Lead vs lead free - what did you use last?

[FarmerMatt]

Leaded. 220 grain rn out my 300 mag. Dropped this years mule deer in his tracks. But this thread got me to thinking. Instead of lead core, have any of the bullet makers used bismuth or similar as the core? Wouldn't that make the bullet non toxic?

 

[Calvin45]

Leaded. 220 grain rn out my 300 mag. Dropped this years mule deer in his tracks. But this thread got me to thinking. Instead of lead core, have any of the bullet makers used bismuth or similar as the core? Wouldn't that make the bullet non toxic?

Barnes MRX comes to mind. Discontinued a good while ago now, too expensive. Which for Barnes is saying something! But yeah I've had this thought too. There used to be a company called EXTREME SHOCK that I'm pretty sure was mostly a gimmick but they'd always have ads in magazines for their stuff, powdered tungsten core bullets. Again, didn't stick around, was very expensive

 

[Korhil78]

Leaded. 220 grain rn out my 300 mag. Dropped this years mule deer in his tracks. But this thread got me to thinking. Instead of lead core, have any of the bullet makers used bismuth or similar as the core? Wouldn't that make the bullet non toxic?

Yea…Barnes MRX was made with a Tungsten core. Hornady GMX is made with a gilding metal core.

 

[Calvin45]

wow I didn't expect it to be this even!

38 to 37 monos to lead cores. 50/50 for all intents and purposes.

 

[MallardAddict]

I use both, in my rifles primarily used for normal distances (50-500 yds) I tend towards a mono, in my LR hunting rifles I use leaded (Berger's) as I prefer their extra expansion when ranges get long

 

[Reelamin]

I did on this forum. I know probably 150 hunters and maybe 5 use mono. Also probably more than half couldn't tell you bullet other than to say the brand and of those even half would guess or not know the weight without looking at the box.

 

[Calvin45]

I did on this forum. I know probably 150 hunters and maybe 5 use mono. Also probably more than half couldn't tell you bullet other than to say the brand and of those even half would guess or not know the weight without looking at the box.

Hehehe. True. I grew up in that context as well…all the men shot 30 caliber rifles, 30-30, 308, 30-06. Some of their wives had a .243. All of them shot Winchester super x PowerPoints. Almost all of them filled their tags every year.

There was one guy, he had a 7mm rem mag in a beautiful rem 700 from the good old days. He bought "fancy ammo". The others kind of thought he was a bit over the top but also the guy was legendary for frequently taking game to 600 yards long before that was cool or even heard of around my area.

An inspirational figure for me as a child.

 

[snox801]

And with a bc of .358 (possibly higher at these speeds) doing 4050 fps this thing shoots flatter to 500 than any 257 weatherby load I'm aware of. Feels like cheating.

I see your call and raise you a 90gr absolute hammer in my 28" Roy.
I have yet to get this load done but it bet with some of the quicker powders I may be able to make it super flat which is the goal now. But man it's gonna be hard to top you. Lol
I think bean got 3900fps out of his 26" 25-06AI so I may be able to get over 4K

 

[Calvin45]

I see your call and raise you a 90gr absolute hammer in my 28" Roy.
I have yet to get this load done but it bet with some of the quicker powders I may be able to make it super flat which is the goal now. But man it's gonna be hard to top you. Lol
I think bean got 3900fps out of his 26" 25-06AI so I may be able to get over 4K

Best of luck! Let us know how it goes!

I like my combo because it actually has an ok ballistic coefficient. .358 isn't exactly typical long range numbers, BUT it is higher than the 130 ttsx, and so much higher than the 110 tacTx that even if the 110 could be driven 150 -200 fps faster the 120 still shoots flatter to 500

 

[snox801]

Now you have me thinking about a crazy fast .300 win mag load. I only have a Nikon monarch 7-24 on my bee although it's tracked fine for now I prefer a point and shoot

 

[sp6x6]

My usual 300 gr B at 2750

 

[FrogFire7]

Lead free, Hornady GMX handloads. Will be switching all hunting bullets to hammers though once I use up these GMX bullets. Have been extremely happy with copper performance on game vs lead. They both kill em dead, just a lot less bloodshot meat and meat loss with coppers.

 

[MTGEEZER]

Just curious for no good reason. What did you most recently hunt big game with (and if you feel like sharing, how did it go?) - a lead free bullet or a lead core bullet of some kind? This isn't a "if you had to choose" thread…this is a "what are people actually doing right now" thread! God bless!

Hammers for me last 2 years.Everything one shot and down. I don't have a place to practice long range nor do I have anything other than my 6.5 prc twisted fast enough to shoot a heavy mono so my longest shot was only 408 yards. Will stay with the Hammers for things we eat! And, no, you don't get to see a picture of this year's buck. 2 hour crawl through ditches and low sagebrush; ranged the 2 bucks at 260; ran out of all "cover". Had to fully expose myself (minds out of the gutter, please!) to get on my tripod and this 70 year old must have got buck fever 'cause I shot the smaller buck! Still just as dead and tasty! Ha Ha on me!

 

[Calvin45]

Hammers for me last 2 years.Everything one shot and down. I don't have a place to practice long range nor do I have anything other than my 6.5 prc twisted fast enough to shoot a heavy mono so my longest shot was only 408 yards. Will stay with the Hammers for things we eat! And, no, you don't get to see a picture of this year's buck. 2 hour crawl through ditches and low sagebrush; ranged the 2 bucks at 260; ran out of all "cover". Had to fully expose myself (minds out of the gutter, please!) to get on my tripod and this 70 year old must have got buck fever 'cause I shot the smaller buck! Still just as dead and tasty! Ha Ha on me!

Thanks for your honesty haha…I think it's a good thing if a person still gets buck fever…haven't lost the childlike wonder and capacity to get "too excited"…probably better, or at least indicative of a livelier mind, than just stone cold killing though no judgement either way. I hope to get a case of buck fever again, as mentioned I'm only 30 but I haven't felt legit buck fever in what feels like a long time.