Back in the late 90's I was using Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets in a 22-250(55gr), 257 WM(115gr) and 270 WM(140gr). The bullets shot great in all three calibers however, I was not happy with the pelt damage from the 22-250 or the meat damage from the 257 WM and 270 WM. My wife shot a nice Antelope at 430 yards with her 270 WM and blew a hole the size of a softball on entry just behind the shoulder.

My question is: Has Nosler changed their design of the NBT's to make them tougher on game animals since the mid to late 90's?

Thanks in Advance.

Steve

Yes and no. I do believe that they have improved on the sterength of most BT's. But as for pelt damage they are still probably among the worst. They have a very violent and pronounced mushrooming effect, but I do believe that Nosler has got them to hold together better.

IMO their Accubond is possibly the best hunting bullet on the market.. I see the extra diameter of the mushroom as a plus for maximum effect from a standard caliber, and from an accuracy standpoint they are outstanding.

Ive used 115 gr bts for mulies from a 257 AI for a few years, but I feel like Ive been pushing my luck with them and I am going back to cup and core for deer sized game. I dont really trust the plain vanilla BT's that much. Especially the smaller ones @ high velocities. I did some testing of larger BT's and their ability to hold together was downright impressive, but even Nosler will tell you that the smaller ones arent as tough.
Accubonds are awsome but Im saving them for my elk loads.

short answer, try accubonds

quote:

short answer, try accubonds

+1

I used BT and Part for years. Now only accubonds for the majority of my hunting.

Nosler is on the 4th design of the Ballistic tips. The newest one's seem to use the same jackets are the accubonds. Launched under 3100, the BT's will do just fine, but if you plan on pushing them any harder, switch to the accubonds.

I now run Accubonds in all my rifles with my .243 waiting on a supply of 90 grners of the same

Thanks for the advise everyone. I have indeed switch to the accubond in the 257WM(110gr) and also the 270WM(140gr). Both with great results on paper.

I hear so many people shooting NBT's and I was curious to hear if the had changed the toughness of the bulllet.

Thanks Again.

Steve

The only ballistic tips I've shot have ben the 140 gr. 7MM in a 7x57. These wee the first version when Nosler sold them 100 bullets to the box before they got greedy and reduced them to 50 bullets to a box. They were very accurate but the only time I shot them on game, they cost me a der when that bullet literally blew uo on a rib. I've only killed paper with them since. Until I run out of them, paper is all I'll use them on.
Paul B.

BT's work on deer-sized animals and they're good for working up loads for the Accubond - point of impact identical. Yet, killed many elk with 180 BTs from my 300 WM. I use Accubonds now, because the bonding makes them better all around hunting bullets. AIU

I use Ballistic Tips but I only launch them at 2500-2800 muzzle velocity. I would definitely go Accubond for bigger animals or velocities over 2800 FPS.

quote:

Originally posted by scottfromdallas:
I use Ballistic Tips but I only launch them at 2500-2800 muzzle velocity. I would definitely go Accubond for bigger animals or velocities over 2800 FPS.

Pretty good post !

I agree if velocity is above the recommended speed they can get ugly. I have had a couple close shots with my .300WM and 165's make a nasty exit but switched to 180's and never had another problem. I love them for hill side to hill side hunting here in PA. Spectacular kills!

quote:

These wee the first version when Nosler sold them 100 bullets ... the only time I shot them on game, ... that bullet literally blew uo on a rib.

Paul, we had the same experience the first year. 130gr .277 BT just splatter against the rib cage, never made it to the vitals. Killed it with a neck shot that didn't make it through the spine.

We wrote Nosler a letter describing the experience. Nosler wrote back saying the received other similar reports, they had redesigned the bullet, and included a box of the new, redesigned Ballistic tips. We haven't had an issue since.

I use Ballistic Tips in a lot of different calibers. In the 270 Winchester as an example, I have had excellent results with the 130's @ 3120fps, out of a 24" tube, and 3250, out of a 26" barrel. The deer I have shot with BT'S have been DRT, with not much meat loss.

In the 35 Whelen, I went out and bought all the BT'S I could find, once Nosler announced they were going to the Accubond, and dropping the BT for the Whelen. Now I admit that was out of fear, because in my particular rile, the 225 Ballistic Tip was just a stellar performer, both on the target range, and on elk. Groups were around.75, velocities were @2750fps and the recovered bullet from an elk weighed 206 grains. That's only a loss of 19 grains. Accubonds work great as well, but in this rifle, a Ballistic Tip is best as it gets.

Jerry

quote:

In the 35 Whelen, I went out and bought all the BT'S I could find, once Nosler announced they were going to the Accubond, and dropping the BT for the Whelen.

200 grainers out of the .338 are awsome on elk. I'd probably shoot a .225 BT if they made one for it.

quote:

Originally posted by Antelope Sniper:

quote:

In the 35 Whelen, I went out and bought all the BT'S I could find, once Nosler announced they were going to the Accubond, and dropping the BT for the Whelen.

200 grainers out of the .338 are awsome on elk. I'd probably shoot a .225 BT if they made one for it.

They still sell the 200 Ballistic Silvertip, I bought a bunch of 2nds from the Pro Shop when they were on sale.

