Heavier 6mm hunting bullet - Nosler listening?

[Aussie Wanderer]

I do sometimes wonder with the small calibre bullets that are great for target shooting at longer range and then we seek a hunting bullet to do the same, whether we are asking more of these cartridges than we should

Maybe I am just getting old and the brain is losing its plasticity.

 

[desertcj]

I do sometimes wonder with the small calibre bullets that are great for target shooting at longer range and then we seek a hunting bullet to do the same, whether we are asking more of these cartridges than we should

Maybe I am just getting old and the brain is losing its plasticity.

Never hurts to ask! Though, we may not like the answer….lol

 

[badaxeriverman]

Yep, that’s what I’m saying. Every year I hear a lot of hate for projectiles on the Internet because someone used a plastic tipped high BC target bullet on a deer and then claimed the bullet failed. It was the hunter who failed to pick the correct projectile and then complained it’s the bullets fault that wasn’t designed to the job. A heavy for caliber plain old cup and core bullet will work for any whitetail on the planet. The issue is everyone gets caught up in the plastic tip marketing hype. I use plastic tips for predator and varmint hunting only the last few decades….accept for a deer I shot a couple seasons ago to see how the 90 grain ballistic tip would do on a deer. BTW it worked awesome! Sure cup and core bullets are not sleek and sexy. They also never seem to shoot as tight as ballistic tip for me…but they don’t have to for deer size game.

 

[HeathSexton]

The Hornady 105 HPBT is a serious good bullet. I almost cannot believe how well it has worked each and every time from a 243 Win, 6 ARC to a 240 Wby. It is a deer bullet, no if, ands or buts about it. In my older stuff, the 95 BT is also really good, but lacks some length, but for the older 1-10 guns, it's dynamite as well.

The Hornady 105 hpbt has been stellar in my .243’s on everything they’ve hit.

 

[badaxeriverman]

I have shot countless coyotes and bobcat and everything else with 6 mm diameter projectiles but I only shot one deer and posted about it here with a 90 grain ballistic tip. I don’t know if I would need anything else on a Whitetail in my area. It did one heckuva job. I’ve shot enough predators with that bullet that I figured it would do really good on a deer and it did. I had them leftover laying around for almost 25 years because I switched over to the 70 grain version right off the bat for predators. I’m sure the OP is asking because everyone has came out with all these new goofy .224 and .243 calibers with superfast twists to stabilize super long target projectiles with high BCs. Exact opposite of why I own four 243s. Two of them I’m running over 4000 ft./s with 55 grain ballistic tips so they shoot flat to almost to 400 yards. 70 grain version I’m running at 3650 out of my 26 inch barrel and can shoot flat it out to almost the same distance. I have no interest in shooting a long, heavy high BC bullet out of anything 6 mm. Sure would like some heavy for caliber round noses that would smack something in the close range Deerwoods, but I already have a few 35 Remington‘s for that with the same amount of recoil along with a 200 grain projectile. IMO More devastating on a deer than any 243 loaded with anything. There’s a 200 grain cast hollow point that I loaded up in my 35 Rem. It’ll shoot under MOA out to 200 yards. Never tried it further than that.

Finally shot a deer with my Marlin 336 and our 200 grain HP group buy!

I used 50/50 alloy plus 2% pewter. It had a BC of 10.4 and was PC’d and GC’d. I had it loaded with 40 grains of varget with a velocity of 2100 FPS. It was a little destructive but slammed my deer on the ground like it was hit with Thor’s hammer! I took out both lungs. I am still hunting and...

castboolits.gunloads.com

 

[desertcj]

I wouldn’t mind something in the lighter direction either. 55gr, 70gr and 80gr E-tip could all be interesting.

 

[badaxeriverman]

I want a Partition with a ballistic tip shoved in the front of it. IMO that would make everybody happy. The best of both worlds. The perception of being at massively aerodynamic, and still blowing the front end off immediately and holding up a lot of weight retention. Don’t wake bonded bullets. Fragmentation is my friend for energy dumping, dropping their tracks performance. If I was trying to shoot an elephant from end end, maybe I’d be excited for a bonded.

