Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Give Your Thoughts/Nosler 95 Grain Ballistic Tips 243 Winchester

I have a renewed interest in the 243 Winchester and have a couple boxes of these bullets on the reloading bench. Do you think these bullets are too explosive for Whitetails under 150 yards or so? I've also got some Sierra 100 grain boattails. Thoughts on these bullets. Thanks.

They are pretty explosive in my 6mm. Not quite as much in my .243. They are EXTREMLY accurate, though & just perfect for Prairie Goats, IMO.

For whitetails, I prefer the Partitions. Not quite as accurate, but they usually exit & the Ballistic Tips usually don't. And I prefer a bullet that leaves two holes for blood to leak out of.

I ran the 95 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips in my old 700 ADL this fall. It has a 22 inch barrel, and I was loading 43 grains of IMR 4350 behind them. Accuracy was good, although I did not run them through a chronograph.

I took four whitetails with that combination this season, 3 were shoulder shots.

1. 90 to 100 pound doe. Shoulder shot, penetrated both shoulders and resulted in a bang/flop. Range was approximately 100 yards.

2. 125 to 130 pound doe. Shoulder shot, but she was just quartering enough that the bullet exited behind the offside shoulder. She ran about 40 yards and then nosed in. Range was 110 yards.

3. 70 pound doe. High shoulder, penetrated both shoulders and resulted in bang/flop.

4. 80 pound doe. Straight on shot, penetrated the throat. Obviously broke the deer's neck and traveled between the shoulders, down along her spine and lodged about halfway back in her rightside backstrap. Bang/flop. Bullet had expanded very well, but there was still core in the jacket. No separation that I could detect. That shot was taken at about 45 yards.

I bought that box of bullets in the last year or so, and I think that Nosler has beefed up the jackets on the Ballistic Tips somewhat over the last 15 years to my earliest experience with them.

Anyway, for the velocity generated by my 6mm, at least out of this newer batch I have been shooting, I think they are ideal for whitetails under the conditions you mention.

If I could only use one bullet in the .243 that would be it. Especially for deer size game. A better combo would be hard to find.

I have loaded them for several years and have been pleased with them. I killed a couple of deer but it is not the rifle that I use very much. My Nephew and his wife both have killed deer with them using my rifle, and a BIL Nephew used my rifle with them and killed a nice buck, so I have a little experience with what they will do. Most have we all the way through but a couple have ended up against the hide on the far side. That said, I have had 7mmo8 and 308 do the same thing, so I see no problem. miles

I haven't used the 95g BT but have used the 100g SGK. GK kill a well as anything else I've used... very accurate in my rifle.

I've read that the newer 6mm BT have a thicker jacket than the original ones. Most opinions that I've read say the newer ones are a better bullet.

I hope they are good, on the advice of many here on the fire, I tweaked my rifle with them and plan on using them for deer�.

We run the 95NBT in the .243 and its pure poison on whitetails.

I've had great luck with them also on coyotes, deer, and antelope. I switched from the 95BT to the 95VLD this year just to play with the Bergers. Didn't get to shoot anything with them.

DT, How did the 95 VLD's shoot in your .243? My brother tried them in his Tikka and they were too long to stabilize in the 1-10" barrel.

Best killing bullet made for the 243.

Those are some nice bucks i would love to kill one like those.

They work fine, but I prefer Partitions over BTs in smaller bore cartridges when penetration is an attribute that I'm looking for.

Jeff

Nice bucks.

I have a big stack of 105amax and a couple boxes of 80Ttsx's to get through, but the 95BT is one I would like to try. The 90 Scenar looks like a good one as well.

There seems to be a ton of great bullets in 6mm.

Every deer I shot, the BT went clear thru. The 95 NBT is my #1 hunting bullet in anything from 6mm BR and up. Shoots like a match bullet for accuracy, has a good BC, holds together well, expands at a distance, and has been deadly. Not much I would rather want, the exit hole seemed a bit larger than a 100 Partition, and I think the BT is more accurate, and probably less expensive.

If I need anything else, it will be a Barnes 80-85 if I wanted a harder bullet for say a large hog, an elk, moose, or bear, or a 105 Amax for extreme long range shooting in a barrel that will spin them - though the bullets explode at close distance when hitting bone.

Those 95 Ballistic Tips are a little hammer. They don't blow up, they just keep on trucking.

Very tough bullet. I'm running the 90 grain BT, which is pretty much the same bullet, and it holds together at close range very well out of my 243 Win and WSSM. Better expansion and damage than the TSX in my experience, with the ability to penetrate shoulders. Obviously the TSX is a better penetrator and I use it for hogs in my WSSM, but the 90 NBT is a better deer bullet for OK and TX in my opinion.

The 95 is well built.

Left: 90 gr. NBT
Right: 95 gr. CT BT

My 95 section looks like its a thinner jacket, maybe because it's about 10 years old. I didn't think they changed anything, but it might just be an illusion.

Formid, I thought you were more of a .300 mag kind of guy than a .243 kind of guy. nice specimens there

well, except for the H&R, that thing is awful . i jest, I've got a .44 mag H&R that I've been known to tote from time to time