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Go to 1984
I'm old enough to remember the Ballistic Tip introduction and its predecessor, the 'Solid Base' BTSP model. (In fact, I found a battered old box of SBs I'd lost for years recently.) I used both in 308 cal for target shooting in a 7.62 TR rifle in the 80s. The 150gn Solid Base was only marginally more expensive than the 146gn Norma FMJBT that many people handloaded for range use in those days and was a much superior bullet.
When the first BTs arrived, they in turn were only marginally more expensive than the older Solid Base model and a lot more target shooters switched to them. People thought the fancy tips
had to make them much higher BC and better for longer ranges. Tim Hannam (as Hannams Reloading Ltd. was back then) at its old Swillington premises was the UK Nosler importer, and the BT price went up by a pound or two per 100, then again after six months or a year, then again after another 12 months until these bullets went from being cheaper than Sierra MatchKings to being more expensive.
Its BS that the tip does anything more than give a slight edge on the BC ! The expansion occurs quite equally with or without the tip ( pull some and test it yourselves ) . The reason it was first used i recon is because 1 . it likely gave a better finished look to the consumer 2. it was likely difficult to get a quality look to the finished bullet .
Tim H himself told me it was talking to buyers like me and getting their feedback that he realised the BT wasn't an everyday deer bullet, but a multi-use premium product in the eyes of his customers, so he kept putting prices up until he found the ceiling that the market would bear. Their adoption by target shooters was a key factor in this process. ("Such an accurate bullet that even long-range target people use it!") A long series of the ballistics of 308 bullets and about making precision handloads by John Carmichael (founder and then proprietor of JHC TargetMaster Ammunition and co-founder/proprietor of HPS-Target Ltd) featured the Nosler BT in his coverage of suitable 308 match bullets in the old
Target Sports magazine of that era.
The bullet appearance with its then unusual (unique?) coloured synthetic tip was a
very large part of that. Nosler (and American gunwriters) made a big thing at the time of lead soft-point tips becoming deformed in magazines and affecting bullet flight. Nosler itself quickly cottoned on to having created a 'winner' for reasons that almost certainly had little or nothing to do with the original claims, and raised its trade prices rapidly. Other makers, especially Hornady, recognised a good thing when they saw it and introduced their own versions at enhanced prices. The tip aiding initial bullet expansion red herring had caught on though, and others introduced plastic tipped, but non-ballistic, designs allegedly for this reason. Norma had a model with a round synthetic bead inserted into a hollow-point, in no way a ballistic enhancement. Can't remember what its marketing name was, but it didn't last long showing how essential the streamlined 'sexy' look is.
