Hello from Scotland~

I was wondering if anyone tell me do Nosler hunting ballistic tips need to be pushed at full speed to expand properly ? For example the 125 gn in .308 can be pushed to 3000 f.p.s how do they work at lower speeds that goes for the 150 gn etc ??

Regards Englander

The Nosler BT's will open up quickly @ 308 velocity.In fact the the 125 gr is a varmit bullet and I would not recommend shooting it @ deer sized game. The 150 gr would be ideal for deer sized game in a 308.

The Ballistic Tips will open up all the way down to 1650 fps. And as far as I know, the 125 grain .30 caliber is NOT a varmint bullet -- or at least it is not listed as such.

You do not need high velocity with these to make them work. I use them in single shot pistols with excellent results.

From what I understand the 125 Noler B.T. was developed as a hand gun hunting bullet. I have taken 5 deer with the 125 B.T. from the 308 at 3157 fps. All were complete pass throughs and the deer either dropped in their tracks or went no farther than 20 yards. Yardage ranged from 18 to a longest shot of 221 yards in a beanfield. I am certain the 150 is a better deer bullet. The only reason I used the 125 was I grabbed the wrong box of ammo when I packed for a hunt in Kentucky and didn't feel like driving 4 hours home to get the 150's. When I killed the two deer on that hunt with two shoots I tried it the next year as well. Just to see if it was a fluke. It wasn't. The 150's expand well too, I have never had one fail me. I drive them to 2975 from a 24" barrel using 47.3 gr. of IMR 4064 and a CCI BR-2 primer.

Shoot Safe Shoot Straight.....RiverRat

Englander - most of the time if there is a problem with ballistic tips it's that they expand too rapidly for some situations. Most of my buddies who use them for deer are very happy with them, everything from .243's to .300 Win mags. None of us use them for anything bigger than deer though. Very accurate in most rifles. Expansion at less than max velocities is not a problem. Regards, Guy