I am working up a new load for my 300 WIn Mag for a upcomming hunt and wanted some feedback from those who have loaded and killed big game with these two bullets. The Seirra is a 165 BTHP gameking and the Nosler is a 180gr Ballistic Tip, I would like to know how they would perform on a heavy skinned Axis deer weighing in at around 200lbs and which one of these two you would use and why...thanks for your replies.

I have shot a lot of game with the 165HPBT out of a 308. Including some at fairly long range. I have never recovered one. It has always performed perfectly.

I killed 3 antelope with a 165 Nosler Ballistic Tip out of a 300 Weatherby. It tore them up pretty good.
I have used that same bullet in the 308 with good results, on deer pigs and antelope..
I would tant the Sierra as the tougher of the two by a slight amount.

I have killed a couple of pigs with a Remington factory load with a 180 Nosler Ballistic Tip out of my 300 Win Mag.

For 200 lb deer they will work fine.

However if I was "kicking" them out of the brush and might have to make a raking shot I would use a stouter constructed bullet.

IMO you should avoid Sierra HPBT 165 g bullet; 2 years ago one of them blew miserably against the upper shoulder/spine of a roe deer, no exit hole. I shot it with a Tikka 300 WM at V/0 910 m/s, distance was 130 m. I cannot find any valid reason for a bullet to blow inside a 25 kg. animal. I dropped them since. With Nosler BT I had good results, but I find them quite soft and I had considerable meat damage.

Nosler Accubonds are what you are looking for, great accuracy and hold together well even at Mag vel.

quote:

For 200 lb deer they will work fine.

Well said.

My guess is that the Nosler B.Tip will perform more consistently than the Sierra BTHP.

The Nosler has a thin forward jacket which the polymer tip upsets rather rapidly for a quick beginning of expansion. The base of the Nosler is a chunk of solid jacket material that enhances penetration. A .30- cal 180 grain Noslter Ballistic Tip is just about ideal for 200 lb game.

The Sierra uses a somewhat heavier forward jacket to attempt to retard the expansion that is begun by it's rather large open point. These two features can SOMETIMES work at cross purposes, perhaps resulting in either too rapid or too slow expansion. Undesirable performance with this bullet occurs only a minor fraction of the time, but there is more potential for it than with some other bullets.

While there is certainly nothing wrong with the Nosler Accubond that was suggested by another poster, it is more appropriate for a 600 pound elk than a 200 pound deer. On the smaller animal you MIGHT not get as appropriately rapid expansion as you would desire.

Remember, far more game is lost every year to underexpansion than to overexpansion. The "premium" bullet craze has caused a lot of whitetail hunters to develop tracking skills they previously had little need of.

The 180 NBT is much tougher than many who haven't used them give them credit for. The jacket in the 180 is thicker than the jacket in the lighter NBTs. If you cut a 180 NBT in half and cut a 180 NAB in half to compare you will find that the jackets are almost identical w/ the exception of the AB being bonded. The 180 NBT has a pretty thick jacket. We shot one into a hardwood tree about 6" in diameter to see how it faired. It went thorough that tree and several other small trees behind it, we never found it. In whitetails the 180 NBT leaves about a 1-2" exit typically.

Good Luck

Reloader

quote:

Remember, far more game is lost every year to underexpansion than to overexpansion. The "premium" bullet craze has caused a lot of whitetail hunters to develop tracking skills they previously had little need of.

Very true.

Reloader

I just wanted to thank all that replied, and I am still not sure which one I will be feeding an Axis, but I do know that the Sierras sure do group much better than the Noslers.

Sierras
100yds under 1/2"

Nosler
100yds 1 inch

You don't have to kill a squirrel, but a 200 lbs. deer. The accuracy you get with Nosler bullets is good and plenty enough.

I've only killed one deer with the 165 Sierra na d it was years ago. The Nosler 180 BT is my Gold standard for accuracy in the larger .30's. Performance as previously mentioned is much better than many think. Expansion and penetration feet of penetration if the corrct angle is choosen!


Pays your money and take your chance, both will do the job.

Go with whatever is more accurate in your rifle. A 200 pound Axis is really not very tough and has NO chance against either projectile given that it is well placed.

Accuracy kills.

quote:

Sierras sure do group much better than the Noslers.

you just answered your own question.

The Sierra 165 gr HPBT has beeen my favourite soft skin animals bullet, for my 300 WBY for the last 15 years. This is a tough bullet (most of the cases the bullet exit) that works very good at magnum velocities. In my rifle (A Weatherby Mark V), it is very accurate and i get easyly 3300 ft/s. I have used this bullet from roebuck to sable with excellent results, If You hit the game reasonably good, you are sure you will get it.

TXTD,

Whow! You got a pretty good spectrum of responses here.

I'll cast my lot with the 165 gr. Sierra HPBT Game King. This bullet loaded in my .30/06 Sprg. has tallied up a considerable number of game similar in size to Axis Deer - Fallow & Red Deer Stags, Hinds & Calves with impressive results.

I've tried many 150, 165 & 180 Nosler BT's over the years and they have always delivered extrodinary accuracy for me in .308 Win., .30/06 Sprg.& .300 Weatherby Mag. I'll admit though that on occaision I've been disappointed with their "over-expansion" (read: meat damage).

.... depends on the use..

IMNSHO the Gameking is a hunting bullet, the BT isn't, but it's your call.

jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

Remember, far more game is lost every year to underexpansion than to overexpansion. The "premium" bullet craze has caused a lot of whitetail hunters to develop tracking skills they previously had little need of.

Without a doubt, one of the statements on AR that *I* disagree with the most. Should "over expansion" be a hallmark of a "good killin" cartridge, everyone would hunt elk with a 204 Ruger .. on the other of the specturm, an arrow offers ZERO expansion (99.9% of the time) and people have taken everything in the world with a bow.

More game is lost to poor SHOOTING than anything the bullet does or doesn't do.

In deer to elk class rifles (6mm to 338 let's say), nearly all of these launch a bullet more or less 3000 FPS... even SOLIDS (zero expansion) kill graveyard dead with proper bullet placement in this class of animal.

Lots of hunters like to blaim bullets for shot placement issues... total bullocks...

Let's look at say a .308 150gr bullet...

if you shoot a deer in the guts with a BT it's going to run off, if you spine it with a barnes X (known for little expansion in mediums), it's going to be DRT (dead right there)

Switch that, same results.

But, now make that a 7x7 world class elk, but he's quartering away, at a grazing speed walk....last day, last hour of elk season you ahve $5k invested in

Which do you want to take this shot with?

which bullet do you WISH you had in your 300win?

The one that goes in and over expands, potentially resulting in a wounded and lost animal of a life time

or the one that puts the animal on the ground?


Fragible bullets are for paper and soft targets!!

jeffe

I've killed a pile of deer the last few years with a 180 NBT at approx 2955 fps MV. I've never recovered one, and have gone diagonally through several (in front shoulder breaking bones, out behind ribs).

1" groups at 100 are PLENTY GOOD in a deer hunting situation! See 'pursuit of irrelevant improvements' if that isn't good enough for deer hunting...

If you can't get the same or better accuracy from a NBT as a Sierra (of the same mass), you still have some load tweaking to to...but keep in mind that you really aren't comparing apples to apples, you're shooting/comparing 165 grain vs. 180 grain!