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

I have killed many a deer with 165 gn Nosler Ballistic Tips and IMR 4064 from the 1980's to the present. They are super accurate. They ruin a lot of meat if a bone is hit at high velocity though. You will have a fist sized exit hole/channel. Hit one in the neck and the only thing holding the head on is some hide. I always heard that different caliber Ballistic Tips are constructed a bit different, i.e. a 224 will be much more lightly constructed than a 30 or 338 cal. I use to load 180 gn 8mm ballistic tips with a hefty charge of IMR 4064 for my 8x57 muasers. Like any bullet, it works best at a given velocity spread.

I tried them for the first time 16 years ago. It was a 130 BST from 270 Winchester. I was not impressed. If bone was hit they came apart with little penetration. The same year I shot a Muly doe at ~60 yards. She went straight down from a behind the shoulder shot. The bullet destroyed the heart, but did not even bruise the offside ribs.

I remember a friend using them in his 300 Win Mag. He shot the 165 and 180s. This was several years before I tried them. Rarely did the deer die right away, but they had huge surface wounds. A finishing shot was often necessary. The bullets were well placed too.

A few years ago I heard that Nosler had toughened them up so I loaded up some 120g BT in my .284 Win to 3200 fps. The first deer was a whitetail buck at 35 yards. At the shot he never missed a stride as he walked through the timber. I thought I had missed until we heard him hit the barbwire fence separating the property we were on from another. We found him stone dead. The bullet went in low as I was shooting slightly uphill and destroyed the heart, but did not exit. We found it the next day while butchering the deer. It did not have its core, but had mushroomed well by evidence of the jacket.

The next was a Muly does at 283 yards. She was broadside at the shot dropping right there. When we got to her we saw a hole on the offside of her head. I thought I had messed up, but on dressing her we discovered the bullet had deflected off the shoulder, traveled through the neck and exited her head. Quite as bit of penetration, but the deflection worried me.

The last I saw the BT used was this year. It was used on a Muly bucks at ~ 250 yards. Perfect shot placement behind the shoulder with an exit. The deer trotted forward about 30 yards and died. Again lots of internal damage and with an exit. It looked like damage from any other cup and core bullet.

They have proven to be some of the easiest bullets to shoot well and after my experience with them I am giving them another shot. Time will tell.

Pseshooter300: I have used Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets in several calibers continuously for 25+ years now.
I have NEVER had to shoot an animal a second time whilst using these bullets.
These animals include 3 kinds of Deer, Antelope, Bull Elk and Mountain Goat.
The calibers of Ballistic Tip bullets I have used includes: 24 caliber, 25 caliber, 26 caliber, 27 caliber, 28 caliber and 30 caliber!
The next time you hear ANYONE say that these Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets "are junk" just look them in the face and laugh at them!
Don't say anything - just laugh in their face and walk away - you have just dealt with either an idiot/contrarion or a POOR SHOT!
That 165 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip you purchased is an ESPECIALLY lethal AND accurate bullet! It also flies flat and far having a ballistic coefficient of .475!
Place your Nosler Ballistic Tips carefully on game and get out your skinning knife - its that simple.
Having said these things in full disclosure I must add that I now Hunt Elk in country where there is now an ever increasing number of Grizzled Bears!
When Hunting Elk in this country, nowadays, I use the Nosler 160 grain Partitions in my 7mm Remington Magnum Elk Rifle and I use the 165 grain Nosler Partition in my 30/06 Elk Rifle - my thoughts here being if I need to bring down a Grizzly Bear the Partition bullets may be a tad more lethal (quicker to be lethal) on said creature?
Best of luck to you this coming season.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Best thin skinned game bullet out there in my opinion. Accurate too.

My brother shot a bison through the head with a 168 gr NBT a couple of months ago out of a .30-06. Completely destroyed the skull, of course DRT. Exited.


P

Correct me if I am wrong but the 168 is a whole different animal than the 165's or thicker jacket?

<shrug> DRT

130gr .270, launched at 3165 fps.

I've never had any issue other than some especially vicious/meat destroying exits on cull does: almost complete removal of off-side shoulders....but that was a 3100+ 130gr NBT from an '06, back in the early/mid '90s. OTT, they've been 100% reliable in 150/165gr .30 cal loadings and my 25-06, back when.

I fling a ballistic tip from time to time....



Used appropriately they kill just fine.

Best,

GWB

I've used them in the STW, .257 Weatherby, .270 Win, .270 WSM, 30-06 and .300 Win. Drove a 180 through a Yukon Alaskan Moose once.

Ballistic tips are at their best on deer sized animals. I'll wager that 90% of the worlds game isn't any bigger than a big old Saskatchewan Whitetail or Mulie. Weight retention has got to be the most over rated characteristic of a hunting bullet

Beautiful stick of wood on that #1.
I know you enjoy it.

Best,

GWB

We have been using BTBT since they hit the market.. Starting with chucks, coyotes, then antelope, whitetails, mulies, bighorn sheep, caribou, elk, black bear, moose, axis deer, aoudad, muflon sheep, & many be some I forgot, they have been excellent.. From the hot .22's though the .30 performance has been excellent..

You are missing some brown tips,

The blue 325 WSM looks cool. I miss the 225 gr in the 35 Whelen, I took moose and my only stone sheep with them, worked fine on both. Hope to get some deer this year with the 140 gr BT in a 260 Rem this year.

I'm moving more and more towards Accubonds.....



but the 130 in the 270 Win., the 180 in the 325 WSM and the 200 in the 338 RUM are here to stay.

Best,

GWB

That's a nice line up, truth be told my go too bullet is the Accubond as well.

Last two seasons with 150 grain ballistic tips out of my 300 saum. Ranges from 30 to 150. All but one exited which was quartering toward me and I shot on the point of the shoulder. All but one dropped in its tracks - the one that ran was a lung pass thru without busting bone. I generally like to bust bone though

I've yet to stop a 150 from a .308 on A LOT of deer over the past 4 or 5 years, some from hard angles. They are a lot tougher than I expected when I first tried them.

Fine lookin' bucks there guy.

Good on ya'

Best,

GWB

PS: If you have the time or inclination, would love to hear details.

If directed to me, thank you. Its been a good couple of years. I've noticed your pictures in awe but have been fortunate myself the last couple years and am proud of those deer

Numbers 1 and 4 were killed in the North Georgia mountains on a 230 acre tract i have been hunting since i was 12 (i am 40 now). Land is pretty steep and is almost entirely hardwood ridges on the chatahoochee river. Generally poor genetics and lots of pressure, so i am especially proud of those deer

2 and 3 were killed on a 350 acre place i bought in late 2011 in the piedmont of SC (an hour drive from where i live in Charlotte). Its been fun working my own piece of land for wildlife. Its got good topography and habitat mix for that part of the state and those are the only 2 deer i have taken off the land since i bought it. The genetics are pretty good but the population is lower due to the coyotes and thr deer are well educated for some reason (very skittish and almost entirely nocturnal - rare to see them feeding in the open in daylight)

Rifle was built for me by dave tooley of tooley custom rifles. I consider him a friend now as he is close by

Once again, good stuff.
There's a lot of well earned/justified pride in owning your own land and taking game.
Good luck in the coming season.

Best,

GWB