Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles whats up with nosler ballistic tip?

I here some people say they are junk and some like them I bought some to load up for a 243 (95 grain) and a 30-06 (165 grain) but wonder why people say they don't perform on deer well. Tell me your experience with these bullets on deer sized animals.

Every deer I shot with a BT died with in 50 yards of where I shot it.

Look through the tests and judge for yourself


http://www.noslerreloading.com/viewforum.php?f=41

Shoot a few deer with them and decide for yourself...

The 260, .375's worked great in whitetail. They discontinued them through.

I've had mixed results with them. The very early ones tended to be soft and expand/fragment very quickly. 165gr. out of a .308 left a shallow crater behind the shoulder of the deer I shot, minimal lung damage. Second shot to the neck finished the deer. A few years later, a 115gr. out of a .257 roberts cratered the patch of white below the chin of a doe at 85 yards. She was killed a couple days later by the landowner, large rip in the neck, perforated windpipe, no blood vessels damaged. Most recently, a 150 gr. from the same .308 as above penetrated the body completely, broke the offside leg, and the deer made one spasmodic leap and died, with jellied lungs and a blown up heart. The ones loabeled 'hunting' have been made tougher than that original 165 gr, and I wouldn't hesitate to use them anymore.

Pick ANY presently manufactured bullet and you'll here the same things from the gallery...

180 BT impact at 2720 fps from 30-06 in water jugs. 120 gr retention.

I think the biggest problem is many repeating what they have heard or read and no real experience with them. Between my son and I we have killed over 150 whitetails with various ballistic tips. No problem with bullet performance. When I read "I placed the bullet perfectly and did not recover the deer" I wonder if the shooter is up to the task of bullet placement or tracking a deer. Was there an unseen branch in the bullet path? Is this actually where the deer was standing? Did the deer move as I shot? Much easier to blame the bullet when in fact it is usually the shooter. How many hunters really take the time to properly sight in their rifles? "Pie plate at 100 yards is good enough". All bullets will sooner or later fall into the same category. Rick.

I've shoot deer, elk and antelope with the BT's and have no complaints. They also group well on paper and at long range.

Ain't it da truth!

Yes, you will.

I just read an article by Mic McPherson on the .30-30, and the various bullets available for it. I have had extremely good luck with the Hornady 170 FP, but the tests he ran indicated it was one of the more quicker expanding, shallow penetrating bullets.

I don't know what to do. Now that they know they shouldn't be dead, are all of these deer going to come back for me? Are the ones I might shoot next year, due to knowing better now, just laugh at me?

I just may be forced to use a .270.....

I gave them a try a few years ago and we switched over to NBT's for all our hunting. They seem to get the best accuracy out of every rifle and they bring a deer's life to a sudden abrupt halt. I've used them in .270 (130, 140, 150) and .30-06 (125, 165, 180). My favorite bullet!

Any bullet sold today will kill with authority when used in proper application!

Shod

Haven't tried the 165's on game yet. The 115 BT from a 25.06 worked quite well on the largest hog I have shot yet! A friend I hunted with for years used the 140 grain BT out of a 7 rem mag that killed big Nebraska whitetails. He did lose a big doe that he purposely shot straight on and never did find her? Not sure if it was shot placement or bullet failure but seeing that we shot phone books and it penetrated quite well I tend to think it wasn't a bullet issue. He loaded over max loads and took 95% of his shots were under 100 yards!

I never worried much about which bullet i used until coming to this forum granted the only thing i shoot is whitetail and I am sure certain critters take or need a tougher bullet but never had a nosler bt fail to kill anything i shot with it even the early ones

BT's were junk.... back in 1985.

They've been redesigned 4 times since then.

That's marginal at best for a big buck.......

If someone tells you 165's or any other Nosler BT for that matter, don't "work" on deer, they are talking out their arse.

The old, soft, .308" 165 gr., 100 count box version was actually pretty darn good on deer from a 308.