Hello guys, I saw the Norma tip strike on shelves this year and thought I'd give it a shot for hunting. I haven't found any reviews so below are my results in .308 win and 6.5 creed. Summary is that it's been great for me in 3 rifles and had good performance on game but some calibers have an uncomfortably low velocity.
.308 win - My main hunting rifle is a seekins ph2 in .308. I've shot probably 300 rounds in practice this year and consistently got .5-1 MOA 5 shot groups. I also didn't see a POI shift from box to box like I do in some ammos (cough, cough, I'm looking at you Hornady). The velocity was also averaging around box velocity.
6.5 creed - My wife has a matching ph2 in 6.5 creed because we have to have a him and hers set lol. I shot ~100rds in prep for hunting season. I generally saw the same accuracy as my .308 win. Which that rifle generally shoots all ammo around 1.5" but this was the best. I also have a ruger american go wild edition that generally shot the ammo around 1 MOA for 30-40 rounds. The only bad thing about the 6.5 creed velocity was low. The box velocity is low to begin with and with the seekins I was getting 2530 fps. Personally, I thought the velocity was a disappointment and I wouldn't use it on my elk hunt later this year.
Performance on game - I was lucky enough to shoot a mule deer doe on Saturday with the .308 at 300 yards and was super happy with it. I took 3 shots. The first was 3 or so inches right but because she was hard quartering to me on a steep hill accidentally went through the back strap/spine. The performance was pretty much exactly like you would expect from a Hornady SST which is what people usually compare this round to. It mushroomed quickly, had some lead break off but penetrated all the way through. That shot obviously dropped her instantly but a few seconds later she tried to stand up with her front feet and was facing away from me. I sent another one and hit her in the back behind the front left shoulder and it went through the vitals and exited in the lower part of the front right shoulder. Upon walking up to her, she was still twitching and I decided to put another one through the chest at point blank range just to make sure I did everything I could to ensure she was dead even though shot 2 killed her.
After looking at the wound channels, I saw a 3-3.5" permanent wound cavity through the spinal area. It was extremely devastating. The second shot was also a large wound cavity. It was hard to tell exactly how big the cavity was since I had shot the chest again but the exit wound was ~1-1.5". The third shot was point blank but it was massively devastating. Entry was 1" and the exit was like 2". Everything on the inside was mush. All shots had pretty much instant expansion.
If I shoot an elk later this year I'll update this thread.
.308 win - My main hunting rifle is a seekins ph2 in .308. I've shot probably 300 rounds in practice this year and consistently got .5-1 MOA 5 shot groups. I also didn't see a POI shift from box to box like I do in some ammos (cough, cough, I'm looking at you Hornady). The velocity was also averaging around box velocity.
6.5 creed - My wife has a matching ph2 in 6.5 creed because we have to have a him and hers set lol. I shot ~100rds in prep for hunting season. I generally saw the same accuracy as my .308 win. Which that rifle generally shoots all ammo around 1.5" but this was the best. I also have a ruger american go wild edition that generally shot the ammo around 1 MOA for 30-40 rounds. The only bad thing about the 6.5 creed velocity was low. The box velocity is low to begin with and with the seekins I was getting 2530 fps. Personally, I thought the velocity was a disappointment and I wouldn't use it on my elk hunt later this year.
Performance on game - I was lucky enough to shoot a mule deer doe on Saturday with the .308 at 300 yards and was super happy with it. I took 3 shots. The first was 3 or so inches right but because she was hard quartering to me on a steep hill accidentally went through the back strap/spine. The performance was pretty much exactly like you would expect from a Hornady SST which is what people usually compare this round to. It mushroomed quickly, had some lead break off but penetrated all the way through. That shot obviously dropped her instantly but a few seconds later she tried to stand up with her front feet and was facing away from me. I sent another one and hit her in the back behind the front left shoulder and it went through the vitals and exited in the lower part of the front right shoulder. Upon walking up to her, she was still twitching and I decided to put another one through the chest at point blank range just to make sure I did everything I could to ensure she was dead even though shot 2 killed her.
After looking at the wound channels, I saw a 3-3.5" permanent wound cavity through the spinal area. It was extremely devastating. The second shot was also a large wound cavity. It was hard to tell exactly how big the cavity was since I had shot the chest again but the exit wound was ~1-1.5". The third shot was point blank but it was massively devastating. Entry was 1" and the exit was like 2". Everything on the inside was mush. All shots had pretty much instant expansion.
If I shoot an elk later this year I'll update this thread.
