Nosler ballistic tips
 

This year was my first time using Nosler Ballistic tip ammo in 150 gr for my 30-30. My groupings for target practice were fantastic. But.. I had a 100 yard shot on a mule doe entering the rib cage and hitting the opposite shoulder. The bullet barely expanded on impact. With a great shot and an impressive blood trail I ended up tracking it 80 yards. Ive only used Hornady for the past decade and wasn't impressed thus far using the Nosler for hunting. Anyone else experience this with Nosler Ballistic tip ammunition?
Pic below of bullet found.

I have no experience with the ballistic tips in 30 cal but we shot 3 animals this fall with the 120gr ballistic tips using a 6.5 Grendel. 2 whitetails and a bull moose.

I only recovered one of the bullets and it was mushroomed just as you would expect. In my opinion they are great hunting bullets for the slower moving calibers.

Stinky? That you?

30-30 does not have enough velocity

LOL.

Nope. I am pretty fond of the Grendel though. Just prefer to use bullets intended for hunting.

I've taken plenty of large deer with the 30-30 and never had an issue. My last mule buck was taken at 158 yards with Hornady interlock 150 gr 30-30 1 shot dropped him. 100 yards should never be an issue on a deer.

I had the opposite issue… the 30 cal 150 grainers when driven at 300 wsm velocity would not penetrate through a jug of washer fluid. Just expanded and blew apart.

I’m actually surprised that the expansion seems so small on your recovered bullet.

Cup and core bullet so it works well at 30-30 velocities.

Almost looks like the top half of the core broke off and seperated from the jacket.

Just a small hint:

30-30 velocity ~ 2390 fps.
300 Win mag ~ 3340 fps

The bullet shown did EXACTLY what it should have done, it did not fail.

Nosler makes great bullets, EXCEPT for the Ballistic Tips. That particular bullet is very well known for highly variable results. Push it too fast, it grenades, push it too slow or at real long distance it acts like an FMJ. I would never use them on game, the Hornady of Cup and Core bullets designed for 30-30 velocities are a far better choice and display much more predictable expansion.

Have a look at this link. The pictures of the bullets show you what Nosler says expansion should look like at various velocities, your recovered bullet looks nothing like that and my experience says your outcome is pretty common.

https://www.nosler.com/products/bull...r-hunting.html

I have killed dozens of big game animals with Ballistic Tips, without an issue. The thing about them, is that every caliber/weight seems to be an individual, and there have been multiple versions of some. The current 180gr/.308" is a tough bullet, as is the 120gr/7mm, yet the 130gr/.277" is a very soft bullet.

The Nosler ballistic tip 140gr in .284 is a great bullet in my 7mm-08, I have never tried it in any of the various 7 mags that I had over the years but at 7mm08 velocities it preforms just fine, have taken a couple deer and 1 moose with that combo.

The fact that your doe shot with a 30-30 went only 80 yards and left a good blood trail and you recovered the bullet would say that it preformed, no it's not a perfect mushroom, I have recovered about 20 bullets over the years from various animals in calibers from 270 on up to 338 and very few of them are perfect like the manufacture shows in their pictures, but all the animals were very dead.

As already stated above it's all about speed. The ballistic tip is a violent expander when driven fast. It performed exactly how it was designed in your 30-30.

Elk11 - the differences in bullet hardness/softness between calibres, weights, the regularity with which Nosler changes bullets in the ballistic line all add to the variability and unpredictability of the outcome with those bullets. If a guy finds one that works good in his cartridge, and Nosler doesn't go and change it on you, then no reason not to use it. In the OP's case, the bullet he has did not work well. Guy has to go with what the specific bullet does in that application.

Waldedw

Most of the recovered bullets I have are either Hornady cup and core, or Nosler Partition, a few assorted others and a very few Barnes. Almost all of them show the classic mushroom, or four petal Barnes outcome the manufactures post pictures of. Bullets that don't end up looking like they should or display too much/too little weight loss etc are exactly the bullets I never use again, even if it is only one time. Good shot placement will make a dead animal even with sub-par bullet performance, but I want the bullet that performs precisely because you don't always get perfect shot placement.

