E-tips???

[Mooswa]

So is it just me and the fact that I do not have time to dwell on forums much for big chunks of the year or is there somewhat of a lack of info getting published on forums and elsewhere of hunters using E-tips? I see stuff just about anywhere you look on the old tried and true Partitions and lots of lip flapping about the Accubonds.................... but sweet tweet from E-tip users.

I am guilty as well. Have used E-tips minimally since their introduction. Quite a few boxes of them on my shelves waiting to be utilized............ and waiting for more E-tips to be introduced in calibers I use frequently. Hard for me to use them much when they have little or no selection for cartridges I use most of the year.

Just wondering. It's about -34 with the windchill outside, am procrastinating on the outside chores. :wink:

 

[DrMike]

I'm working with E-Tips on several cartridges. I like them, especially in cartridges that generate at least 2700 fps muzzle velocity.

 

[JD338]

The E-Tips were offered as an alternative for the Lead Free hunting areas and guys wanting a monolithic bullet. The E-Tip is a great bullet offering excellent accuracy and very deep penetration.
Just remember to use the mid load data as your MAX load because of the longer bearing surface.
Best Accuracy seems to be .100" off the lands.

7mm 150 gr E-Tip

.338 200 gr E-Tip

JD338

 

[Guest]

I've had excellent results with the 130gr E-Tip on a north Alabama white-tail. Shot was about 175yds through a small opening in heavy cover (think densely wooded eastern mountain habitat). I was on one bank of a ravine, buck was on the far side, up about 50yds above me. Quartering shot through the very front of his shoulder dropped him in his tracks. Had to take one more shot to finish him. Frontal shot at 25yds, in at the base of the neck, right side. Literally traversed the entire length of the spinal column (just missed trashing the entire backstrap!) and exited about 2" above and slightly to the right of the base of his tail. That's 4+ feet of penetration. Got the same entry and exit wounds for the 25yd shot and the 175yd shot. In at nominal bullet diameter, out about the size of a half-dollar. Pretty well mimics the results I got from Partitions over the years I used them. Not as violent as the Ballistic Tip. Haven't used Accubonds so I can't say comparatively there.

This was all done using my 270Wby. I've got a 180gr E-Tip load worked up for my 300Wby, and I'll test it out on the next legal deer I see, unless I decide to take my 350RemMag for some stalking work in the deep parts of the mountain tomorrow morning. I can tell you the 180gr from the 300 will amputate the front leg of a coyote from the shoulder down, at 150-ish yards if you lead her a tad too much and hit right at the front of her chest. She didn't get far, after that. She and her friends should have let me kill that doe before they spooked it.

 

[gerry]

You have to wonder how well they are selling since the E tip line up hasn't grown very much. I guess we will see if there are any new E tips for 2013.

 

[FOTIS]

I can find one fault with the e-tips.

They do not produce them in .416 caliber

 

[jmad_81]

I have used them, they shoot good. I took a deer with a 200gr ET out of my 338 WM @ 100 yards. Worked pretty well.

 

[Mooswa]

Hmmmm................ well I think we are all well aware of WHY they introduced the E-tip. Same reason Hornady came out with the GMX. With the 'unleaded' push in some places all bullet manufacturers needed to come out with something to compete with Barnes or lose their market share in those places banning lead and with individuals who are leaning that way regardless.

My thoughts were the same as Gerry actually. We have guys posting to my thread that have used them a bit but I do not see a whole lot of print out there on them. Heck they are not even mentioned in the Nosler Magnum TV shows I have streamed (I do not get regular TV and do not subscribe to hunting channels because most of it is garbage.)

Unless I have missed it............ nothing above the 200 grain .338 last time I checked on their website............... they have not introduced an E-tip in .375 yet, and that seems odd. Overall I get an impression/feeling that they are on hold with the E-tip program as not much has changed for a while. But AccuBond is sure in your face all the time.

 

[FOTIS]

Whatever sells better.

If all our hunting lads were California-ized with leadless demands there would be dozens of new e-tips.

 

[gerry]

I would have tried them but they don't make them in the 6.5, 35 and 375 calibers I currently own, tried them in a 30-06 I had and they were accurate. In truth I have come to prefer a good well built lead core bullet, they do seem to open up much more consistantly but would feel comfortable using the E Tip in high velocity rounds. I wish I could get a couple of buddies to post here, the one shot a very nice Stone sheep in 2011 with a 338 and the 200 gr E tip and the other has used his new Extreme Weather model 70 270 wsm and the 130 gr E Tip to take 10 blacktail deer and one moose in the last 2 years.

