Nosler Ballistic Tips vs Barnes hollow points
 

I used to use 30-06 165gr Barnes hollow points and loved the way the shreded vitals in the deer I shot. I've had them break right through shoulders and backbones on white-tails at 200yds. I recently switched to 165gr Nosler ballistic tips seeking a bullet with better pentration for elk. I would rather use hollow points because they seem fly a little better from my rem 700 sps and I have had great results with their performance on deer. I just a few questions if anybody could provide some insight that would be great.

1. Will nosler ballistic tips expand well and do a good job on a white-tail or will they just sail right through?

2. Are barnes hollowpoints good enough for larger game like elk?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, the Ballistic Tips will do a good job on Whitetails. They are actually a bullet that tends to open up a little quicker than a lot of other designs, so you won't have to worry about it "sailing" right through. In my opinion these bullets are designed for deer sized game, but will also work on larger game.

If you're talking about the Barnes TSX or the original Barnes Bullets, they are solid copper and require a hollow point in order to expand. They are not designed like a regular lead core hollow point. So yes, if that the Barnes bullet that you are shooting, they are a very good choice for elk. They would be a better choice for elk than the Ballistic Tips would be, at least in my opinion.

If you say you switched to Ballistic tips seeking a better penetrating bullet for elk, I'd say you're definately going the wrong way. If you want penetration and a sleek bullet, try scirroco, interbond, accubond etc. Not sure what the bc's are on the TSX, but it would out penetrate the other three I listed.

Your questions are reversed.
" Sail through'' is more likely with the Barnes as it is a solid copper bullet.
The Barnes are the better choice of the 2 for elk.
The ballistice tip should function good with proper bullet placement ( boiler room ) With the Barnes you'd have more room for error. If you happen to hit the shoulder blade it will have a better chance of rendering an elk im-mobile than would a jacketed bullet like the ballistic tip. IMO

Barnes
 

Have used the Barns hollow point in my 270 years ago. I beleave it was 90 or 110 grain as I wanted more velocity out of the 270. Hit a nice whitetail buck 90-100 yards quartering away over the lt. hip and found the bullet intact under the skin of the rt. shoulder a distance of at least 24 in. through soft tissue (all I had to do was take a nail file to it and I could have reloaded it). Great penatration no expantion. Never used them again and switched to Nosler Partition since and as a matter of fact just collected a buck this am at 100 yards with a good results small entree and exit with both lungs and both atria gone he went 50 feet. I would concider Nosler Partion for Elk ........puphood1

I currently use the 168gr TSX out of my 30-06 but find its just too much bullet for deer. It kills em' dead every time but does a lot of damage if you dont hit them just right. I've lost more front quarters than I can count from shots that I would have considered to be excellent placement.

I'm going to be switching over to the accubonds for deer hunting and if or when I go for moose or elk, I'll stick with the TSX or Partitions.

My friend shot a deer this year using the TSX out of a 243 and I heard it worked really good. But for me, out of my 30-06 TSX on deer = J-E-L-L-O.

I used Nosler ballistic tips on my mule deer.There was a huge hole on the exit side fist sized.I used Barnes on my Whitetail very little meat damage.They were both 130 gr fired out of a 270WSM

I can't say enough good things about the Barnes TSX!!

I have shot deer, elk and moose with this bullet in various diameters.

From what I have seen the bullets have performed perfectly! Non has ever given me the indication that they did not open properly.

To each his own.

X2 The B Tips are less likely to penetrate well and will certainly ruin ALOT more meat if you have a poorly placed shot.

Thanks guys.

In all fairness to Barnes the early bullets had epansion [hardness] problems.I had one fail on a big mulie buck .The bullet had a bent nose and could have been reloaded and shot again while the second was classic petal epansion.Subsequent WT and BH ewe ran off like they had been shot with FMJ and simply fell over after 50 yards and died.No blood trail.I personally talked to Randy Barnes about this and he's the one that filled me in .Back to the Nosler BT personally I've seen eratic results ,usually on deer under 100 yards .Bullets blowing up like grenades with huge holes on the out side.Very accurate which is why people like them but I don't use them anymore.Strictly Hornady/Partitions [ Sierra Pro-hunters in the .250Sav]..Harold Not slammin your bullet choice but I didn't care for them.

I would not recommend using the Ballistic Tip or the Accubond on deer or anything else for that matter. They are just too expansive as soon as they hit the animal. There is a LOT of ruined meat even on a pass-thru shoulder shot. They only times I got good performance with not a lot of damage was on shots past 300 yards. They would probably work well at velocities around 2500 fps.

If you just want the animal dead - they do a good job, but I will be probably be trying the TSX or possibly A-frame for next season. I used to use the Failsafe in my .270 and I thought they were wonderful, but they went out of production.