I have reloaded and shot Nosler Bal tips in all of my rifles with excellent results except the 308. I now will be reloading for a 300 wsm tikka and I'm considering trying new bullets. I'm very intrigued by the Barnes but not sure if i want to change.

Please throw me your ideas, thoughts, and opinions. Thanks in advance.

Stick with what you like.
I prefer Sierra and Hornady.
Unlike a pistol, I can't shoot 1-3k rounds in rifles to evaluate an assortment of bullets and powders. Find that most any appropriate bullet and powder can be loaded to achieve at least 98% of the ultimate accuracy of my rifles.
Since I'm not competitive, once I am under 1", I'm pretty happy. I will, of course, still play around, but a 0.1" decrease in group size just isn't going to important for my hunting or enjoyment.

quote:

Originally posted by wdagel:
I have reloaded and shot Nosler Bal tips in all of my rifles with excellent results except the 308. I now will be reloading for a 300 wsm tikka and I'm considering trying new bullets. I'm very intrigued by the Barnes but not sure if i want to change.

Please throw me your ideas, thoughts, and opinions. Thanks in advance.

Ballistic Tips have their place for thin skinned game, but I'm not a big fan of them at "magnum" velocities. There are definitely better bullets out there.

I personally like Barnes, Northfork, GS Custom, and Tophy Bonded (can you still get them?).

The new(ish) Hornady GMX bullet seems to have some believers as well.

Bottom line, pick a bullet that can handle the velocities that you plan to load for. I don't personally think the BT is your answer.

Have killed over 20 moose with a 7 mag, 160 nosler partitions; always find the bullet inside the back side of hide. I'll never change to TSX or GMX for 7 mag. I leave the Barnes & Hornady for the 6.8 and 30-378. Also use 210 N.P's in 338 fed and 225 n.p's in 338 mag. It works well for me and has for years.

I'll just say this....if you do try the Barnes, you will probably wish you had sooner, and won't go back to the others, after you shoot some game with them

Interesting. I always thought dead was dead. Does Barnes bullets kill animals deader???

Beeman that is like almost pregnent. It has caused me some sleepless nights but never amounted to much.

The 165gr Interbond has worked great for me from bobcats to elk.

I will shoot anything under the sun at
deer. For the bigger animals and the tough African hides I like North Fork, Nosler Partitions-Accubond, Barnes, Swift A-Frame, in that specific order. I let the barrels do the talking on what they like. The Ballistic Tips are super accurate and I shoot a lot of them, but I stop at animals larger than Deer. Good shooting.

After reading the OP, my first question was what is the intended quarry?

If you're just after deer, then the BT will still probably suit your needs. If elk are to be included in potential game, I'd move up to a premium bullet like the Barnes, Partitions, North Fork, Swift, etc. Whatever the rifle likes would be the choice.

When trying to find a new load for a rifle, I'll always reach for the Barnes bullets first.

Good luck!

I have reloaded for six different rifles chambered in 300WSM. In ALL of them one of the standout loads consisted of a Fed 215 primer, a near max load of H 4350 and a Barnes 168 grain TSX. This load just seems to work!

If the Bal Tips have worked well for you try the same or similar weight in Accubond.
GOOD LUCK and GOOD SHHOOTING!!!

I use Nosler partitions for everything I hunt here in BC. I do not hunt Griz! I use 180gr and I have only had one-shot kills and no animal has required tracking! I am a great fan of Noslers, but they do sort of almost decapitate a deer!

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
After reading the OP, my first question was what is the intended quarry?

If you're just after deer, then the BT will still probably suit your needs. If elk are to be included in potential game, I'd move up to a premium bullet like the Barnes, Partitions, North Fork, Swift, etc. Whatever the rifle likes would be the choice.

When trying to find a new load for a rifle, I'll always reach for the Barnes bullets first.

Good luck!

I have mostly shot deer, whities and mulies, looking towards black bear, caribou, and hopefully at some point i'll get my dream animal..moose. So i'll probably be switching over to barnes or the accubonds.

Thanks again for all of the responses. I'm just starting to explore the world of reloading. i was taught by someone who never explored other options.

