Copper Bullets

[Window]

California requires hunting bullets to be lead-free. Is there a cheat sheet of manufacturers that make lead-free bullets? What are some lead-free bullets that you've used with great success?

If you're looking for do all that's easy to load for, that's always available and for the the owners to always be available to answer any any of your questions, it's Hammer. I can account that they have worked flawlessly in now over 250 deer and elk. Keep you impact velocity above 1800fps and consider it a done deal. Not to mention, if you're running mag loads at 3400+ they it's all the same. 3450 has been my max, but there there are others here who are pushing them at around 4000fps with stellar results. Over the past five years or so, I've loaded Hammers in in 50+ rifles and have yet to have one that wouldn't shoot.

 

[AZ82New]

Hammers
Badlands
Patriot Valley Arms

I have the most experience with the hammers, having shot five deer with them.

The Hamner pros are:

-Extremely accurate
-Stupid easy load development
-Higher velocities than normal. Usually about 100fps or so.
-You have a lot lower minimum "expansion" velocity than the traditional designs.
-Very good blood trail (complete pass through every time for me).
-No lead in your meat and no excessive meat destruction.

The cons:

-The BC isn't great (not bad either).
-They don't usually "bang flop" a deer like I'm told a Berger does.

You really can't go wrong with the hammers. I have a 257 Weatherby with a fast twist barrel that I was going to try the Bergers with. I cannot for the life of me get them to shoot well. The Barnes weren't great either. I throw a 90 grain absolute hammer in with H1000 and I'm immediately printing .35 MOA groups at 3,788 fps. I try the 117, same story, shoots awesome, great velocity.

It can't be stated too strongly how easy they are to load for.

The PVA Cayuga was also very easy to load for and it was accurate. I have not had a chance to try them on game but I suspect they would work fine. They do have a higher BC than the hammers. Apparently they are designed to tumble on impact and kill that way. That makes me a little leery but other forum members have had good success with them.

I could not get the badlands to shoot well in my 308, 300 WSM or my 6.5 SS. All three of these rifles shoot very well with other bullets. I also noticed that they pressure up pretty fast. So you may expect to see slower velocities with them. After struggling, I looked at their website and they recommended starting seating depth at 10k off the hands (something like that). I was not doing that. I treated them the way I treat all copper bullets and gave it a very healthy free bore amount. This is probably my why they shot horribly. I can't imagine getting them even closer to the lands will do anything but cause even more pressure so I abandoned the idea of shooting them.

For example, the 123 absolute hammer was getting 3,433 fps out of my 24 inch 6.5 SS and was very accurate. The 125 badlands was at 3,250 and showing pressure. It was terrible for accuracy. So I gave up on it.

 

[Mike D Texas]

Im going to go ahead and shamelessly plug my company Cutting Edge Bullets. We have over 360 different bullets in everything from 22lr-50BMG. We've been around since 2008 so I have to say, i'm a bit bummed I dont read about us more on forums!

Our patented SealTite™ band is the reason behind why you dont see fliers with our bullets. Fliers are commonly associated with monolithic bullets due to their inability to upset like a lead core bullet. This patented feature is also why you see less copper fouling with our bullets compared to other monolithics.

I could go on and on, but I will spare you the rest of the sales pitch. Thanks for reading!

Cutting Edge Bullets - Bullet Design

Our bullets were designed with the precision shooter in mind. Whether you're shooting out to 4,000yds in a competition, or hunting mule deer in Idaho, our bullet designs have your application in mind.

cuttingedgebullets.com

I'll give plug for CEB bullets. They are BY FAR the easiest to tune monolithic copper bullet I have ever used. I typically get one hole groups with no tuning by following their seating depth recommendations.

I've had very mixed results with Hammers, Barnes and Badlands. They can all shoot, but they will take more work.

 

[FEENIX]

So sorry, No experience with copper bullets just yet!!! This list was very helpful to me, too!!

Here you go ...

https://www.apex-outdoors.com/
https://badlandsprecision.com/
http://balistixbullets.com/home/
https://www.barnesbullets.com/
https://www.cavitybackbullets.com/
https://cuttingedgebullets.com
https://drtammo.com/
https://fortscottmunitions.com/collections/reloading-rifle-projectile-bullets
https://www.foxbullets.eu/
http://www.gscustomusa.com/tdhv.html
https://hammerbullets.com/
https://www.lapua.com/product/224-naturalis-hunting-bullet-n566-32-g-50-gr/
https://www.haslerbullets.com/en/monolithics-bullets/
https://www.hornady.com/
http://www.sapremiumbullets.co.za/sapremium-kriek.html
https://www.lehighdefense.com/bullets.html
https://makerbullets.com/
https://www.mcguireballistics.com/
https://www.northforkbullets.com/north-fork-bullet-design
https://www.norma-ammunition.com/en...-ecostrike-30-06-springfield-165gr---20177492
https://www.nosler.com/products/bullets.html
https://www.novxammo.com/
https://outeredgeprojectiles.com.au/load-data-bc-tables/
https://patriotvalleyarms.com/solid-bullets/
https://peregrinemonolithics.com/
https://www.remington.com/in-the-news/in-the-news-april142023.html
https://rws-ammunition.com/en/infotainment/faq-frequently-asked-questions/lead-free-ammunition
Sabatti -
Sako - https://egunroom.com/sako-blade/
Titan monolithic fragmentation bullets -
https://www.warner-tool.com/flat-line-bullets/
https://winchester.com/Products/Ammunition/Rifle/Deer-Season-XP-Copper-Impact

