Reloading stuff

I posted last night and it does not look like it went through. Hmmm. The question was regarding advanatges of Nosler of Sierra as the only Nosler bullets I ever loaded before were .41Mag and I ended up going back to Sierra. I shot a batch of Nosler Ballistictips 140 grain for me .270 this afternoon and decided that I don't want to hunt deer with them after picking up shards of Nosler copper jacket up from behind the target. They magled the ground good but did not penetrate well and literally shattered to the point tht not one of the bullets retained any lead in them. My area has a slope behind it so If I dig I can retreive bullets. This time I just moved dirt back and forth with my hands across the surface and retreived the bullets.

The Noslers look as though they will work great on cougars and coyotes but for deerI think I will feel more comfortable wit hthe ol standby, The Sierra Boattail Spitzer. I know many people who like the Nosler Ballistic tip for deer hunting and at loger ranges they might not fragment too badly, but I would like to feel confident that the bullet stays together at 100 yards as well as 300! Well its just around the corner, enjoy deer deason all, as for me I am going to chase cougars tommorrow! mauser 270

I shot a batch of Nosler Ballistictips 140 grain for me .270 this Sooooo, what you are telling us is that we can disregard what the ballistics experts have told us and that we don't need to make up batchs of ballistic gelletin or even wet news print...but use dirt, rock and gravel to mimic flesh and bone?

# I shot a batch of Nosler Ballistictips 140 grain for me .270 this #afternoon and decided that I don't want to hunt deer with them after picking #up shards of Nosler copper jacket up from behind the target. They magled the #ground good but did not penetrate well and literally shattered to the point #tht not one of the bullets retained any lead in them.

As Buzz mentioned you are using the wrong testing media for you bullet performance research. You should do some checking on wet-pack to test the bullets for expansion and weight retention. Shooting them into the ground and then pulling the pieces out is not the way to go.

While wet-pack is not as good as ballistic gelatin it certainly is much cheaper and after some time spent testing you will start to get a feeling for how a particular bullet will perform. After recovering the bullets keep track of them and keep notes.

******** 'The highest function of ecology is the understanding of the consequences.' Pardot Kynes, Initial Report to the Imperium DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES (Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson) ********

I used the Nosler ballistic tip on mule deer once and almost cleanly decapitated a mule deer buck. I switched to the partition and have been real happy with the results. I only recovered one slug since I started using them. They are real accurate and never fail to expand and blow a nice channel through the elk. I use a .300 ICL and it sends the 180 grain out at 3380 FPS. I am trying core-lokt this season just for grins, and to save some cash. If a core-lokt will shoot tight in your rifle, there is no need to look any further for a hunting bullet.

Any more even the standard factory ammunition is pretty accurate stuff and CoreLokt does shoot very well in my rifle. After first getting and sighting in the new scope I shot a three shot group that I could cover with a dime. Normally I shoot Sierra Game kings as they perform well but I wanted to see the hubbub of the magical Plastic tipped bullet. I would shoot the Partitions but they are very expensive and I have grown fond of Sierras boattail. It is nice to try something new every once in a while just for shits and giggles. mauser270

I believe that the original Nosler Ballistic Tip was a thin walled varmint bullet designed to break up on impact with very soft tissue. Somewhere along the line, Nosler decided that the poly tip was a great idea for protecting hunting bullet tips as well and started using the tip on them as well. The problem was (and is I guess) was that Nosler called this bullet Ballistic Tip as well.

I believe the big game Ballistic Tip bullet is actually Noslers old Solid Base bullet with a poly tip. What Murray described happening to his mule deer sounds to me like an extremely rapid mushooming varmint bullet used for the wrong game animal.

Can't tell you about the ballistic tip but I use Partitions in .308 and get excellent expansion and no fragmenting. I can photo a pic next week (I'm moving right now) of the one I shot last year - entered the neck in front, went through the chest cavity and stopped just under the skin behind the off shoulder. Excellent expansion - nice 8 point buck dropped in his tracks.

Gee Buzz I guess I can award you the Jackass of the year award. Your comment was sooooo very helpful. My session started out simply as a load test to find the tightest group not to test the expansion of the bullet, so I did not feel the need to carry 50 pounds of wet newspaper 150 yards out on the range to see what the bullets were doing.

This particular 'shooting range' is an old skeeter trail right off the side of a logging road that happens to be level for 125 yards and clear with a slope behind it. So many people shoot here so often that it is safe to say that this slope gets plowed atleast 8 or 12 times a day by those of us who are constantly out there pumping lead into it as our bullets fly through the targets to this medium which eventually stops the forward momentum of the projectiles being launched. This clay is no longer hard packed nor has it been for quite some time. It is not uncommon to go back there and pick up the pistol lead off the ground or take your camp shovel and dig a little bit and find your bullets. Normally they come out fairly well expanded and it works well enough to give you a general idea although definetly not an accurate scientific analogy. I can say that beyond a shadow of a doubt this was the first time I went back there and picked up shiny shards off the ground by simply swiping the lose dirt on top back and forth. I new they were mine because of the the depth of the ridge where the boattail started.

For the sake of argument I have intended on shooting into wet news paper this weekend to see whats happening in that medium.I can think of better things to spend money on that gelatin. Thanks Alex for useful reponse it is truly appreciated. I only posted my findings from this particular range because I have been shooting there for so long I have come to know what to expect from it and was truly surprised to find what I did. I expected to find more drastic expansion than a standard bullet. I did not expect to find the lead completely peeled out of the jacket.

mauser270

Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson)