{"id":1554,"date":"2021-02-25T11:00:40","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T16:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/?p=1554"},"modified":"2021-02-25T15:59:35","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T20:59:35","slug":"bullet-dilemmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/bullet-dilemmas\/","title":{"rendered":"BULLET DILEMMAS by Craig Boddington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Things are pretty simple right now: We shoot what we\u2019ve got\u2026or whatever we can get! This may not be as awful as it sounds: I don\u2019t think there are any bad<\/em> bullets on the market today. However, most bullets are better for some things than others and (at least in normal times), there are so many to choose from that it gets downright confusing.
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\"
Boddington\u2019s old .270 Winchester groups exceptionally well with Hornady\u2019s SST, an accurate fast-opening bullet excellent for deer-sized game. For larger game he\u2019d probably shift to a tougher bullet\u2026even if group size wasn\u2019t quite as good.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When I was a kid, we mostly hunted with Remington Core-Lokts or Winchester Power-Points in factory ammo. In handloads, primary choices were Hornady, Sierra, and Speer, all fairly simple lead-core bullets. The only \u201cpremium\u201d hunting bullet known to deliver extra penetration was John Nosler\u2019s Partition, introduced in 1948, back then also the exclusive province of handloaders. Polymer tips, bonded cores, and homogenous-alloy bullets were unknown!
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Name any bullet, and you can find shooters who swear by it\u2026and others who damn it. Not everybody liked the Nosler Partition, but it was considered the hot ticket for game larger and tougher than deer. When I got ready for my first African hunt, I hadn\u2019t yet used any Partitions. Following conventional wisdom, I loaded up 180-grain Partitions in my .30-06. The spectacular performance I saw on about 15 head of plains game, large and small, was unforgettable.
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\"Win_
Boddington Jarrett .300 Winchester Magnum shoots 200-grain ELD-X so well with factory ammo that a handload as accurate was elusive. Old standby IMR 4350 turned in a .407-inch five-shot group, bottom left. The velocity isn\u2019t quite what he wants, so that\u2019s another dilemma needing a compromise.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Today we have many choices, but the Partition is still produced\u2026and still a good bullet. In 1948, the only other option for ensuring better penetration was to increase bullet weight! The .30-06 \u201cmade its bones\u201d with 220-grain bullets; the 7×57 with 175-grain bullets; the early 6.5mms with 160-grain bullets, all round-nosed. Today\u2019s long and heavy-for-caliber \u201clow drag\u201d bullets complicate the issue, but few of us hunt with extra-heavy bullets today. Because: With modern hunting bullets, we don\u2019t need extreme weight to ensure performance. And: In any given cartridge case, the heavier the bullet, the less velocity.
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Which brings us back to my previous column: The accuracy and velocity that we Americans crave. Obtaining both in equal measure is usually a compromise! There\u2019s no predicting what bullet or load a certain rifle will shoot best<\/em>. Right now, availability sucks, but we have such variety in factory ammo that you could spend a fortune trying loads in popular cartridges\u2026and never discover the best combination for your rifle. Handloaders can experiment infinitely, but it\u2019s always a compromise: Accurate enough\u2026and fast enough. As you work up handloads, it\u2019s common to discover that the best groups are obtained long before you approach \u201cmaximum.\u201d
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\".264@129-grain\"
There\u2019s no telling exactly what bullet or load a given rifle will shoot best. Boddington was working up loads for his .264. He knows the rifle shoots AccuBonds well, but he expected the best groups from Berger. At the range, the winner on this day was 129-grain Hornady Interlocks he\u2019s had on the shelf since the Sixties. You never know until you try!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reality: You never know what works best until you try! I would always expect the best groups from \u201cmatch\u201d bullets, but I\u2019ve seen finicky rifles that seemed hopeless until, in frustration or on a whim, they turned in spectacular groups with old round-nose bullets! So, the search for optimum accuracy in a given rifle is almost never exhausted. We hunters complicate things greatly by seeking the \u201cperfect\u201d bullet for the game we\u2019re hunting.
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Let\u2019s simplify things: There are no perfect<\/em> hunting bullets. Fortunately, there are lots of good choices and no \u201cbad\u201d hunting bullets. It\u2019s more a matter of understanding the expansion and penetrating properties you want, in relation to the size of your game.
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\"recovered
eight recovered bonded-core bullets. Right, recovered homogenous-alloy bullets. Copper bullets cannot expand as much as bonded-core bullets but, with less expansion, they will deliver deeper penetration. Neither type is always this \u201cpretty\u201d when recovered\u2026it depends on impact velocity and what they encounter!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most bullet manufacturers offer \u201cmatch\u201d or \u201ctarget\u201d bullets, engineered for maximum accuracy without thought to terminal performance on game. No<\/em> manufacturers recommend match bullets for hunting, but because they are often the most accurate, some hunters use them anyway, especially at long range (where accuracy matters most). Sometimes they work well, but because they were not designed for terminal performance, they can be erratic on game. I have seen match bullets expand prematurely and fail to penetrate; and I have seen them pass through showing almost no expansion. So, this is a major compromise when choosing game bullets: The projectiles likely to be the most accurate (and produce the flattest trajectories) are probably not the best choices for hunting<\/em>.
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\"\u201cMatch\u201d
\u201cMatch\u201d or \u201ctarget\u201d bullets are not designed to provide consistent terminal performance in the game. Berger (center) marks their packaging as suitable for hunting. Most bullet-makers assume all other bullets will probably be used by hunters, so design accordingly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hunting bullets are a complex subject, and divisive: Everybody who\u2019s shot a deer is an expert, and if there\u2019s a problem the bullet is always<\/em> the culprit, never<\/em> shot placement! 
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On the California Central Coast, we have great hunting for blacktail deer and feral hogs. By law we must now hunt with \u201cunleaded projectiles.\u201d In rifles, this means: Barnes \u201cX\u201d-series, Hornady GMX, Nosler E-Tip, etc. Some barrels shoot these homogenous alloy bullets extremely well\u2026and some do not. This complicates the normal accuracy variance present with all<\/em> bullets.
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\"Randy
Randy Brooks, inventor of the Barnes X bullet, and Boddington with a Colorado bull, taken at 350 yards with a single 180-grain Barnes X from a .300 Winchester Magnum. All homogenous-alloy bullets are \u201cpenetrators;\u201d the larger the game, the better they work!\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s understand the design. The \u201ccopper-alloy\u201d bullets have a hollow nose cavity surrounded by a notched or \u201cskived\u201d tip. Upon impact, the nose peels back in petals, with expansion limited by size and depth of the nose cavity. These vary (and some also have polymer tips), but the homogenous alloy bullets are penetrating bullets<\/em>. They will retain near-complete weight, and will usually exit, but the wound channel is limited by the amount of expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve taken a lot of game with Barnes X and GMX bullets. For me, the bigger the animal, the better they work! They are impressive on feral hogs, but on our small-bodied blacktails they tend to punch through and exit. They work, but more tracking is often needed. American hunters are big on the \u201cbehind the shoulder lung shot\u201d because it is surely fatal, offers the largest target, and ruins little meat. I tell my California hunting buddies to borrow a chapter from African PHs, who always<\/em> recommend a \u201ccenter shoulder\u201d hold, breaking heavy bone and disrupting the major vessels at the top of the heart. A little more meat is damaged, but usually less tracking! 
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\"goodbullets\"
There are lots of good bullets\u2026and few (if any) \u201cbad\u201d bullets. It gets confusing, but the idea is to figure out what performance characteristics you want for the game you are hunting. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The opposite of a pass-through with minimal damage is worse: Premature expansion with a nasty surface wound. This will not<\/em> happen with a homogenous-alloy bullet. But it shouldn\u2019t happen with any bullet marketed as a hunting bullet<\/em>. Except: Velocity is the great enemy to bullet performance. At moderate velocities: 6.5mm Creedmoor, 7mm-08, .308, .30-06, there are no bad <\/em>bullets, and anything other than excellent bullet performance is unusual.
