Re-organizing my reloading room on a rainy day I discovered I have all three of these bullets, among several others of the like.
Have any of yall noticed any on game performance differences between these bullets of similar design.
I shoot my 257 Roberts a lot during the hunting season with the TSX bullet and I am completey satisfied with the performance. This is just a curiousity question.

Perry

I find the Speer's to be a very soft bullet

I have had good luck with the Sierra 100g.boat-tails, but not so good with the Nosler solid base 100g. Back in the 1990's, I shot a whitetail buck in the TX Panhandle straight through the lungs and did not get any expansion at all. I shoot a 25-06 and it penetrated both lungs and exited and did not leave any blood trail at all. Had to grid search to find the deer about 125 yards away. I quit using the Nosler solid base and in fact, my inventory shows I still have 258 of those bullets. Haven't used any since.

Very interesting info. I would have guessed they were very similar, appearantly not.
Thanks guys.

Perry

I shoot the 117gr. .257 Sierra Game Kings and Pro-Hunters in my Bob primarily…have shot the 100gr. Bullets a few times and once on deer. (117 SGK’s at 2800, 100gr.SGK at 3000).

Other than accuracy (had my best results with the SGK’s and PH’s), I don’t think there’s any real difference in the .25 cal cup and cores.

It's funny, and I guess it's why we're reloaders. I really want to load all the different bullets up and go shoot something. And, inspite of already having great loads that work perfectly.

Perry

Interesting. I use old red box nosler solidbase 120's in my various 6.5's. Everything up to and including 264 mag. They have worked great on the hundred or so deer I have used them on.

I've got several very accurate loads for the Sierra GK. Another rainy week, I'm going to mock up the same loads using the other similar bullets and see how and where they shoot.
A buddy had a friend that got out of reloading and he gave me all his .25 call stuff. Tons of bullets, that's why I have no loads for them.
I'll let yall know.

Perry

I use the 100 TTSX on Texas Hill country deer

They usually run about 30 yards and keel over

It just works.

Putting together some 100 grain Sierras ....

Too hot here to get to the range

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sendero Ag:
I use the 100 TTSX on Texas Hill country deer

They usually run about 30 yards and keel over

It just works.

Putting together some 100 grain Sierras ....

Too hot here to get to the range

The Barnes go all the way through too

quote:

Originally posted by Sendero Ag:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sendero Ag:
I use the 100 TTSX on Texas Hill country deer

They usually run about 30 yards and keel over

It just works.

Putting together some 100 grain Sierras ....

Too hot here to get to the range

The Barnes go all the way through too

That is my got to. I've killed countless deer and hogs in south Tx, and 3 elk. The elk did not go farther than 50 yds.

Perry

quote:

Originally posted by KRT:
I have had good luck with the Sierra 100g.boat-tails, but not so good with the Nosler solid base 100g. Back in the 1990's, I shot a whitetail buck in the TX Panhandle straight through the lungs and did not get any expansion at all. I shoot a 25-06 and it penetrated both lungs and exited and did not leave any blood trail at all. Had to grid search to find the deer about 125 yards away. I quit using the Nosler solid base and in fact, my inventory shows I still have 258 of those bullets. Haven't used any since.

I've had great luck with the 6mm/100 Nosler Solid base. They are a surprisingly "tough" bullet and penetrate well, but expansion on whitetails has always been adequate. I've also used the .270/130 SB and 7mm/150 SB with great success. Nosler appears to have dropped the Solid Base (forerunner to the Ballistic Tip) because they were half the price of the Partition and performed very much the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

Originally posted by KRT:
I have had good luck with the Sierra 100g.boat-tails, but not so good with the Nosler solid base 100g. Back in the 1990's, I shot a whitetail buck in the TX Panhandle straight through the lungs and did not get any expansion at all. I shoot a 25-06 and it penetrated both lungs and exited and did not leave any blood trail at all. Had to grid search to find the deer about 125 yards away. I quit using the Nosler solid base and in fact, my inventory shows I still have 258 of those bullets. Haven't used any since.

I've had great luck with the 6mm/100 Nosler Solid base. They are a surprisingly "tough" bullet and penetrate well, but expansion on whitetails has always been adequate. I've also used the .270/130 SB and 7mm/150 SB with great success. Nosler appears to have dropped the Solid Base (forerunner to the Ballistic Tip) because they were half the price of the Partition and performed very much the same.

So how would the NSB's perform on smaller game like coyotes? Are they too tough for smaller critters?

Perry

Ive used those and other cup and core bullets in the 257 and mostly in my 250-3000 for many years and never have had a complaint..I see no reason to use premium bullets like monolithics, partitions, etc on deer and antelope..I use those on elk, moose and bear as a rule and I would include rem corelokts. Hornady Interlocks, Speer GS for both deer and the larger game as well..My 250 Savage prefers the flat base 100 gr. and 90 gr. Sierras to any other bullets as far as accuracy and they are deadly on deer at the 250 2700 to 2800 fps velocity range..as are the Speers. I think they perform best at the 250s lower velocity..They didn't perform as well in a 257 Ackley I had..

I still like to use the Nosler AccuBond 110 gr. in my old .257 Bob.

