Combined Technology Silver Tips

[7mmXBOLT]

Not sure if this is the right place to say this!


I have never really been a Nosler bullet guy before but I felt the need to commend Nosler / Winchester for producing a very accurate bullet in my Browning 7mm. The CT 140 behind 63.5 grains of RL-22 will produce an amazing" worst case" 0.122 CTC "5 shot group" with an average velocity of 2980 FPS and a E/S of 6 FPS from this factory rifle. I weight sorted a box of 50 bullets and all were between 139.5 & 140.5 for the entire box. That is excellent! I have tried 140 Barnes TTSX & 140 Berger Hunting VLD which were pretty dam good but the CT's beat them hands down in the accuracy department. I only hope their terminal performance is as good which to me is every bit as important as accuracy.

Nice job Nosler!

 

[JD338]

7mmXBOLT

Welcome to the forum, glad to have you here.

The Nosler line up of bullet offerings are designed got on game performance as well as accuracy. I don't think you will be disappointed with the on game performance and just how fast deer sized game will drop with a properly placed bullet. The 7mm 140 gr BT/CT kills Whitetail deer like lighting. :wink:

Good choice on the powder, RL 22 is a terrific powder in the 7mm Rem Mag. You are shooting some fantastic groups, congratulations.

JD338

 

[DrMike]

7mmXBOLT,

Welcome to the forum. While all major bullet manufacturers make every effort to produce a quality product, and each produces bullets that work, Nosler bullets take second place to none. The CT BST is a fine bullet that works well on game. You'll find that the E-Tip and the AB will produce equal accuracy in most situations. Surprisingly, some of my most accurate loads in my 7mm RM are with Partitions. They produce surprisingly accurate loads, considering the complexity of the bullet. I would not (and do not) hesitate to recommend Nosler bullets to any conscientious hand loader.

 

[hardpan]

7mmbolt;
I have used the combined tech bullets before on a variety of game, including long distance deer and hogs. Great bullet. On mine, I get a fast opening hard hitting bullet. I have not tried them on really large game, but I use accubonds for elk.

Basically, you have a great ballistic bullet with rapid expansion, and lower fouling. good luck with your loads!
Hardpan

 

[7mmXBOLT]

Thanks guys for the warm welcome.
Ya, very impressed with it's accuracy to say the least. I have always used Barnes & Berger bullets because they have worked for me in the past. Not only did the RL-22 perform well with this bullet but RL-19 & IMR-4831 was equally impressive. I found that if I kept the velocity between 2900 & 3000 FPS "my rifles sweet spot" they worked very well. It didn't matter which powder I used, it was the velocty that was key! I had targets with a CTC of .092 & .088 for a 3 bullet group out of 5 rounds fired. The .122 is a 5 shot group which produced the best E/S in velocity.

I have recently aquired a 25-06 barrel for one of my Prohunters and will be doing the work up for it. I have plans to put the CT on the list of bullets, is there another I should try? I thought the E-Tip would be another good choice. I'm thinking with the smaller caliber / bullet size & the velocity involved with it, that a solid copper contruction would give me the best down range terminal performance. Is there a muzzel velocity I should aim for that this bullet will perform best at? I am looking at 250 -350 yards at deer size game. How well does this bullet retain it's mass after impact and more importantly what could I expect for a wound channel? In other words is there a impact velocity that allows this bullet to do it's job?

 

[JD338]

The E-Tip is not yet available in .257 cal. For your 25-06, I would look at the 100 gr BT, 110 gr AB and the 115 gr BT with RL 25 and Retumbo powders.

JD338

 

[Anonymous]

The E-Tip is not yet available in .257 cal.

JD338

Yet... :wink:

 

[JD338]

The E-Tip is not yet available in .257 cal.

JD338

Yet... :wink:

JusMO,

Can you give us a hint? Maybe a small hint like 257 cal 100 gr E-Tip kind of hint? :wink: :wink: :wink:
Any timing?

