Mike Fontaine
Beginner
- Feb 28, 2006
- 129
- 0
Hi All,
Well, how did the Nosler E-Tip perform? Well, I'll start by saying that I had moose steak for dinner! But I would also like to give you some details, so here it goes...
A close friend of mine was picked in a moose hunt lottery for this year. I've been reloading for him ever since he accompanied me on my moose hunt last year and saw, first hand, what a Nosler bullet could do. Anyways, as soon as Nosler introduced the E-Tip he was determined to use this bullet on his hunt. I worked up some loads in 30-06 and we decided on 57g of RL22. Incredibly accurate up to 300 yards with at least 15% more penetration and destructive force than any factory load we tested against (in 180g). Anyway, on the last day of the hunt (10/13/07) we ran in to a large bull at 80 yards. Having a nice broadside view, my friend let one fly for a nice lung shot. Note: the muzzle blast alone should have knocked the moose down. Unfortunately, the moose bolted but we followed and were not far behind. I knew the moose was hit because my friend is an amazing shot and hunter. The moose was in view for a second shot and my friend took it (~100 yards). He saw the impact of the bullet and knew he hit the lungs. Again, the bull ran, but not far. A third shot into the vitals dropped him to his knees for just a few seconds and he was up and gone. Now, about 4-5 minutes after the first shot he had a chance at a rear angle shot and the moose was on the move but you could tell he was not doing well. My friend shot and the moose dropped. When we walked up to the moose he was dead and you could see that the first three shots (6 inch group) were great lung shots. The forth hit his rear hip and was what brought him down. Since we were going to butcher the moose ourselves, it was a great opportunity to do a little CSI work on the moose. The first 3 shots definitely went through the lungs. Two of the exit holes were nearly identical (in size) to the entrance holes. The third hit the rib on the back side (fragmented the rib) and presented an exit wound about the size of a quarter. This must be the one that made him fall. My friend commented that it looked like he was using competition match bullets on this animal. I was a little shocked that there was virtually no expansion of the bullets on such a large animal (dressed-out at 720#). Since the bullets passed right through there was no opportunity to examine the bullets. Here is where it get interesting, there was no exit would for the forth bullet that hit the bull in the rear hip. We were on a mission to find this bullet. When we opened up the moose, we quickly saw what massive damage this bullet could do. The hip joint was completely fragmented (15+ pieces). The bullet must have expanded at this point because immediately behind the hip was a hole the size a a football. We also found the bullet (see below). I can't believe the bullet stayed together. Final bullet mass 166.6g. Only a 7.4% loss in mass after hitting a huge joint is amazing. I usually get a 30% loss in mass just hitting soft tissue.
So my assessment on the E-tip is that I still need to do more testing but I will say I was a little disappointed with the bullet expansion. Again, there are many variables to examine before I decide where the E-Tips fit into my hunting repertoire :wink:
http://www.hunt101.com/showphoto.php?photo=523384&sort=7&thecat=556&password=
Well, how did the Nosler E-Tip perform? Well, I'll start by saying that I had moose steak for dinner! But I would also like to give you some details, so here it goes...
A close friend of mine was picked in a moose hunt lottery for this year. I've been reloading for him ever since he accompanied me on my moose hunt last year and saw, first hand, what a Nosler bullet could do. Anyways, as soon as Nosler introduced the E-Tip he was determined to use this bullet on his hunt. I worked up some loads in 30-06 and we decided on 57g of RL22. Incredibly accurate up to 300 yards with at least 15% more penetration and destructive force than any factory load we tested against (in 180g). Anyway, on the last day of the hunt (10/13/07) we ran in to a large bull at 80 yards. Having a nice broadside view, my friend let one fly for a nice lung shot. Note: the muzzle blast alone should have knocked the moose down. Unfortunately, the moose bolted but we followed and were not far behind. I knew the moose was hit because my friend is an amazing shot and hunter. The moose was in view for a second shot and my friend took it (~100 yards). He saw the impact of the bullet and knew he hit the lungs. Again, the bull ran, but not far. A third shot into the vitals dropped him to his knees for just a few seconds and he was up and gone. Now, about 4-5 minutes after the first shot he had a chance at a rear angle shot and the moose was on the move but you could tell he was not doing well. My friend shot and the moose dropped. When we walked up to the moose he was dead and you could see that the first three shots (6 inch group) were great lung shots. The forth hit his rear hip and was what brought him down. Since we were going to butcher the moose ourselves, it was a great opportunity to do a little CSI work on the moose. The first 3 shots definitely went through the lungs. Two of the exit holes were nearly identical (in size) to the entrance holes. The third hit the rib on the back side (fragmented the rib) and presented an exit wound about the size of a quarter. This must be the one that made him fall. My friend commented that it looked like he was using competition match bullets on this animal. I was a little shocked that there was virtually no expansion of the bullets on such a large animal (dressed-out at 720#). Since the bullets passed right through there was no opportunity to examine the bullets. Here is where it get interesting, there was no exit would for the forth bullet that hit the bull in the rear hip. We were on a mission to find this bullet. When we opened up the moose, we quickly saw what massive damage this bullet could do. The hip joint was completely fragmented (15+ pieces). The bullet must have expanded at this point because immediately behind the hip was a hole the size a a football. We also found the bullet (see below). I can't believe the bullet stayed together. Final bullet mass 166.6g. Only a 7.4% loss in mass after hitting a huge joint is amazing. I usually get a 30% loss in mass just hitting soft tissue.
So my assessment on the E-tip is that I still need to do more testing but I will say I was a little disappointed with the bullet expansion. Again, there are many variables to examine before I decide where the E-Tips fit into my hunting repertoire :wink:
