Badlands Precision Bullets thread - From BC to terminal ballistics

[Copper Basin]

Punching a round hole in paper does not mean it will perform on game once it impacts. The higher twist rate ensures the bullet will keep going straight and expand as it is designed to do instead of penciling thru or tumbling.

This is true and at 100 yards it means nothing. Do you think if drops hold per ballistic calculations with the claimed BC that the SG is ok? Also double checking paper instead of steel at 700, 800 and 900 yards for key holing? I have used other mono bullets and the BC's have dropped off a lot from 800 on out. Just curious on your experiences. Any info ins appreciated.

 

[Monkeygoat]

135's through my 28" 7.5 twist Bartlein 6.5 Max are verified stable out to 1000 with paper - I just don't have expansion data.

 

[KMG]

135's through my 28" 7.5 twist Bartlein 6.5 Max are verified stable out to 1000 with paper - I just don't have expansion data.

What kind of speeds are you getting? I have a 7 twist 6.5 barrel that I got just for monos.

 

[Monkeygoat]

What kind of speeds are you getting? I have a 7 twist 6.5 barrel that I got just for monos.

~3375

 

[Wedgy]

This is true and at 100 yards it means nothing. Do you think if drops hold per ballistic calculations with the claimed BC that the SG is ok? Also double checking paper instead of steel at 700, 800 and 900 yards for key holing? I have used other mono bullets and the BC's have dropped off a lot from 800 on out. Just curious on your experiences. Any info ins appreciated

The only thing keeping a bullet from flipping over any flying backwards is the spin, it would actually be more stable flying backwards. It can fly straight and be accurate but once it hits an animal it may tumble, make an off axis turn, or not expand. These bullets are much longer than lead bullets and need the extra spin to perform. In my opinion the SG should be closer to 2 on monos, especially ones using a harder alloy like Badlands.

 

[codyadams]

The only thing keeping a bullet from flipping over any flying backwards is the spin, it would actually be more stable flying backwards. It can fly straight and be accurate but once it hits an animal it may tumble, make an off axis turn, or not expand. These bullets are much longer the lead bullets and need the extra spin to perform. In my opinion the SG should be closer to 2 on monos, especially ones using a harder alloy like Badlands.

Bryan Litz was saying somewhere that while the limit for lead core bullets is 1.5 as is known, for monos they are having better luck using 2.0 as a minimum, though mainly for ELR considerations. I do think though that it is more important for monos to be twisted properly for terminal consoderations, I generally go a little tighter. The 30 Nosler I am building for the 205 badlands that has an 8.5 minimum, will be an 8 twist. And I live at 6,000+ feet, and hunt up to 11,000 ft for deer and elk.

 

[Monkeygoat]

Given Badlands suggested min 1700 fps and 7 twist for expansion with the 135's, my 7.5 twist would need an extra 120 fps to be spinning at the same RPM. Hoping this rationale proves true in some gelatin.

 

[jasent]

I'll agree that 2 is much better for monos. 1.5 just doesn't work as well for me. Even with cup and core I prefer 2 or more

 

[cbuck516]

Has anyone found specific neck tension adjustments that have improved accuracy on the BD2's or original BD's? I have noticed a lot less seating force required to seat the BD2's than the accubonds I normally use and am curious how my groups might be affected by adjusting the neck tension. I will need to order some smaller expander mandrels to try this out, but was just curious if anyone else had experienced something similar or did any neck tension adjustment experiments with the bulldozer bullets. I am expanding to 0.002" under bullet diameter currently and was considering ordering more mandrels to cover 0.0015"-0.003" under bullet diameter.

 

[codyadams]

Has anyone found specific neck tension adjustments that have improved accuracy on the BD2's or original BD's? I have noticed a lot less seating force required to seat the BD2's than the accubonds I normally use and am curious how my groups might be affected by adjusting the neck tension. I will need to order some smaller expander mandrels to try this out, but was just curious if anyone else had experienced something similar or did any neck tension adjustment experiments with the bulldozer bullets. I am expanding to 0.002" under bullet diameter currently and was considering ordering more mandrels to cover 0.0015"-0.003" under bullet diameter.

I shot groups with .0015", .0025" and .0035" neck tension and had best results with .0015", with the 270 SBD in my .338 Norma, but mine is only a sample size of one, I would still check.

 

[JTH]

Following

 

[gyantgunz]

What have you all been finding for best powders to use? Are they similar to barnes and use typical powders or are they a little more like the absolutes and use a faster powder than usual?

 

[Gstew1930]

I use Barnes load data for a reference

 

[Mike D Texas]

I've not found Barnes data to work well at all. These bullets are a low engraving bullet similar to the Hammer Absolutes. I use similar start pressures in Quickload with the Hammers and Badlands which is significantly lower than Barnes.