Ballistic Tips

wild game processing said:
hi guys
if i could just say ,as i see things a little different. not to say that BT.s are not great hunting bullets cause if you want to stop the animal quick they will do it .....however when i see the game, its not to hard when there it 100 or so deer hanging in the cooler to tell what ones were hit with BT.s or quick expanding bullets...just keep this in mind as you will get you animal in the field,,,you will get less back from the butcher..the shock they deliver and hemridge in the meat is quite substantial ....
just my view....
wild game processing
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Depends on the range they were hit at.
 
Sorry... but I disagree with the statement that the accubond and ballistic tip are similar in performance. I have shot a pile of coyotes with both and the exit holes are dramatically different. The jacket thickness and weight retention is different as well. I have not dug any out of a big game animal myself but I have seen 180 grain 30 cal in both types bullets, same rifle, come out of two different moose and the Accubond held together almost as well as a Partition... the ballistic tip was only about 50% wieght retention but did an admirable job.
 
The Nosler BT's I've shot gave good accuracy, but didn't do anything the Sierra Gamekings couldn't do (and actually those seem to be the most accurate that I've loaded) and the SGK's are less expensive.

In the guns I load them for, I also find the Partition quite accurate, but those are more expensive yet... for certain applications only.
 
Silverado said:
The Nosler BT's I've shot gave good accuracy, but didn't do anything the Sierra Gamekings couldn't do (and actually those seem to be the most accurate that I've loaded) and the SGK's are less expensive.

In the guns I load them for, I also find the Partition quite accurate, but those are more expensive yet... for certain applications only.
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I am just the opposite! As much as I like the BT's for deer, I think they are for dertain applications only and the Nosler Partitions are for anything you want!
 
todbartell said:
well I have only shot one deer with Nosler Ballistic Tips, it was a medium sized mulie buck @ 165 yards, 7mm 150 grain. Bullet impacted high on the spine and the bullet punched right through and exited, certainly not what I was expecting!
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I had the same thing happen to me this year, I was using factory 30-06 168 gr winchester supreme ballistic tips, pretty sure they are the nosler ballistic tips. Shot a deer at 150 yards steep downhill, didn't aim low so I hit him a little high and took out the bottom of the spine. I was surprise to see the "on bone" performance of these bullets, certainly not what I expected and not much damage considering. The bullet punched through and was never found, deer bang flopped. I was a little leary using them at first but now I will use them again next year. FYI 180 gr winchester supreme nosler accubonds impact almost exactly the same.
 
Brambles said:
I had the same thing happen to me this year, I was using factory 30-06 168 gr winchester supreme ballistic tips, pretty sure they are the nosler ballistic tips. Shot a deer at 150 yards steep downhill, didn't aim low so I hit him a little high and took out the bottom of the spine. I was surprise to see the "on bone" performance of these bullets, certainly not what I expected and not much damage considering. The bullet punched through and was never found, deer bang flopped. I was a little leary using them at first but now I will use them again next year. FYI 180 gr winchester supreme nosler accubonds impact almost exactly the same.
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Come to think of it, that is what I would expect. A shot high in the spine would mean very little distance to penetrate side to side and spinal bones are not the toughest in the critter.
 
There is a world of difference in the different Ballistic Tips. The differences between the "Hunting weight" bullets and the "Varmint bullets" is very significant. Additionally the bullets from 180 grain 30 calibre and up have"beefed-up" jackets.

The very original 180 gr .308 bullets actually came out in 2 different versions, one for thin-skinned game and the other for bigger critters and higher velocity cartridges. Shooters using the wrong bullet for the game being hunted have led to the bad reputation the Ballistic Tip has developed in some circles.

My all-time favorite bullet for deer and caribou is the 180 grain Ballistic Tip launched from a 30-06 or 300 Mag. After taking better than a dozen critters with this bullet I have to say I have never seen any more meat damage than what is typical with any cup & core bullet. I also have NEVER recovered a B.T. as all my shots have been complete pass-throughs.

The 200 grain .338 calibre Ballistic Tip was also one hell of a tough bullet. I have put them through moose with no problems and once shot a problem bear through both shoulders from 50 feet without any trouble. I sectioned one once and was impressed with how thick the jacket was on these mid-bore bullets.

The accuracy of these bullets goes without saying. If your rifle will not shoot them well I would guess it has some sort of problem. ;)
 
mysticplayer said:
Please note that bonding does not reduce bullet expansion nor increase weight retention. Jacket design does.

The only difference between the BT and accubond will be that the accubond will more likely have a smear of lead on the jacket petals vs the BT which could be wiped clean.

Weight retention, and expansion should be almost identical since they use the same jacket profile.


Jerry
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Jerry; The Ballistic Tip And the Accubond in fact have different jacket thicknesses in the same diameter/weight bullets. This is easily seen in the fact that identical weight and diameter Accubonds are a bit longer than the Ballistic Tip counterpart. I have sectioned these also, and the difference is visible. Here's a typical example: .308 - 180 Ballistic Tip length = 1.352"; .308 - 180 Accubond = 1.383" there is .050" difference! This is of course because the thicker jacket means more copper which is lighter than lead. Therefore the bullet must be longer to make up the weight. This is similar throughout all the weights I have checked. Not posting this to be argumentive, just so that the facts are known. FWIW, after I noticed the difference, I contacted Nosler with the query. They verified that the jacket is indeed heavier on the AB. Just an Aside, some poster stated that you should be able to use the Ballistic Tip and the AB interchangeably with the identical results. I have not found this to be so, perhaps because of the longer profile. In every case, I have had to redevelop my loads to get back the accuracy that the Ballistic Tip had shown. Sometimes it meant changing the propellent to do so. I would not be inclined to just stuff an Accubond on top of a load I had been using for the Ballistic Tip without the usual cautions. Regards, Eagleye.
 
LOVE EM! I use them in my 7mmWSM, 270 win and my 22-250. Not much damage on the yoodle dog. Big mess on the buck my wife shot. I shot it in the spine between the shoulders while it was going between the barbwire fence. Not much damage on mine until I hit the shoulder on the second shot. Didn't need the second shot but there was no snow and I don't like blood trails in the leaves. Maybe even a little trigger happy with the new gun !:sniper:
 
Used the 150gr BT three years back on my Antelope.
Even at 422 paces they opened up like a grenade from my 30-06.

Since chatting with some members here and with the Nosler Reps, I am goign to give the 180 BT a try in my 8x57. They are designed with the 8 Rem Mag in mind so I am hoping they will hold up a tad better. I will test them back to back with proven loads using other bullets in some kind of penetration medium. It won't be exactly like shooting game but it will give me a rough idea.

They certainly do print tight groups and there is no exposed lead tip to get all mushed up in the magazine box from recoil.

Going to trythe 200gr Accubond in the 8mm too!

Noel
 
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