Notable experiences with Noslers?

Guy Miner

Master Loader
Apr 6, 2006
17,746
5,822
.30 cal, 180 gr Nosler Partition from .300 Win mag: one shot, one hog - back about 1985 or so - first time I'd hunted "big game" with a Nosler Partition

7mm mag, 175 gr Nosler Partition: one shot, one bull elk - biggest doggone thing I've ever shot with any bullet.

6mm Rem, 95 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip: one shot, one mulie (13 year old son's first Nosler experience)

NRA "long-range high master" award - earned with 155 grain Nosler Competition bullets from my .308 Win Model 70 - sometimes I really can read the wind! :grin:

Those are the notable high points of my experiences with Nosler bullets. Yours?
 
Guy, they're notable indeed. Mine was with the first mule deer I had taken at long range with my 280 Remington, loaded with 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, at around 2900 ft/sec. This was pre-rangefinder days but, fortunately, my hunting buddy had the new Redfield Accutrac mounted on his 300 Win Mag Sendero. With it, he was able to accurately estimate the distance to the deer - which according to him, was at 600 yards. My rifle had the Simmons Pro-50 equipped with BDC then. I had enough confidence and practice to be able to make the shot so I turned the BDC knob to it's maximum sitting and placed the crosshair just behind the deer shoulder, 3/4 below the spine. At the sametime, my buddy cautioned me of the slight breeze coming at 9 oclock, which I totally ignored. I held my breath and slowly squeezed the trigger. The rifle barked and instantaneously, I saw the deer collapsed in front of my eyes.
 
I shot at a large whitetail buck standing at 193 yds. with the 140 gr Ballistic Tip from a 270 WSM. This load was starting at over 3200 fps.

The buck fell at the shot and I was sure I had him. :oops:

I reloaded and when I looked up he was standing. He took one small step forward and I hit him again in neck shoulder junction and he went down again.

Upon dressing this deer I found that the first shot hit way back over his abdomen just under the spine. I had shot from prone and I called my shot but ?? In this particular mystery I say that the magnum load and the fast expanding bullet shocked its spine and numbed the buck. Neither bullet made an exit.

This deer was so heavy that I could not even drag it across a cut cornfield. I leave the liver and heart in them to keep those organs clean so I ripped them out and I could not budge the fat thing and I weigh 193 lbs myself.

I got the farmer to come out with his front loader!
 
Since I pretty much only hunt w/ Nosler bullets, I have so many great hunting moments:
First big game animal
First African animal
First elk
Nosler has been good to me. :grin:
The only rifle I don't use Noslers in is my 404jeffery & that's only because they don't make them. Come on Nosler, step up & make me whole
 
I was stalking the red clay canyons on the Canadian river in the Texas panhandle. I heard some other hunters shoot so I planted my butt behind some sagebrush to see if something flushed out. Directly, a nice young mule deer came trotting down a creek about 250 yards away and turned up the draw I was hunting.

I placed the cross hairs of my .30-06 on his throat where it met his chest. Since he was coming my way, I held my fire. At about 60 yards, he stopped on a low rise to look over his shoulder. When he turned back, I squeezed the trigger and sent a 150 grain Ballistic Tip headed his way.

He dropped like a sack of feed. When I zipped him open, I saw the bullet clipped the top of his sternum and went to work. It looked like a hand grenade had exploded in his chest. Everything forward of the diaphram was destroyed and small, scapel-looking cuts were made clear back to the kidneys. Fortunately, due to the shot placement, very little meat was lost, but it was an impressive display of what a fast, quick opening bullet could do.
 
Isn't that the truth? For deer, I still think it's hard to beat the Ballistic Tip. Accurate, opens fast and produces a whole lot of damage inside. Drops deer quick! :grin:
 
When I was 10 I took my first deer with a 140 ballistic tip from my 270, took out both lungs and painted the cedar tree it was standing in front of red, I would say it did its job.

Took 2 deer with the 270 WSM this last season with 130 ballistic tips, first one was quartered towards and I put the cross hair on the shoulder closes to me, took out the shoulder split the heart in two, and it broke 3 ribs on the way out. Thats the fastest I seen a deer die ever, very happy with the results!

The second one I took at about 150 yards, quartered away from me, hit it at the back of its ribs and it took out the back lung, for me not making that good of a shot the little B-tip damaged most of its vital organs.

I cant say Ive had a bad experience with them, and there damn accurate too!
 
Well I have taken 100's of deer with the Partitions,but my most notable ones were my first "big game" animals when I moved to Alaska.I shot my 2 Moose and my second Black Bear (first was with a bow)all with a 180gr Partition out of my old .308 Win.

All were one shot and drop kills.Could not have been happier with the penetration and expansion on these big animals.