JD338

 

[Anonymous]

JusMO,

Can you give us a hint? Maybe a small hint like 257 cal 100 gr E-Tip kind of hint? :wink: :wink: :wink:
Any timing?

JD338

Maybe you just hit the nail on the head. :grin: I'm not sure on timing yet.

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

That would be just about right for those small Kalifornia deer.

 

[7mmXBOLT]

Well I ran a conformation test today with the three powders mentioned above and it looks like the IMR-4831 is what I am going to use with this bullet. Muzzle velocity average is 3033 fps for an 8 shot test group with an E/S of 8 FPS. Group was a wonderful .098 @ 100 meters. Temperature was 87 degrees with a relative humidity of 68 percent. Now of course I will have to reconfirm this when the temp drops to the normal hunting range, 25-40 degrees but I should still be good when that time comes. I may have to bump up the charge a half-grain or so to get the velocity back to what it is now.

Now because this bullet has a moly coating, what are the recommendations for cleaning the barrel and maintaining accuracy? My thoughts are to clean the rifle spotless for now and then just before the season opens, run 10-20 rounds and zero the bullet on paper. I have read that you want the moly coating to build up to were the accuracy levels out. Some bench rest guys have said they fire as many as 100 to 200 rounds before cleaning, but I just can't bring myself to let it go that long.

Anyone have some good advice as to what they would do?

 

[DrMike]

Congratulations on a super load! That'll make each of us envious, for certain. I wouldn't worry too much about maintaining the precise velocity, as any loss of velocity will be negligible.

The coating on the BST is proprietary and not a moly coating. Clean it as you would a non-coated bullet. I keep my rifles cleaned to the metal after each range session, except during hunting season when I ensure that I have at least one fouling shot in those rifles that do not have the same POI when clean as when fouled. Each will get a thorough cleaning at the end of the season before storage.

 

[JD338]

I do not shoot coated bullets. I do clean my rifles after a range session and put a light coat of Rem oil through the bore.
I only exception id my M700 LSS 338 RUM. She shoots great with a clean bore. The picture below shows a 3 shot group from a clean barrel. The black oil ring was the first shot.

JD338

 

[7mmXBOLT]

JD338, thats a great group! Looks like the AccuBond bullet if I'm not mistaken. I have not tried that bullet "yet" but I may have to.

DrMike, that's good news that it's not moly coated, I thought it was. I will go head and clean as always. I will have to test to see if my barrel likes a little fouling or if it shoots better clean with this bullet. I typically clean after each shot when sighting in because your POI changes a little after the first shot from fouling and I want my first shot to hit it's mark. Usually I don't need a second.

I use Bore Tech Eliminator or Hopps #9 Bench Rest copper cleaner to clean my barrels, would these be the right stuff to use? I also have Moly Magic by Bore Tech designed for moly coated bullets, would this work as well even though their not moly coated or do you recommend something else?

Thanks Guys

 

[DrMike]

Virtually any good copper remover will work, provided you follow the directions. I have used a number of copper removers (Butch's Bore Shine, Hoppes Copper Remover, Sweets 7.62, CR10, G96 Copper Solvent, etc.), and each one worked to do what it was designed to do. I have not used the Moly Magic, so I am unqualified to comment on whether it will work in your situation. You can try it, but I suspect that it should be reserved for a time when you are shooting moly-coated bullets.

The only coated bullets I have ever shot were the CT Fail Safe and the BST. My 300 WSM preferred the 180 grain FS, and shot it very well. I am parceling out my remaining stock as I shoot the 300. I have loaded the 140 grain BST for my 280, and it shoots them very well indeed. When working up a load, I clean after every group to ensure that I am maintaining the same conditions for each set of loads. Thus, I clean after every three or five shots, depending upon how many bullets are in a test load. In that manner, I always begin from essentially the same condition, permitting a valid conclusion concerning the load. I suspect that consistency is more important than a hard-and-fast rule, however.