They can bring back the Partition gold and stick a plastic “marketing tip” in it as well.


How about a ballistic tip with a Partition in the bottom of it? It would blow the front end off like dynamite, and still have the base blowing through the opposite end of the deer or whatever you’re shooting. Tons of rapid kinetic energy transfer and an exit to boot.

 

[Hunter26]

I want a Partition with a ballistic tip shoved in the front of it. IMO that would make everybody happy. The best of both worlds. The perception of being at massively aerodynamic, and still blowing the front end off immediately and holding up a lot of weight retention. Don’t wake bonded bullets. Fragmentation is my friend for energy dumping, dropping their tracks performance. If I was trying to shoot an elephant from end end, maybe I’d be excited for a bonded.

They can bring back the Partition gold and stick a plastic “marketing tip” in it as well.

That's essentially what the AB & ABLR are. The AccuBond behaves a helluva lot like a Partition. Sheds roughly 30% weight and if you want more, try the AccuBond Long Range. Check my post in the 6.5mm bullet tests forum. I shot a buck and recovered two 142gr ABLR's. The front half of those bullets fragmented while the base and part of the core penetrated, putting the deer down hard.

As to the original post, I'm always up for more bullet options. I've never owned or killed anything with a 6mm but the 6 GT or an old school 6mm Rem would certainly be cool. Especially with a 115+gr ABLR.

 

[badaxeriverman]

It doesn’t perform anything like a Partition. I’ve used both. The accubonds don’t open up and blow their noses off dumping energy and act more like full metal jackets unless you hit hard bone. The Partition is not bonded in the front in the lead smears right off, causing a bigger wider wound channel with several pieces of shrapnel going different directions. The AccuBond pretty much holds together and just starts the mushroom if he hit something hard enough. To completely different bullets. I’ve shot deer with the same archery shot placements. The Partition blows a giant hole through ribs during entry and the AccuBond normally pokes through like a FMJ on thin skinned game. If the AccuBond was the only bullet left on the planet, I probably would be stuck using it if I didn’t Cast bullets and my lead source ran out. I then would aim for double shoulder hits so at least we drop the animal and have to walk up and finish it off like I’ve done in the past with those rotten bullets.

 

[Hunter26]

Oh well, I give up. I've never had an AccuBond act like a FMJ and always get good exits. I've done more double lung shots with them than I can remember without hitting any major bone and always get good expansion in multiple calibers. They shed 30+ % of their weight much like a Partition, which I have killed plenty of deer with as well. I personally wouldn't bat an eye at using any of the Accubonds, ABLR's, or Partitions whether for double shoulder or double lung shots. I know they're going to work like they have for me over and over. Some of the other bonded bullets have much higher weight retention such as the Interbond and Scirocco, usually 90+%. I've used them both and they do awesome as well.

 

[JD338]

I've used AB's to take well over 100 crop damage deer and never had one pencil through. They have always expanded and exited leaving golf ball size holes.

JD338

 

[badaxeriverman]

I believe you I just think they probably just use too hard of an alloy when they first produce those bullets. I Cast lead bullets. I’ve used them with too hard of an alloy and they don’t expand and almost pure soft lead, and they open up like a varmint bullet at the same velocities. I just think there was probably a super hard run of lead alloy that was bonded inside those occupants when they first came out. It’s about all I can think happened with two different batches of them. I would guess they probably change the practice to a softer alloy sense since people have had good luck with them. They just left a bad taste in my mouth to the point where I’ll never use them again. It’s been a couple decades since they came out so a lot has probably changed in. Nosler isn’t gonna tell you they switched Brenel hardness with their alloys in those bullets and that it varies from batch to batch which I’m sure it does. Add core locks do the same thing over the decades. I’ve had some splatter and come apart versus some that make perfect mushrooms. That’s because of how hard and malleable the lead is, or is not, inside the jacket. It’s just like going to McDonald’s and getting a bad cheeseburger. The quality isn’t the same every time and normally you are going to know it with a projectile until it hits an animal. I would assume Nosler has gotten all the kinks out of that projectile over the decades, but there were issues with it. Definitely when they first came out as I found out on several deer. I’ll have to see if I have any of those laying around left. I’m pretty sure I do. I might have to cut one of each open and test the alloy hardness.

