C/T Silvertip Ballistic Tips or Accubonds

[frozenbolt]

Hi everyone,

I am going to whip up a batch of 180grn 30-06 rounds. I plan to hunt moose and deer with the same load. I have Accubonds and C/T Silvertip Ballistic Tip bullets. Are the Silver Tip Ballistic Tips suitable for Moose or are they like the regular Ballistic Tips and only good for deer?
Thanks

 

[chola]

am gonna try out both this year.....here is a link with some info

http://www.nosler.com/index.php?p=3

 

[todbartell]

I'd go Accubond, seeing how you're after moose too. If it was just deer, I'd suggest you to flip a coin.
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[BBB]

I wouldn't use the ballistic silvertips on moose, after seeing how they performed on a deer.

I was loaded with 150 grn BST factory loads from a .270 WSM when a big deer stepped out at about 50 yards away. The bullet hit right behind the shoulder, the deer hunched up and ran, I swung ahead of him and shot again - he flipped.

When I had him gutted and caped, the results were pretty bad - the first shot was dead on, hit one rib going in. The heart, lungs liver and gut were busted all to hell, despite the shot being well forward of the paunch. There was some scattered bruising on the inside of his rib cage on his far side, but nothing came close to exiting.

The second shot showed incredibly poor penetration as well; it had hit him at the base of the skull, at the last vertebrae - busted the spine to hell, as well as the jaw and brain - but never exited. (Good thing to, it would have ruined the cape.) So that second bullet got maybe 4 inches of penetration at best.

Now admitedly, the WSM at that range gave more velocity than the BST is designed for - and you might have better luck throwing heavy bullets from a 30-06. But I wouldn't use the BST for anything big or close.

 

[Scott_N]

I'd also recomend the Accubonds, although on deer either would be fine.

 

[scott_r]

Ive used both and Id go with the Accubonds.

 

[PaulT]

Accubond....

Another one for the Accubond . I have one moose down with them, they worked really good.
I would not try the Ballistic tip on a moose .

Good luck

 

[prosper]

The only plastic tips I'd consider would be the Swifts and maybe the new Winchester XP3's.

Really, I consider ballistic tips to be more gimmick than useful, at least for standard sub-500yd ranges.

 

[todbartell]

so, are you saying you dont find the 180 Accubond (or Interbond Hornady), suitable for moose in a 30-06??

My NBT experiences are limited to one deer and one wolf (7mm 150/30 cal 165) and in both instances they worked great, to say the least. And yes, both exited.
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[prosper]

I wouln't say it's unsuitable, but I would say that it's unnecessary, and maybe there are MORE suitable bullets out there. Call me old-fashioned, I guess.

 

[todbartell]

so, a Scirocco or XP3 (which haven't even hit shelves yet), makes you old fashioned?
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[prosper]

In my defence, I DID say:

"Really, I consider ballistic tips to be more gimmick than useful, at least for standard sub-500yd ranges."

By Ballistic tips I was referring to all plastic tipped bullets. If I HAD to use a plastic-tip, the XP3 and scirocco sound the most promising to my.

Otherwise I'd prefer to stick to my good old Partitions

 

[Gatehouse]

In my defence, I DID say:

"Really, I consider ballistic tips to be more gimmick than useful, at least for standard sub-500yd ranges."

By Ballistic tips I was referring to all plastic tipped bullets. If I HAD to use a plastic-tip, the XP3 and scirocco sound the most promising to my.

Otherwise I'd prefer to stick to my good old Partitions

The Ballistic Tip is a trademark name of Nosler bullets, not a generic name for plastic tipped bullets.

The selection of plastic tip bullets run the gamut form highly explosive, very frangible bullets, to bonded core controlled expansion bullets.

Sounds to me like you have never even tried a plastic tipped bullet.

 

[Demonical]

What is a C/T Silvertip Ballistic Tip ?

If you're loading 180gr .30 cal why not go with the Hornady Interbond or the Nosler Partition? The Hornady Interbond is a true bonded core bullet, they're very accurate and also damned cheap!

Nosler Partition is a great bullet in any caliber...

 

[prosper]

The Ballistic Tip is a trademark name of Nosler bullets, not a generic name for plastic tipped bullets.