 

[7Rum Slayer]

Well I am late to the party and I will admit that I have not read all of the above posts, with that being said I live and hunt in NorCal and have loaded up and tried many mono's. Cutting edge and Hammers for me! Both kill with a vengeance and are very easy to tune and load for. I will say the CEB are a little picky with seating depth and may need to be single feed in some factory rifle magazines, but the BC is awesome and they shoot bugholes. I currently shoot the 145 CE Lazer in my 7 RUM at 3587fps and it flat out dumps critters in there tracks!! My boy and I have 3 other hunting rifles dialed in with the Hammers and all of them have many kills. Try what you like and best of luck. Cheers, Jason

 

[DoneNOut]

Really, the best aspect about copper bullets is that they don't cause lead poisoning in Eagles .

 

[Dirtrax]

Im going to go ahead and shamelessly plug my company Cutting Edge Bullets. We have over 360 different bullets in everything from 22lr-50BMG. We've been around since 2008 so I have to say, i'm a bit bummed I dont read about us more on forums!

Our patented SealTite™ band is the reason behind why you dont see fliers with our bullets. Fliers are commonly associated with monolithic bullets due to their inability to upset like a lead core bullet. This patented feature is also why you see less copper fouling with our bullets compared to other monolithics.

I could go on and on, but I will spare you the rest of the sales pitch. Thanks for reading!

Cutting Edge Bullets - Bullet Design

Our bullets were designed with the precision shooter in mind. Whether you're shooting out to 4,000yds in a competition, or hunting mule deer in Idaho, our bullet designs have your application in mind.

cuttingedgebullets.com

Welcome to the party!

 

[2buffalo]

I'll give plug for CEB bullets. They are BY FAR the easiest to tune monolithic copper bullet I have ever used. I typically get one hole groups with no tuning by following their seating depth recommendations.

I've had very mixed results with Hammers, Barnes and Badlands. They can all shoot, but they will take more work.

Which model of CEB have you used? Do you have any terminal results? That's what makes me hesitant to use them I don't see much information on that.

 

[ButterBean]

Really, the best aspect about copper bullets is that they don't cause lead poisoning in Eagles .

You slobbered a bib full right there

 

[Window]

Here you go ...

https://www.apex-outdoors.com/
https://badlandsprecision.com/
http://balistixbullets.com/home/
https://www.barnesbullets.com/
https://www.cavitybackbullets.com/
https://cuttingedgebullets.com
https://drtammo.com/
https://fortscottmunitions.com/collections/reloading-rifle-projectile-bullets
https://www.foxbullets.eu/
http://www.gscustomusa.com/tdhv.html
https://hammerbullets.com/
https://www.lapua.com/product/224-naturalis-hunting-bullet-n566-32-g-50-gr/
https://www.haslerbullets.com/en/monolithics-bullets/
https://www.hornady.com/
http://www.sapremiumbullets.co.za/sapremium-kriek.html
https://www.lehighdefense.com/bullets.html
https://makerbullets.com/
https://www.mcguireballistics.com/
https://www.northforkbullets.com/north-fork-bullet-design
https://www.norma-ammunition.com/en...-ecostrike-30-06-springfield-165gr---20177492
https://www.nosler.com/products/bullets.html
https://www.novxammo.com/
https://outeredgeprojectiles.com.au/load-data-bc-tables/
https://patriotvalleyarms.com/solid-bullets/
https://peregrinemonolithics.com/
https://www.remington.com/in-the-news/in-the-news-april142023.html
https://rws-ammunition.com/en/infotainment/faq-frequently-asked-questions/lead-free-ammunition
Sabatti -
Sako - https://egunroom.com/sako-blade/
Titan monolithic fragmentation bullets -
https://www.warner-tool.com/flat-line-bullets/
https://winchester.com/Products/Ammunition/Rifle/Deer-Season-XP-Copper-Impact

Interesting. The Titan performs like Hammers with a lower BC. I've never shot a solid brass bullet. What kind of fouling would be expected?

 

[Laelkhunter]

I'd rather have it sauted in lemon gralic butter.
Just because you can fry anything, does not mean you should

Understood. Either fried shrimp poboy or fried oyster poboy is a hard decision when it comes time for me to order at the restaurant.

 

[RichCoyle]

Here's your cheat sheet:
1- Hammers


Your welcome.

I ordered a box of Hammer bullets on Monday. They arrived today.

 

[asd9055]

Understood. Either fried shrimp poboy or fried oyster poboy is a hard decision when it comes time for me to order at the restaurant.

I will eat them, like I will eat fried crawgish, but to me, oysters I prefer fresh raw with either chilled vodka or white wine, crawfish boiled or etouffee, shrimp in lemon butter galic ot tomato fetta cheese...just my taste, whats make the world go around. I had great food in NOLA and some nights I dont remember

 

[DoneNOut]

I ordered a box of Hammer bullets on Monday. They arrived today.

Oh I order Hammer bullets all the time.