.172 caliber Nosler Bullets--pictures

[Silverfox]

A friend of mine from Oregon was at the Nosler 2nds Store last week and noticed some 20 gr. HP .172 caliber seconds available. He picked up a couple packages and shipped them to me. Here are a couple photos of them alongside the 20 gr. V-Max, 25 gr. Hornady HP, and 25 gr. V-Max. The 20 gr. bullets are around .493" long--base to tip. On my Stoney Point comparator they measured from .247" on up to .260" from the base to the ogive. Weights of these 20 gr. bullets varied from 19.82 on up to 20.02 gr.

The first two bullets in each photo are both the 20 gr. Nosler FB HP bullets. The one on the extreme left did not have any lead in it!!! It weighed in at 6.94 grains!!! They WERE labeled as seconds, but I didn't think there would be any bullets without lead in them???? :eek: :eek: I will definitely weigh all of these bullets before reloading any of them.

Side view. The dark tip that appears on the bullets is the reflection of the top of my table on the sides of the bullets. The bullets DO NOT have dark tips--SORRY!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/Silverfox_ND/17%20Rem%20w-Pac-Nor%20Barrel/20%20gr%20Noslers/Side-View--small.jpg

Top view:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v62/Silverfox_ND/17%20Rem%20w-Pac-Nor%20Barrel/20%20gr%20Noslers/Tips-Text--small.jpg

There is some material partially closing the tips on some of the bullet, but I think they will open up quite nicely when they hit gophers and prairie dogs.

[JoeZ]

LOL. Just kidding, that could be ugly. I wonder if the jacket would make it out of the barrel. So much for consistancy.

[Ladobe]

Appreciate the update, picutres and specs. Very interesting considering a little history with Nosler and 17 caliber bullets.

Back when they first started their forum up (literally almost on day one) I initiated a long discussion with them about producing 17 caliber bullets. Many other people jumped on the bandwagon, including some from this forum I believe, and to a man all were diplomatic. Lots of very experienced 17 caliber shooters though making very strong points about just how much business they were turning a deaf ear to. It quickly became a topic they ignored and left both the questions and comments unanswered. None of us could convince them to get into that market - period. The unspoken (by them) bottom line, I don't think they felt they could be competative in that market, against Hornady especially, but also the other bullet makers producing the higher quality 17 caliber bullets at the time. It's not as easy to make precision 17 bullets as the BG hunting bullets they were pushing hard at the time either, so maybe they weren't up to the challenge. Guess it's one of those never say never things if they are in fact now playing with making the 17 bullets. I haven't been back to their forums since, but if they do archive the threads on it the entire debate could be found and read by anyone interested to read exactly what their attitude was at that time.

At less than 7 grains its a pretty fair sure bet that bullet was suppose to have a lead core and doesn't. It should never have been made available for sale even as a second. No doubt a serious safety issue and less than stellar quality control from Nosler. IMO you are spot on not loading any of those bullets without weighing every single one of them. The sloppy hollow points may be why they are being peddled as seconds. Even so, still a poor reflection on Nosler's QC.

By far the best and most devastating mid-weight .172 bullets I've ever used are the machine turned/polished 24 grain FBS 12% copper alloy bullets that Fred Smith and Eichenberger were doing about 20 years ago. I'm down to about 300 of them though.

FWIW-YMMV

L.

[Mntngoat]

You mean this one?, that was over 3 years ago. I was one of loud voices taht went unheard as well.

http://noslerreloading.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=31&highlight=calibers&sid=8554512e68ab2917b3d1ad01aac8018a

ML

[Ladobe]

Yep. They started the forum to promote business, then ignored customers offering them ideas for what would be large volume sales. I was so disgusted with the way Nosler handled it that I edited to remove my comments on that thread and never went back to their forums. Haven't used any of their products since - haven't missed using them either.