Banged up bullet tips?

[Craig_S]

I have a 700 BDL 30-06, using 165 grain Sierra Game Kings.

After loading and unloading a number of times, the bullet in the chamber gets a little bent/smashed on the lead tip. I try to be careful, but I think the tip catches on the side of the chamber when extracting. Sometimes they get serious enough I whittle on the tip a little to straighten it out.

My question is: How much are slightly damaged bullet tips going to affect my accuracy? Anybody else have this problem?

Craig

[KOTTKE]

save yourself the headache and buy a new box of shells. Shooting nicked up shells is like shooting bent arrows, you never know where there are going to end up. Newtons law states that if you keep those old shells you will see the buck of a life time only to spray shots all around him or worse yet, land a bad hit.

[Duck Matt]

I have a remington LSS 700 in 7mm RUM and my gun does the same thing to my bullets, but i have had no noticable loss in accuracy, there is no way to avoid this when the shells are fed from the magazine.

[mntraveler]

I switched to the fedral premiums with the teflon tips (ballistic I think). No more knicked up tips. However, these probably aren't the highest rated bullets for whitetails.

[Craig_S]

I was thinking about the nylon-plastic tipped bullets. That should solve the problem if expansion is adequate. I'll have to do some research.

It doesn't take long. After last weekends hunting I've got 5 more that look a little tough. If I'm supposed to buy a new box of bullets every weekend, I think I'll get a new rifle. I have several other rifles that don't seem to have this problem. But this one does drive tacks well out past 100 yards.

Another thing that I've thought of is that a shorter bullet shouldn't strike the tip on eject. The 165 Sierra's shoot fantastic. And I've had trouble with 150's. Is there a shorter 165 or better?

Craig

[USDA3]

We use the Federal Nosler Ballistic tips for deer. Granted it is in the .308 cal in 150 grains, it is available in the 30-06 in 165 gr. It is a flat shooting bullet with 2155 ft lbs of energy. Does very well with whitetails, great knock down power and is extremely accurate. The polymer tips don't get fouled during loading and reloading.

[Gadgetman]

Careful with those ballistic tips, you may rip your deer a new A--hole. They make a very large exit wound. We have banned them with our group due to excess damage. Shoot one in the neck and you will have to find a new way to hang them

[almostthere!]

Gadgetman is hit the point on ballistic tip ammos. They are nothing but junk, in my book. We too have outlawed the use of ballistic tip ammos in our hunting circles. The damage is unreal and lead slivers are everywhere if you hit bone.

Go with something hard, like Barnes X or Winchester Fail Safe ammos. The only two polymar tip bullets I would consider using are Barnes MRX and Winchester XP3.

[Blair Nelson]

Nicked soft points don't matter much on a hunting bullet. IIRC a uniform base is much much more important than a uniform point.

Don't worry about the boolit tip. You'll likely not need more than one anyway.

[USDA3]

Craig- To each his own I guess. Our agency has had great success with these Nosler Ballistic tips from federal. I do know what they are talking about with the exits from neck shots, but if you move the shot placement closer to the base of the neck where it meets the body, the bullet will usually not exit. Still, @ 90% of the deer we shoot here do not run and require no tracking. We have found that this bullet has had the greatest success over many popular brands and styles.

I also agree with the comment about the fouled tips don't make too much of a difference in most situations, but with that said I guess we're always looking for an advantage. Also the Barnes line of bullets in the 30-06 are about $10 more expensive per box. Or perhaps the govn't is just trying to save some taxpayers money and go with the cheaper bullets! Just my two cents.

[Craig_S]

USDA3,

I'm assuming that's the Dept of AG? Do you do some deer culling or something? I firmly believe in internet anonymity, so if you don't want to give details that's OK with me. I'm curious about your experience level and results. That's all.

I don't take neck shots. I'm a heart/lung man. With dinged up bullet tips.

Craig

[USDA3]

Craig- if you post your email I can fill you in on some of the expereinces we've had with these ballistic tips!

[Borch]

Several of our hunters used the Nosler Ballistic tips in the 140 gr 7mm-08. If you put it where it belongs the the damage is minimal. If you hit bone the damage increases dramaticly. This is true with all fast expanding bullets with or without the ballistic tip. Use and heavier constructed bullet and you get less of this with a bone hit but you also get little expansion when you slip one in behind the shoulder. This equal a small exit wound with little kenetic energy tranfer to the animal. So it truely is pick your poison. We train our kids to put them in the boiler room. Neck shots are discouraged for our younger less experienced hunters.