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Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

Bongos

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 23, 2004
115
0
20
Garden Grove,CA
I'm new to long range shooting. Was wondering if there was a big enough difference between Nosler and Sierra. In this case a 168gr Match BTHP 308 bullet. your thoughts are appreciated
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

It depends on what you consider to be Long Range Shooting.

Nosler bullets are comparable to Sierra in the accuracy dept, but the 168 BTHP from either firm is an old design, and is not the bullet you want to use to shoot past 600-800 yards.

The 168 is accurate enough and within that range they do ok, but the more popular choices now are the newer 155 designs from Sierra, Berger and Lapua and the 175 or 178 Hornady.

So before you stock up on a particular bullet, consider all the other bullets for what will ultimately be the best choice for what you are intending to do.

TC
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

+1 Topcat
That said if you know what your looking for.
Base it on availability and price. I have shot both and the Nosler Custom is a satisfactory replacement for the SMK. ( IMHO )
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I made up a batch of 155gr using the Sierra Palma bullet. I found two suppliers. 500 bullets for $136 for the Sierra and 1000 bullets for $194 for the Nosler. As you can see the Nosler is the economic choice. I just do not know about the performance. From reading, it sounds like Sierra set the bar standard for other mfg to compete with. But that is reading not real world experience, thus my inquiry

Yes, my max range is 800 yards (I've shot out to 700 yards but just pounding steel,, not real test of accuracy)
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I just bought 2, 250 count boxes of the Nosler 168's. I did shoot sierra exclusively, but I am not seeing much of a difference at close range between the Nosler and the Sierra.

Now if I am reaching out, the Lapua 155gr Scenar is my bullet of choice.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I have shot the 155 and 175 Noslers. They work just as well as Sierras for me.

Justin
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

The Nosler is all I use for my 3 tactical rifles. TRG-22 FN-SPR and Kimber ATR. I find no difference between them and SMK. If going past 500 yrds, I would try somthing else like the Lapua 155'S, high BC and a great bullet
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

maybe my limited use of the nosler 168 slugs make me the exception but i couldnt get them to shoot anywhere near as well as the sierra bullets and at 300 yards they dropped about 1 1/4 inches more i used various loads that i have had great success with the sierra bullets but never could match the accuracy this was done with a 250 round pack and since then i have gone on to use countless sierra bullets and never considered using noslers again but one thing that can be said for them is they are priced right usually around 50.00 for a 250 round pack.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I was kicking the same question around back when I still shot 168s. I loaded enough of both to fire 5 3 shot(I know,I know) groups of each load. Powder,case,primer and OAL were the same. At the end of the day the Nosler shot the best single group,Sierra had the best average,and every shot fired would have been in a 3/4" group. I treat them as the same bullet now. TJR
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I said piss on Sierra years ago, when they were the first to price gouge (in connection with retailers who were trying to price 100s like Bergers), LONG before any "shortages" showed up.

I buy Sierras ONLY when I cannot get anything else, or the less expenses hunting bullets for calibers other than my .308 gun. Am in final testing right now with 155s, choosing between Hornady A-Maxes and Nosler 155s.

At this stage in my life, I'd rather put up with a little more wind drift than pay for Sierras, Bergers or Lapuas. The first two don't even have a foreign currency exchange rate to help their prices keep going up.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

Padron,

I love the 168 and 178 Amax bullets but I have not had any success with the 155s. So far, no better than MOA with an occasional teaser group in the sub MOA range to frustrate me
crazy.gif
. Whereas the 168s and 178s are easily the equal of SMKs in my rifles with several powders.

To be fair, I haven't been very dutiful in working up loads for them as I have assumed all the talk about jump intolerance was the problem in my Remington and might be insurmountable with the 155 amax!
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

They are both good. For .224's I like the Noslers, as the BT's tend to be dual purpose Varmint/Target bullets.

For 6.5's and .308's I like the SMK's because I don't use these calibers for hunting with handloads. When I do hunt with them, I skip the load development process completely, and go with commercial hunting loads.

Greg
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

With the 168gr bullets, I've found that you can interchange them without a loss of POI.

Nosler's are cheaper than Sierra's. Now if I can try the 175gr Nosler's.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I have a great 155 A-Max load but it shows pressure in my M1A. It's regularly sub-MOA in a rifle that's not really expected to do better than MOA anyway.