I had an old Indian woman for a neighbor once, and she had a bunch of horses. The moose would be attracted to her horses and her horses would go nuts, bust up fences, hurt themselves, ect. Old Stella would just get an old 243 out and shoot the moose, none never run off, and I know that she shot 2-3 every year cause she'd call me to help her cut the moose up, most everytime. I never asked her what bullets she was using, ha ha.

I've shot some moose, and those nosler partitions are the ticket for the moose. We have our caribou subsistence tags, shoot half dozen caribou every season; use TSX's.

Funny how ya get superstitious about some bullets, or maybe ya just learn what works best with the years.

quote:

Originally posted by the jigger:
If the Bal Tips have worked well for you try the same or similar weight in Accubond.
GOOD LUCK and GOOD SHHOOTING!!!

^^^^^^^Good idea !!!!!!

Thanks for the responses. I'm gonna give a go on a couple different bullets and see which comes out best. Hopefully, my gun will find one it likes to eat without having to look through a bunch of bullets.

Thanks again.

I have a Tikka 270 WSM and have only shot facory ammo so far. I started out shooting Winchester Ballastic Tips in 130 grains. The advertised speed was 3275 fps, but I am not sure out of what gun and how long the barrel was. I was not overly happy with their performance on the deer here in North Carolina, which are not that big. I went to Federal Premium Vital Shok in 130 grains with Nosler Ballastic Tips. Their advertised speed is 3300 fps, but again no clue on gun or barrel length. There performance IMHO is better than the Winchester, but the deer still travel further than I would like after a well placed shot. The federals thru my chrono read 3228 fps.

I just purchased the 270 WSM dies so my buddy and I could reload for my gun. I was going to order Nosler ballastic tips, but then started to look at the Hornady SST ballastic tips after a recommendation. I was told, "the SST are just as good as the Nosler, but cost half as much." However, I grew a little leary after reading on interlock ring issues with them. In the end, I ordered some Barnes TSX after reading reviews and recommendations on here. The TSX hollow points are no more expensive than the Nosler's so it is a mute point to me.

Dead is dead, and all the premium 30 cal bullets will kill pretty much anything with a well placed shot. The only advantage I have seen is that the Barnes Triple Shocks make smaller groups with less effort from every make and calibre I shoot or load for and you will always get the most penetration for calibre and weight in an expanding bullet. That being said, I do prefer the Nosler Partition for 'Speed of Dead' in most cases from what I've experienced. They seem to provide the perfect balance of tissue destruction and penetration and are also capable of great accuracy.

quote:

Originally posted by wdagel:
I have reloaded and shot Nosler Bal tips in all of my rifles with excellent results except the 308. I now will be reloading for a 300 wsm tikka and I'm considering trying new bullets. I'm very intrigued by the Barnes but not sure if i want to change.

Please throw me your ideas, thoughts, and opinions. Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure what you mean with "except for the .308".
Lack of accuracy? Lack of performance on game?
For hunting, my "go to" bullet has been the Partition in both my .270 Win. and .338.
I've heard good comments about Accubonds both accuracy wise and performance wise. You might try those however.
If you are looking for performance, I highly recommend a Northfork although more expensive - so what? In the past, I found that I couldn't get quite the accuracy I wanted with a Partition but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't use them. However, I have found the Northfork to be slightly more accurate in my .338 WM and in my .270 WSM. Yes! I have both a .270 Win. and a .270 WSM. The NF performs better than the Partition on moose in my experience and overall, it's now my hunting bullet of choice.
Assuming you're looking for a deer bullet and you don't like a Ballistic Tip, think I'd look at an Accubond.
Good luck.
Bear in Fairbanks

Bear in Fairbanks,

the 308 didn't like to eat the BT. I switched back to corlokt and the groups tightened up. The BT were getting thrown all over and i just couldn't get the groups to tighten under 2.5" at 100yds. The switch was made after around 200 rnds with different components for each trial.

Thanks for the info on the bullets you use for moose. I dream of coming up there after a moose. The numbers down here are rapidly decreasing and the draw is damn near impossible.

i'll save you some trouble.
here is some stuff i have found out about bullets.
use 2900 fps as your cut off.
under that cup and core, above that bonded.
over 3100 use monometal.
the bullet does the work on the game end.
if you want target accuracy buy target bullets.
simple.
if you find a rifle that likes remington bullets stay with them.
as it most likely won't like anything else.
this only applies to remington bullets.