighed 94.3 grains. This was at 100y so impact velocity was still screaming.

I may have found a whitetail/mule deer load. I may talk myself into trying that into Mr. Elk as well. I am interested to see what the trajectory of this combination will be, that fast with a BC of .370 should be pretty flat.

don't be affraid to shoot elk with that load at all! I know a few guys that use the 2bit for elk and are very successful. you will need to be a bit more considerate of shot angles, prolly not the best load to shoot one in the doughnut with but any decent broadsideish shot is going to put him on the ground.....and quite aways out to boot.

That's interesting. You found the bullet laying beside the newspaper's??? And it only retained 86% of it's weight, I was under the impression they maintain 100%.

Ask and ye shall receive. The file is attached (I hope).

It looks like the file may not have attached properly. Let me know if you have any problems retrieving it.

There are good reasons why 180 grain 30 caliber bullets are popular - THEY WORK. I consider a good 180 grain bullet in one of my 30-06s to be the absolute best deer hunting combination bar none. The Speer Hot-Cor is my favorite. If there is a deer I want to shoot and he is in range, I shoot it, and it dies. Period. Any angle, any range. No bullet failure, no lack of penetration, no "bullet penciling through" without expansion. Just reliable performance. Maybe that's too boring to some here, but when I want to go hunting and kill a deer with no fanciness or excuses, I take the absolutely reliable, no excuses, no fanciness gun - a 30-06 with 180 grain Speer Hot-Cors.
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Don, the bullet was in the magazine and the petal was lying beside it. Impact velocity was very high.

Okay, "the 120 grain BT for moose in 7x57" argument was pointless. Been a little out-of-sorts lately (you know, life) and felt like arguing. Pi$$-poor argument, eh?

I still prefer tough and "slightly heavy for caliber" jacketed bullets though. I am of the "fool me once..." sort. Maybe I'll give the BT another try some day. Maybe.
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"One thing rarely mentioned about the 100 Ballistic Tip (or indeed any lighter BT) is that the lighter weight means a higher jacket/core weight relationship. In other words, there is relatively more jacket than core thasn in the 115 .25 BT, which means a higher percentage of weight retention and, in general, a smaller diamter mushroom"

MD: does this comment apply only to Ballistic Tips? It seems counter to the conventional wisdom of "for a given design, a bullet with a higher SD will penetrate more, etc..."

I would be very surprised if you aren't WAY over maximum pressures with 54 grains of H4350- My Nosler manual shows a max load of 51 grains for a max velocity of 3350-
The fact that you are not experiencing pressure signs means absolutely NOTHING other than the fact that you are probably under 80,000 PSI-

I'm not MD, but maybe I can help. Even though they're both Ballistic Tips, since the 100 grain bullet has a higher percentage of jacket to core than the 115, the "given design" isn't really a given anymore. Am I making any sense?

mathman

IMR 4350 not H4350, 52g is listed maximum but TSX since the groove-you can load 1-2g more.