Just my favorite. Some fine choices, though!

Brittman

So I shot them all and they all shot the same point of impact. I had 2 different powders, 4451 and Hybrid 100, that were both loaded to 3,050 fps. I also loaded some TTSX and Swift Sciroccos and they both shot same point of impact as the cup and core boat tails.
Interestingly the Speer flat bases did not shoot well nor did the Nosler partition and both had a different point of impact.
Out of the conventional cup and core tested; Speer, Sierra and Nosler Solid Base, the NSB grouped the best abd just under 1/2".
SO there it is, the answer....to a question no one asked .

Perry

I really liked the Nosler 120 gr. Solid Base in my 25-06. The only reason I quit was that I could no longer find them. Now I use the 115 gr. Partition.

You could ask the same question on any given bullet and get conflicting answers, why I don't know but in some cases it's those who have based their opinions on the shooting of one or two deer, on handloads that may or may not have been properly loaded to adaptable velocity, and a cornucopia of other reasons...I recall more than a few instances of an instant kill or a 50 yard run with a well placed heart or lung shot wherein my hunter complained bitterly of bullet performance, I was the one who gutted his kill and the heart lung area were soup and mush..

I found the Nosler solid base to be excellet bullets in my std 257 and 250 Savage, Even the softer speer, Sierra, and Balistic tips worked well on deer all with shoulder heart lung shots moatly..and mostly exit wounds on the smaller whitetail, and most Mule deer..Just don't push them, do that in the 257 Ackley, 25-06 at 3000 plus with bonded or partitions..

Todays bullets are the best ever..even the 87 gr. 25 calibers are deadly on deer, but tend to blood shoot a large area..but slow them down to 2500-2600 and they work like a charm.

So I went afield with the 257 Roberts this weekend and decided to stick 2 of the NSB loads in the gun with the TTSX loads. The accuracy is exceptional so I figured I'd shoot a critter or two for research sake .
First animal to show was a 150 lb boar. I put the bullet high in his shoulder to see if it would penetrate through, it did not. He dropped in his tracks, kicked for 20 seconds and died, bullet intact.
Second animal was a post mature buck, probably 10 yrs old. I put the bullet behind it's shoulder careful not to hit bone. The bullet exploded, very much like the early Ballistic Tips which replaced it. The damage was exceptional to say the least. I noticed copious amounts for blood spray as it ran to expire.
Needless to say the bullet did not exit, it went to pieces.
The 100gr NSB in .257 is very accurate.... and very soft.
I'll keep one or two in the stock for coyotes and javalina.

Perry

Slow those bullets down to 2600-2800 fps, watch them perform! You might be surprised..Velcity is not the where-all of bullet performance, it can be your worst enemy in kill respect. Balancing bullet construction with a given velocity is what comes with experience, and it does work..Want to stress a bullet, use dry magazines, high velocity and back off as you go until you get good penetration and mushroom, but the final test I suppose is 15 or 20 kills of the chosen animal.

Oh, I'm not trying to make them work any other way than they were designed. The tsx is my go to and it works great. I just have a bunch of these and was curious as to what they did when they hit something. For what they are, they are great and that is a very accurate, fast, highly explosive bullet. The coyotes are going to be hating it .

Perry

I use mainly Nosler bullets in my 25-'06. I shot a 5 shot. .53" group yesterday using win brass, CCI 200, IMR 4350 and 100 grain Nosler Ballistic tips.

On game, I like the NP.

Alec, I 100% agree. The NP is a more vesitile hunting bullet as far penetration and retained mass. hard to beat a partition on medium and larger sized game

The Nosler have won out and dominated the hunting fields, time proven for umpteen years..I don't really like then in 22 and 6MM calibers..Excellent on 25 cal and up..

I deer hunt mostly with a 25-06 or a 257 Weatherby. I have used both the Sierra 100gr Pro Hunter bullets and the 100gr TSX bullets with great results on 200 lb whitetails.

quote:

Slow those bullets down to 2600-2800 fps, watch them perform! You might be surprised..Velcity is not the where-all of bullet performance, it can be your worst enemy in kill respect.

What Ray said.

kda55,
I found that out by hunting with my 250 Savage 99, loaded at max I get about 2700 to 2800 FPS, in the 99, thats what made the 250 kill out of proportion to its caliber over a century of time, even when used on Tigers, Grizzly's, Moose
by guides and PHs. I used it on elk and deer in me youth with 100% sucess with factory ammo. Wouldn't hesitate to use it again on elk.

The hot 25s need a much tougher bullet of course, thus the excellent results with TSX and partitions of the 25-06 at 3000 fps plus.. I liked the 117 or 120 gr. swift back then,in one 25-06 I owned, its just a tad hard, works well on deer and not too explosive.

I suggest quite the opposite, you in effect loaded them in excess of their design, those same bullets shot in a 250 Sav perform well, and thats the caliber they were built around, but only recently have the bullet companies listened to the hunters that use them. Todays bullet makers give us bullets that perform and expect us to use them. section a cup and core from yesteryear, and many of them are still the exact same..Testing can be a double edge sword..

Not contesting your tests, just giving some options to consider if your so inclined..thats the purpose of all these posts..