Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters For Mule Deer and others re Nosler solid base BT

I've found myself in possession of an almost full box of 165 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip solid base (red and green box).
It seems I've read in the distant past that these early BT's were more frangible than the later Ballistic Tips. What kind of performance can I expect on white tails from a 30-06 with a muzzle velocity of 2650-2700 fps out to 300 yds? Thanks all.

Some were, and some weren't.

Nosler "adjusted" quite a few of the early Ballistic Tip game bullets after they were introduced, but some they didn't. One example was the 140-grain 7mm, which the late Chub Eastman (the Nosler writer contact for many years) said always worked well. Which agree with my experience. Used the first-year bullets in the 7x57 at around 2850 fps to take a number of pronghorns and deer, and never had a problem. In fact never recovered one, even when hitting shoulder bone.

I would suspect the 165 .30s would work fine at the muzzle velocity you're getting. But also usually test any bullet I've never used on game by shooting a few into a stack of dry (not wet!) paper at around 30 yards--often alongside a proven bullet of the same caliber and approximate weight. That will reveal whether your bullets will hold up OK.

That's exactly the pre-hunting test I used when Nosler started making the first "heavy-jacket" Ballistic Tip in the early 1990s--the 200-grain .338. I shot some into paper alongside the 210 Partition, and when the 200s penetrated about 90% as deeply, I knew they were good to go.

That's pretty much stiff 308 speed. I loaded them for my father's deer trips when he was in his 308 phase. Sure fire killers.

Love the 7mm 120 BT, and recently came across a couple boxes of the 120gr solid base. Will they perform pretty much the same on game?

I used the 165 grain Ballistic Tip solid base in the .308 Winchester in the mid-1990's with a load of 44 grains of IMR-4064. It was an accurate, effective and reliable load for whitetail deer. I did not experience any overly destructive phenomena in those years.

I did experience really destructive phenomena with a ballistic tip a few years earlier, but it may or may not have been a 140 grain 7mm.

GrimJim

My experience with the Solid Base soft-noses is they're "harder" than the BTips, due to not having the plastic tip, which enhances expansion.

One of my early experiences with the Solid Base soft-noses was on a Montana whitetail buck, angling away at around 200 yards. The bullet was the 6mm 100-grain Solid Base at around 3000 fps from a .243 Winchester. The buck died quickly, and the bullet recovered in the far shoulder retained 61.5% of its weight.

Didn't shoot vast amounts of game with the original Solid Bases, but did use quite a few in the .243, .257 Roberts, 270 Winchester and .30-06, and in general they killed quicker when pushed faster.

Ballistic Tips in the same weight/caliber end to kill quicker, even at slower velocities.

I had a case of Federal 30/06 & 300 Win mag 180 grain Solid Base they were very accurate and a sure deer killer

Were the improved .338 bullets packed in 100 or 50 packs? Down to one box of a 100.
Thanks

I've used that exact bullet out of a .308 @ 2,650 fps and it resulted in dead deer.

They always seem to be very accurate in my rifles. Not a finicky bullet in any of the cartridges I've used them in. This was the last time I've used the solid base ballistic tip. Didn't have much for testing, but shot a couple groups with them while doing some load testing/development:



That Ruger #1 ^^^^^ isn't a "tack driver", but this model 70 seems to be:



You'll find these at gunshows, gunshops, pawnshops, etc. etc. When I run across them for a good deal I'll snag them because I know they will always shoot well.

I was a pretty loyal user of the original Nosler Solid Base soft points for deer and pronghorn. When the Solid Base BTs came out, I bought a box each of the .284" 140 gr and the .264" 120 gr bullets. My brother bought a box of the .308" 165 gr and the .277" 130 gr. I gave him a few of my 120s to try, he gave me a few of his 165s to try. He had no need for the .284", and I had no need for the .277", so we didn't exchange those.

We found that in all of our rifles for all the calibers, the BTs were more accurate than the soft points. Doing some tests in wet phone books at 100 yards, we found the .264" 120 gr and .277" 130 gr bullets did not penetrate nearly as deeply or retain as much weight as the soft points. The .284" 140s and 165 gr .308" were good to go, with similar weight retention and slightly less penetration, but more expansion than the soft points.

The rifles these bullets were fired in were chambered for:

120s: 6.5x55, .264 Win Mag
130s: .270 Win
140s: .280 Rem
165s: .308 Win and .30-06 Spr

We still refer to the 120s and 130s as "varmint bullets".

After our testing, I bought two more boxes of the 140s, because my pawn shop guy told me Nosler was going to double the price soon. I still have a partial box of the .284" 140s. They are all I've used in my .280 Rem for deer and pronghorn for over 25 years. Never recovered one.

I’ve probably killed over 100 deer and several pronghorns with the 7mm 140 gr. BT since they’re introduction. Only recovered 1 bullet. Few years ago came across a box of the 140 gr. Soft points. While not quite as accurate they kill deer very well too. Would have no problem using either on deer size game the rest of my days.

John