Nosler Ballistic Tips have been one of my better choices, at least on Alabama whitetails. But, they do have some idiosyncrasies. Here's some info that I have learned myself and from reading and talking to others.
Ballistic Tip
Overview:
Ballistic Tips (BT's) were designed by John Nosler for violent expansion / explosion and medium penetration on light-skinned animals like deer. For most calibers shooting fragile BT's, you're better off using heavier projectiles with larger Sectional Density's (SD's) than you would normally use for a regularly constructed soft point bullet.
Why?
1. Heavy for caliber bullets are better in a BT because they tone down the violent expansion a bit and still have enough weight leftover for a extra penetration or a complete pass-through. Lighter BT bullets often fail to penetrate to the other side of the animal.
2. The shock-value with the heavier BT will still be more than lighter standard soft point bullets like 150-gr. and you get more downrange energy on target with the 180-gr. (fragile) load.
3. Short range shots also suit the heavier 180-gr. round with a higher SD versus lighter weight BT'd bullets with less mass that might blowup too quickly.
4. Raking quartering-away shots obviously benefit from a heavier bullet for adequate penetration.
5. A larger BT'd bullet is also more forgiving if you shoot accidently into the shoulder.
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* Nosler says that beginning with the 30 caliber 180-gr. Ballistic Tips (and larger), the jacket's profile is changed or upgraded to a much stronger contour similar to the AccuBond (shown below). The lead core is also hardened over the 165-gr. and below bullets in smaller calibers - to include the 150-gr. you're considering.
Lighter weight bullets like 165-gr. 30 caliber and lower (shown below) do not have the thicker contour which starts in the middle of the shell and goes down to the base.
In summary, one might infer that the 180-gr. Ballistic Tip is simply a non-bonded version of the AccuBond and, in fact, over the past two years, I have gone almost totally to Accubonds because I can use 140 gr bullets in my .280AI whereas I might go heavier with BT's.
In Summary:
* Soft point bullets generally perform better on deer in lighter to mid-weight sizes, but BT's do not!
* For best performance, Nosler recommends heavy for caliber BT's.
* Reported problems of a BT blowing up too quickly are generally associated with too light of a bullet.
* Remember, remember.... Ballistic Tipped rounds are the exception to the rule!
Ballistic Tips (BT's) were designed by John Nosler for violent expansion / explosion and medium penetration on light-skinned animals like deer. For most calibers shooting fragile BT's, you're better off using heavier projectiles with larger Sectional Density's (SD's) than you would normally use for a regularly constructed soft point bullet.
Why?
1. Heavy for caliber bullets are better in a BT because they tone down the violent expansion a bit and still have enough weight leftover for a extra penetration or a complete pass-through. Lighter BT bullets often fail to penetrate to the other side of the animal.
2. The shock-value with the heavier BT will still be more than lighter standard soft point bullets like 150-gr. and you get more downrange energy on target with the 180-gr. (fragile) load.
3. Short range shots also suit the heavier 180-gr. round with a higher SD versus lighter weight BT'd bullets with less mass that might blowup too quickly.
4. Raking quartering-away shots obviously benefit from a heavier bullet for adequate penetration.
5. A larger BT'd bullet is also more forgiving if you shoot accidently into the shoulder.
___________________
* Nosler says that beginning with the 30 caliber 180-gr. Ballistic Tips (and larger), the jacket's profile is changed or upgraded to a much stronger contour similar to the AccuBond (shown below). The lead core is also hardened over the 165-gr. and below bullets in smaller calibers - to include the 150-gr. you're considering.
Lighter weight bullets like 165-gr. 30 caliber and lower (shown below) do not have the thicker contour which starts in the middle of the shell and goes down to the base.
In summary, one might infer that the 180-gr. Ballistic Tip is simply a non-bonded version of the AccuBond and, in fact, over the past two years, I have gone almost totally to Accubonds because I can use 140 gr bullets in my .280AI whereas I might go heavier with BT's.
In Summary:
* Soft point bullets generally perform better on deer in lighter to mid-weight sizes, but BT's do not!
* For best performance, Nosler recommends heavy for caliber BT's.
* Reported problems of a BT blowing up too quickly are generally associated with too light of a bullet.
* Remember, remember.... Ballistic Tipped rounds are the exception to the rule!
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