I hunted for years using nothing but standard soft points from Sierra, Speer, Hornady, Winchester and Remington. Never a sad story to tell even on elk. After fooling with various Ballistic Tips and SST's for 6 years now I feel they only improve expansion at long range but don't offer anything special at normal deer hunting ranges. In fact I have taken to downloading the plastic tip bullets so they will perform more like the common soft points at normal ranges.

I choose bullets based on what my individual rifle likes. I use Nosler Bal Tips in my 308 because it shoots them to MOA out to 200yds. I've never lost a deer using this rifle. My 257Roberts shoots Sierra SBT about as well. My 250/3000 likes 100gr Partitions. These are my 3 deer rifles and I trust all three to do their job.
GOOD LUCK and GOOD SHOOTING!!!

There is nothing new about "tipped" bullets as Remington used a bronze point decades ago....

IMO they are primarily a customer catch.....pretty sells and the colorful plastic tips are "purdy".....I'm not at all sure they actually do anything constructive in bullet performance as the "old" soft point does a very fine job indeed.

If one says they sure work in the Bips and SSTs then I ask that you take a pliers and pull one out and shoot the next deer with that bulet....my bet is .....no difference.

again.....pretty sells!

quote:

Originally posted by rickt300:
I hunted for years using nothing but standard soft points from Sierra, Speer, Hornady, Winchester and Remington. Never a sad story to tell even on elk. After fooling with various Ballistic Tips and SST's for 6 years now I feel they only improve expansion at long range but don't offer anything special at normal deer hunting ranges. In fact I have taken to downloading the plastic tip bullets so they will perform more like the common soft points at normal ranges.

That is pretty much my exp. w/ plastic tipped bullets, except the NAB. Unless you keep impact vel. below 2700fps, they can get pretty explosive.

They're just there to aid expansion. SOME of the plastic tip bullets, caliber depending, also have thinner jackets to aid in explosive expansion. Things like the Scirocco 2, NAB, TTSX and the new T-TBBC are NOT the same, they're bonded core and quite a bit tougher then say SST or NBT. But on deer sized critters, they're not needed (the premium bonded stuff that is)

I'm not knocking the tipped bullets, Im just saying they don't offer that much of a performance increase at moderate ranges (say 250 yards) and that I have had standard soft points give very fine accuracy also. I would like to see a head to head bullet expansion test done using common soft point designs versus both bonded and non bonded tipped designs.

How does one accurately predict downrange velocity. (I ain't shooting at my Chrono any further than a few yards)?

I have quickload, maybe the velocity curve gives a good estimate??

I ask, because I have seen some 'explosive' bullet performance at 75 to 140 ish yards with a 20 and 22" barreled 270--usually something like 58 grains of H4832sc for a charge......

I do like the Accubonds, and for you Vapo, doesn't the tip actually increase BC a good bit?? I thought that was the deal.....

I will be using a tougher bullet than a BT on the big Kansas deer after this last years experience.

Here's my take on the plastic tipped bullets:

1) they aid with more uniform BCs
2) they increase BC, but I've never been one to give a sheyat about BC as most shots for me have been under 200 yards...so, take a flat based spitzer cup/core bullet and go have fun.
3) they are pretty, and certainly gave me a "wow" when I first saw them.
4) they aid with expansion
5) they allow great bullet performance with reduced loads, so you use less powder
6) they are generally more accurate

All that said, they offer ZERO benefit over a cheap old coreloct or power point or hi-shok factory bullet on an average deer at average ranges for most deer hunters, which I consider to be inside of 200 yards.

Yea - what Doc, and the others said.

I like them all. However I didn't know what a hunting rifle could do for accuracy until I tried the 9.3mm ballistic tips. Then I tried some 200 gr 338s in my 12" twist 338 WM. Wow is an inadequate word. When the accubonds came out, I tried them too with similar results. I have used the Hornady 225 gr interbonds with precision accuracy in the 338 as well, but the 225 interloc was nearly as accurate - very close. I have taken only one deer with the interbonds, and of course a deer is no real test for a 338. I have no doubt that the 9.3 will produce similar results on deer. However, bigger game, I'll let you speculate on that, since I haven't tried any on bigger stuff. However, I think that speculation on the performance of any of the plastic tip 225 gr 338s is a safe bet.

There is one application that I am going to try though, because I think it will be near perfection for the cartridge. I have a 9.3x57, which as you know produces lower velocity. I have a bunch of the 250 gr ballistic tips. So I'm going to mate that cartridge with the BT in some potent handloads. I'll bet that will really bring that old cartridge out, for game like deer and especially hogs. I think that will be a fun test, and the best part is success is almost certain.

KB

the fact that each caliber is a different color is great, helps me tell at a glance whether i've grabbed 223's or 6x45's

Doc nailed it on the head

quote:

Originally posted by MileHighShooter:
Doc nailed it on the head

+ 2...

other than that...

Round Nose... Round Nose..... Round Nose!!!!

I have found one niche where the plastic tipps excell, they feed better on my autoloaders and there is no lead to smear off.

I buy whatever shoots best out of my guns. In some cases it's Hornady or Sierra cup-and-core bullets. Sometimes it's Nosler or Swift partition-style bullets. Sometimes it's tipped Ballistic Tips or SSTs. Sometimes it's monometal Triple Shocks. Occasionally I get lucky and it's a dirty bag of Core-Lokts I find on the back shelf in some dusty little gunshop.

I then take the most accurate bullet which suits the game I'm hunting and that becomes my go-to for that gun.

I don't always put absolute accuracy first, bullet performance counts a lot. Most of my rifles have loads that are very accurate but that may not be the best bullet design for the job at hand. When I am hunting hogs at night any load that shoots into 3 inches at 100 yards is accurate enough but I also want some penetration to go with that and moderate expansion.

Agree with most all these reasons. How about the fact that plastic tip bullets are not prone to deformation in the magazine with say a 9.3 X 62 as opposed to a regular Nosler Partition? That's my only gripe about the NP, the exposed lead tips really take a beating in the mag.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Doc:
Here's my take on the plastic tipped bullets:

1) they aid with more uniform BCs
2) they increase BC, but I've never been one to give a sheyat about BC as most shots for me have been under 200 yards...so, take a flat based spitzer cup/core bullet and go have fun.
3) they are pretty, and certainly gave me a "wow" when I first saw them.
4) they aid with expansion
5) they allow great bullet performance with reduced loads, so you use less powder
6) they are generally more accurate

All that said, they offer ZERO benefit over a cheap old coreloct or power point or hi-shok factory bullet on an average deer at average ranges for most deer hunters, which I consider to be inside of 200 yards.