Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Guns N Gear Nosler ballistic tip vs Nosler Accubond

Ballistic tips at 06 velocities work great. Even in 150 grainers. I had a hot loaded 300 short mag and shot a doe at 15 yards once with 150 ballistic tips. It failed miserably . Tracked it through the thickest crap imaginable. We recovered her and after looking at her internals when gutting her, the bullet disintegrated. It made a huge entry wound and just dissolved in the chest cavity without a great deal of trauma to the organs. It didn't even appear to even damage the offside ribcage..

The ones that I didn't get a exit required a track job but the internals were destroyed. I have used them for years and haven't lost a deer. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I couldn't tell you what BT's do or don't do as far as expansion, as I have never recovered a single bullet. Never lost a deer shot with one either.

I have killed critters with BT's in 7mm-08, .308, .243, .25-06, .280 Ackley, .257 Roberts, and .260 Rem that I recall, maybe a few more calibers.

Not all BTs are created equal. Some were designed with heavier jackets than others, even in the same caliber.

The 95gr .243 and 120gr .284 are two with the thicker jackets.

All of the current production BTs are tougher than the first generation ones.

The BTs are fine whitetail medicine.

I've shot a lot of deer with both the BT and AB in 7mm-08. I'm an AB convert after using them the last four years or so. Maybe it's just I've been making better shot placement with the AB, but the deer just seem not to run as far, and I get more pass-throughs and good blood trails. But sure, a BT will kill a deer too.

I would not shoot BT's in light calibers or anything running over 3k + FPS.

In something like a .308 in 165's or 7mm-08 140's, 30-06 165 or 180's you can't tell much difference between them or Accubonds.

The main thing that BT's have going for them are that they are very accurate bullets. When I'm working up a load on a new rifle that's my first go to for tuning one. Most rifles love them.

BT’s are dang good deer killers. Just keep em at moderate speeds and you won’t have any issues.

I'm shooting accubonds in my 308 now. So far they are very accurate and have dropped the only deer I have shot with them in her tracks.

I thought about you when I shot this one Thanksgiving afternoon.

175 yds, .308 150g NBT. Bang, flop, dead instantly. Didn't have to chase him, didn't have to track him, didn't have to hire a dog. Just scooped him up with the FEL and carried him to the shed.

The blood is the relatively small exit hole, but the other side of him was mush. I meant to take some trolling pics for NBT threads on here, but I was too tired. I kept our streak going with this one; 55 years of hunting the place without ever killing a 130. He was 126 and 5/8.

Ummmm... Preacher... You can't do that on ALDeer unless you shoot a 100 grain Barnes from a 6.5 Creedless.

Need to shoot em before the get too big and the meat gets tough. Can't believe you got a pass through with that explosive BT.

Good shot and nice buck, preacher.

My experience with ballistic tips was either bang flop or no blood trail/ possible loss. Figured out that they were fragmenting on impact and very few were getting exits. I’ll add that this was with hot calibers and several were probably 150 yards and in. I always bought the Winchester silver tips so I can’t speak for the Nosler variant. I lost a good buck to one and that’s the last I used them. Now I use something bonded and haven’t had any of those issues. A buddy of mine shoots the accubond with excellent results.

Big difference in my opinion.bt do not stay together well at all if you make perfect shot it's super quick kill but if hits any bone it blows up without pass through much better as a varmint bullet.accubonds have same accuracy but stay together but still open up good for the quick kill more like a partition

I guess the ones I have shot with NBT which then died with two broken front legs and an exit wound were some sort of miracle?

I’ve shot quite a few with 140bt out of a 7-08 running about 2750 and I shoot’em right in the shoulders and get exit holes 90% of the time. That being said I probably wouldn’t do the same with something pushing them 3k or faster. I do shoot the accubonds in my 280 and some other faster rounds and I love them. I’ve never had a BT fragmentation on anything running under 3k, not saying it’s not possible but this is just my experience.

I loaded 125 BT's for my 30:06 and boy were they hot. I had the problem of the bullet fragmenting upon impact. I started shooting them in the head to save the meat. I don't load them that hot anymore after talking with Nosler. The problem with the bullet fragmenting is the deer absorbs the full shock and dies but it might be 100-200 yards away with no blood trail to follow. Nosler advised backing speed down to 27-2800 fps range. That's what i did, and problem went away. Even get pass throughs with BT's. Go figure.

I have shot enough with the .308 caliber 150g bullet going 2920 at the muzzle that I'm convinced it's a great combo. I have never shot a faster load and don't doubt that they can be pushed too fast. I also wouldn't use them in a smaller caliber. I have a friend who insists on using them in a 243 and I got tired of chasing his deer with no blood trail to speak of.

I have never failed to get some sort of exit, but sometimes it's very small. But it doesn't matter because one like that is always drt.

I shot a 200ish pound buck Monday evening with a 120 grain NBT out of a 7mm-08. Hit him dead behind the shoulder at about 175 yards and he ran over 200. Did not find him until Tuesday morning. The bullet did not exit and I could not believe he toted it like that.

I hope this helps.

Shot dozens of deer in Alabama with .300 weatherby mag 180 gr BT. Perfect bullet.

Switched to 180 gr accubonds to elk hunt in Wyoming.

POI was completely different from BT but still extremely accurate. Both worked well.

180 gr BT were perfect for Alabama deer. However I was shooting them out of a .300 weatherby. They never “blew up” nor destroyed deer. But they always exited. Not sure how they would work from lesser caliber guns.