The selection of plastic tip bullets run the gamut form highly explosive, very frangible bullets, to bonded core controlled expansion bullets.

Sounds to me like you have never even tried a plastic tipped bullet.

On the contrary, I think they're great match/varmint bullets. I use lots of A-MAX, VMAX, and nosler BT bullets.

But take a look at the ballistic charts, and tell me there's a useful advantage to them, in a realistic hunting scenario, at realistic ranges. For a 7mm RM zeroed at 200 yards, there is only a 4 inch difference in drop by the time it gets to 400. -16" vs -20" Rare is the hunter capable of sooting a 4" group at 400, so the drop is within the margin of error anyway.

 

[todbartell]

CT Ballistic Silvertip is the Combined Tech Nosler/Winchester bullet

basically a Nosler Ballistic Tip with a Lubalox coating

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[Fall Guy]

What is a C/T Silvertip Ballistic Tip ?

I had the same question - what is C/T, so I Googled it.

Well, here is a quote from Nolsers website:

CT, Combined Technology and Ballistic Silvertip are joint registered trademarks of Nosler, Inc. and Olin-Winchester

Edit - I see where TB beat me.

 

[prosper]

The Hornady Interbond is a true bonded core bullet, they're very accurate and also damned cheap!

Not anymore. Prices are shooting up as much as 60%

Nosler Partition is a great bullet in any caliber...

Yep.

 

[Gatehouse]

On the contrary, I think they're great match/varmint bullets. I use lots of A-MAX, VMAX, and nosler BT bullets.

But take a look at the ballistic charts, and tell me there's a useful advantage to them, in a realistic hunting scenario, at realistic ranges. For a 7mm RM zeroed at 200 yards, there is only a 4 inch difference in drop by the time it gets to 400. -16" vs -20" Rare is the hunter capable of sooting a 4" group at 400, so the drop is within the margin of error anyway.

Realistic advantages of an Accubond include:

Generally more accurate than many other controlled expansion bullet.

Generally easier to find an accurate load with than many other controlled expansion bullets

Increased BC for those who wish to shoot longer

Easy expansion for those that choose to shoot longer

Terminal performance similar to a partition

Less costly than a partiton or other controlled expansion bullet



Nothing wrong with a Partition. They arent' gimmicks either.

 

[prosper]

I'm not trying to cause an argument here, I don't feel strongly about this issue at all, so please don't take any of this personally. It's not a big deal, and not really worth argung about, but hey - this IS the Internet But I gotta say you're not really convincing me. I'll concede that these bullets are far superior to the long range hunters out there (+500yds), if you'll concede that 90+% of hunters who use these bullets aren't long range shooters (bull#### aside)

Generally more accurate than many other controlled expansion bullet.

'Cause sub-MOA accuracy is so terribly important in a hunting rifle. If you can put a bullet into a pie plate at the range you're hunting at, the difference is nil.

Generally easier to find an accurate load with than many other controlled expansion bullets

That's not been my experience. Also see my first point.

Increased BC for those who wish to shoot longer

Sure, but this is a small portion of the people who use these bullets. Far more hunters think themselves 500-yarders than actually are.

Easy expansion for those that choose to shoot longer

True, but 'easy expansion' is directly proportional to 'decreased penetration.' Plus, see my previous point.

Terminal performance similar to a partition

Depends on which particular plastic tip we're talking about. As you pointed out earlier, there are a wide variety of them available. As a general rule of thumb though, the all offer faster/earlier expansion, which also means less penetration. On large game, a bullet does not need to expand at all for the first few inches.

Less costly than a partiton or other controlled expansion bullet

Again, some are, some aren't. But who cares - these are hunting bullets, not high-volume match/varmint bullets. You won't NEED many of them, so your costs stay reasonable whichever way you go.

Nothing wrong with a Partition. They arent' gimmicks either.

May be more fair to say they WERE gimmicks, decades ago. Gimmicks from that long ago that are still around have established themselves very well, and moved from 'gimmick' status to 'mature, tested and established' status. Indeed the Partition has become the benchmark big game bullet. This is not to say that the design can't be improved upon, or bested by another. But IMHO it hasn't, yet. New designs show a lot of promise and given some time to establish themselves and build a field-proven track record.