elkaholic
Well-Known Member
Good job! The 130 Swifts look good for my 270SS. I am not surprised with the SXRH coming unglued. They really start to shine when others fail at long range.....Rich
bullet expansion test results
- Thread starter yorke-1
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Wallythe7mmWeatherby
Member
Love the thread so much. Do you have a 7mm rem mag on hand to test shoot a few rounds of?
longgunshooter
Well-Known Member
More good stuff! Thanks for going to the trouble of all this.
Have you started a gofundme yet for the powder and primers you are burning through?
... anxiously awaiting the results on those 181 hh's.
Have you started a gofundme yet for the powder and primers you are burning through?
... anxiously awaiting the results on those 181 hh's.
billigoat
Well-Known Member
WOW! There is a ton of great info in this thread. THANKS YORKE-1 for all your hard work and the time spent doing this. Keep up the good work!
SHRTSHTR
Well-Known Member
codyadams
Well-Known Member
Glad I bought 4 boxes right after they came out....im still looking for more ha ha
Looks like you are on to something. I'd be glad to send you five 200 gr. ELDX's in .308. Had good success with this in my 300 Win Mag on moose last fall. Where do I send them?My 6.5 Grendel took two deer this year with the 130 Accubond load and both were good clean kills. One blacktail was shot head on in the brisket at 45 yards and the bullet was recovered inside the right hip after penetrating 27.5". The expanded bullet looked exactly like the ones I recovered from the leather with almost identical weight retention. It's a great combo.
I had the same concern after testing bullets in newspaper. The leather I'm using is a soft, almost suede leather that's about 1/8" thick. It's what the glove shop calls apron leather and it's been treated so it's water repellent. I'm going to try some more tests where I have the leather mixed in with water to see if that changes anything.
The way I have it set up, I shoot into the leather without hitting any other material. I'll probably play around with different layers to try and get a better simulation for animal tissue. Right now, the leather is proving to provide the perfect medium to test expansion. Bullets recovered from the leather are a perfect match to bullets recovered from game animals. The big difference is that the bullets don't penetrate nearly as far into the dense leather. I actually like this more because it means I don't have to use a bullet trap that's 5 feet long!
Here's a picture of a piece of the leather I'm using. You can see a bigger piece on the floor in the back ground too. This should give you an idea how soft it is.
I'll get to work trying to track down some of the other bullets. If anybody has a few that they can spare, it would save me from having to buy entire boxes of 15 different bullets. I'd only need maybe 5 of each bullet.
Andrew
Here's the next round of testing. Conditions were terrible today, driving to my spot was like driving through 9" of Slurpee. This trip out I tested all 6.5mm bullets from a 6.5x47 Lapua named "Shiny" that I built for my daughter (that's why it's left handed) and 6mm bullets were tested from a 6mm BR pistol. I used the same setup as last weekend which makes it hard to get accurate penetration measurements so those aren't included.
6mm BR
- 105 Lapua Scenar
- Muzzle velocity 2630 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 2470 fps with retained weights of 75.9 and 82.8gr. I was very surprised by how well these bullets performed.
- 88gr Hammer Hunter
- Muzzle velocity 2553
Impact velocity is approximately 2310 fps with a retained weight of 58.5gr. Two bullets were recovered but I dropped one of these in the snow and wasn't able to find them. This is a new bullet that I plan to load at a higher velocity as a hunting bullet in the 6mm BR.
6.5x47 Lapua
- 140gr Berger VLD Hunting
- Muzzle velocity 2745
Impact velocity is approximately 2605 fps with a retained weight of 135.8gr. Two bullets were recovered but I dropped one of these in the snow and wasn't able to find it. This bullet performed much better this time than it did in the previous test. This clearly shows the difference between an under stabilized bullet and one which has been properly stabilized. This is the standard load that my daughter shoots in this rifle out to 300 yards and I'll get expansion results at longer range/lower velocity when the conditions are better.
- 147 ELD-M
- Muzzle velocity 2090 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 1975 fps with retained weights of 136.5 and 131.9gr. These bullets performed very well at the low impact velocity and would appear to give performance very similar to the Berger VLD Hunting bullet.
-150gr Matrix VLD
- Muzzle velocity 1945
Impact velocity is approximately 1840 fps with retained weights of 133.4 and 75.9gr. I believe that one of these struck a bullet which was already in the leather and that's what caused the significant weight loss in one bullet. These were both unmodified 150gr Matrix VLDs, I have additional samples with modified nose cavities to test as well in the future.
300 Win Mag
- 212 ELD-x
- Muzzle velocity 2680 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 2555 fps with retained weights of 130.9 and 171.4. These bullets expanded much more than I would have expected them to at this velocity.
- 215 Berger Hybrid
- Muzzle velocity 2686 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 2560 fps with a retained weight of 156.8gr. The second bullet recovered had been struck by a 225gr TTSX and retained weight is not representative of actual performance.
338/375 Ruger
- 225gr TTSX
- Muzzle velocity 2721 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 2560 fps with retained weights of 217.3 and 224.1gr. One of these bullets struck a 215gr Berger Hybrid which was already in the leather, resulting in one petal breaking off and irregular expansion.
- 283gr SledgeHammer
- Muzzle velocity 2044 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 1890 fps with a retained weight of 237.6gr. Due to a limited number of these bullets available I only had 2 samples loaded to test. The first shot went lower than I anticipated so only one bullet was recovered. As is typical of the design, the petals broke of and the shank of the bullet continued on. This bullet penetrated the farthest relative to the other bullets in today's test. It's worth noting that this bullet is relatively short for a heavy mono-metal bullet and fully stabilized even at the low muzzle velocity.