 

[Mooswa]

I am the same as you Gerry. Tried them in my .30-06. Not interested in the 200 grain .338 and they don't make them for anything else I shoot regularly. I have always been a fairly loyal Nosler customer but I do try other stuff as it comes along if it interests me and of course when they don't offer it. I would guess we all do.

I certainly like the Partitions and Accubonds, Swift A-frames, etc ......................... but I also aim to have a good unleaded recipe for all of my go to rifles, recipes that I know work. You never know when you may suddenly find out you need it, as opposed to choosing to use it.

The 275 grain NonCon from CEB are tack drivers out of my .375 and have really put the hammer down on the few critters I have pasted with them so far. I think I will keep playing with them for a while. So far I would have to say they definitely bring about a more dramatic reaction on impact than the TSX/TTSX on similar shot placement............... and they certainly penetrate as well.

My couple of tries with the GMX didn't really get out of the starting blocks as they did not shoot worth beans in either of the rifles I tried them in.

 

[JD338]

Whatever sells better.

If all our hunting lads were California-ized with leadless demands there would be dozens of new e-tips.

Exactly.

JD338

 

[gerry]

I am the same as you Gerry. Tried them in my .30-06. Not interested in the 200 grain .338 and they don't make them for anything else I shoot regularly. I have always been a fairly loyal Nosler customer but I do try other stuff as it comes along if it interests me and of course when they don't offer it. I would guess we all do.

I certainly like the Partitions and Accubonds, Swift A-frames, etc ......................... but I also aim to have a good unleaded recipe for all of my go to rifles, recipes that I know work. You never know when you may suddenly find out you need it, as opposed to choosing to use it.

The 275 grain NonCon from CEB are tack drivers out of my .375 and have really put the hammer down on the few critters I have pasted with them so far. I think I will keep playing with them for a while. So far I would have to say they definitely bring about a more dramatic reaction on impact than the TSX/TTSX on similar shot placement............... and they certainly penetrate as well.

My couple of tries with the GMX didn't really get out of the starting blocks as they did not shoot worth beans in either of the rifles I tried them in.

The 200 gr E Tip is one heck of a good bullet though...... Another guy I know has taken a lot of critters with them and they have performed very well.

 

[Guest]

I'll tell you my opinion, based on my own (limited) experience, as well as corroborating stories from several of my friends. Monolithic bullets are terrific in fast chamberings, and in lighter weights in regular chamberings. Where I shoot a 168gr BT in my -06 at 2900fps, I'd opt for a 130-150gr monolith if I were forced. In my 270Wby, I could shoot anything from 110-160gr, and I consider the 130gr E-Tip a "do-all" bullet for North America, at least for anything short of the big bears. I have talked to a number of folks who have used that same 130gr E-Tip on elk and moose, including some folks here, with great success. Even on some long penetration shots I might choose not to take because I didn't want to clean up all that mess from busted guts...

If I were forced to go monolithic in all my rifles, I'd drop bullet weight in all but the hyper-velocity rounds (243Win, 270Wby, 300Wby). There just isn't anything my 180gr BT will do from my 8x57 that a 160gr TTSX won't do, and then some. That's one I'd wish for Nosler to bring out if we couldn't use lead anymore - a 150-160gr .323cal E-Tip. Of course, for me, in Alabama, it's a long ways off.

 

[Mooswa]

Dubyam I think that is a fairly widely held opinion about these types of bullets. I have always dropped back one or two 'sizes' when using TSX/TTSX.

Gerry the reason the 200grain .338 E-tip does not interest me personally is because I have a load with the 210 grain TTSX that is one of the most accurate big game loads I have ever had and I have used it in the field a bunch with excellent results. Have a good supply of them and see no need to mess around with anything else because of it.

Looking to pick up a .243 for my wife and so I may give those 90 grain E-tips a whirl in it when I find what I am looking for.

 

[Wincheringen]

I've only used them in my .280, and they are very accurate. Haven't shot any game with it yet though.

 

[SJB358]

Never used the ET's. I have some for my 300WSM, but I got sidetracked with the 180AB's. Might have to give them a try in the 338, just to see what they do.

 

[DrMike]

E-tips have served me well for three seasons now, accounting for moose, elk, whitetail and mule deer from my 270WSM and moose from my 338 Federal. I like 'em.

 

[gerry]

Would be a great choice for your 338 WM Scotty

 

[SJB358]

Would be a great choice for your 338 WM Scotty

I may keep my eye out for some of them Gerry.. I have some work to do with the 210 PT's and 250's as well..