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Add several hundred feet per second in velocity and things can change. I love polymer-tipped bullets: They don\u2019t batter in the magazine, and have better aerodynamics than an exposed lead tip. However, the polymer tip always <\/em>initiates expansion, mitigated by thickness of jacket and bullet weight. Accuracy is often excellent! I like Nosler\u2019s AccuTip and Hornady\u2019s SST\u2026for deer-sized game. For larger game, or at high impact velocities, I prefer to mitigate with core-bonding. Tipped-and-bonded bullets include: Federal Trophy Tip<\/a>, Hornady InterBond<\/a>, Nosler AccuBond<\/a>; and Swift Scirocco.
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\"California
Donna Boddington took this big California boar with a 139-grain GMX<\/a> from a 7mm-08. With \u201cunleaded bullets\u201d required by law for all hunting, California hunters are learning to use shoulder\/heart shots with the deep-penetrating all-copper bullets. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With lead core chemically bonded to jacket, a bonded-core bullet will expand much more than is possible with any homogenous-alloy bullet. The bonded-core bullet cannot retain quite as much weight; some lead will wipe away during penetration, but retention is still high. Homogenous-alloy bullets usually retain over 95 percent of their weight. Bonded-core bullets will be in the high 80s into the 90s\u2026and everything else may be 60 percent or less. This is not a problem: The larger wound channel created by bullet expansion is what puts game down faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t have it both ways: Unless you\u2019re hunting pachyderms with \u201csolids,\u201d bullet expansion is good. But expansion creates more resistance, and must limit penetration. In my younger days I followed the school that wanted both entrance and exit wounds. Back then, only the Nosler Partition reliably exited! Today, I\u2019m happy to have the bullet expend all its energy inside the animal, not against trees on the far side! However, an exit wound is prima facie<\/em> evidence of adequate penetration! Absent that, you must have a bullet tough enough to absolutely penetrate deep into the vitals!
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\"Alabama
This Alabama whitetail dropped in its tracks to a 130-grain SST from a .270 Winchester. Boddington believes the polymer-tipped lead-core bullets are excellent for deer-sized game, usually yielding dramatic results.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These are bullet dilemmas\u2026but not so complex, with multiple solutions. In January \u201921 I hunted whitetails in Alabama with friend Gordon Marsh, proprietor of this site. Gordon lucked into a very accurate Ruger No. One in .270 Weatherby Magnum (a rare No. One chambering). His rifle produces one-hole groups with 130-grain Barnes TSX<\/a>. This rifle likes <\/em>homogenous-alloy bullets\u2026at extreme velocity (3400 fps!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used a .270 Winchester, loaded with 130-grain Hornady SST<\/a> about 400 fps slower, good groups but nothing like the accuracy of Gordon\u2019s rifle.\u00a0 A buck presented himself at 225 yards, and I flattened him, down so hard he bounced. The bullet exited, good expansion but no mess.
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\"130-grain
Gordon Marsh used a 130-grain TTSX for his Alabama buck, the bullet was pushed very fast from a .270 Weatherby Magnum. Despite good shot placement, the buck ran 100 yards into the woods and required tracking. This can always happen, but isn\u2019t uncommon with extra-tough bullets employed on medium-sized game.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next day, Gordon shot a similar buck, about 150 yards. Good blood on the food plot, exit wound obvious\u2026but not much sign where his buck entered the woods. We found him 125 yards into thick timber, perfect shot placement\u2026and almost no blood trail. Nobody has hunted with all<\/em> the great bullets we have today. I\u2019ve used many and have favorites, but it depends on what the gun likes, what I have (or can get), and what I\u2019m hunting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we were talking elk, moose, or Cape buffalo it\u2019s a different discussion. But, in the large world of shooting deer<\/em> and hoping not to track them into thick stuff, I\u2019m convinced we would have found Gordon\u2019s buck quicker if he\u2019d used a bullet that expanded more\u2026even if it wasn\u2019t quite as fast, or produced groups as tight!
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Things are pretty simple right now: We shoot what we\u2019ve got\u2026or whatever we can get! This may not be as awful as it sounds: I don\u2019t think there are any bad bullets on the market today. However, most bullets are better for some things than others and (at least in normal times), there are so … Continue reading “BULLET DILEMMAS by Craig Boddington”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[7,101,21,35],"tags":[8,100,68,145,123,118],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/1977_fringe_-ear-_-ox-.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1554"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1575,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions\/1575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wholesalehunter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}