Overall, today's testing didn't go as well as I would have liked but still provided plenty of usable data. Conditions were similar to elk hunting in November, wet and cold with a chance of even wetter and colder! I lost a few bullets, missed the target with another and had a couple bullets collide in the trap giving inaccurate results. Add to this the bad primers (the first bad primers I've had in 12 years!), both of them on my 143gr ELD-x loads and it was a fairly frustrating trip.
The positive results to come from this trip are, like in previous ones, the consistent results I've had from all of the solid copper bullets. I've tested 8 different solid copper bullets from 3 different manufacturers so far and they've all given text book performance. I haven't seen any examples so far of properly stabilized solid copper bullets "penciling" through and not expanding. I'll openly admit my personal bias towards the solid copper bullets for the majority of hunting situations. I've always been a fan of Barnes bullets but the Hammer bullets are proving to offer the same predictable terminal performance with the benefit of being much easier to "tune" in my experience so far. I've also had the opportunity to see the differences between expansion of properly stabilized lead core bullets when compared to under stabilized bullets of a similar design. Not that I ever had a reason to question all of the rifling twist recommendations, but this has proven to me that a properly stabilized bullet not only shoots more accurately and consistently but that it also has better terminal performance.
Andrew
6mm BR
- 105 Lapua Scenar
- Muzzle velocity 2630 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 2470 fps with retained weights of 75.9 and 82.8gr. I was very surprised by how well these bullets performed.
- 88gr Hammer Hunter
- Muzzle velocity 2553
Impact velocity is approximately 2310 fps with a retained weight of 58.5gr. Two bullets were recovered but I dropped one of these in the snow and wasn't able to find them. This is a new bullet that I plan to load at a higher velocity as a hunting bullet in the 6mm BR.
6.5x47 Lapua
- 140gr Berger VLD Hunting
- Muzzle velocity 2745
Impact velocity is approximately 2605 fps with a retained weight of 135.8gr. Two bullets were recovered but I dropped one of these in the snow and wasn't able to find it. This bullet performed much better this time than it did in the previous test. This clearly shows the difference between an under stabilized bullet and one which has been properly stabilized. This is the standard load that my daughter shoots in this rifle out to 300 yards and I'll get expansion results at longer range/lower velocity when the conditions are better.
- 147 ELD-M
- Muzzle velocity 2090 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 1975 fps with retained weights of 136.5 and 131.9gr. These bullets performed very well at the low impact velocity and would appear to give performance very similar to the Berger VLD Hunting bullet.
-150gr Matrix VLD
- Muzzle velocity 1945
Impact velocity is approximately 1840 fps with retained weights of 133.4 and 75.9gr. I believe that one of these struck a bullet which was already in the leather and that's what caused the significant weight loss in one bullet. These were both unmodified 150gr Matrix VLDs, I have additional samples with modified nose cavities to test as well in the future.
300 Win Mag
- 212 ELD-x
- Muzzle velocity 2680 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 2555 fps with retained weights of 130.9 and 171.4. These bullets expanded much more than I would have expected them to at this velocity.
- 215 Berger Hybrid
- Muzzle velocity 2686 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 2560 fps with a retained weight of 156.8gr. The second bullet recovered had been struck by a 225gr TTSX and retained weight is not representative of actual performance.
338/375 Ruger
- 225gr TTSX
- Muzzle velocity 2721 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 2560 fps with retained weights of 217.3 and 224.1gr. One of these bullets struck a 215gr Berger Hybrid which was already in the leather, resulting in one petal breaking off and irregular expansion.
- 283gr SledgeHammer
- Muzzle velocity 2044 fps
Impact velocity is approximately 1890 fps with a retained weight of 237.6gr. Due to a limited number of these bullets available I only had 2 samples loaded to test. The first shot went lower than I anticipated so only one bullet was recovered. As is typical of the design, the petals broke of and the shank of the bullet continued on. This bullet penetrated the farthest relative to the other bullets in today's test. It's worth noting that this bullet is relatively short for a heavy mono-metal bullet and fully stabilized even at the low muzzle velocity.
Overall, today's testing didn't go as well as I would have liked but still provided plenty of usable data. Conditions were similar to elk hunting in November, wet and cold with a chance of even wetter and colder! I lost a few bullets, missed the target with another and had a couple bullets collide in the trap giving inaccurate results. Add to this the bad primers (the first bad primers I've had in 12 years!), both of them on my 143gr ELD-x loads and it was a fairly frustrating trip.
The positive results to come from this trip are, like in previous ones, the consistent results I've had from all of the solid copper bullets. I've tested 8 different solid copper bullets from 3 different manufacturers so far and they've all given text book performance. I haven't seen any examples so far of properly stabilized solid copper bullets "penciling" through and not expanding. I'll openly admit my personal bias towards the solid copper bullets for the majority of hunting situations. I've always been a fan of Barnes bullets but the Hammer bullets are proving to offer the same predictable terminal performance with the benefit of being much easier to "tune" in my experience so far. I've also had the opportunity to see the differences between expansion of properly stabilized lead core bullets when compared to under stabilized bullets of a similar design. Not that I ever had a reason to question all of the rifling twist recommendations, but this has proven to me that a properly stabilized bullet not only shoots more accurately and consistently but that it also has better terminal performance.
Andrew
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
Good job again! I would like to point out though that the 140 vld's were tested at 1700+ the first time and 2600+ this time! I don't think stability played nearly as much of a role as velocity did. I would like to see some tested at around 2000' or less like the 147 eldm and the 150 Matrix ........Rich
+1 I would like to see that as well
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
I realize velocity has some affect on stability, but when I run the numbers at 1000' elev., I still get an SG 0f 1.42 at 1750 mv. PLENTY enough to stabilize in regard to expansion.....Rich
