Badlands Precision Bullets thread - From BC to terminal ballistics

[Ed AO]

I loved everything about this bullet at this speed on deer/antelope. I put 3 shots through quartered elk vitals 575y, 4-6" further back than I liked, but he took them like he'd never been hit. 4th round was high shoulder and it hit him like lightning, instant flop/dead.

this with the badlands??

 

[Joejack]

OK, not my favorite post. But I went back and rolled 100 of the 196.5gr Bulldozer bullets I have in the reloading room, in order to compare tip alignment of those Bulldozer-1 bullets to what I'm seeing with the Super Bulldozer-2 bullets I recently purchased.

Only two out of 100 bullets from the 196.5gr .308 Bulldozer Gen-1 bullets had any discernable tip misalignment when I roll them across a flat surface. I'm rolling them across a countertop. In other words, was hard to find any bullets with aluminum tip misalignment.

This compared to 7 out of 50 of the 70gr .224 Super Bulldozer-2 bullets with obvious misalignment.
And compared to 9 out of 50 of the 205gr .308 Super Bulldozer-2 bullets with visible aluminum tip misalignment.
And compared to 12 our of 50 of the 275gr .338 Super Bulldozer-2 bullets with apparent aluminum tip misalignment.

Gotta conclude something has changed in the manufacturing to cause this. Either the tips aren't manufacturered as uniformly, the holes in the tips of the copper bullets aren't as precisely centered, the placement of the aluminum tips in the copper bullets is creating misalignment, or some combination of the three. Hate to be a spoiler in commenting on the Generation-2 bullets, but perhaps if the manufacturer reads this thread, they can do what I've done and see if they find the same thing. I'd like to see this corrected, and it clearly won't be if nobody mentions anything about it.

Any other members here with Super Bulldozer-2 bullets, should you be motivated to roll some bullets across a flat surface and look for wobbling tips, I'd be appreciative hearing of your findings.

I'm hoping to get out and shoot the 70gr .224 SBD-2 bullets and the 205gr .308 SBD-2 bullets in the near future. Just been a bit cold for load development. Up to 17F today, so I'm loading up some shells for a 280yd ladder test and to capture MVs. Hoping for a good showing. All the Generation 1 bullets I've used in the past have shot well for me.

Reason I inspected these bullets closer than usual is because I saw a thread posted by Joejack where he couldn't get the 70gr .224 SBD-2 bullets to shoot worth a hoot in his 7-twist 22 Creedmoor. That surprised me, because with overwhelming consistency, the larger caliber bullets have been shooting well for folks.

i hope they will shoot good for you I gave up after running 70 of them thru my gun pie plate group at 100yds

 

[highdrum]

this with the badlands??

No, 122 Cayuga "hunting" solids. They have an open hollow point that does shed petals but the expansion on the one I recovered was very poor. Not a hunting bullet in my mind, unless your a guy used to shooting barnses. Put it on bone: shoulder/high shoulder/neck junctions and it works like a champ there.

 

[Wedgy]

I bought a box of 122gr Cayuga's for my PRC as I liked the high BC however from what I've seen since then he recommends his bullets for shooting bone rather than the pocket lung shots which I do not want to do on white tails.

Since I'm a lung shooter I've dropped them in favor of the Hammers but I'm still interested in the Badlands as they have a much better BC.

The Badlands are a very hard alloy like Barnes which I feel has draw backs at long range, I prefer the softer alloys of Hammer and Cutting Edge but am waiting to see what these SBD2's do as the BC in hard to ignore.

 

[Pdvdh]

On a separate note, I checked tip alignment and out of the 100 .338 250 grain SBDII bullets I have, there was 6 that had a misalignment that could be seen, two of them were pretty bad, the photo below being the worst... ...but I think from a premium bullet manufacturers standpoint, it would be a good thing to get fixed to ensure they continue to grow their client base.

View attachment 261003

Hoping these off-center tips get placed on center going forward, and also parallel to the copper body of the bullets. I think mine were mostly centered but pointed off-center. Either way, I don't like watching tips rotating out of alignment with the body of the bullets. Doesn't generate confidence, no matter the affect on target. It can't be beneficial to bullet accuracy. It's a matter of the degree and extent of negative impact on downrange imprints on target.

Had a chance to choot'em yet? Those 250gr SBD-2s?

 

[codyadams]

Ok, finally got out today to do some shooting.

.338 Norma Mag
250 SBDII
Peterson Brass
GM215M bang button

Tried some Retumbo and VV-N570. The 570 did ok, had a couple that may have potential, but the Retumbo seemed to come together a little easier. Considering I have 9+ lbs of it and 1.5 lbs of N570, I think I'll explore the Retumbo some more.

 

[codyadams]

For reference, those are 3/4" dots, and it is at 100 yards. I think they are in the mid 2800 fps range, maybe a little higher on the heavier charges. I used a 6" drop tube with the Retumbo, could still hear powder shaking on all loads.

 

[willfrye027]

SBD2 .257 110gr
Impact velocity 3200fps

my pictures are not good but what I found was rapid expansion (by the time it went through skin and hit fascia, it was expanding) and a devastating wound channel. Some petals appear to have sheared off. Hit the scapula on the way in which no doubt aided expansion, but even before it hit the scapula there was excellent expansion. Needless to say this was a bang-flop situation and I am very pleased with the terminal performance. The exit wound is about golf ball size.

.257 110gr SBD2
25-06 26in barrel 1:7 twist
3330fps 59ish grains of retumbo (work up to this obviously) over 215M in hornady brass

 

[sp6x6]

Like that your testing retumbo,cuz thats what ive been shooting in mine.im way behind on working load

 

[Northkill]

Got a load worked up for my 7 Allen Mag. Pretty impressed with the accuracy test so far - relatively easy to hit 0.3 MOA targets at 900 yds. Supersonic out to about 2,000 yds. Now for big game season to test on live targets... This thing is hungry...in more ways than one.

150 gr Badlands gen2 bulldozer
106.9 gr. RL33
Fed-215 primer
3.560" oal
3675 fps

195 gr. Berger EOL
100.0 gr. RL33
Fed-215 primer
3.680" oal
3300 fps

 

[WeiserBucks]

I ordered some .338 250 BDII's and patiently waiting. . . .

 

[nealm66]

Finally got some 22 creedmoor brass on order. Any updates or info? Looking at the 70 grain

 

[Scott E Ames]

Tagging in.

 

[WeiserBucks]

250s showed up today. The rifle isn't done yet but I'm expecting it to be finished any day now. I should be able to get some of these downrange in the next couple weeks and I'll report my results.