35gr Nosler Ballistic Tip Lead Free

[Greg Duerr]

Was looking at this bullet for use in my .221 for Squirrel shooting this spring .........

anyone with experience with this bullet ..................what makes the Lead free any different than the lead version............

 

[J E Custom]

Was looking at this bullet </a>for use in my .221 for Squirrel shooting this spring .........

anyone with experience with this bullet ..................what makes the Lead free any different than the lead version............

You had to bring this up Greg. Ha Ha. but this should be interesting anyway.

Lead free Started with Steel shot and other non lead shot because of the environmental impact it was supposed to have on game. We were forced to switch to steel shot (Called nontoxic) and the results were dramatic. It was common for bird hunters that were good shots to come home with there bag limit and only fire one or two shells more than the bird count. But with the steel shot we found many more wounded birds, and the shell to kill ratio was on average 2 to 1.

It was strictly a political move and did nothing for the game except lower the numbers of game birds which lowered the limits because of lost and wounded birds.

The same problem with led free bullets is not present as in steel shot because of the manufactures of these bullets looked at performance and designed better bullets that could compete/perform with lead bullets.

led free bullets typically have slightly better BCs because the material is lighter making a lead free
bullet of the same weight slightly longer that a lead bullet. There is not much if any difference in performance except at the lowest velocities performance can be irregular/inconsistent in my opinion. The lead free bullets, being a monolithic material should improve the dynamic balance over some lead bullets. improving accuracy and only the best quality lead core bullets should match there quality in theory. But there are poor quality lead free bullets as well, so they are on even terms as far as I am concerned.

So the use of ether, is an individual choice (Unless we are forced to use the lead free). As in other things the greatest impact will be on the game.

It is still another political issue and an attempt to tell us what we can do. (The reason The attempt was made to force it down our throats). Interestingly enough the lead free bullets Will make it on there own If left to the shooting public.

Just my opinion. Wait for It .......

J E CUSTOM

 

[Greg Duerr]

Thanks JE I started loading Steel when it first came out. Back then most waterfowl steel loads were way to slow making them almost worthless. 1200- 1300 FPS.
Guys were still shooting them like a standard Lead load and your right for what they were said to do way more birds were wounded and flew off to die later..............You cant get a way from guys who shoot when the Ducks are way out of Range.....
What a difference in performance steel made when you got the Velocity up to 1500-1600

We will see................I found that Berger stopped production of there 30gr 22cal bullet ...that was gong to be my bullet of choice for Ground Squirrels in the .221
One of the reasons I decided against a new 17 Remington. Looks like a lot of Bullet makers stop production of there 17 cal bullets. Todd Kindler stop all production and berger dropped the 17cal 30gr bullet.........kind of like my two hunting spots out here in Nevada. Wildfires burnt both area's to Moon Scape. Seem like when you find the perfect combination they don't stick around very long.

 

[Varmint Shooter]

In my 221 FB I use the Hornady 35gr. NTX over AA 1680 powder. Been shooting them since they came out. Am very satisfied with
the results. Going to try the new CFE BLK with the same bullet to compare.

 

[Greg Duerr]

Me to as soon as the CFE BLK Powder is available ....................I Have 10 lbs of the VV 120 powder but have been using it only when shooting my 17 Hornet and the Wood Chuck Den 23gr bullets................However, those bullets are no longer available, sad

 

[Greg Duerr]

Varmint Shooter.................What kind of Velocity are you getting with the 35 and 1680? I was going to use the Berger 30gr but they no longer offer it. Read an article that with the 30gr Berger and CFE BLK velocity was at 3800 James Calhoon offers a 30gr bullet that I used in my 22 Hornet and 22K Hornet. Found The Calhoon bullets great for Fur hunting In my .222 shooting the 46gr Calhoon......Was to many companies dropping 17cal bullets my reason for buying the .221
Considered converting it to the 20 Var Targ but the only thing that is holding up the 20cal is the 204 and Remington said it is a lost Caliber.

 

[Varmint Shooter]

I am getting just over 3300 fps, with 18grs. Probably could push it a little faster but accuracy was so dead on I quite there. I also have a couple 20 VT's and 20 SCC's. Have a lot of fun with them all.

 

[Greg Duerr]

Varmint Shooter

Saw an article about CFE BLK and showed a test with a Cooper MDL 21 in the .221 using the 40gr Berger and showed a velocity of 3600 FPS very impressive.

 

[Varmint Shooter]

Should be interesting to see what I get with the CFE BLK. Hornady says to use the same
load data as for the 40gr. V-Max when working up a load.

 

[TOM H]

Varmint Shooter

Saw an article about CFE BLK and showed a test with a Cooper MDL 21 in the .221 using the 40gr Berger and showed a velocity of 3600 FPS very impressive.

You can get on Hodgdon Site and they have loading data using CFE BLK for 221 from 30gr to 55gr bullets

 

[SoCal Shooter]

Newbie to this forum. Hello gents...happy to read, learn and share.

I have been working up a 35 gr Lead Free Nosler load with Varmint Powder. Here are my best results so far. I am not a competitor or bench rest engineer. I would call myself a Ranch shooter with a few decades of making somethings work better than others...

22-250 Remington
WIN Large Rifle Primers
35 gr. Lead Free Hornady
37.5 GR Varmint Powder