Nosler Factory Tour

The Nosler AccuBond offers the best features of the Ballisitic Tip and Partition in one projectile. Here you can see the rapid expansion and maximum tissue damage of the 165-grain, .30-cal. bullet that penetrated all 24 inches of gelatin at 10 feet.

A 165-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip through a .308 Win. impacts ordnance gelatin at approximately 10 feet. Muzzle velocity was 2,600 fps. The bullet, which penetrated approximately 15 1/2 inches before the jacket and core separated, retained 64 percent of its original weight (if jacket and core are weighed together).

Nosler's new Ballistic Tip Lead Free is designed for limited penetration and maximum damage, and to be legal for use where lead-core projectiles are restricted. Here a 35-grain BTLF from a .22-250 impacted gelatin at 4,235 fps. The new lead-free variant will have the same price as the original Ballistic Tip Varmint bullets.

Packaged Combined Technologies - Nosler and Winchester - 115-grain, .25-cal. Ballistic Silvertips await shipment.

AccuBond bullets that have passed inspection and are awaiting packaging.

All Nosler bullets are inspected for appearance and construction. As the bullets - in this case, AccuBonds - progress down the belt, they rotate revealing any imperfections. Those with blemishes are sold as factory seconds and can be purchased through the company's Web site at a reduced price.

The process of turning a gilding metal slug into a jacket by inserting a core, tip (if one is used) or adding a cannelure requires numerous processes, but is completed in relatively short order. Bullets in various stages of completion are pictured here.

Gilding metal, containing 95-percent copper and 5-percent zinc, will be unrolled and cut into slugs. The slugs will then be made into jackets through impact-extrusion.

Lead-alloy bullet cores awaiting the next step in the bullet making process.

One of Nosler's numerous bullet-making machines.

This machine is used to reduce large, lead-alloy cylinders into bullet core diameter strands, which are later cut to size in a different operation.

Through tremendous force, lead-alloy cylinders (shown in previous image) are forced through a die to make the bullet's core (machine in background). Here, a Nosler employee rolls the sized, and still hot, lead-alloy core material.

Lead-alloy cylinders stamped with the amount of antimony on the end - 2.5-percent - wait to be processed into bullet cores. Antimony content varies, depending on the specific bullet.

Nosler Incorporated