I finally got a chance to test this bullet in my standard media(water filled milk jugs). Yes, I understand it's not ballistic gel but it IS something I've used previously so I can compare other performance fairly uniformly.
Nosler factory loaded 168 grain "Bonded Defense" from a 20" Rem 700 carbine @100 yards. Chrony battery was low so I didn't get a velocity but expect to be above 2800fps. Penetrated 4 jugs(approx 32") and a corner of the 5th before exiting the side due to slight mis-alignment of the jugs. I didn't have enough jugs for a second try but will give it another go if time allows.
I'm not sure what Nosler is expecting us to "defend" against but this load will penetrate a LOT of stuff. I'm going to use it on my elk hunt if the terrain will allow shots under 250 yards. This amount of penetration is similar to the 160 partition from my 7mmRem mag with an initial energy transfer that seems more violent(jugs #1 & 2 were totally destroyed) probably due to the small flat meplat of the 168 grain bullet.
The box indicated this is appropriate for semi-auto type platforms and it did have slightly less recoil than the commercial reloaded 165 grain BTSP ammo I've been using. On sale, this ammo cost a little less than off the shelf commercial ammo. It's maybe a bit of "overkill" for deer but definitely will get the job done. The flat meplat will hurt long range use so keep that in mind.
Nosler factory loaded 168 grain "Bonded Defense" from a 20" Rem 700 carbine @100 yards. Chrony battery was low so I didn't get a velocity but expect to be above 2800fps. Penetrated 4 jugs(approx 32") and a corner of the 5th before exiting the side due to slight mis-alignment of the jugs. I didn't have enough jugs for a second try but will give it another go if time allows.
I'm not sure what Nosler is expecting us to "defend" against but this load will penetrate a LOT of stuff. I'm going to use it on my elk hunt if the terrain will allow shots under 250 yards. This amount of penetration is similar to the 160 partition from my 7mmRem mag with an initial energy transfer that seems more violent(jugs #1 & 2 were totally destroyed) probably due to the small flat meplat of the 168 grain bullet.
The box indicated this is appropriate for semi-auto type platforms and it did have slightly less recoil than the commercial reloaded 165 grain BTSP ammo I've been using. On sale, this ammo cost a little less than off the shelf commercial ammo. It's maybe a bit of "overkill" for deer but definitely will get the job done. The flat meplat will hurt long range use so keep that in mind.
