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.

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

I've not seen any difference with the original issue 100gr Btips in my 25-06s, or the last ones bought several years ago.

Very accurate, all one shot kills from different 25-06s. Some out there 400 to 500 yards. Last big doe dropped at 200 yards, never exited the shoulder. That was a wounded deer someone else had hit, was gettin' away when I dropped it with a shoulder poke.

Lung shots were all pass-thrus, even at over 400 yards, deer dead on the ground where hit.

Up until my huntin' bud passed away some years ago, we'd taken over two dozen deer between us, with 25-06s and the 100gr Btip. All but one or two of his were one shot kills.

He went whacko one year on a doe scootin' around in creek bottom brush and hit it two or three times before it keeled. I liked to bring that'un up from time to time, he never liked hearing about it much. ;O)

Also killed several deer with the "original" 165gr Btips and assorted 30-06s. No issues, but I think subsequent 165s were made a bit tougher?

I use the 95 grain BT in my .243 for everything I hunt. I probably wouldn't use it on moose if I ever had the opportunity to go.

my wife uses a 70 grain in her 6x45 and killed a nice buck this year with it. love the BT's if your gun does.

Killed a bunch of deer with 243 95 grain ballistic tip. Never had one get very far from where I shot them. Most dropped within a few yards. Put it in the boiler room and they are going to whatever god they pray too. Honestly I have only had good experiences all around with the nosler ballistic tip. Just shoot something with it and you will see for yourself.

Some good info

I tried the 130 gr 270 the first time they were available to me. They were very accurate but did not hold up on impact period, for me on a 3x3 whitetail buck at 125 yds. It took 3 shots behind the shoulder in the ribs to put him down and keep him down. No exits only bone and bullet shrapnel peppering the lungs, large nasty surface wounds. I didn't need to see anymore evidence of their inability to get the job done. The NPT was a tried and true favorite as well as Noslers Solid Base. Corelokts and Hornadies never let me down either. It was 20 years before I tried the NBT again 120 gr in the 7mm Rem Mag. they worked fine then and I am trying some of the other calibers as well now. Don't buy any in the old black box with the metal reinforced corners only the newer ones and you'll probably be fine. I don't forget getting [bleep] over by anyone or anything, it takes awhile to try something that fails me as bad as they did. Far as I'm concerned if you didn't try the originals and witness their failures you don't even need an opinion about them. Magnum Man

Truly, the imagined issues with ballistic tips should be present, multiplied in AMAX BULLETS.
Mainly that they hyperexpand.
Oddly enough that's never been the case. Perhaps the person who takes the AMAX into the deer woods is better prepared to wait for a shot or pass whereas the person with the ballistic tips assume all angles are things since the projectile is marketed primarily as a hunting bullet.

Used the original 140gr in a .280AIand they worked fine and there is a good chance I've used each of the different generations and have yet to have a failure. One time it took two shots, but I missed on the first.

I think the AMAX users are usually shooting at longer ranges. I've never heard of anyone here in the east using them but NBT's are popular here and shots are usually close. NBT's don't hold together on close shots although they bring a deers life to an abrupt halt.

What's close and what cartridge?

If I loaded them it would be 243 and shots anywhere from 20 yards to 200

A few years back, shot a young buck in the shoulder with a 6.5 mm 120 gr BT out of a 6.5x55 at very close range. Didn't aim for the shoulder, but that's where it went. The bullet came apart in the shoulder and the deer got up a few times, would take a few steps, then fall down. An overall bad experience, but probably my fault w/the shot placement. When hunting close-range wooded areas, I've switched to TTSX's which have always worked.

When the NBT's first came out, I tried them in a 270 (130 gr), 7mm-08 (140 gr), 7mm Rem mag (150 gr) and a 30-06 (180 gr).

The 270 NBT's did good, by me, but both the 7mm bullets seem'd to explode on impact (never shot anything with the 30-06 before selling). Granted, the 7mm shot deer all died, but they did not leave much (if any) of a blood trail. These bullets would leave a HUGE "bloodshot" area on the impact side also. I found a few bullet jackets, but never any lead cores, while field dressing.

The newer "hunting" NBT's have a MUCH thicker jacket than the originals.

The .270 and 30-06. Under 100 yards.

You're saying you wouldn't use a .30-06 with a NBT under somewhere
around 100 yards?

I used a 150 NBT from a 308 on a cow elk this year. The shot was 175ish yards. The bullet entered the shoulder and I recovered the jacket under the offside hide. The jacket had punched through the meat, but didn't make it through the hide. I'm assuming the core exited, as there was a small hole just above the jacket. The cow went about 30 yards before going down. Meat damage was less than expected.