 

[RL338]

I've used AB's to take well over 100 crop damage deer and never had one pencil through. They have always expanded and exited leaving golf ball size holes.

JD338

I totally agree with you. I’ve only ran the 180gr AB out of the 30-378 and did a number on deer. Nosler’s 3050fps show extensive mushrooming.
I do have a bunch of those 180gr AB C grades I could test next year in 30-30 thru 300 Wby. To see how they expand.

 

[badaxeriverman]

For some reason, they all penciled through my deer with very little damage when I inspected one field dressing and cutting up my deer. Sounds like they must have changed the alloy inside to a lot softer lead, which is good to hear. I’m guessing I had a couple boxes of defective bullets with super hard lead alloy that kept them from expanding properly. I know I’ve read some other testimonials with similar results when they first came out across the Internet. But just like my post people don’t believe it because they’ve had good luck with them. Kinda reminds me of rage broadheads. Some guys can’t get them to open up on deer and some guys claim they put giant holes in them. Had the same issue with the red collar crossbow ones not opening up. I can shoot them completely through a black target, and they would never break the red collar. Half a dozen deer, a coyote and a turkey and a red fox later none of them opened up except for one blade once. Rage swapped me out with no collar version. They have opened up every time on animals and entering my block target… knock on wood.

 

[JD338]

My wife is using the 180 gr PT Grade C seconds in her 30 Nosler and they work very well on deer.

JD338

 

[badaxeriverman]

Well, I remember there were early reports of the first years of production. Accubonds not opening up. I did a quick Google and photos and found this.

Bad bullet? No expansion...

This is one round that I recovered from the grizz I shot this year. Hit it twice and the other bullet blew thru. This round was found just under the skin while skinning. I shot the grizz at 60 yards with a 300 win mag 180 gr federal premium nosler AccuBond. The first hit was slightly quartering...

forums.outdoorsdirectory.com

There were a few other ones, but I guess I’m not alone. I would assume they fix the problem early on since everybody’s having great luck with them so maybe I’ll have to try them again someday. Just probably never on a deer again since it’s not needed for thin skin game unless I’m shooting a super small underrated caliper that I need penetration on. The guns I tried them in are overkill for deer in my opinion and should’ve opened them up and flattened them out like a penny. if I still have enough of them in each box, maybe I’ll call Nosler and send them in for testing? Since they’re both sitting around, I’m never gonna use them again anyway except for plinking or barrel fowling so they’re not doing me any good sitting on the shelf with what I have left of each of them. If you read some of the early reports on it, they were kind of all over the board. I’ve read the same accounts like mine on deer and pronghorn with the same shot placement of broadside, heart and lungs. Then there were reports of shallow penetration in the bullet blowing up like a VArmageddon or vmax with super shallow penetration and no exit. I think they were in the experimental stage back in the day when they first release them or they were juggling lead alloy sources with different hardnesses. I’m sure none of us will ever find out the truth in what happened with the early production ones but it sounds like they had some issues right off the bat. Like I said it sounds like the problem has been fixed because everybody seems to have had good luck with them, but it left enough bad taste in my mouth that I don’t think I’d ever wanna try one again.

 

[orchemo]

Word from my Nosler contact is 2025 will be a good year for heavy for caliber 6mm bullets.

My 6mm CM really shoots the 107 Sierra BTHP with H-4381SC. Not the fastest load, but little groups.

 

[desertcj]

Word from my Nosler contact is 2025 will be a good year for heavy for caliber 6mm bullets.

My 6mm CM really shoots the 107 Sierra BTHP with H-4381SC. Not the fastest load, but little groups.

I hope that is true! I like my .243 with a 9 twist barrel(Handles 105gr hpbt) but I need an excuse to swap it out with an 8 or 7.5 twist in something a little more exciting like .243 AI or even 6 PRC.