Tim
 
I've also been using Noslers for a long time but my big event was 2005 & 2006 elk. 2005 was a 6 point bull and a cow with a .375 RUM using 260gr A/Bs. The next year a cow elk with the .338 RUM 225gr A/B. After 20 years of going dry on elk Nosler came thrue with the A/Bs that delivered.
Thanks Nosler!!
Good Hunting :grin:
 
I've been using Nosler bullets for 25 yrs now, my first Antelope, Black Bear, Mule Deer, and Elk all fell to single shots with PT's. I also shot a couple of WT bucks back in 1990 when Nosler introduced the 225 gr PT for the 35 Whelen.
I took my Caribou with 140 gr BT from my 280 Rem and my first handgun WT was with the 250 gr PT from my 44 Mag.
Recently, I shot my personal best group with the 160 gr AB from my 280AI. The 100 yd group measured .092".
I have several rifles that have only shot Nosler bullets.
Needless to say, Nosler bullets are all I use.
I'm Noslers biggest fan. :grin:

JD338
 
I've had one elk and one bear fall to Nosler Partitions. I took my elk at 250 yards one shot wiht Federal Premium 150 grain ammo. She was pretty much DRT, she did slide about 10 yards down hill. I took a bear in AK this May wiht 200 grain Partitions pushed by 52 grains of H4350 and CCI 200 primers. Again DRT when I took out both front shoulders, I did shoot him again to be sure.
http://noslerreloading.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4546
 
The only notable experience I've had is that properly chosen Nosler bullets that were loaded and accurately placed always work. I've yet to be let down.
 
The only nosler experiences I have had were great! All instant kills and no tracking needed using a 30-06 with 165 ballistic tips. In fact, this was the combo used to kill my first deer on a dead run from an old grown up railroad bed. I shot it through the ribs when it got about even with me and it plowed the dirt. This was 1993 (it took me until I was 18 to break the ice and now it makes me wonder why so long since I usually get at least one a season, but such is hunting). So much for all the stories of earlier ballistic tips exploding and all this talk about them not working at close range. The deer was maybe 15 yards from me!

My most memorable experience was one afternoon a couple years later. My dad dropped me off by a powerline near the road and then went to park his truck and get into his stand. I was to give him a half hour or so to get in position and then hunt my way towards him so I could "push" anything his way but not necessarily run them out ahead of me. Anyways, I walked in and waited on the far side of the powerline and took a stand and just looked around. Not long after, I caught a glimpse of a head and an antler 75 yds away just above the brush to the left of me on that powerline. I put the scope up and he was laying down looking right at me. Put the crosshair on his right eye, dropped the bueler safety, bang! Didn't see anything after the shot. Walked up and found the bullet hit it right in the eyeball and turned his head to cottage cheese! My dad came to me after a few minutes (he barely parked the truck when he heard the shot). I'm not sure who gets more excited him or me! He saw where the bullet hit and the next thing he asked was "where did you mean to hit him?" I can honestly say that the bullet went exactly where I aimed. Most liklely more luck than skill was with me that day, but what a great day it was! We didn't have to drag it very far either.

P.S. the deer was wounded by another hunter and that explains why it didn't get up and run off like most normal deer would have long before I saw it. We felt good to put it out his misery...real quick like!
 
........most memorable, definitely Africa-Namibia!

7mm-08 w/ 140 gr. AccuBond. None needed tracking. 8)

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........most memorable, definitely Africa-Namibia!

375 H&H w/260 gr. Accubonds. None required tracking. 8)

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It took reloading to introduce me to the excellent bullets that Nosler makes. I hunted for years using other brands only because that is what Remington and Winchester sold in the "under $15.00 a box" ammo. But when I started reloading 5 years ago, and started working up my recipies for the different caliber rifles I used, Nosler bullets, more often than not, kept being the most accurate and typically gave me the results on game I wanted.

Now the 1st loads tested always start with Nosler bullets and more often than not are what I end up with using for target as well as hunting.

Long
 
I started loading in the early '90's for a 308 and 30-06 and I tried using nosler balistic tips. My rifles just didn't like them (Now I know that I most likely could have found a good load for them - inexperience). I just had a bad taste for them and started using Sierra SMK's. I just baught a 300 WSM and wanted to find a bullet that would have a reasonably high bc and good weight retention for deer and ELk. Tried Hornady Interbonds, Swift Scicciro's, Barns XTC's and finally I gave in and tried Nosler Accubonds. Just shot the two best groups of my life at the range with them! 200 yards and 5 shots in .72" and .98". I know that isn't that great for a custom rifle, but I was shooting a Factory Tikka off a bipod! After this season we will see how they fair on White Tail.
 
Last week with a 180 grain Partition out of a 700 in .30-06 flavor riding 57 grains H4350, stuck into a 250-lb black bear. In through left shoulder, destroyed that, then the heart, and what I assume to be the rear core came back out; could not find the bullet on the ground. He moved about 2 yards and died.

While I might have saved a little more meat with a pure heart shot, the bullet did exactly what it was supposed to do. Enough said.

I've introduced lots of prairie dogs and chipmunks to the .22 caliber ballistic tips, but this was my first experience with a big game Nosler bullet. It sure as hell won't be my last. 8)
 
Bob,

Awesome pics! Congratulations on your safari.
Would love to hear all the details!

JD338
 
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