A new set of tests is due with the 155 Noslers after I get my scope back. It was tracking like .2 MOA instead of .25 and someone forgot to lock down the eyepiece.

Earlier testing of the Nosler 155s, including one OCW run, showed it hovering at 1.0-1.5 MOA, but I really do want them to be reliably MOA or less.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I just put an order in for a 1000 Nosler 155grn for $192 delivered... thanks guys for you experience. My decision was made due to most of my shooting is within the 100-700 yards range pounding steel.. Thanks again
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Grump</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I said piss on Sierra years ago, when they were the first to price gouge (in connection with retailers who were trying to price 100s like Bergers), LONG before any "shortages" showed up.

I buy Sierras ONLY when I cannot get anything else, or the less expenses hunting bullets for calibers other than my .308 gun. Am in final testing right now with 155s, choosing between Hornady A-Maxes and Nosler 155s.

At this stage in my life, I'd rather put up with a little more wind drift than pay for Sierras, Bergers or Lapuas. The first two don't even have a foreign currency exchange rate to help their prices keep going up. </div></div>

So are you just uncomfortable with capitalism in general?
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

DownZero:

I'm not a bit uncomfortable with Capitalism. In Capitalism, the customers get to vote with their wallets, just as freely as the makers, distributors, and retailers can freely choose their prices.

When supply and demand double copper prices on the commodities markets, and the weight of copper in a box of 100 bullets amounts to not more than a dollar, I get a bit miffed when the "materials cost" is used to justify a $5.00 price increase.

You can pay for the name. I'll pay for performance. Some lower-priced products deliver, some don't.

Last thing I want is some Medicare-style price controls from the idiots in Congress.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I made the switch to 175 nosler CC about 6 months ago. I found them to shoot as good if not a little better in my Rem pss. at about $8.00 difference in price, i see no advatage of paying for SMK.

I loaded the same load excatly and had a slight windage correction at 300 yrds to re zero!

I was hoping to keep it a secret so avalibility stayed good.

FYI I did see they are packaging them in 250 counts now. (can not wait for the factory seconds to hit the shelves!!)
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I spoke to Nosler, as far as factory seconds, it will not be sold in volume as a 1000 pc qty firsts will cost less than the seconds. Nosler has 155 grn palma match bullets 1000 pcs for $182. I called Seirra and they say they do not ship factory seconds (so those whom are near to the factory can buy them). lastly, I called Bergers as they are in my back yard (less than 10 miles away), they said there process are so procise, they don't have seconds (you know that's BS)...
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Grump</div><div class="ubbcode-body">DownZero:

I'm not a bit uncomfortable with Capitalism. In Capitalism, the customers get to vote with their wallets, just as freely as the makers, distributors, and retailers can freely choose their prices.

When supply and demand double copper prices on the commodities markets, and the weight of copper in a box of 100 bullets amounts to not more than a dollar, I get a bit miffed when the "materials cost" is used to justify a $5.00 price increase.

You can pay for the name. I'll pay for performance. Some lower-priced products deliver, some don't.

Last thing I want is some Medicare-style price controls from the idiots in Congress. </div></div>

Sounds like you don't understand the law of demand, and what "market price" means.

Price is not determined by the amount of labor or material that it takes to make a product, and economics has not used this theory for about 150 years. It is a Marxist idea that products are valued by their "labor." Google "labor theory of value" for a deeper explanation.

In a market economy, price is set by the <span style="font-style: italic">willingness </span>and <span style="font-style: italic">ability </span>for economic agents to pay for a product. The change in quantity demanded's relationship to price is called the <span style="font-style: italic">price elasticity of demand</span>.

In your example, if "supply" and "demand" were to double, the price would not change. The market would find a new equilibrium at the same price level.

Expressing disfavor towards "price gouging" is nothing more than a misunderstanding of elementary price theory. A higher price that results in you choosing another product is not due to "price gouging," but simply that a substitute product has attracted your business rather than the one you previously purchased at the former price.

In the case of Sierra vs. Nosler bullets for what we're using them for, the Sierras are <span style="font-style: italic">objectively </span>better. Their bullets are more aerodynamic and thus have better long range performance.