Well my thoughts recently on the ballistic tips. Bear with me as I ramble and I'll give you my thought process on why I'm dumping the BT's. Unfortunatly or fortunatly depending on your outlook on the subject, I have not shot anything with BT's.

I havent reloaded any rounds in about six years with work, new kid and stuff. Hell packed up the reloading stuff back then too.

I just unpacked and reset up my reloading stuff about a month ago and been reading a lot on the Nosler BT's among other things. Now, one or two incidents of failures..eh..OK. But there are a lot of incidents of failures from what I have read.

I came to this conclusion while out deer hunting this past couple of weekends around Winters Mountain. I can get a shot up to 300 yards easy in some of the clear cut areas, which there are quite a few.

But...I was also wandering around in the old timber areas looking for elk sign too. Once you got inside the timber areas you could "maybe" and I say "maybe" get a 60 yard shot. I got to thinking maybe these Nosler BT's I bought and loaded in 2001-2002 weren't the best. The rifle I had with me was the 7x64 loaded with 150 grain BT's. This is not a hot load and average velocity is 2874 fps. This is also the only caliber I currently have loaded with the BT's.

Now 150-300 yards I think that should be OK, but a point blank shot out to 100 or so yards...maybe not so good. As my luck always is (from past experience) I "bumble" into a deer at near point blank out to a 100 yards or so. Luckily it appears when this happened I didnt have BT's. These are some examples, 8mm-06 175 Sierra (2700 fps) in Cali on a Mulie @ 75 yards, Two white tails at different times with a 35 Whelen 200 Sierra RN (2550 fps) at around 50-60 yards both times, One white tail 35 yards with 6.5x55 129 Hornandy (2750 fps). Here's a good one, a white tail at 25 yards with a Ruger 264 WM 140 grain Hornady (2900 fps). None of these rifles with these handloaded bullets failed to put down the animals. They were DRT. No second shots or tracking required.

Thing is, these 150 NBT's are wonderfully accurate in my CZ. So, in light of things I recently read, I'm considering one of the following; 160 accubond or 160 Speer GS. I looked at the 140 Accubond but I'll go on the heavy side rather than the light side. There's other bullets out there and I'll take a look at those, but these are the one I'm leaning towards.

Even though Nosler has the 150 grain Partition I dont like loading two different types of bullets with the same weight.

So, that's my thought process of why I'm dumping the BT's. I may be off base, or maybe not.

FWIW, I harvested a nice whitetail buck and doe a couple of weeks ago in Montana. I used my Model 70 Super Shadow in .270WSM, with Nosler 130 gr Ballistic Tip bullets, pushed by 64.0 gr of Accurate Data 86 Extruded powder and Winchester Large Rifle Magnum primers. I figure the velocity was around 3100 fps 10 feet from the muzzle. The buck was about 125 yards and took one behind the shoulder, taking out a rib on the way out. No excessive meat loss, the buck went about 20 yards. The doe was taken at about 75 yards, similar shot location. She went about 50 feet and collapsed. Similar wound channel, no excessive meat damage. I was very pleased with the performance of the bullets. I might also add they were "Seconds" from the Shooters Pro Shop. Any concerns I may have had about the Ballistic Tips, (at least in the 130 gr .277 caliber) have been put aside. I will still use the 140 gr Accubonds or the 150 gr Partitions if I go after anything larger than deer, but for deer, I think the 130 gr Ballistic Tips are just fine.

In our family we have used NBT almost exclusively in .223, 22-250, .243, .270 and 300WinMag for deer and elk hunting with great success and accuracy. One of our sons has shot two elk with the Accubond at 180g out of a 300WinMag also with good success.

Almost all of our shots have been greater than 250 yards as the terrain out here in the West (Idaho, Utah, and Montana) is wide open and lends itself to some long distance shooting. One Montana elk was shot with the .270 by our daughter in law at about 80 yards. It was a small 5x5 bull elk and upon getting hit in the ribs ran/stumbled downhill for about 75 yards before piling up. The rest of the kills seemed to be quicker. Some of these distances can really stretch out and the critters will get out there to what they feel is their "safe" zone and stop and look back at the trouble they see. Boom.

I did shoot a nice 3x3 mule deer buck at 175-200 yards with that same .270 years ago with some Nosler Partitions and ended up punching 3 holes in him with a group size that was like a dinner plate before he piled up. The Partitions did not seem to disburse any energy while penciling through him.

I continue to load the NBT for all of those calibers for our extended family and the results that are coming back are great.

I load many Nosler Ballistic Tips for myself, my son and grandsons for Deer. These are the Blems and they have always been fine, and super accurate. We shoot them in four .270 WSM's using mainly the 130 - 140 grainers. For anything bigger than Deer I go to the Partitions or Accubonds. Good shooting.

As far as the pelt damage goes its hard to shoot a coyote with a 22 250 without putting a pretty good hole in the hide. Might try FMJs. Ive shot em with my swift and sierra 52 grain match one time itll blow a little hole and the next time tear him all to hell. Get a good needle and thread.

My experience is also that it splatters the ribcage of medium size game extensive. I have changed to Nosler Accubond and Hornady Interbond.