Nosler's Ballistic Tip Varmint

Loads for Woodchuck and Prairie Dogs

- Philip Massaro

John Amos Nosler certainly made an indelible mark on the shooting world. After all, he’s the godfather of premium projectiles as the creator of the Nosler Partition big-game bullet, but his name isn’t highly associated with varmints or predators. That’s sad, because it should be.

John Nosler was an avid varmint hunter and had a soft spot for the .22-250 Remington. He used varmint hunting as a great means of keeping sharp for the big-game seasons. Building on the success of his still fantastic Partition bullet, which solved so many problems for the big-game hunter, Nosler began working on a cup-and-core design focused on accuracy. His impact extrusion process revolutionized bullet manufacturing, and John soon had 1965’s Zipedo bullet. Then he implemented the technique for the Partition in 1967, finally releasing the Solid Base bullet in 1972. Shortly thereafter, his excellent bullets became available to those who didn’t handload their own ammunition, when in 1974 Federal Cartridge Company included Nosler’s bullets in its Premium line. However, 1984 saw a huge addition to the Nosler lineup, the introduction of the Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet.

According to his autobiography,