As with anything we buy, we must make a tradeoff between quality and price at some point. I am shooting Sierras right now because the Lapua Scenars are about 15% more expensive than the Sierra 155 grain 2156. It doesn't matter to me why the market price of the Lapua is no longer competitive with Sierra, or whether "price gouging" is happening. All I know is that when I can get the Sierra for $27 and the Lapua goes for $33-40 per hundred, that I'm unwilling to pay the difference in price for a very minimal increase in ballistic performance (.505 vs. .508 bc). In the language of economics, because these goods are near "perfect substitutes," my demand is almost perfectly inelastic when forced to choose between the two.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: banshee sws</div><div class="ubbcode-body">nosler literally copies Sierra bullets , to the tee

absolutely no difference , except price i guess </div></div>

<span style="font-weight: bold">Really?? </span>
I know you haven't measured the 168's if you make that statement. Not only is the boattail different, the ogive is further forward on the Noslers.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I just went out to the bench and did some down -n- dirty comparing with a dial caliper. I could not tell any difference in boat tail or ogive. In fact I the only way I can tell the difference is the color of the jacket. The Noslers are a bit brighter.

This is comparing a box of 168 SMK's i bought locally a couple months ago to a box of 168 Nosler CC's that I got from MidwayUSA last week.

168smk-vs-168cc.jpg

168 Nosler on Left. 168 SMK on right.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

That's a very interesting observation. The transition to the boattail looks more abrupt on the Nosler, but other than that, they look very similar to me as well.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

i've never been able to tell the diference between Nosler or SMK in my 308 400yrds.is as far as i get to shoot!!!!!!!!! SMK bullets do look smoother or more polished
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

Did you use a comparator? I load my Nosler 168's to the same ogive comparator depth as 168FGMM which is 3.233".
The OAL of the cartridges (no comparator) are 3.773" for loads with the Noslers and 2.800" for the FGMM, which tells me that the ogive on the Nosler is .027" further forward than the SMK's used in the FGMM loads.

Pretty hard to tell a .027" differnce by eye, but its a big difference to the lands.

If someone is using 168SMK's loaded for a .010" jump in a fairly hot load, they may be .017 into the lands with the Noslers, which could be the difference between a warm and hot load.

I never thought I needed the comparator until I got one. I'm glad I had it when I got my new barrel because I have an Obermyer cut chamber that is short throated for SMK's particularly........
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

i shoot nosler more than i shoot sierra

so not a slam to NOSLER just that they are literally identical

i got other things to do besides meaure bullets, boattails, ogive, length, etc.

but they for all intents and purposes , same / same
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: banshee sws</div><div class="ubbcode-body">i got other things to do besides meaure bullets, boattails, ogive, length, etc.

</div></div>

I got better things to do too, but when I have a rifle rebarreled I believe its on the prudent side to know what you are putting in your chamber. I like to get it set up right on the front end then load and shoot.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sobrbiker883</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Pretty hard to tell a .027" differnce by eye, but its a big difference to the lands.</div></div>

I don't have a comparator, but I load SMK's to 2.80" OAL and to load the Noslers, I didn't change my seating depth. Granted there are meplat differences in the SMK's that can throw the OAL all over the place.

Since I am running a stock Remington "porn star" edition barrel loading to the lands really doesn't worry me.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

Comparing the nosler cc to the smk in 168g there are some differences:

Ogive radius: NCC-7.14 caliber, SMK-7.19 calibers
Ogive length: NCC-0.685, SMK-0.690
Total length: NCC-1.186, SMK-1.215
Bearing surface length: NCC-0.346, SMK-0.370
Meplat diameter: NCC-0.068, SMK-0.065

Same boattail length and angle
The G1 BC are .426 vs .427 (NCC vs SMK)


This a comparison of a sample of 5 of each bullet done by Bryan Litz in his book "Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting".

I will let you guys decide if those differences are significant.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

I just bring the differences in the ogive up, as I load for the same "jump" as FGMM, and in my barrel the difference makes a difference.
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: LoneWolfUSMC</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

Since I am running a stock Remington "porn star" edition barrel loading to the lands really doesn't worry me. </div></div>

I dont care who you are, that right there is funny. Porn Star edition Remington. Classic. I have one as well. Load it long and strong!
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

Don't worry, you'll get rid of that Linda Lovelace tube one of these days......
 
Re: Sierra vs Nosler... your thoughts

Too Funny, and all I wanted to know was the brand difference! Thank you for the "science" and measurements in bullet technology in this discusion