Excellent performance considering I busted bone upon entrance.

Entrance...



Exit....

A 115 BT from my 257 WBY on a pass thru shot was the best blood trail I've ever seen. I was always skeptical, but my son's .308 likes the 150 BTs the best. He stomped deer after deer with that combo. Never a reason to question it.
I do prefer the NAB, feeling that it is the best of both worlds.

I either want a bullet to come apart FAST or stay together all the way through.
So i'll use AMAX or interbond.

I have used them in my wife's 708 below 2800 with 100% success

Darrick,

I'm really not all that surprised that it did that well on your Elk.

The original ones I used in the .280AI did open up quickly it seemed, but they worked well every time. Perhaps I was just lucky. By the time I started using them in the 7mm-08 they must have bumped them up because pass thru became common. Truthfully, I didn't know any of this until I came on here. Most recent time I used one was this year on an average Doe at around 80, with a .308W. Blew thru with a nice quarter sized exit. She went around 30-40 yards. Not a lot of blood but I hit high on a quartering away.

Better than good Whitetail bullet and it has been around long enough that they have the kinks ironed out.

They hold together just fine for me. I use the 100gr version in my 25-06, and send them out the barrel at 3350 fps. I've killed about 16 PA deer with it, at ranges from 20 yards to 400 yards, most being 100 or under. I haven't stopped one in a deer yet.

I didn't say anything like that and I don't know where you're getting that?

I don't stop them in deer either. But I can tell from all the bullet fragments and secondary wound channels the bullets didn't hold together. Not that I want it to mind you. If I wanted high weight retention I'd use a TTSX.

I agree Harry. I've sectioned a ton of recently manufactured Ballistic Tips and I like what I see. I can't determine the hardness of the lead, but there is plenty of jacket. I really like the looks of the 30 cal 168NBT.

I've read that some of the heavier for caliber BT's have really been toughened up over the years and I'm a believer.

Ballistic Tips are now my go-to bullet in almost every cartridge I use to hunt deer. I'm not afraid of them on bigger stuff either.

There are several good bullets on the market today.

You are right and I didn't say it just right. However, you did say NBTs don't hold together up close. I asked how close and in what cartridge. Your reply was 100 and the .30-06.

Soooo, I didn't and don't know when a NBT not holding together becomes unreliable for your needs on Whitetails and asked the question. (Notice I asked a question. I didn't state it as a fact.)

Again, admittedly I was fumbling with myself on how to put the question.

Darrick just reported of sending one essentially thru an Elk at 175 and I think you could expect the same on Whitetails out of a .30-06. So on an upfront hit at 100, I'm thinking it should and will hold together more than adequately.

I'll shoot a deer right off the end of the gun barrel with an NBT. For whitetails I like bullets that start to frag inside them. I started using NBTs for bear too. Not sure if it's a folly or not yet?

Like Dober use to say, you can shoot a bullet a hundred times and it will perform 99 times the same way. It's that 1 time that keeps you scratching your head. I've used the 115gr BT in 257cal and the 140's in the 7mm's all of my hunting career and never lost a deer...yet. Made a bad shot out of a 7mm w/an AccuBond and lost the only deer of my life. Poor judgement on my part...not the AB fault. powdr

I had some pretty erratic results with early 140's in the 7mm RM, a bit more violent expansion than I liked and not real straight post impact line of travel. I've been using 165's and 150's in .308 now for quite some time and they have proven to be excellent bullets.

Here's an interesting experiment involving several bullets, among those a 168 gr NBT at 5 meters.


http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/7231629/1



P

There is basically no comparison between the 1980's BT and a BT produced today. They have been modified/tweaked a number of times and I believe Nosler has them as close to perfect (in my eyes anyway) as a bullet can get. Each bullet has undergone a design change or two in the past 30 or so years, some more than others. In the most general terms, most of the changes have been to toughen them up...in general terms.

We used them in legal culling operations on large plantations along with other makes and designs. They performed fantastic. We were required to keep meticulous records of all kills, etc and out of the last 16 years, we had one bonafide failure...that was it.

I have shot a bull elk right in the elbow joint of the front leg at 100 yards with a 180 BT at a 3300+ fps muzzle velocity. The bullet was recovered under the far side hide after shredding the vitals and penetrating the ribs, and meat of the off side leg.
Anytime I hear someone say BT's are anything other than one of the finest big game bullets made I immediately think they are full of crap, not knowledgeable or both.