shot a deer with 90gr .243 nosler ballistic tip?

migrant hunter

migrant hunter

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Anyone got first hand experience with this bullet?
I'm loading them for this year. Accuracy is great, but reading very mixed reviews. I would like to test them on wet phone books, but wondering if anyone here has used 90gr bt's?
 
migrant hunter said:
Anyone got first hand experience with this bullet?
I'm loading them for this year. Accuracy is great, but reading very mixed reviews. I would like to test them on wet phone books, but wondering if anyone here has used 90gr bt's?
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I used a 150 grain nosler BT out of my 7mm rem mag last fall. 40 yard shot on a deer left a ####ing mess. I know the two calibers are very different, but I'll stick to a partition no matter what caliber. The BT have great accuracy, but their short range performance on game is less than stellar.
 
I have used the 90 grain BT's with a 243 and I am not using them again. Accuracy was good and it resulted in dead deer but for me I am going to use an 85 grain Barnes TSX. I just want the added insurance of a premium bullet. I would be using the Accubond if they made one in. The 100 grain Nosler Part is also another good choice if your rifle likes them.

I have had great results with 100 grain BTSP from Hornady as well. I guess I just find the BT's from Nosler a bit to frangible for my liking.
 
I have seen lots of deer shot with a .243 and various bullets. At this point I believe the .243 is a bit light for deer sized game. If the caliber is "light" for the game being hunted, I think you should use heavy for caliber bullets that hold together well. The Ballistic Tips do not hold together well in my experience, so I won't use a Ballistic Tip for deer in a .243. For varmints, BT bullets are great, but they are not good big game animal bullets in smaller calibers.
 
I have shot a lot of deer with the .243/100gr bullets in the UK where I used a sound suppressor. When I tried to zero here without the supressor, the rifle did'nt like 100 gr any more. I used 85 gr Sierra game kings last year, they did'nt hold together at all. I will be using 90 gr nosler bt's this year for does and my .308/165 gamekings for antlered muley and whiteail buck.
I can't get decent accuracy with partitions in the .243. It's a shame they don't make Accubonds in 6mm.
 
I can't tell you much regarding 6mm but I've loaded them for a friend in 300 Win Mag. These were 150 grain Noslers and right near the max. They performed very good on Whitetails. Mushroomed nicely and retained most of their weight. Up until I had seen that I was somewhat skeptical but now that I've recovered a couple bullets I would not be afraid to try them. Seeing that I only got drawn for mule does this year I think my 243 Ack will be coming out and I will try some 95gr Nosler/Win ballistic tips.
 
Great Caliber........ great bullet weight....... but.......... crappy bullet choice

Get some 85-95gr Partitions, 80gr TTSX's or 85gr TSX's

The BT's will work if you avoid the shoulder, I just think the weight combined with the bullet design makes a poor choice for anything but a text book broad side behind the shoulder shot. Where as the bullets posted by myself and others will give you deeper penetration and reliability on less then perfect shots.
 
the whole point of the 243 was to give shooters a lighter grained bullet for deer- some of the critters were getting destroyed by 308/150s- esp the whitetail- this gave them a "better" option for coyotes and "light" deer- the bigger whites and mulies still are best with the 150
 
I use a 95gr SST and have never had a problem.

I can't believe this argument that a .243 is too light for deer is still around. Learn where to place a bullet for a clean kill and move on.
 
t-star said:
the whole point of the 243 was to give shooters a lighter grained bullet for deer- some of the critters were getting destroyed by 308/150s- esp the whitetail- this gave them a "better" option for coyotes and "light" deer- the bigger whites and mulies still are best with the 150
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I thought the whole point was to have a deer-legal gopher gun. Sure, some will prefer the term "dual purpose varminter", but isn't that just semantics?
 
Dogleg said:
I thought the whole point was to have a deer-legal gopher gun. Sure, some will prefer the term "dual purpose varminter", but isn't that just semantics?
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That's why I bought mine. Gophers, coyotes, deer and targets out to 500m. I grab it more out of the cabinet than any other rifle.
 
They shot well out of both my 308s, but what a ####ing mess. Makes a hole big enough to throw a cat thru, and blood shot for 8" around the hole. Not bad if you're right down the pipe in the boiler, but I'd go Barnes.
 
I have seen one whacked with a 55 grain Nosler BT at 225 yards being pushed with Varget. The entrance was no bigger than my pinky and no exit hole. Upon skinning there was a 9 inch diameter cirlce of clotted meat. The heart/lungs were just mush and the deer only dashed about 15 yards. I would have confidence in using these bullets on deer but will be using 90 Grainers Ballistic Tips myself this year.
 
A few years back I shot a couple of average White tail bucks 4x4s with 90gr NBT(purple tip). 6mm Remington in a fairly warm load. Bucks were both 100 yards or slightly under.

Both Deer died within 60 yards.

Neither Deer left any significant blood trail.

Both bullets went into heart/lung area and exploded. One completely tore the Heart to ribbons.

Neither bullet passed through.

The close range and high speed of the bullet caused it to come apart upon contacting ribs in the entry wound. Had the Deer been 300 yards away I think the performance would have been better.

I don't use that particular bullet anymore but it will get the job done. Just keep in mind that at close range and high speed the bullet will likely fragment badly.
 
I used BT's on deer last year. 270 win. 130 gr. BT 3000fps

Perfect expansion on the double lung shot.......I cant see there being an issue if you stay away from the shoulder .
 
I think they'll be fine for what I want, which is lungshots on does. I don't shoot deer in the shoulders anyway, and I can pick and choose my shots.
They won't be any worse than the 85gr gamekings I used last year.
 
350 Mag said:
A few years back I shot a couple of average White tail bucks 4x4s with 90gr NBT(purple tip). 6mm Remington in a fairly warm load. Bucks were both 100 yards or slightly under.

Both Deer died within 60 yards.

Neither Deer left any significant blood trail.

Both bullets went into heart/lung area and exploded. One completely tore the Heart to ribbons.

Neither bullet passed through.

The close range and high speed of the bullet caused it to come apart upon contacting ribs in the entry wound. Had the Deer been 300 yards away I think the performance would have been better.

I don't use that particular bullet anymore but it will get the job done. Just keep in mind that at close range and high speed the bullet will likely fragment badly.
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Sounds like a pretty decent deer bullet to me. :confused:
 
bassman said:
Sounds like a pretty decent deer bullet to me. :confused:
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Two aspects of that incident quoted by bassman indicate to me it is not the kind of bullet I want for deer. It did not penetrate completely, and it left no blood trail.

I consider both those factors to be very important when selecting a bullet. The fact that it works much of the time is not good enough. It should work ALL the time. If a bullet cannot pass through a deer on a chest shot, and consequently leaves no blood trail, I think it is too frangible, and can lead to problems with badly angled shots. The best Nosler bullet for deer in 6mm is the Partition or the Accubond.
 
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