Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Nosler 55gr ballistic tips in a .223 - what are they good for?

A friend gifted me with 50 rounds of the above ammo plus some empty brass and a jug of Win 748 powder.

I know some 55gr bullets out of the .223 are adequate for deer/antelope - is the ballistic tip a varmiints-only proposition?

czech1022;
Good afternoon or perhaps evening now to you sir, I trust the last day of February treated you acceptably.

While I've not shot the 55gr Ballistic Tips in a .223 yet, I've launched a good number into local coyotes from a .22-250AI at 3850fps. They were absolutely devastating on the coyotes for sure, but since I had a couple instances of them coming apart on sage brush in front of a coyote, I'd suggest that they wouldn't be my first choice for deer.

Reading a few folks who've shot deer with a 55gr bullet and a .223 or even a .22-250 for that matter, they say a 55gr Hornady Spire isn't a bad choice if one doesn't go with Partitions or monometals.

As far as 748 goes, I've used that a fair bit in the .223 as well as the .308 and .303 British. It's not the least temperature sensitive powder out there and is perhaps a tad dirtier burning than some of the newer ball powders, but there's worse things to be stuck with in my experience.

I'll say too that the newer lots of 748 produced faster speeds so presumably more pressure than the older lots did, so if possible a chronograph would tell you where you're at for sure.

Hopefully that was useful for you or someone out there. Good luck with the powder and .223 rounds regardless.

Dwayne

They will kill pigs quite well.

They are more of a varmint bullet. thin jacketed and designed to blow up on impact. If you did not hit shoulder bone or rib they would likely work but there are better choices for chices for deer and antelope. Shooting bullets designed for varmint hunting at larger game animals is what has given hunting with smaller calibers a bad name.

drover

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This exactly.

They are good for these

I would have to disagree with the negative posts above, having shot at least a couple of hundred pigs with them very successfully

Head or body?

This fellow and two of his compadres didn’t like the orange tip of death.
They are more a varmint bullet, pretty soft, but I wouldn’t stop deer hunting if they were all I had. They behave less violently at 223 speeds but get pretty explosive out of a 22-250.

Whatever is presented, have stopped plenty with a root of the tail shot long enough to finish them off

I have a small cache of Winchester 64gr PP - I believe I'll reserve those for deer and antelope. The ballistic tips will stay with smaller game.

I've never hunted pigs, but if I get the chance I will definitely give the ballistic tips a chance!

Thanks to all who responded!

I use to use them for coyotes, bobcats, ground squirrels, home protection if needed and target practice. I'm a lead-free guy now in California, (home of the fruits and nuts).

I've seen good results out of them on blacktails....

but first thing was that were started out with an MV at 2700 fps at the most...

100 yd deer with an MV of 2400, and good shot placement they will do a good job...

slowed down, they will start acting like a big game bullet...at least in my experiences with them...

What where you using?
A slingshot?
Disregard this nonsense

This is the main bullet I use in my long range PD rifle, a .220 Swift. They open quite violently on a PD; I would definitely not use them on a big game animal.

Funny how the people who have never tried it are always the ones who say it won’t work

Here's the deal about Nosler BT bullets....

NBT's in 55gr through a .223 do expand. But they are not violently explosive at .223 velocities. Same bullet fired through a Swift or 22-250 does get rapid violent expansion.

I quit using the NBT in .223 for coyotes years and years ago because they were not expanding like I wanted, and passed through coyotes with ease, and resulted in MANY runners and spinners. I switched to a 55gr VMax, and solved all that. The 55gr VMax has a much thinner jacket and will reliably expand and expend it's energy in a coyote, with much, much better terminal results.

Having shot many deer with 223 NBT's, as well as more than a few hogs, they are more solid, give much better penetration, and kill better than VMax on heavier game.

Every bullet design out there performs differently on different game at different velocities.

Caliber and bullet weight are important to remember as well.... Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets increase jacket thickness as the caliber, and bullet weight increases. The jacket of a .25 cal 115gr NBT is much thicker than a .22 caliber 55gr NBT bullet.

Velocity variation and bullet caliber and weight are big considerations with NBT bullets.

A NBT .223 55gr will probably kill deer just fine out of a .223. But the same bullet in a 22-250 may splash on deer, and cause the deer to run and possibly not be recovered.

That,s the only bullet I use in my AR and Remington, works for coyotes, pigs and most small game.. Marginal on larger game unless you have the perfect shot.

Good solid Info, thanks! I was thinking of using them on hogs...out of a .222 or .223 and that angered my questions about them

Win 748 has treated me well. I have some of those bullets, but with the availability of other heavier 22 bullets like the Partition, Nosler Bonded, Swift Scirocco, Sierra Game Kings, etc. I just wouldn't use those on deer or antelope.