KR and 6.5 - look at the picture again, there is absolutely no mushroom. This is what Nosler says that bullet should look like at 2400 FPS, right off their website, the recovered bullet looks nothing like Nosler's designed outcome.

https://www.nosler.com/media/catalog...WR_525x525.png

Just had another look at the photo on the original post. Are you sure that was a Nosler ballistic tip?

The photo clearly shows a cannalure but according to Noslers website the ballistic tip doesn’t have one. Maybe they were designed differently in the past. As others have mentioned Nosler has tweaked the design of specific bullets in the past.

Factory loaded nosler bullets sometimes have a cannalure on bullets that do not when purchased as components. I’ve got a bunch of .257 accubonds that have a cannalure as well.

https://www.nosler.com/media/catalog...-highrez-1.png

I have used BT’s on deer in .308 (165gr) and .257 (115gr) and both bang flops. One at over 200yds and the other at 100yds. My go to bullet for deer.


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Don’t show that to the Barnes haters.

100 percent a nosler ballistic tip. It's all I bought this year when I seen that was all I could find on the shelf.

The mushroomed bullet (150 gr Hornady interlock 30-30) pictured was from a mule deer at 158 yards from the same rifle. And I've found a dozen bullets and they all were similiar mushroomed.

That bullet performed as it was designed
2100 fps for a advertised muzzle velocity probably means your getting sub 2000 fps in real world conditions with a real world short barreled rifle

Your not going to be getting much expansion at those speeds
The softer lead and thin jacket at the tip wiped away and didnt stay with the bullet.
Hornady performance looks pretty similar
Both look pretty poor

Will a 30/30 work, yep
Would i ever use one, nope

Interesting. I had no idea that factory loaded bullets sometime differ from the component bullets. I’ve never come across that before, but in the case of the 30-30 it makes sense. The round nose is completely different than the typical ballistic tip (at least the component bullets).

Learn something new every day on this site…

The nosler ammuniton for the 30-30 isn't your stand Spitzer BT. It is a round nose so it can be used in the 30-30 safely by not setting of the round in front of it like a pointy version of the BT. It is not constructed close to the same as a standard BT as it does not appear to have lead in it and also has a cannelure. Only 2 cartridges are offered with the round nose ballistic tip too. I would not expect it to act the same as a different shaped BT bulletwith a different structure. With this cartridge it has less than 1/2 the energy as the 308 win at 100 yds when both are using BT's. I would say you have proved that its not a good fit for the 30-3 and its far from a standard BT by nosler.


https://www.nosler.com/30-30-caliber...free-50ct.html

Reminds me of the old Imperial Sabre-Tips, blue for 150’s and yellow for 170’s.

Well, when I see these sorts of threads I smile, because I reload.

170gr. Speer FN and a healthy sore of Varget, or 4895 and things just work.

those would be 30/30 etips or "et"
these are the non leaded version for california

the ones the op is using are the leaded bt version

Ahh the old CIL Sabre tips....
brings back memories of hunting with Dad.

anyways..I would think these are a response to Hornady's Levervolution.
Always had a pass thru using the Hornady.
A buddy uses the Fusion 3030 rounds. Loves them. Again pass thrus.

As far as Ballistic tips..I use a 95r gr on the 243. Hammer time.
Never walks off more than 20 yd with a standing broadside.
Used Barnes didnt like them...just a laser hole.
If i need to buy ammo its Fusion..it like the Ballistic Tip

I could not find any other RN 150 gr. bullet on Noslers site.

That is not a Ballistic Tip that is a different lead free bullet offered by Nosler. Nosler does sell the Ballistic Tip for the 30-30, and it does have a lead core, but a rounded tip. I posted a picture of the actual 30-30 Ballistic Tip ammunition in post #18.

At 100 yards that bullet is only doing 1778 fps. I'm with Marky Mark on this one. As I look at the BT link that shows expansion at various velocities, it appears to have expanded within Nosler's parameters. The animal obviously died, and 80 yards is not a long track. Did what it was designed to do. I guess.

Yes, the 30-30 has killed a lot of game. It sure wouldn't be my choice for anything though. It simply is what it is.